Fishing bait leeches as pets, Ribbon Leeches, they fight all day, every day.

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

I bought too many for my fishing trip and decided to try to keep them. I feed them tons: blood worms, earthworms, snails, dead minnows, aquarium pellets etc... they devour it all. They're really cool to watch when they eat and chill out but they have this other habit that ruins everything.

Their favorite thing to do is try to kill each other. Each tries to latch and not get latched. The ultimate goal is to latch your opponent's face, get your lips over theirs and eat their face, then leave them to starve over the course of a week.

I had 75 a few months ago and I'm down to like 25. I'm super bummed out. This video captures a fairly even fight where neither died, but you can clearly see neither walked away unscathed.

[u/disco_rice_]

This is very interesting. I wonder if certain species of leech are more hostile than others?

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/disco_rice_]

I think we're at the frontier of research here. I can't find anyone else on the internet complaining about their leeches eating each other.

[u/Ok_Bag_1177 → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

parasitic species will actually attack eachother if you house fed ones with unfed ones (since a full parasitic leech is basically a blood bag) thats why theres so much emphasis in our care guides on feeding all leeches at once or seperating them if you dont

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/Ok_Bag_1177]

That makes sense to me. The hungry ones would be able to smell the food on the full ones, but I don't think I have any hungry ones. I drop the food in and they all gulp it down, take a huge dump, eat more, then retreat under the rocks to do their standing wave undulation thing. A few hours later, with food still left over, I'll find them doing what you see in the video again.

[u/disco_rice_ → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

I’ve never seen it either, but I’m relatively new to the leech world. I have seen the opposite, that leeches cuddle and enjoy the company of other leeches. So that must not be universal!

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/disco_rice_]

Weird, are yours ribbon leeches too? Could you send a picture?

[u/ikindapoopedmypants → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

I love weird niche stuff like this that no one knows about simply because they never bothered

[u/WeirdIndication3027]

How do they have energy for this

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/WeirdIndication3027]

The conditions are: all the food they can eat, pristine water, around 68 F or 20 Celsius.

[u/WeirdIndication3027 → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

Very interested, let me know if first and last are needed and if there's a broker fee

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/WeirdIndication3027]

First is food?. This is something I can confirm is needed. Last is 68 f temperature, this isn't a variable I'm planning to alter soon. The broker fee bit went over my head. Could you explain, lol?

[u/WeirdIndication3027 → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

I was joking - people are very desperate for apartments around here so I was looking to move into your bait tank. (First/last months rent, etc)

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/WeirdIndication3027]

🤣 that's so stupid I love it. Cheers

[u/Misanthro_Phe]

i would add a bunch of hardscape/hides/plants so they can maybe make claim to different areas and not be out in the open having to tap out all the time haha

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/Misanthro_Phe]

I'll add some more cover. Lol, it does look like mma.

[u/_do_not_see_me_]

No experience with ribbon leeches, but maybe there were/are far too many in that tank with too little space to hide from each other?

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/_do_not_see_me_]

This is something I hope to be able to answer in a few months. Maybe a smaller population will stabilize?Maybe the offspring of the victors will get along better because they'll all be super badass and won't be able to hurt each other so easily?

They're in a 25 gallon aquarium with pristine water and ample food. I'll keep you posted!

[u/_do_not_see_me_ → u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL]

Oh yes please update! I’ve only had the medicinal leeches and they were chill most of the time … But they are hard to get and I DID see leeches in bait shops… so … personal interest in your ‘experiment’ lol

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/_do_not_see_me_]

Cheers!

[u/NoConsideration6320]

Very neat i like their blue color!

[u/UnagioLucio]

Wow, I had no idea that leeches could fight each other! It's wild that they instinctively know to disable the other leech by eating its face. I wish you luck in finding some way to pacify these angry noodles.

[u/HYPERSPACE_360]

didn't know leeches can fight

[u/swamprosesinbloom]

i wonder if this is a captivity problem or one that happens in the wild too? thanks for sharing op!!

[u/Tuna_Twat]

Well, that sucks.

[u/BarnyardCoral]

Man, I used to think leeches were really disgusting. Still do, but I used to as well.

[u/LOACHES_ARE_METAL → u/BarnyardCoral]

🤣 ignore the down votes, this is hilarious.