Bad Fish

[naefearjustbeer]

I have a pair of dwarf gouramis in my tank that are getting harrased by my algae eater. It chases them around quite a lot and one of the gouramis has some damage on its side. I blame the algae eater for this. The bigger of the 2 gouramis looks depressed and hangs around in one corner of the tank most of the time or hiding inside my castle. What can I do? I have also had one very small neon tetra disapear without trace could/would an algae eater of eaten the neon. Or is sucker mouth fish not able to eat little fish? My wife wants me to flush the algae eater down the bog!!

 

[thefishykid]

i have heard of socker fish eating small fish how big is your sucker fish

 

[BigC]

Chinese-Algae-Eater-(Gyrinocheilus-aymonieri).
I take it it's one of these critters
http/uk.msnusers.com/_Secure/0ZwAAAPsjQB...-aymonieri).jpg
If so they can grow quite large and are notorious for sucking onto other fish in the community tank. They really should be kept in a species tank.
Regards
BigC

 

[thefishykid]

i my self would keep him in a speises tank or put with bigger fish that he cannot bully

 

[naefearjustbeer]

Chinese-Algae-Eater-(Gyrinocheilus-aymonieri).
I take it it's one of these critters
http/uk.msnusers.com/_Secure/0ZwAAAPsjQB...-aymonieri).jpg
If so they can grow quite large and are notorious for sucking onto other fish in the community tank. They really should be kept in a species tank.
Regards
BigC

Thats the one, He is about 3 inches long at the moment. Not looking like he is going to be allowed to grow much more

 

[rdd1952]

It sounds as if you probably have a Chinese Algae Eater. The become very aggressive as they get older and will try to suck the clime coat off other fish, especially flat bodied fish like gouramis. Does it look like this, this or this.

 

[BigC]

Please do not take your partners advice and flush it down the loo...take it back to the LFS and give it to them even if you have to take a loss on the sale. We are in the business of keeping fish not getting rid of them down the loo just because they don't fit in with our vision of a happy medium.
Its not the fishes fault you should have done a little more homework or consulted the membership of this forum regarding your fish selection for your community aquarium.
Sorry if that reply sounds rather harsh.
Regards
BigC

 

[naefearjustbeer]

no not harsh, I will see if the shop will take it back, sounds like a good idea to me. It goes against the grain for me to effectively kill the poor thing. After all I wont be eating it as it isnt a trout. It has been in the tank for about 10 weeks and all of a sudden it has gotten agressive. If I remeber correctly the shop had them in a tank with lots of similar fish and some albino cats. It could be a week before I can get near the shop so I am worried for my dwarf gouramis

 

[naefearjustbeer]

I have removed the offending fish to my quarantine tank until I can get him back to the LFS.
My dwarf gouramis appear to be a darker colour now after I chased the algae eater round the tank with a net to catch him. The gouramis went into hiding and took a couple of hours to come back out. Is this normal my tetras and other fish appear unfazed by the commotion of catching the little sucker

 

[rdd1952]

Not really sure about the gouramis in particular but most all fish will experience a color change when they are stressed. Most only show their true colors when they feel safe and happy (if fish can feel "happy").

 

[naefearjustbeer]

I am pretty sure they can feel happy as sometimes they look happy, Whilst my mad algae eater was chasing the bigger of the 2 gouramis it looked sad and depressed and hung around in the corner of the tank where I feed them all day, and hid in my castle when the tank lights were out. At the moment it is looking a darker shade of red and hiding behind some plants then popping out for a quick swim before hiding again. It didnt even come out when I put some bloodworms in for them as a treat. Maybe once they realise the algae eater has gone they will cheer up a bit.

 

[naefearjustbeer]

Good news and bad news, LFS took the algae eater back but my poor dwarf gourami died this morning, After she got suckered she had damage marks on her and her abdomen swelled up. I hope the other gourami will be ok without her, I bought them as a pair and they were tank buddies. One of my dalmation mollies has adopted red (the survivor) and appears to be his new buddy.

 

[juliehainsworth]

You have one of them too........... I have three and I've only just found out what they are mine are being taken back to LFS at the weekend.

I've recently had a platy die and I just thought she was unwell but on closer inspection today she had a wound on her back which I suppose on thinking about it could have been caused by this fish........ I thought she was just upset cos my betta occassionaly picked on her......

 

[naefearjustbeer]

My LFS has several different part time employees. Some of them know about fish, some do not!! I am new to tropical fish keeping. I used to keep a few goldfish and recently decided to turn tropical so I am learning slowly about different species. When I took the fish back the woman who was working said that they are quite bad for it and she would of warned me not to get it with the other fish that I have. Unlike the one that was working the day I went in and bought it.
I think that the algae eater ate one of my neons and effectively killed my gourami. I have a very upset 3 year old girl crying in my house today. This is the first pet death that she has expieienced. Trying to explain about the big fish pond in the sky to her didnt help much.

 

[juliehainsworth]

It is very sad trying to explain stuff like that to a child! Maybe all LFS should have some form of letting people know what they are getting it would be alot easier than just letting people buy things willy nilly. I bought three of these fish as they were on offer and was never told anything about them being unsuitable for a community tank!

Even if they just have a little bit about the fish which says whether or not suitable for the aquarium and what size they grow and how many you can keep would mean a lot less stress to the fish keeper/fish and it would mean that alot less fish were being flushed or returned for being unsuitable in the tank......