cheenickle
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm relatively new to the wonderful world of tropical fish keeping. Apart from an unexplained guppy death early doors, everything has gone swimmingly (excuse the crap pun)...until now! Cannibalism in the tank??? i don't remember signing up for this!!!
I have a 25 litre tank with one bristle nose catfish, one guppy, two clown loaches, two glass catfish and one male gourami (blue/orange). i did have a female gourami (silver/blue) until she passed away and her so called pals dined on her. Let me set the scene a little...male gourami was relentlessly bullying his 'wife' and she had nowhere to escape (i take full responsibility for this as a tropical fish expert recently told me my tank was far too small for two gouramis...sadly, the pet shop that sold them to me didn't divulge this important info). I built her a little ācaveā out of rocks and I have a plant which she would hide behind, but he always found her and resumed headbutting/nibbling. she developed a red, open 'sore' on her side (he also bit a chunk out of her tail) and she started to act even more timid than usual. i researched the ulcer and it appeared to be stress-related. i tried to put her in the floatation tank, but she was so nervous and jumpy from her 'husbandā being a pest, that she just freaked out. i felt i was doing more harm than good, so left her in with the others. i started to put tea tree medicated drops (forget the name? got it from a tropical fish shop) into the water to aid the healing process, but didnāt see any difference.
Now hereās the traumatic part. I went away for the weekend and (I hold my hands up) forgot to ask my housemates to feed the fishies. In my defence, I was on cloud nine about my brotherās baby being born and it completely slipped my mind. Iāve read that well fed fish can last a whole week without food, but I know that's no excuse. So I came back on the Monday, turned on the tank light and saw what looked like a ball of white fluff. At about the same time I realised my female gourami was missing, it dawned on me that what I was looking at was her tiny bones.
After a whole hour of crying and feeling pretty shaken up, I finally removed the ābodyā. Just prior to this, Iād seen my bristlenose catfish sucking on the remains! Arenāt they supposed to be veggies?!?!?!
So now my tank is harmonious because thereās no bullying. I wonāt make the mistake of buying any more gouramis. But Iām left feeling a little disheartened at the savage behaviour of my ācuteā fish that I love so much.
I like to think that my gourami passed away and THEN the feeding started. But how will I ever know?! Other than my catfish, I didnāt see anybody else showing interest in her remains. I know they are just fish and they are only doing what nature tells themā¦but it just seems so brutal!
Iād be really interested to hear if this has happened to anybody elseās fish and also if you know of a tablet I can buy/a method I can use which would feed my fish systemically whilst Iām away for a few days. My boyfriend bought me a tablet that lasts a whole week, but this would surely be too much for just a weekend?? Iām away quite a bit so it would be really helpful and will hopefully divert any future disasters.
I feel like the worst fish keeper in the world!
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.
I have a 25 litre tank with one bristle nose catfish, one guppy, two clown loaches, two glass catfish and one male gourami (blue/orange). i did have a female gourami (silver/blue) until she passed away and her so called pals dined on her. Let me set the scene a little...male gourami was relentlessly bullying his 'wife' and she had nowhere to escape (i take full responsibility for this as a tropical fish expert recently told me my tank was far too small for two gouramis...sadly, the pet shop that sold them to me didn't divulge this important info). I built her a little ācaveā out of rocks and I have a plant which she would hide behind, but he always found her and resumed headbutting/nibbling. she developed a red, open 'sore' on her side (he also bit a chunk out of her tail) and she started to act even more timid than usual. i researched the ulcer and it appeared to be stress-related. i tried to put her in the floatation tank, but she was so nervous and jumpy from her 'husbandā being a pest, that she just freaked out. i felt i was doing more harm than good, so left her in with the others. i started to put tea tree medicated drops (forget the name? got it from a tropical fish shop) into the water to aid the healing process, but didnāt see any difference.
Now hereās the traumatic part. I went away for the weekend and (I hold my hands up) forgot to ask my housemates to feed the fishies. In my defence, I was on cloud nine about my brotherās baby being born and it completely slipped my mind. Iāve read that well fed fish can last a whole week without food, but I know that's no excuse. So I came back on the Monday, turned on the tank light and saw what looked like a ball of white fluff. At about the same time I realised my female gourami was missing, it dawned on me that what I was looking at was her tiny bones.
After a whole hour of crying and feeling pretty shaken up, I finally removed the ābodyā. Just prior to this, Iād seen my bristlenose catfish sucking on the remains! Arenāt they supposed to be veggies?!?!?!
So now my tank is harmonious because thereās no bullying. I wonāt make the mistake of buying any more gouramis. But Iām left feeling a little disheartened at the savage behaviour of my ācuteā fish that I love so much.
I like to think that my gourami passed away and THEN the feeding started. But how will I ever know?! Other than my catfish, I didnāt see anybody else showing interest in her remains. I know they are just fish and they are only doing what nature tells themā¦but it just seems so brutal!
Iād be really interested to hear if this has happened to anybody elseās fish and also if you know of a tablet I can buy/a method I can use which would feed my fish systemically whilst Iām away for a few days. My boyfriend bought me a tablet that lasts a whole week, but this would surely be too much for just a weekend?? Iām away quite a bit so it would be really helpful and will hopefully divert any future disasters.
I feel like the worst fish keeper in the world!
Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.