Dead angel

[james80000]

Looked at my tank at 9.45pm. all was fine. Looked again 15mins later. The new(ish) angel, (about 10days old), seemed to have no eyes. on either side!Died a short while later. What the hell happened here?

 

[cichlidmaster]

James,
Chances are it was picked on by a tank mate to the point of near death. The other fish being opportunists decided to have themselves a feast at your angels expense. Your angel was more than likely near death and thats why it's eyes were gone.

Fish will go for a dead or dying fishes eyes first thing.

I know this has probably been posted, but what else is in the tank. This will give us an indication as to what may have possibly killed your angel.

Larry

 

[Great Lakes]

James, at one time, my barbs were famous for the eye pecking behavior. Don't know what happened to your angel though, sorry to hear it..

 

[james80000]

we have 2 mollies, 2 neons, 2 black widows, 3 golden barbs, 1 angel (now ), 3 guppies and 1 leoporinus (about 3inches). Oh and 1 upside-down catfish. But if he was close to death anyway then it is not so much of a problem

 

[cichlidmaster]

As far as "being close to death"...

I would be curious as to how it got that way in the first place. Angels can be murder on new fish...especially another angel. I am going to assume the angels were added at different times??

If so it could have been the first angel that was the culprit...then it could have been the leporinus. These fish are quite active and could possibly have stressed the angel.

Keep in mind that angel's are cichlids and thus can get territorial and aggressive. When adding new fish to your tank it is a good idea to rearrange the decor somewhat. This breaks up any territory the original angel may have staked out.

I would like to suggest again seeing if the LFS would take the Leporinus in for trade or credit. Although it is only 3" now it won't be for long.

Larry

 

[Rose]

so what's the deal with those Lepo..Lepora...those striped fish. Sounds like your telling a different story than I got a few days ago. My LFS told me they were semi agressive and only bothered other if it was bothered first and didn't get all that big, 6" at the most. No I didn't get one. No room. Rose

 

[james80000]

When adding new fish to your tank it is a good idea to rearrange the decor somewhat. This breaks up any territory the original angel may have staked out.

Thanks this seems logical enough. The fish are only ever chased by the others as soon as they have been added.Usually if they survive the first night, then they are ok. However not this time!

 

[cichlidmaster]

Rose,
It depends on the species of Leporinus. The one in question (I believe to be Leporinus fasciatus) can get BIG!!! I had two that were 13" at the time I donated them to a local aquarium. Most books state the obvious size in nature, but given the fact that we feed our fish daily, and the good care they receive, they can grow larger than in nature.

Several other species are:

Leporinus friderici - 12" in nature

Leporinus melanopleura - 10" in nature

The fasciatus is a peaceful fish when small, but given it's potential adult size and tank size requirements as well as it's diet (I fed mine algae that would grow on the inside of the glass tops) it really is a specialized species.

They are also very active fish and need to be kept with other fish of equal temperament.

Given the proper tank size, diet and water conditions Leporinus sp. can make a very attractive display.

NOTE: When I gave mine to the aquarium and they were released after proper acclimation, boy was I suprised. These two fish were in a 135 gallon tank and they looked huge. They went into a tank around 2500 gallons at the aquarium and looked like what two guppies would look like in a 135 gallon tank.

 

[Rose]

Thanks. Just wanted to double check. Was going to ask later but it came up. I deffinatly don't have the tank size or fish for those guys. That's alright. Rose