Ethical Dilemma -

[DragonLass]

When I bought the initial stock for my community tank when I was a beginner, one of the fish i got was a sucking loach/Chinese algae eater. In my newbieness I didn't really know much about it.

So he has been living in the tank for a few months, and overall he has not been too bad. One of my platys did have a fin nipped a few weeks ago, but I can't be sure who did it.

Anyway, I have been monitoring him and over the past couple of weeks I have noticed that he has become incredibly larger (he has grown from about 1" to about 2.5"). unfortunately he is also becoming more aggressive, particuarly at feeding time. He is chasing the other fish around, and more worryingly, is also lunging at them from time to time.

So, now I am faced with a bit of a dilemma. What do I do with him?
I could leave him in the tank and hope that his behaviour doesn't get to a point where he is attacking the other fish. But what if he does hurt one of the others? Not to mention the stress caused to them. Thats not really fair on the fish who are otherwise quite peaceful and happy.
Do I take him back to the lfs? I don't think thats a very good idea, as then somebody else will end up with a problem fish, and thats not really fair either.
Do I put him in my spare 3g tank? Well, that might be a temporary solution, but he will outgrow that pretty quickly.

So that really leaves euthanising him. I don't feel quite right about that though. Its not really the fish's fault that some fish catcher decided to catch him and sell him masquerading as a fish suitable for living in a tank.
Or that i was stupid enough to buy him and bring him home.
But then I could say, well, he has had a comfortable life so far, and I can end his life painlessly, which is probably better than he'd get in the wild.

Has anyone had a similar dilemma with a CAE, and what did you do? Or what do you think I *should* do?

 

[Tolak]

Trade him in. Just because it's a problem in your relativly peaceful tank doesn't mean someone with a larger tank with more aggressive cichlids wouldn't be able to give him a suitable home.

Tolak

 

[Erised]

I had/have the same problem, however, knowing it was me that got him into it, I got him his own tank that he is now the only resident in.

I think you should take him back though, don't worry about someone not knowing getting him ... they'd get it one way or another anyway, do you honestly think that if someone wants a CAE, they wouldn't get him young anyway? It's a better option that euthanising in my opinion.

 

[guppymonkey]

Even if you returned him and he went to a bad home it would still be better than being killed! Just bring him back to the LFS and even if you can't get credit for him just donate him. Only good reason to euthanize a fish is if it is too deformed or sick to live.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I agree with the others, though I do see where you're coming from, Dragonlass. The world must be full of unwanted ageing CAE's, given how many juveniles are sold in most shops. I can't imagine there are enough people with large aggressive tanks who actually want the (rather unattractive) mature fish. One suspects that there are heavy losses along the way. Still, you need to keep your tank safe, and there is always a chance somebody will want him.

 

[freddyk]

Euthenizing him will prevent him from suffering in a lousy home from the lfs, which is unfortuately the fate of most fish sold, but giving him back at least gives him a chance. Some of the fish do actually end up in good homes.