burpingtiger
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Recently I decided that I wanted to purchase an animal. I enjoy watching the way creatures behave and find it relaxing and fun to study or play with them. I decided to go with fish since they're inexpensive and easy to take care of. Or not.
I decided to bust out my father's old 10 gallon tank and fill it with some fish. I bought some fake plants and some gravel from the store, and put in some old rocks from our old tank (made sure all of this stuff was healthy for my fish). I went to the store and was making a decision about whether or not I wanted to go with aggressive or non-aggressive fish when somebody working there came up to me. He told me that if I got aggressive fish, they should be compatible as long as they were all relatively the same size and could defend themselves against each other. So I decided to buy two Kenyi and a Tiger Barb.
On the way home, they were a bit restless but really didn't bother each other too much in the bag (he put them all in one bag). As soon as I put them in the tank, one of the Kenyi immediately established a small network of caves I made out of rocks as his territory (I haven't named any of my fish, but lets just call her Sara), hardly ever leaving it and chasing other fish away from it. The other kenyi (for the sake of the story, Sam) would usually spend its time chasing the tiger barb around the tank. Since I heard that the tiger barbs get along well in groups, and hoped that with more it would be better off defending itself, I went to the store and got 3 more. I was disappointed to discover from the guy at the store (this is a different store than where I got the first fish) that I shouldn't get a bottom feeder due to the aggressiveness of Kenyi.
This changed little. Upon putting the new barbs in the tank, they immediately joined the other and swam in a group, which was very cool to watch and reassuring. Like my first 3 fish, it took them time to realize that the flakes I was giving them was food, and it took a day or two for them to start eating. However, last night and this morning I noticed something strange. Sarah wasn't lurking in her cave, chasing other fish away as usual. She was hanging out by the heater, and would not pursue food (usually she wouldn't anyway because she was too concerned with defending her territory). She hasn't eaten in days, and I've been curious about why she wasn't pursuing food now that she was out of her cave. I eventually noticed that one of her fins was gone, which also explained why she was swimming poorly. One of the the tiger barbs is also missing a fin, and Sara has become incredibly aggressive. She bites Sam often, who I'm guessing is doomed to die at this point, and is constantly charging into the group of tiger barbs trying to bite them.
So now I'm deciding what to do. I made the classic mistake of not researching the kind of fish I was buying before I bought them, and have come to realize that Kenyi are much more territorial than I thought and require a much larger tank. I'm wondering what to do now. Do I just let the aggressive Kenyi kill off the other fish considering that I don't have another tank? I've considered taking it back but I am guessing that at least the other Kenyi will be dead by the time I get back to my house tomorrow.
Any input on this one?
I decided to bust out my father's old 10 gallon tank and fill it with some fish. I bought some fake plants and some gravel from the store, and put in some old rocks from our old tank (made sure all of this stuff was healthy for my fish). I went to the store and was making a decision about whether or not I wanted to go with aggressive or non-aggressive fish when somebody working there came up to me. He told me that if I got aggressive fish, they should be compatible as long as they were all relatively the same size and could defend themselves against each other. So I decided to buy two Kenyi and a Tiger Barb.
On the way home, they were a bit restless but really didn't bother each other too much in the bag (he put them all in one bag). As soon as I put them in the tank, one of the Kenyi immediately established a small network of caves I made out of rocks as his territory (I haven't named any of my fish, but lets just call her Sara), hardly ever leaving it and chasing other fish away from it. The other kenyi (for the sake of the story, Sam) would usually spend its time chasing the tiger barb around the tank. Since I heard that the tiger barbs get along well in groups, and hoped that with more it would be better off defending itself, I went to the store and got 3 more. I was disappointed to discover from the guy at the store (this is a different store than where I got the first fish) that I shouldn't get a bottom feeder due to the aggressiveness of Kenyi.
This changed little. Upon putting the new barbs in the tank, they immediately joined the other and swam in a group, which was very cool to watch and reassuring. Like my first 3 fish, it took them time to realize that the flakes I was giving them was food, and it took a day or two for them to start eating. However, last night and this morning I noticed something strange. Sarah wasn't lurking in her cave, chasing other fish away as usual. She was hanging out by the heater, and would not pursue food (usually she wouldn't anyway because she was too concerned with defending her territory). She hasn't eaten in days, and I've been curious about why she wasn't pursuing food now that she was out of her cave. I eventually noticed that one of her fins was gone, which also explained why she was swimming poorly. One of the the tiger barbs is also missing a fin, and Sara has become incredibly aggressive. She bites Sam often, who I'm guessing is doomed to die at this point, and is constantly charging into the group of tiger barbs trying to bite them.
So now I'm deciding what to do. I made the classic mistake of not researching the kind of fish I was buying before I bought them, and have come to realize that Kenyi are much more territorial than I thought and require a much larger tank. I'm wondering what to do now. Do I just let the aggressive Kenyi kill off the other fish considering that I don't have another tank? I've considered taking it back but I am guessing that at least the other Kenyi will be dead by the time I get back to my house tomorrow.
Any input on this one?
