Damn it....attack of the psycho

[ufcrusher]

For some reason one of my fish decided to go on a killing rampage. First, I notice that one of his tankmates was missing...shortly thereafter I notice him swimming around pushing the other dish around. I remove the dead fish and notice that there is another one that is swimming behind the filter. It was hiding but perfectly fine. 30 minutes later, I notice that he now has another one that he is picking on. I rescue it from the tank, put it in another tank with another peaceful fish and figure that it has maybe a 10% chance of surviving. Not great odds, but hell I have resurrected fish from worse.

I turn around to get a drink and suddenly there is a whole lot of splashing. My peaceful fish decided that the floating injured guy would taste good. Now I figure I have maybe - 2% chance of saving him as he now has a huge bite taken out of his gut. Sure enough...within a few minutes his gills gave out.

So now there is only 1 other fish in that tank with the fish that went psychotic tonight. I am hoping he makes it through the night....if not, my wife wants me to go get one of my favorite species, put him in the same tank, and see who wins. I think thats kind of mean, but this one fish is annoying the crap out of me because its supposed to be a super mellow community fish.

The culprit...a golden gourami. The victims...neon tetras...dither fish which I have had survive full on predatory fish.




My favorite that will go in if he kills anything else.....Heros Labitus aka CichlidaeLabitus aka Cichlosoma Labitus aka Amphilophus labiatum or commonly...a Red Devil. I figure a 2" devil will put the gourami in its place without causing death or being in danger. Anything bigger and the gourami will be dinner.

[psycho-]

Ohh..I thought you were talking about me

[Merlin]

The Red Devil will go on his own killing rampage sooner or later. Best thing to do is rearrange the setup in you tank and introduce a new fish that is a little larger. Pick one that won't kill the others - a Red Devil will.

It always sucks when your fish start killing each other off. That said, now comes grief for keeping tetras you big wuss. They are really only food anyway. Get some real fish for that tank.

[revil]

Ohh..I thought you were talking about me

why? what did you do?

[DarkFury]

Heh...

"Killer Gourami"...


BTW... if I were keeping gouramis... I'd just stick to the Dwarf varieties with those kinds of fish... they are WAY more colorful and they don't have aggressive tendencies.

[ufcrusher]

The Red Devil will go on his own killing rampage sooner or later. Best thing to do is rearrange the setup in you tank and introduce a new fish that is a little larger. Pick one that won't kill the others - a Red Devil will.

It always sucks when your fish start killing each other off. That said, now comes grief for keeping tetras you big wuss. They are really only food anyway. Get some real fish for that tank.

Um....yeah, I know a devil would kill everything if given the chance. However when they are 1 - 2" they can easily be kept with fish who are a bit larger than them. The devil at that size will chase the other fish but generally wont kill it. I should know, I have had many Devils.

My favorite I bought when he was about an 1" long wild caught fish.....12 years later he was 15" long and unfortunately died from HITH. I was away and some of the feeders must have brought it in. My mother was taking care of all of my tanks at the time and she would only feed him but wouldnt do anything else since he bit her. When she noticed he wasnt surfacing everytime she was in the room she looked closer, saw that there was something wrong and tried to treat him. Unfortunately he died the day before I got home. As for sheer power, he burned down one of his tanks by biting through the thick glass heater. The only person he wouldnt go after was me...anyone else he would bite the hell out of and his teeth were sharp.

Over that time span he killed 2 14" Tinfoil barbs whom he had shared a tank with for 5 years, 4 large red bellies, 1 10" silver arrowana, 1 14" rare pleco (that one smarted....it was $120 fish that I was told would have no problem with a large devil), 1 12" pleco (another tankmate of his from when he was bought), 1 large Manganeuse, 3 Large Oscars, and tons of other highly aggressive fish that the different stores and books claimed would be fine with him in a large tank (65 show). The only fish he wouldnt kill was another smaller devil tankmate of his...never understood that as they were both male, but the one stayed far away from him. I finally transfered him to his own tank since there was no point in having a single fish in such a large tank.

On top of that I was published in a few issues of AFM regarding the care and brooding of Red Devils and I have kept them for over 5 scientific name changes. So I would think that I have a good basis of knowledge on my friend the Red Devil.

As for the comment on the fish in that tank.....its a small hex, maybe 5 gallons max, as such the fish load is extremely limited. Neon tetras size makes them a perfect candidate for such a small tank. You can place a small group of them in with another fish or two and in biological load it will only be the weight of 4 fish....even though there are in reality 6 fish. (Tetras can be counted as 1/2 fish for calculating load)

[ufcrusher]

Heh...

"Killer Gourami"...


BTW... if I were keeping gouramis... I'd just stick to the Dwarf varieties with those kinds of fish... they are WAY more colorful and they don't have aggressive tendencies.

Gold, blues, domino, rainbow dwarf, and paradise fish are all supposed to be completely non-aggressive. Giant gouramis and browns are the ones that can sometimes have an agressive streak. Its the reason why I chose Golds for such a small tank. Another reason for the choice was that with Labrynith fishes you can sustain higher loads as they can and do get air from the atmosphere rather than just the H20.

I am actually curious as to what the outcome of throwing in my betta splendis would be. He has been in full display ever since the female betta was put near him. Unfortunately, she isnt making any outward signs of desire to mate which makes me believe that she might be an older fish. That said, I am sure that him and the gourami might tangle since he has been in full banner mode for a while.

[Merlin]

Um....yeah, I know a devil would kill everything if given the chance. However when they are 1 - 2" they can easily be kept with fish who are a bit larger than them. The devil at that size will chase the other fish but generally wont kill it. I should know, I have had many Devils.

I agree, it won't kill them at that size but you know those Red Devils tend to get bigger. So sooner or later the killing will start, as the rest of your post details so well.

....My favorite I bought when he was about an 1" long wild caught fish.....12 years later he was 15" long

...would be fine with him in a large tank (65 show)....

In my experience a fish that size would consider a tank that size to be pretty small. I used to have a Green Terror that was about 11 inches or so and he let me know that the 100 gallon tank was big enough for him and him only.

As for the rest....if I had a dollar for everytime a fish was *supposed to* work in a tank I'd sitting pretty. Lots of great expertise out there but in the end it is still a crap shoot. Damn fish tanks.

[ufcrusher]

65 show is extra wide and extra high and in reality it ends up being a lot more space for the fish than it sounds. Most 100's are actually a lot thinner and shorter than the 65 show. Obviously there is another 35 gallons of water there, but its in the length not height/width which is more important to larger fish. BTW, when he first went into the 65 he was about 5" long and it was plenty of space.

[ufcrusher]

UPDATE: So I have been looking around the tank trying to find the lone Neon without any luck. Now I noticed that the other ones once they were injured started hiding behind the filter since the gourami was too large to get into that space anymore. Sure enough, he was there...uninjured but hiding out. I figured that the stress was too much for him though and pulled him from the tank. Right now he is in a betta container (the type they are sold in)....I have to figure something out quickly because unlike the Bettas the water is his only source of air.

My current problem is that obviously I cant place him back in the tank he came from, I cant place him in with my male betta because I think he will go after him, and the female bettas went after his injured comrade yesterday. I need to figure out something and fast. I have a container of water that has been acclimating for 1 day now, completely dechlorinated and ready to go, but I would rather have a more permanent situation for him.

The other issue is I have a 10 gallon tank sitting unused as I have been waiting to place an order for parts. So my choice is either pay 2x+ what I could get everything for from my normal aquarium parts or have to wait for the order to get here cross-country on regular shipping. I might just go buy a splitter and run an airstone into that container for the time being. I figure the splitter will be cheap even at a local store.

[DaFunkyUnit]

why can't you separate and isolate the fish thats attacking the rest? that to me sounds like the most simplest solution... which, from reading your recent posts, you're really into....

[ufcrusher]

why can't you separate and isolate the fish thats attacking the rest? that to me sounds like the most simplest solution... which, from reading your recent posts, you're really into....

Huh? You lost me with that last part.....care to explain what you meant.

[DarkFury]

My current problem is that obviously I cant place him back in the tank he came from, I cant place him in with my male betta because I think he will go after him, and the female bettas went after his injured comrade yesterday. I need to figure out something and fast. I have a container of water that has been acclimating for 1 day now, completely dechlorinated and ready to go, but I would rather have a more permanent situation for him.

One of two choices here...

Choice 1.. go get a tank divider and separate Mr. Badass from everybody else...

Choice 2.. go get a "breeder cage" enclosure and put the neon in there... the netting will protect it from the killer but yet it still will be able to circulate water from the tank.

I actually build my own version of a breeder cage using one of those big white salad containers that you get at the deli at the supermarket. I cut three large windows in the container (which makes the container have 3 "ribs" per se for structural support and then I silicon netting over the windowed openings.

After all of that, I use fishing line to secure 3 styrofoam floaters to the top of the basket so that it wont sink into the tank. Works like a charm for separating fish that dont jump (jumpers would get out of there in no time... unless you put the top back on the salad container).

Well good luck... Personally, I'd just get rid of the gourami which probably would solve all of these problems.

[Merlin]

Like DF said, a tank divider is what you need to get through. Use plastic of some sort.

[DaFunkyUnit]

Huh? You lost me with that last part.....care to explain what you meant.

you seem to be going through a lot of trials and tribulations recently. a lot of drama, if you will. (this is all based on your recent posts, so i could be totally wrong). i myself, am a sane and rational person (or at least, so i think) and whenever someone presents a dilemma or a debacle, i just say: "Just take the simple way out and do blah blah blah, you dolt."

my point is: you're a drama queen.

[ufcrusher]

Nope...definitely not a drama queen. I'm still unsure of what you are referring to with trial and tribulations. This post, regarding a killer gourami was more for the comedic fact that its a GOURAMI causing all of these problems rather than the death of the fish. A neon isnt something to cry over...I am just surprised about the culprit.

As for other posts, I really have no idea what you are referring to. I use the forum as a sounding board to get other people thoughts and sometimes to vent, but I hardly think that constitutes drama. I just found your post and reply to be off, but no big deal.