# Cannibal Fish



## Infidel (May 10, 2005)

I'm sure this same query has been answered plenty of times in this forum, but I have looked (briefly) to no avail.

Anyway, for some reason my current girlfriend recently came home with loads of tiny fish, we placed them in a tiny aquarium in my apartment and life was good.

Tonight she came home with some larger gold-coloured fish, and they joined the little fellows in the same aquarium. Apparently the guy in the fish store said they would live in harmony, but this is Thailand and sellers tell you what you want to hear. 

So, now the little fish are hanging out at the top of the water, not exploring the rest of the tank like they usually do, and I swear I saw one of the larger gold-fish eat a tiny fish.

Is it sensible to mix fish like this? 
Will the big boys bully/eat/kill the cute little guys? 
Are the small fish now hiding at the top of the tank out of fear? 
Should I separate them or leave them be?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Fry of other species (or even of other fish in the same species) are seen as food. Very common. Not adviseable to mix them.


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## puff4ever (May 9, 2005)

do you have any idea what kinds of fish they are?
also its very common for fish to eat smaller tankmates that can fit in thier mouths.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Most fish well cichlids anyway will indeed eat and kill their own kind..so common to me


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## Infidel (May 10, 2005)

Have no idea what type of fish they are. I should take some photos. 

The tiny fish are greyish in colour, with sprinkles of colour (especially in their tails), and range from a few millimetres in size to about 1cm in length. 

The larger ones look like standard gold-fish (I think) and are orange with patches of silver and white, have large gills and are about 3-4 cm in length.

However, I woke this morning to a bigger problem; four of these larger fish were dead, and the other three are acting kind of strange- doing some sideways swimming and are right at the top of the water.

I feel really bad, I've tried to keep all the fish happy and now I've death on my hands.

Perhaps I should buy a cat instead.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

It sounds like you have far too many fish for the size of your tank. The filter can't process the amount of waste the new fish are creating. The situation is especially bad if the new fish really are goldfish, since they produce much more waste than your average fish.

Your best bet is to get rid of the new fish. Take them back to the shop where they came from. If not, you're likely to have all your fish, the little ones as well as the big ones, dead.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

I think Myra has it right. Your statement loads of fish in a tiny aquarium leads me to think you may have water quality issues. Even before you added the larger fish there were to many fish in the tank. You need to thin them out.


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## Hamm3592 (Apr 24, 2005)

Yes, it definatly sounds like your air quality or your filteration is not soo good.


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## Infidel (May 10, 2005)

Thanks guys. I will buy some good filtration devices. Currently I just have the bubble-blower, whatever that does. Just adds oxygen to the water I guess. But we've been changing the water every few days, it always seems clean but smells bad sometimes. I may also have been overfeeding but not by much.

And yes, the goldfish produced a lot of crap; they were always swimming about with these long crap-sausage things creeping out the back of them.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Take the bigger fish back as well as some of the smaller ones. Any idea on the dimentions on this tank is?


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## Alin10123 (May 22, 2005)

Did you Cycle your tank? How long has it been setup before you put fish in it? 
Bad idea to put big fish with tiny fish in it as well. 

Did you do a water test to see how the water quality is?


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

A bit of advice: never buy a fish wihout doing research and finding out about the particular species you want from different sources, let alone the name of it.
In the end you'll hopefully end up with a harmonies community tank with few problems.
Don't just listen to one person I.E. the guy in the LFS.


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