flipz
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hey everyone,
I wasn't sure if this belonged in general or unhealthy fish, but considering the fish has passed (
) she isn't exactly unhealthy.
Well lets see. For 1.5 years I had 2 columbian catfish (black fin sharks) in a 29 gallon tank together. They were purchased very small, so the tank was plenty big. Even at the end of that 1.5 years, one was only about 3.5" and the other was 3".
Anyways, all went well, all were perfectly fine, except that after about 1 year the one that was slightly larger would continually pick on the one that was smaller. She would chase her around the tank for a few hours, and then they were best friends. They would same together, in sync, etc, and then all of a sudden it would start up again with the chasing and nipping. The smaller one got to the point that we had to just divide the tank.
This went fine for another 4 months, but then I hated having them not just separated, but in such small enclosures, so we purchased a 55-gallon. We put them back together, and all was fine for about 2 months. Then the chasing started up again, and in only 1 day the smaller fish was exhausted, began swimming around like she was blind, and then ate gravel until she died. Fish suicide number one.
Since then we have had a couple different tank mates for the columbian, all of which either she has picked on, or they have picked on her. Including a green spotted puffer who ended up picking on her so we went out and bought him his own tank because we loved him too much to return him.
Around 6 months ago (about a year since the last columbian died) we decided to try again. We went to 5 different fish stores to find one that was at least close to the size of our columbian now. We finally did, and all has been well since that day. They got along perfectly, even though the new one was once again slightly smaller. Everything went great, they were best of friends, and constantly "schooled" around the tank. (I say "schooled" because they aren't schooling fish, however they always swam together in perfect sync). Well on Thursday night we noticed that the big one had started chasing the little one everywhere, but then would stop and be normal, and then started chasing again. By Friday morning the little one was doing the same thing out last one had... swimming around like she was blind. And by Friday night, she too had eaten gravel until she died. Fish suicide number 2.
Has anyone ever heard of this or had this happen?? I guess this columbian is just destine to live alone!! We put 7 feeder comets in there on Saturday morning just to keep her busy... give her something to do. She has eaten 5 of them, but there are still 2 in there that she just chases around like she used to do to her other tank mates.
I just can't believe I have had TWO columbians apparently commit suicide by eating gravel!!
-brent
PS- We have a lot of plants, rocks, caves, and other coverage for these fish to hide in, but they never seem to use it. Well the comets are, but when the columbians were being chased around they never tried to hide. They always enjoyed playing in the currents too much... they were either stubborn or stupid. :?
I wasn't sure if this belonged in general or unhealthy fish, but considering the fish has passed (
) she isn't exactly unhealthy. Well lets see. For 1.5 years I had 2 columbian catfish (black fin sharks) in a 29 gallon tank together. They were purchased very small, so the tank was plenty big. Even at the end of that 1.5 years, one was only about 3.5" and the other was 3".
Anyways, all went well, all were perfectly fine, except that after about 1 year the one that was slightly larger would continually pick on the one that was smaller. She would chase her around the tank for a few hours, and then they were best friends. They would same together, in sync, etc, and then all of a sudden it would start up again with the chasing and nipping. The smaller one got to the point that we had to just divide the tank.
This went fine for another 4 months, but then I hated having them not just separated, but in such small enclosures, so we purchased a 55-gallon. We put them back together, and all was fine for about 2 months. Then the chasing started up again, and in only 1 day the smaller fish was exhausted, began swimming around like she was blind, and then ate gravel until she died. Fish suicide number one.
Since then we have had a couple different tank mates for the columbian, all of which either she has picked on, or they have picked on her. Including a green spotted puffer who ended up picking on her so we went out and bought him his own tank because we loved him too much to return him.
Around 6 months ago (about a year since the last columbian died) we decided to try again. We went to 5 different fish stores to find one that was at least close to the size of our columbian now. We finally did, and all has been well since that day. They got along perfectly, even though the new one was once again slightly smaller. Everything went great, they were best of friends, and constantly "schooled" around the tank. (I say "schooled" because they aren't schooling fish, however they always swam together in perfect sync). Well on Thursday night we noticed that the big one had started chasing the little one everywhere, but then would stop and be normal, and then started chasing again. By Friday morning the little one was doing the same thing out last one had... swimming around like she was blind. And by Friday night, she too had eaten gravel until she died. Fish suicide number 2.
Has anyone ever heard of this or had this happen?? I guess this columbian is just destine to live alone!! We put 7 feeder comets in there on Saturday morning just to keep her busy... give her something to do. She has eaten 5 of them, but there are still 2 in there that she just chases around like she used to do to her other tank mates.
I just can't believe I have had TWO columbians apparently commit suicide by eating gravel!!
-brent
PS- We have a lot of plants, rocks, caves, and other coverage for these fish to hide in, but they never seem to use it. Well the comets are, but when the columbians were being chased around they never tried to hide. They always enjoyed playing in the currents too much... they were either stubborn or stupid. :?
