Luck or just peaceful?

[Penguin]

So I don't know if it's just because I'm lucky or if the fish were just peaceful. I've had many different fish that were labelled as aggressive or semi-aggressive fish but have never attacked any other fish. Like I've had tiger barbs that have never as much as attacked themselves or other. Then I had a pair of Firemouths one male and one female and they were never aggressive towards other fish. Then I had 2 gouramis and never had any aggression although both were male (accident). Then we had a red tail black shark and he never nipped or chased other fish. Lastly we now have a red claw crab and he isn't aggressive at all he just follows around our corys but never attempts to harm them. Is this luck or just a hit or miss coincidence?

 

[serena00]

I have the same situation. My rainbow shark and barbs are all very sweet. worst fish I've had was black fin tetra

 

[Penguin]

My firemouth cichlids are the sweetest and always swim up to the glass when we enter the room!

 

[amit.rajaram]

I had 2 gouramis (one blue and the other sunset thick-lipped) that were the most peaceful fish in my community of 13 fish. I'm guessing like in humans, each variety of aggressive/semi-aggressive fish have members with differing personalities.

 

[Penguin]

Yeah because I've read on the fish I have and all sites say they are aggressive but none of my fish are aggressive

 

[Mebbid]

A large majority of their attitude changes with age. Almost all fish you buy in fish stores are the equivalent of teenagers. Once they hit middle age they tend to show their grumpy nature. At old age they get downright pissy.

Case in point: A roommate's cichlid tank - A mix of the most peaceful Mbuna around (still an aggressive fish). When we bought them they were always peaceful fish and always got along at the beginning. Once they got a little older the aggression started to show with some of the fish getting picked on here or there.

Now that they are 3ish years old they are very very aggressive. A couple have flipped out before and completely murdered one of their tank mates over the course of a few hours while we were away.

My point in all this is: They may be peaceful now, but it would be a rarity if they stayed that way. Also, fish will very likely act differently when you are around in front of the tank then when you are gone.

Aggressive fish have earned their title.

 

[Penguin]

Good thing we are upgrading soon so they will have a bigger home soon