Earlier today I found one of my female sword tails was dead, having had it's gravid spot eaten out of it, however it did not appear to have any other bits missing. The female was pregnant and I belive she had begun to spawn, and one of my other fish decided that it couldn't wait for the fry to actually be born to eat them, and instead, it would open up the sword tail and eat what it found. This little tale brings me to my question, which fish is the culprit? Other occupants of my tank are;
4 Plecos
2 Chinese Algae Eaters
4 Blue Gouramis
1 Male Betta
1 Red Tailed Black Shark
6 Zebra Danios
3 Remaining Sword Tails (1 Male 2 Female)
10 Harlequin Tetras (I think they are tetras, however I have also found them described as barbs)
1 Tiger Barb
At the moment my suspicions lie with either the Tiger Barb, or the Gouramis, as they are the only fish I belive are big enough to carry this out, as my sword tail was quite large (4.5cm nose to tail).
The Gouramis are not what I would describe as aggressive fish, they normally keep themselves to themselves and go about their business regardless of whatever else is going on in the tank. The Tiger Barb on the other hand can be quite aggressive (I know I shouldn't be keeping 1 barb on it's own however he is also quite large, and since the last of his school died, I haven't been able to find any barbs of a similar size for him to school with) however, I haven't seen this aggression go beyond chasing and fin nipping, and I have noticed that he is more interested in the food tablets I put in for my Plecs/Algae Eaters than he is in either mosquito larvae or other "live" food so it seems unlikely to me that he would go against his normal feeding pattern.
I was wondering if any other members had ever observed behaviour such as this before and if any one could suggest a course of action before another one of my female sword tails falls victim?
Thanks
Paul
4 Plecos
2 Chinese Algae Eaters
4 Blue Gouramis
1 Male Betta
1 Red Tailed Black Shark
6 Zebra Danios
3 Remaining Sword Tails (1 Male 2 Female)
10 Harlequin Tetras (I think they are tetras, however I have also found them described as barbs)
1 Tiger Barb
At the moment my suspicions lie with either the Tiger Barb, or the Gouramis, as they are the only fish I belive are big enough to carry this out, as my sword tail was quite large (4.5cm nose to tail).
The Gouramis are not what I would describe as aggressive fish, they normally keep themselves to themselves and go about their business regardless of whatever else is going on in the tank. The Tiger Barb on the other hand can be quite aggressive (I know I shouldn't be keeping 1 barb on it's own however he is also quite large, and since the last of his school died, I haven't been able to find any barbs of a similar size for him to school with) however, I haven't seen this aggression go beyond chasing and fin nipping, and I have noticed that he is more interested in the food tablets I put in for my Plecs/Algae Eaters than he is in either mosquito larvae or other "live" food so it seems unlikely to me that he would go against his normal feeding pattern.
I was wondering if any other members had ever observed behaviour such as this before and if any one could suggest a course of action before another one of my female sword tails falls victim?
Thanks
Paul