Need some info about Blue Paradise Fish

[Diesel]

I have a friend that have a 20 gallon tank with a school of 5 zebra danios, 2 swordtail and 1 Black Widow Tetra. He recently added a fish called Blue Paradise fish.

Next morning after he added the new fish, the Black Widow Tetra lost a eye, with no fins damaged and still swirmming. After another day, the Black Widow lost 2 eyes and half of his body eaten floating dead on the water.

My friend didnt caught the Blue Paradise attacking the Black Widow Tetra, I guess all these are done after lights out and when my friend is sleeping.

Anyone have kept this fish? Are they that aggressive?

 

[rubysoho]

I did a quick google search and didn't find very much on attacks like you mentioned. A couple of sites even said they were peaceful. In the wild they eat bugs off the surface of the water and in tanks they are omnivores. Watch the fish after turning out the lights and see what happens. I think that will be the only way to truly know what is going on in that tank. Perhaps the tetra was weak and the rest of the fish took advantage of it... I dunno. Good luck!

 

[TankGirl]

They definitely can be aggressive, but usually it is to conspecifics, like the male betta. The 20gal might be a bit tight quarters, so moving it to a larger tank with plenty of room might solve the problem.

 

[rubysoho]

hmm... I wonder why some sites said they were peaceful then... stupid internet ...

 

[Fruitbat]

There's nothing particularly peaceful about the 'blue' Paradise Fish. I used to breed this fish so I have rather extensive experience with them.

The Paradise Fish (Macropodus opercularis) has the distinction of being the very first 'tropical' fish kept by aquarists in Europe. It was first introduced in Paris by Carbonnier in 1868. Most of these fishkeepers had lots of fancy goldfish and they found out very quickly, much to their chagrin, that Paradise Fish are often quite aggressive and can become fin-rippers.

I found that it was best to keep Paradise Fish in tanks of 10 - 20 gallons in size with a single male and three or four females. The male can be quite rough on the females if he's 'in the mood' and they're not. Having multiple females means that the male is less likely to take out his aggression on any single female. Other tank-mates should be able to take care of themselves or be fast enough to avoid a grumpy Macropodus

Hope this helps a bit

 

[Diesel]

I guess my friend just got a really aggressive Blue Paradise fish

I think they are just semi-aggressive fish.

thanks for the info guys