A sad story

Hi All,

Well thought I would start with a bad story.

I went on holiday in December. Back to SA to see my family.
Had a friend come past twice a week and check everything was fine.

I hadn't been gone 3 days when he emailed me to say one of my Angels in my display tank had died.
And so it went on. He did say that they appeared half eaten but put that down to them being in the tank for a few days.

When I finally got home, I was in for a shock! Only 3 of my 12 Angels were left.
And loads of my other fish gone too.
Initially I blamed my L114 Plec. Thought it was attacking the fish while they slept.
So stripped down my tank, caught the Plec (put it in one of my other tanks).
That night...another death. A half eaten fish in the morning.

So what was the culprit.
Had to be my zebra knife Gymno carapo.
Stripped the tank down again to catch it. Took it out. And......no more deaths.
Needless to say I ttook it to my lfs for some credit...against all the fish I have to replace

The knife was in the tank for over a year.
It gets fed every 2nd day on minced fish or bloodworm. I had been away before, and always have someone come round to feed anyway.
So I really don't know why it went rogue.
It ended up killing 25 fish. Even adult Angels. And the knife was only 20 cm!

I am really not happy. Anyway, I now have to restock my tank.

Thanks
Squidward

Sorry to hear of your losses, but as a night time preadator he was just doing what comes naturally.

Many years ago we sold a very small angler fish to a customer who insisted on having him, despite our warnings that he'd already eaten a damsel that was bigger than him....
Six months later the chap came back in to start restocking his tank. Apparently the angler had eaten all his stock starting with the smallest and working his way up until all that was left in the tank was a now somewhat larger angler and an emperor angel that was twice his size, then one night the angler decided to chance his luck with the angel...

Sadly the angel died and the angler chocked to death in the process

Pterophyllum wrote:Sorry to hear of your losses, but as a night time preadator he was just doing what comes naturally.

I suppose.
What annoyed me, was that everyone lived in harmony for a long time.
And then something triggered the predatory behaviour.

then something triggered the predatory behaviour.

What often happens, in my experience, is that things are harmonious until for some reason the fish is triggered to take a bite, perhaps just nipping at another fish that's annoying it, or if it gets a little bit more hungry than usual. Once they've tasted flesh they realise that fresh meat is tastier than what they have been getting, then there's no stopping them.

Nasty, and a shame I must say. keep us updated on your new Angels
Lisa

Pterophyllum wrote:

then something triggered the predatory behaviour.

What often happens, in my experience, is that things are harmonious until for some reason the fish is triggered to take a bite, perhaps just nipping at another fish that's annoying it, or if it gets a little bit more hungry than usual. Once they've tasted flesh they realise that fresh meat is tastier than what they have been getting, then there's no stopping them.

I guess that's what happened.
What surprised me, is that it went for the adult Angels first!
I know that small Tetras etc would have been at risk, but I wouldn't have imagined it would have attacked Angels much bigger than itself.

Ghipsi wrote:Nasty, and a shame I must say. keep us updated on your new Angels
Lisa

Thanks.
There were a few colour forms (various blues etc), that had taken me some time to track down. They won't be that easy to replace

I know what you mean, trying to track down the genetic you want can take years

Ghipsi wrote:I know what you mean, trying to track down the genetic you want can take years

To be honest I am a bit disheartened by it all.
May just stick with the surviving Angels for a while before I restock.