In one of my 75g temp holding tanks I am having issues with fish showing of with big hunks out of their tails, like some underwater moth has been chewing on them, but I can't figure out who is doing it because all the interaction I see are pretty peaceful.
Here are the inhabitants:
7 Spilurus cichlid growouts @1"
7 Dollar and Central Longear sunfish growouts @1"
1 adult rainbow cichlid
2 female bettas
3 Pearl gouramis and 2 Gold gouramis
7 various botia loaches (yoyo, historanica, striata)
2 Clown loaches
1 Redtail loach
1 Circumcintus eel
1 neon goby
5 Kuhli loaches
5 Mystus bimactulatus
2 cherry barbs
1 tiny Oscar @ 1.5" (now deceased)
So the weird part is that only the top/middle swimming fish are showing up like this. The kuhlis et al are fine. The fish that seem to be getting the worst of it are the sunfish, spilurus, bettas and the Oscar. Today I found the Oscar dead. But I have't lost any others this way yet. My first instinct would be to say it is the cichlids and sunfish, but I don't think it us because they were previously in a tank 1/4 the size together and had no ripped fins at all. When I added them to this tank they immediately started showing up like that. I added the baby Oscar recently to let it grow out before moving up to a tank with bigger fish and the first night it had it's fins shredded. Just found it dead about a week later, and missing all it's fins.
My second guess would maybe be the loaches, but, except for the Clowns, I have had all of them for a couple years with all types of fish and never had a single issue. So of the fish left what do you think is doing it? My suspicion is the Mystus Bimaculatus, but everything I have read about them said they are very peaceful!
What do you guys think?
Here are the inhabitants:
7 Spilurus cichlid growouts @1"
7 Dollar and Central Longear sunfish growouts @1"
1 adult rainbow cichlid
2 female bettas
3 Pearl gouramis and 2 Gold gouramis
7 various botia loaches (yoyo, historanica, striata)
2 Clown loaches
1 Redtail loach
1 Circumcintus eel
1 neon goby
5 Kuhli loaches
5 Mystus bimactulatus
2 cherry barbs
1 tiny Oscar @ 1.5" (now deceased)
So the weird part is that only the top/middle swimming fish are showing up like this. The kuhlis et al are fine. The fish that seem to be getting the worst of it are the sunfish, spilurus, bettas and the Oscar. Today I found the Oscar dead. But I have't lost any others this way yet. My first instinct would be to say it is the cichlids and sunfish, but I don't think it us because they were previously in a tank 1/4 the size together and had no ripped fins at all. When I added them to this tank they immediately started showing up like that. I added the baby Oscar recently to let it grow out before moving up to a tank with bigger fish and the first night it had it's fins shredded. Just found it dead about a week later, and missing all it's fins.
My second guess would maybe be the loaches, but, except for the Clowns, I have had all of them for a couple years with all types of fish and never had a single issue. So of the fish left what do you think is doing it? My suspicion is the Mystus Bimaculatus, but everything I have read about them said they are very peaceful!
What do you guys think?