Flagtail P. slime problems

[shern]

Greetings! My flagtail has recently developed a habit of sucking on other fish, essentially taking off their slime coats in an aggressive manner. I know this behavior isn't uncommon amongst flagtail owners, but I was wondering if there were any permanent solutions aside from just selling the fish.

This behavior is quite dangerous, and I see it affecting the bichirs I keep in the tank. I noticed this behavior ramping up after the boss of the tank passed, leaving no other fish to keep the flagtail in check. This could also have no correlation whatsoever to this behavior, but I thought I'd point it out.

Ive tried algae wafers and various fruits and vegetables to keep him satiated, but he either doesn't take a liking to the foods I've tried or has had little effect on his behavior of the other inhabitants.

have had little luck doing online research for solutions other than selling the flagtail or the inhabitants

any ideas on what I could do?

 

[HarleyK]

I am so sorry to hear. Whatever you find out will be of help to all of us, please share your successes, and we will commiserate about things that don't work. Please keep us posted.

 

[Midwater]

Ive tried algae wafers and various fruits and vegetables to keep him satiated, but he either doesn't take a liking to the foods

any ideas on what I could do?

He might be in need of protein. Try a couple of pieces of tilapia, or some fresh dead fish of some sort.

 

[wednesday13]

Heavy feeding or buy a full spectrum light that grows algae to keep him busy cleaning glass all day. It can and will kill other fish due to stripping to much slime and the stress from it. I had one for 12yrs to around 17”… was fine for most of that time with me occasionally picking on easy targets like gar, lung fish and armored catfish who didnt move much. Never substantial damage tho. Its last tank with me was a 500g ray tank. I watched it over the years picking on my rays randomly. It eventually stripped a 18” marble ray over night and she did not make it. The damage was very quick and pretty extreme. Once they get a taste for slime its over IME. It will only get worse. Bichir are very easy targets. I re homed mine. There great tank cleaners and its a shame they can basically eat/strip a fish to death at will and very very quickly.

 

[shern]

I am so sorry to hear. Whatever you find out will be of help to all of us, please share your successes, and we will commiserate about things that don't work. Please keep us posted.

Yeah, I searched far and wide but found no helpful solutions, so I come to MFK for some more specific help

 

[shern]

He might be in need of protein. Try a couple of pieces of tilapia, or some fresh dead fish of some sort.

his diet is consistent with the other inhabitants, meat wafers (kens), massivore, floating sticks, shrimp, and random fruits/vegetables for him only. ill try some more tilapia though as I rarely feed tilapia.

 

[shern]

Heavy feeding or buy a full spectrum light that grows algae to keep him busy cleaning glass all day. It can and will kill other fish due to stripping to much slime and the stress from it. I had one for 12yrs to around 17”… was fine for most of that time with me occasionally picking on easy targets like gar, lung fish and armored catfish who didnt move much. Never substantial damage tho. Its last tank with me was a 500g ray tank. I watched it over the years picking on my rays randomly. It eventually stripped a 18” marble ray over night and she did not make it. The damage was very quick and pretty extreme. Once they get a taste for slime its over IME. It will only get worse. Bichir are very easy targets. I re homed mine. There great tank cleaners and its a shame they can basically eat/strip a fish to death at will and very very quickly.

yeah i knwo it can cause severe and oftenyl fatal damage to slow moving fish especially like the bichirs in my tank.
its quite disappointing to see to be honest.

as a side note I run triple AI freshwater primes which are full spectrum and I have them set on daylight cycle mimic.

Its quite unfortunate that most if not all keepers who have discussed this topic end up selling the flagtail off.

 

[duanes]

Some aquarists find my theories too anal, but all fish adapt to certain habitats, with those aquatic predatores, and prey they share habitats with.
In my opinon there are reasons we don't find certain species together, and that evolution has worked over millions of years perfecting those reasons
Flag tails from S America, and bichers from Asia and Africa, are examples of fish that haven't evolved together, so haven't adapted to those evolutionaray norms, and so as you have already noticed, may come into conflict.
To me, mixing continents and species in the confines of a glass box only exaggerates those problems.
To me bichers and flag tails should never be kept in the same tank.
And I'm just as anal even withing same fish families
To me S American and African cichlids should never be kept together,
or even more anal
S American and Central Americans don't belong together in the same tank .

 

[duanes]

I sometimes might take it even further.
Just because a fish comes from say the Amazon river, doesn't mean they come from the same habitat.

Heros cichlids (severum clade) normally live in sedate slow current areas of the river.

Many Geophagines come from rheophillic high flow areas (even rapids) of the Amazon.
To me this means, they should not be kept in the same tank, unless it is large enough to provides both habitats.

Too anal?

 

[jjohnwm]

I sometimes might take it even further.
Just because a fish comes from say the Amazon river, doesn't mean they come from the same habitat.

Heros cichlids (severum clade) normally live in sedate slow current areas of the river.

Many Geophagines come from rheophillic high flow areas (even rapids) of the Amazon.
To me this means, they should not be kept in the same tank, unless it is large enough to provides both habitats.

Too anal?

...mmmmmmmaybe...?

I've always had a sneaking suspicion about something...I'll toss it out now for discussion, analysis or ridicule. While we're fretting and wringing our hands over fish with differing water requirements, or varying dietary needs, or if we kick it a little further into the weeds and start talking about different water-flow preferences or even something as apparently simple as the idea of various "personalities" that vary from species to species and also from individual to individual within a species...nobody seems to give much thought to this.

All of these fish evolved to live in their specific habitats; that's a given. Species that live in exactly the same areas and in the exact same microhabitats within those areas might get along famously together in a tank...but there's just as good a chance that there will be conflict, if they compete for the same resources. You don't want them seeing each other as competitors for anything, whether that is food, space, shelter, breeding sites, whatever. Competition in nature is what keeps the competitors spaced out and separate from each other.

In a tank, that isn't an option. Whatever species an aquarist decides to keep are stuck with each other, 24/7. No escape, no avoidance. If two fish in your tank decide they don't like each other's faces, tough; there's no avoidance possible. It doesn'