Buying a larger fish?

[DMD123]

I need some advice gang.

My new Trimac was continuing to get more and more comfortable and eating great then a couple of days ago everything changed.

He started MAJOR cowering in the top corner of the tank. He seems to be a nervous wreck. When you walk up to the tank he darts around like a pinball hitting all sides of the tank. I’m afraid he’s going to kill himself when he hits the acrylic so hard.

I’ve never seen a fish settle in so nicely and then have such a major relapse.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

That was what happened with my last trimac. I got it at a larger size too. It was doing great and then a flip of a switch and the fish just completely changed the way it acted. I ended up rehoming it and have started with smaller fish to try this yet again.

 

[DMD123]

Randys , I didnt have a lot of time to go into detail when I responded but I had posted about issues with mine here: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/post-your-trimacs.698148/page-15

Look at post #141 and #143.

My fish came to me at about 6" and was a great eater, a perfect fish in every way. But something just changed overnight. It started to do this thing where it had to have me turn lights on in the garage so it could see me or else it would freak out. It hated movement in the shadows. Apparently the health related issues were stress induced, something in my set up upset it. I tried everything to make it 'more comfortable'. Went from a 75g to a 90g... helped a little but not significant. Increased filtration from one AC110 to two. Heater replaced in case of stay voltage. Water kept pristine with multiple large water changes per week. Treated for internal parasites, etc... I finally gave up and rehomed him to a buddy. Funny thing is he is now doing better. My buddy changes water maybe once a week, has him in a 75g and really does nothing special in any way. The health related issue cleared up and the fish is now doing well.

I still want a big male trimac but this time decided to try smaller fish to raise out. These are F1 and came in at about 3 1/2" - 4" and are seeming to do pretty well. Not sure why my previous trimac had issues but it did. Ive raised tons of different fish in my garage tanks and this was the first with the personality change like this.

 

[Randys]

Wow, bizarre symptoms. Thanks for posting that.

It's strange because with this type of behavior there's usually no interest in eating but not this guy.
I bought some extra large NLS because he was loosing the smaller pellets in the gravel and when he finally understands I'm there to feed him he is RIGHT THERE and gobbles them down in a hurry.

You sure can tell a Trimac's mood by his color also. In the beginning he was dark as if from stress. When he got comfortable his color lightened up to the usual Trimac colors. He's back to dark now.

Weird stuff.