Fish death by ?

[Gr8KarmaSF]

I had a pair of bonded fish and one of them recently died. Cause is unknown. Within days the other fish died, all other fish in the tank are healthy and eating. EVERYTHING in my tank is ok, nothing new introduced, all eat MP and pellets, uber filtration with 2 FX5's and water close to perfect. Not really trying to find out cause of death but...

Is it possible the other fish died from depression or the loss of its friend?

Anybody else ever experience this? Thoughts?

 

[gomezladdams]

I believe so.I had a bonded pair of angels.The male lost his swim bladder control from an infection and couldnt right himself.They still managed to spawn again.Eventually he passed,she was gone within a week.

 

[Citrinellus]

After one of my female angels died, the male committed suicide by jumping out that night. On the other hand, I've experienced the opposite with two widows. The male lost his female from him killing her one night. The female lost her male to an unknown reason, I woke up to find him floating. I was cramped for space and put them together to find them spawning in a couple of days. Either way fish do seem to have emotional attachments to each other.

 

[MonsterMinis]

Absolutely... I've seen it in a handful of "higher intelligent" species like Cichlids. I've also seen what Cit described between 2 "widowed" fish. Just about every species that forms pair bonds I've seen/heard of such "suicides" and unlikely pairings resulting after the death of a mate. Some fish seem to be more or less effected by such events. I chalk it up to personalities and general intelligence of that particular fish. Dogs and Cats often times exhibit this behavior and I have no doubts some species of fish are entirely capable of this level of understanding/mouring/attachment ect. Some people will argue it's personification or "conditioning" of the animals, But i'm one of those crazy people who have spent more time with animals then humans in my life and have no doubts we credit animals of all types includeing fish with far less then is their due.