Most aggressive freshwater fish?
- Thread starter Pyluper
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That one, I can agree with. Definitely up on par with the ones I mentioned, especially when breeding. Though dovii can't severe our fingers unlike the 2 I mentioned.
Probably electric eel, pike/musky, almost any bass and (European) catfish.
Depends on what you mean by most aggressive i guess because those will eat anything that fits but most of them wont hurt humans.
Depends on what you mean by most aggressive i guess because those will eat anything that fits but most of them wont hurt humans.
Electric eel are not that aggresive. They just have the tools to hurt other fish very easily and make them crazy with their constant electric pulses. But they don't seek conflict with anyone, neither their own or other fish.
And Wels are for some reason rather softies in captivity, in the wild they can be "aggressive" when hunting or defending their nest, but I would not compare it to cichlids or aimaras. If a Wels acted like that in a lake there would be noone swimming anymore.
I never knew that about the Wels being softies in captivity, ive seen only a couple in the wild and ofcourse what ive seen on videos and such, i expected them to be quite aggressive in captivity too i guess.
Ive even heard some stories about soke peoples small dog being grabbed from shores by catfish, but when theyre well fed theres no reason to be like that i guess
The one at Fish Story for example often gets bullied by smaller catfish. Eating a small dog is not that impressive for a fish of its size. And catfish usually just eat anything they can. You can also see videos of them hunting pigeons in france. There are also some stories of Wels biting swimmers that are theorized to have interrupted their nests.
The most aggressive I saw them in the wild (in a documentary) was when some Anglers had a ~1m animal on the line and a way bigger animal showed up and tried to eat it while it was fighting, so they pulled up the big with the small one in its mouth.
Maybe they are softies because in Europe they don't really have any rivals that need to be detered. The only other big fish are sturgeon that have a very different lifestyle. And they get along with other Wels that arent food sized. You can find footage of a lot sharing a hiding spot.
The most aggressive I saw them in the wild (in a documentary) was when some Anglers had a ~1m animal on the line and a way bigger animal showed up and tried to eat it while it was fighting, so they pulled up the big with the small one in its mouth.
Maybe they are softies because in Europe they don't really have any rivals that need to be detered. The only other big fish are sturgeon that have a very different lifestyle. And they get along with other Wels that arent food sized. You can find footage of a lot sharing a hiding spot.