Well, I learned a valuable lesson recently.
I've spent many years in the hobby, and came across some rediculously strange situations, but none like what happened this time.
I have a really large african setup with everything from angry venustus to mike tyson demasonis. I must say, this tank, while rewarding, is also the most taxing to take care of.
African cichlids are amazing fighters, and bloody aggressive by all means.
Some, however, take their flank-attacking, eye biting, and domineering personalities to a whole new level.
Johannii's are tough and mean, and can hold their own against a fish twice their size easily.
On the other hand, I have one male Melanochromis auratus about an inch shorter than my Johannii's that started ripping every fish in the tank a new fin.
This guy is roughly 4" long if he's lucky, yet he fought off a group of 5 other african cichlids larger than himself at the same time.
In a panick, I took this guy out of my African tank, as anyone who keeps africans know how bloody expensive some of them area--especially those sensative Dimidiochromis compressiceps. He was trying to kill the whole tank.
This is where my hurried mistake began--I was afraid to put this guy anywhere. My sick bays were full, and after giving it some thought, I decided to acclimate him temporarily to one of my South American tanks that I keep with a little higher Ph than the others.
I place him in this tank with 9"-14" Cichlids. I was afraid he was going to get eaten in the tank, but I was running late for work, and honestly, a $2.99 fish isn't going to be that great of a loss for me if he does get eaten. So I took the chance to avoid my other africans going through anymore stress, and I headed on to work.
Coming home later that day, I expected to come home to a missing Auratus.
What did I find, however?
I walked in and my jaw fell limp as I witnessed this little monster going Jackie Chan on my 10" Jaguar Managuense. He was beating the crap out of a 10" Jaguar that couldn't catch him.
Meanwhile, another sight caught my eye, as on the floor of the aquarium floated the remains of my 9" Green Terror.
The Green Terror was mutilated--torsa chew off on both sides, tail completely demolished, scales ripped off, and fins missing. Never in my life have I seen anything like that.
Meanwhile, I looked at the rest of the fish in my tank, and they were all huddled in a corner of the aquarium and frightened out of their minds.
Folks... I have heard of Africans being aggressive and taking on larger fish and all, but this situation took a whole new meaning to me.
I never thought in all my years in the hobby that any 4" fish could cause such devastation.
I have owned female Auratus before and didn't experience this type of behavior; this was my first time trying out a male, however.
I yanked him out of that tank before he caused any more damage to my Jag. Not knowing what else to do, I put him in my frog tank. Now the guy sits there staring at the glass all day with nothing to do.
I gotta say, lesson learned. I will never buy another male Auratus again.
Now, I must lament over the loss of a 9" Gorgeous Male Green Terror that I've had for quite a long time.
My LFS has some 10g fully equipped setups available for $35 right now. Maybe I will get one of those, and just put him in that tank by himself.
Don't get me wrong, I love aggressive fish, and own a ton of them--but that little guy made a pirahna look like a silver dollar--and without the capable bite to boot. I think he pulled it off with pure dexterity after watching how he tore into the fins of my much larger Jag.
I'll get a picture of the evil critter up soon so folks can see the wrothful monster.
I've spent many years in the hobby, and came across some rediculously strange situations, but none like what happened this time.
I have a really large african setup with everything from angry venustus to mike tyson demasonis. I must say, this tank, while rewarding, is also the most taxing to take care of.
African cichlids are amazing fighters, and bloody aggressive by all means.
Some, however, take their flank-attacking, eye biting, and domineering personalities to a whole new level.
Johannii's are tough and mean, and can hold their own against a fish twice their size easily.
On the other hand, I have one male Melanochromis auratus about an inch shorter than my Johannii's that started ripping every fish in the tank a new fin.
This guy is roughly 4" long if he's lucky, yet he fought off a group of 5 other african cichlids larger than himself at the same time.
In a panick, I took this guy out of my African tank, as anyone who keeps africans know how bloody expensive some of them area--especially those sensative Dimidiochromis compressiceps. He was trying to kill the whole tank.
This is where my hurried mistake began--I was afraid to put this guy anywhere. My sick bays were full, and after giving it some thought, I decided to acclimate him temporarily to one of my South American tanks that I keep with a little higher Ph than the others.
I place him in this tank with 9"-14" Cichlids. I was afraid he was going to get eaten in the tank, but I was running late for work, and honestly, a $2.99 fish isn't going to be that great of a loss for me if he does get eaten. So I took the chance to avoid my other africans going through anymore stress, and I headed on to work.
Coming home later that day, I expected to come home to a missing Auratus.
What did I find, however?
I walked in and my jaw fell limp as I witnessed this little monster going Jackie Chan on my 10" Jaguar Managuense. He was beating the crap out of a 10" Jaguar that couldn't catch him.
Meanwhile, another sight caught my eye, as on the floor of the aquarium floated the remains of my 9" Green Terror.
The Green Terror was mutilated--torsa chew off on both sides, tail completely demolished, scales ripped off, and fins missing. Never in my life have I seen anything like that.
Meanwhile, I looked at the rest of the fish in my tank, and they were all huddled in a corner of the aquarium and frightened out of their minds.
Folks... I have heard of Africans being aggressive and taking on larger fish and all, but this situation took a whole new meaning to me.
I never thought in all my years in the hobby that any 4" fish could cause such devastation.
I have owned female Auratus before and didn't experience this type of behavior; this was my first time trying out a male, however.
I yanked him out of that tank before he caused any more damage to my Jag. Not knowing what else to do, I put him in my frog tank. Now the guy sits there staring at the glass all day with nothing to do.
I gotta say, lesson learned. I will never buy another male Auratus again.
Now, I must lament over the loss of a 9" Gorgeous Male Green Terror that I've had for quite a long time.
My LFS has some 10g fully equipped setups available for $35 right now. Maybe I will get one of those, and just put him in that tank by himself.
Don't get me wrong, I love aggressive fish, and own a ton of them--but that little guy made a pirahna look like a silver dollar--and without the capable bite to boot. I think he pulled it off with pure dexterity after watching how he tore into the fins of my much larger Jag.
I'll get a picture of the evil critter up soon so folks can see the wrothful monster.
