Who's the murderer? Where's the evidence?
- Thread starter pelleeklund
- Start date
I havn't read through this whole thread but if your talking about young growing fish ALL young fish are usually more then willing to rip up a dead fish and devour it. They are growing and need what ever calories they can get , especially very usalble fish protein. Who is the actual murderer? You should have a better idea then anyone else as it is your tank! Young dovii and jag,conspecific aggression, could be any of them, depending on the situation. 
Young fish are hungary most of the time ---- I've seen young African, CA and SA cichlids ALL devour a dead fish in a matter a minutes ----and it don't matter whether the species is considered ,by some, to be a pure vegetarian or piscivore
Young fish are hungary most of the time ---- I've seen young African, CA and SA cichlids ALL devour a dead fish in a matter a minutes ----and it don't matter whether the species is considered ,by some, to be a pure vegetarian or piscivore
You know I was watching these guys pretty closely yesterday and now I am leaning towards murder again. Believe it or not the Dovii is running the show now, despite it's size. It even gill flares at me and shakes all around like a tough guy now. A bit of an attitude adjustment from last weekend. It's also got the larger Jag hiding in a bush and the smaller Jag hiding behind the filter tube. I'm impressed. I also think that maybe three was company for him and he was quite possibly the murderer. My new theory was that when I shut the light out Wednesday night the Dovii sprung into action. He killed the Jag almost immediately and quickly ate him entirely. Now he had all night to and day to digest his victim and drop anchor before I returned from work. During this crime he also got to show the other fish who was boss by punking the biggest Jag in the place. Now the others got to see what they were in for, possibly explaining all the color change the fish had the next day. It was a change of guard, which I would think came about because the Dovii was added to the tank separately almost a week after the 3 Jags, and was rudely welcomed by the gang. Now he showed the remaining fish what he could do and has earned his respect, and so he claimed the flowerpot for his territory. Now the order is settled I think, at least until two of the three start mating. Also, there is still no smell or sign of a jumper so that helps me support my murder theory in my own head. Sounds good right? I'm feeling better with it. Maybe this is the answer.
Nah buddy I've checked and re-checked under everything within a ten foot radius of the tank and there is nothing. I can say i'm 99.9 percent sure it is not out on the ground. I am really thorough with the checks i've done. Until I triple checked yesterday I also thought it was a jumper.
Here's the remaining fish again. I think the Dovii and the larger Jag are pairing off but I can't say for sure. They seem to be hanging out a lot, and rarely flex at each other. They also, for the most part, freely swim past and in to each others territory, so that's good. On the other hand they have driven away the other smaller bluer Jag with a vengeance. They have it pinned up behind the filter tube and they both hate it all day as hard as they can.
The big Jag scares the hell out of the little Jag so all he has to do is charge and the little guy bolts. Sometimes the little Jag will have a go at the Dovii but usually ends up taking the loss. Basically though, the reason why I'm writing is to figure out what to do with the third wheel. He can't be all that happy behind the tube, because his life is tube or beating now, so should I move him to the other tank? Also is this usually what happens when two fish are forming a pair, because that would be great. On a side note, taking pictures of fish absolutely sucks, my apologies, believe it or not these are the best of an hours worth of shots.
The big Jag scares the hell out of the little Jag so all he has to do is charge and the little guy bolts. Sometimes the little Jag will have a go at the Dovii but usually ends up taking the loss. Basically though, the reason why I'm writing is to figure out what to do with the third wheel. He can't be all that happy behind the tube, because his life is tube or beating now, so should I move him to the other tank? Also is this usually what happens when two fish are forming a pair, because that would be great. On a side note, taking pictures of fish absolutely sucks, my apologies, believe it or not these are the best of an hours worth of shots.
you do realize that your putting alot of thought into that death scenario.. I'm not trying to down talk you but your fish are only 2 inches there's no way to tell the sex at that age. Parachromis go through many color swings especially jags.. and those patterns are far from what that fish is going to look like in the future.. Id say that your fish was a jumper and you thorough searches weren't as thorough as you thought.. and there will be no odor from a 2 inch fish, it takes maybe an hour tops for that fish to dry completely. And he would be a littly crispy nothing with no odor.
No way he's gone outside the box, I am convinced. Unless he grew legs and took off out back. No offense either but my searches were actually better than I thought, i'm a humble man and I just didn't want to blow up my searching skills. You are definitely right about over-thinking everything involving this new set-up though. Just too excited, like Lennie from Mice and Men, I'm smothering them.
