Fishing My fish keep eating each other!

[cats2rise]

Not quite fishing, but about fish so I thought I'd stick it here.

Over the past two weeks four of my fish have been eaten. I find them on the bottom of the tank with half their bodies/heads removed.

I did have 8 Rosy Barbs, but I am now down to four. There are three goldfish also in the tank but they keep to themselves. I believe I only ever had one male as he has the pink on him, while the other 7 (now 3) are females.

Done some research and Rosy Barbs are content fish.. Any ideas?

 

[YOTC]

Never Trust Goldfish.

 

[Pie in the Sky]

How big's your tank? If your tank is too small for the amount of fish in it they will become aggressive. Most likely it's the barbs eating each other, goldfish aren't usually aggressive although they can be during breeding season. Have you had the fish for a while before this happened?

 

[cats2rise]

About 50 cms long. Had them for about a month or so. I have another tank with Goldfish and Danio's for about a year and they are fine.

 

[Pie in the Sky]

This site recommends at least 114 litre tank for rosy barbs, not sure if yours would be that big?
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/rosybarb.php

It maybe to crowded in the tank with the goldfish as well, thats all I can think of, assuming that you're feeding them enough. I don't think rosy barbs or goldfish are known for being particularly aggressive.

 

[cats2rise]

Cannot remember exactly how many litres, but was not 114 litres... In the 70s or 80s somewhere.

 

[YOTC]

add more water

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Stop thinking out of the box YOTC.

 

[davey_magik]

Put in more fish and play a 'Last Man Standing' game.

 

[made from beer]

barbs are ruthless. i had green barbs at one stage, they attacked everything.

 

[cats2rise]

No more dead, but the goldfish seem to be watching their backs and staying in a tight huddle.

 

[awaKen]

Put in more fish and play a 'Last Man Standing' game.

Oh dude I laughed so hard!

 

[Kipz]

Set up a surveillance camera in there.

Then upload the vid here for us.

 

[cats2rise]

Buy me a surveillance camera and you have yourself a deal.

 

[BadSeed]

When I used to work in a aquarium specialist pet shop, we used to see this problem all the time.











Its called food.. they need it.

 

[Equus]

It's cannibalism in a sense but it's good cannibalism because by eating the dead fish, predators won't know that there is a dead fish around the area.

So he is eaten for the greater good.

 

[cats2rise]

Its called food.. they need it.

Oh so now you tell me.

 

[BILC]

um feed em more?

 

[TheMightyPies]

the fish dead yet?

 

[GoCattas]

Eat one.

The hunters become the hunted.

 

[cats2rise]

Another dead one this morning. The arse eaten out of it apparently. I wasnt home to see it, so cant say which fish it was. They are all rather randy today and swimming around, so they are playing it cool.

 

[cats2rise]

Little smarmy gits.

The joke is on them though because as soon as there is only one left, I will know who to blame. If he/she is smart, they will stop killing each other. Plus there is now two of each sex left, so its quite obvious that if the next one to be eaten is a male, that the other male has been the killer all along.

 

[Groggyk]

Little smarmy gits.

The joke is on them though because as soon as there is only one left, I will know who to blame. If he/she is smart, they will stop killing each other. Plus there is now two of each sex left, so its quite obvious that if the next one to be eaten is a male, that the other male has been the killer all along.

Normally a male will eat the female, although some female spiders eat the male after sex.

Don't know whether fish do this tho'.

 

[cats2rise]

Well if I was a male fish, I'd eat the other male so I had two females to keep my company.

 

[Judd_Magic]

Ha! Ha! Ha!

This thread is brilliant, very funny indeed!