Do U Descpline Ur Fishies?

[cleekdaFish]

I try to...esp wid my krib that mother####er pulls out my plants and eats my shrimp!! she thinks that shes the boss...so i chase her with my thumb and show her that I own her....shes the ownee! damit! but it doesnt work she still does wat she wants

 

[Miss Wiggle]

scaring your fish is not going to help anything!

kribs are cichlids, they're fairly likely to uproot plants and eat shrimp, that's not the fish doing something wrong he's behaving according to his character, it's you who'se got it wrong putting him in the tank with those things if you didn't want them damaging.

it's completely unfair of you to chase him round and stress him out because of it. also bear in mind your other fish will be scared from you chasing round the tank too. stressing your fish out will leave them prone to disease.

also please watch your language this is a family forum.

sorry but i think what your doing is bang out of order, the poor fish hasn't done anything wrong!

 

[andywg]

it's completely unfair of you to chase him round and stress him out because of it. also bear in mind your other fish will be scared from you chasing round the tank too. stressing your fish out will leave them prone to disease.

I can't remember the link, but researchers kept a male betta alive for 7 years. Part of hte daily routine was "exercise" by chasing the fish with a net. Considering the normal life expectancy of the fish, this doesn't seem to have done a great harm.

Fish will naturally encounter things to run away from in the wild. I would be extremely surprised to see the odd chasing with a hand cause a fish to succumb to a disease. Hell, every time I walk or move near my big tank the bala sharks and chalceus all get stressed and start flying around the tank. There don't seem to be any problems there.

 

[cleekdaFish]

yes u r rite miss wiggley , she is just doing natural instint behavior. I like her alot , 1 of my fav fish. Im gonna apologize to her by giving her some live worms ,


thx

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's completely unfair of you to chase him round and stress him out because of it. also bear in mind your other fish will be scared from you chasing round the tank too. stressing your fish out will leave them prone to disease.

I can't remember the link, but researchers kept a male betta alive for 7 years. Part of hte daily routine was "exercise" by chasing the fish with a net. Considering the normal life expectancy of the fish, this doesn't seem to have done a great harm.

Fish will naturally encounter things to run away from in the wild. I would be extremely surprised to see the odd chasing with a hand cause a fish to succumb to a disease. Hell, every time I walk or move near my big tank the bala sharks and chalceus all get stressed and start flying around the tank. There don't seem to be any problems there.

cats would have plenty to run away from in the wild, doesn't mean i'm gonna chase em round the house! however i do accept your point to an extent.

bala's are also known to spook easily.

also the odd chasing fine, like when you have to catch a fish for some reason, it's unlikely to stress them enough to harm them. doing it regularly however i think could cause problems, the OP does not say how many times or how often they have done this.

my point was mostly though that it is unfair to take it out on the fish when you percieve that they have done something wrong, however a small amount of research will show you that it's natural for them to do these things. it's not the fish's fault for eating your shrimp, but your fault for putting a shrimp in with something that will eat it.

yes u r rite miss wiggley , she is just doing natural instint behavior. I like her alot , 1 of my fav fish. Im gonna apologize to her by giving her some live worms ,


thx

ha ha ok, i'm sure she'll forgive you!!

 

[ghostchoir]

Nah. I doubt any of mine at least would understand what was going on or why they were being disciplined, so what would the point be?

 

[GoldLenny]

I just play the Alec Baldwin voicemail recording to my goldfish when they get out of line or fight over food too much! They snap right in line when they hear him calling them little pigs. LOL

http/wwww.tmz.com/2007/04/19/alec-baldwi...ge-to-daughter/ (actual recording)

http/gawker.com/news/alec-baldwin/that-a...full-254061.php (transcript)

Now, being more serious. I would suspect that some kind of reaction such as a tap on the glass to disuade a fish from doing negative behavior would eventually have a pavlovian effect on the fish to make it realize that the behavior is unacceptable. I wouldn't go too overboard with the discipline though.

 

[CFC]

I used to poke my jardini arowana with a stick when it tried to bite me if i had my hands in the tank for any reason, eventually it learnt that if i had the stick nearby it wasnt a good idea to try biting me and if it did try a quick wave of the stick sent it sulking in the corner of the tank. Its grown out of biting me now and largely ignores my hands. Unfortunately the trick doesnt work with my super aggressive silver arowana which attacks the stick and bites that as well so ive given up with the stick treatment now and just stick a net on its head instead and leave it to fight with that while i get on with what im doing quickly.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

good tactic CFC, had a few bites off oscar recently when doing his tank maintenance, was thinking about putting a post up about how to manage it without getting hurt. i'll try your tactics first!

 

[Tacklebury]

Yes.

I had a ruby shark that killed all my tetra's and 4 Female Bettas. My discipline was taking the little grotter back to my LFS!!

Yes my fault for adding him to a community tank, but that'll teach him!

Every time I go into the shop now I see him swimming around in a tank with massive fish, that'll teach him!!

 

[raptorrex]

i have used some form of discipline, and it "seems" to work, my acara was having a go at one fish only, so i popped it in one of those floating fry tanks, whenever i caught it. the behaviour has stopped now, and the fish shows no stress.

Cant see why it would cause any real problems, real life is full of shocks and surprises, there seems no reason to assume that tank kept fish, would suffer any more than wild fish. and wild fish need these shocks to teach them how to survive, cant see any reason why our pets could not do the same.

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

When I added a new Oscar to my 125g, my older Oscar (Odin) was a wee bit perturbed. After a couple days of him chasing her around, I was sick of it so I got out the big net and every time I saw him going for her, I "spanked" him with it. (Note to all... I did not actually hit my fish, more of a poke to get him away) He hates the net so I put 3 of the big ones in there to give her some space. He would sulk in the corner, eyeing the nets and I'm sure hating me!!!
I gradually removed the nets one by one as he settled down, if he started to be a butthead all I had to do was pull out a net and show it to him and he scurried back to his side
All is good and they get along wonderfully now.

 

[dwarfgourami]

My male bristlenose has been handed an ASBO: he is on no account to go near the tank where mrs Bristlie lives. Harrassment, you understand, and excessive sexual demands. I am glad to report that the poor girl looks a lot happier since she found a place of her own.

 

[iairj84]

I'm much more inclined to move a fish or rehome one if they aren't getting along with the others. I think it's my way of justifying getting more than one tank

 

[Amunet]

Well I never chased or anything like that, but if I saw one of the danios getting too aggressive (other than chasing and such like usual).. I just tap the glass to get them to stop.
They could care less if I tap the tank now though.. they still do whatever they want lol.