My Danio is a murderer

[lolly]

Hi I hope someone can Help me urgently! One of my Danios is taking chunks out of other fish including a much bigger Male Guppy. I have put him in isolaton, but this can only be temp as i have no filter for his bowl. I need to know what to do with him?
Also my New Betta is not eating he seems ok health wise, but I am not a Betta expert.

 

[Nauplii]

Hey, i thought since no ones replied yet that i might try and help.

ok first im sorry but i dont know what to do with that nasty danio, you do get an evil lil fishy sometimes with an attitude thats stinks...

And er... what have you been trying to feed your betta?

 

[lolly]

I started with tropical flake then have put some dried blood worms in other fish just eat them up and he doesn't seem to care.

 

[Nauplii]

hmm.. wat other fish are in with him lolly?? i tend to feed him live or frozen bloodworm and when i feed the tetras their flakes and the khulis their waffer he seems to eat some of them as well..

if you have fish that are fast swimming or ones he dont like then he might tend not to eat

 

[lolly]

I think my betta may have been a bit intimidated by the killer danio, verry fast & aggresive(he only killed once but has commited GBH several times)! So i might just watch him over the next few days, he may improve. I only removed the danio last night. Do you think that is an ok plan?

 

[WILDER]

what size is the tank, how many danio's and other fish, what are test results in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, fish can also become aggressive when you are overstocked.

 

[sylvia]

Also, is the danio alone? They need to be kept in groups of 5 or more in at least a 20 gallon or they become quite aggressive... What type of danio BTW?

Is the tank cycled? How long has it been set up? and all the questions everyone should try to answer that wilder included

 

[tekknocolor]

As far as your betta not eating. Try a variety of different foods:

1.) pellets - hikari is the most recommended - most bettas kill for them
2.) Live foods - brine shrimp, blood worms, black worms etc
3.) betta flakes
4.) frozen foods - frozen blood worms, brine shrimp etc

Also, sometimes it takes a couple of days for a betta to eat what you're tring to feed him. They're extremely finicky eaters. Try some of the above and try them for a few days before you give up! HTH Keep us updated on your betta!

 

[lolly]

My tank is cycled, but only one month old. We traded up!
All levels as normal as recomended: i.e. ph7, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5 ish.
I have 24 fish av about 2.5 cm long, with exeption of the betta who is not huge. The aggressor in question is a goldish colour leopard danio, we have another 8 danios mix of zebra & leopard ones.
The tank is 88 litres dont know how to convert to gallon. I did not think the tank was over stoked as each fish has 3 litres of water.
We do not currently have any ornaments, were waiting to find the right one for the tank. Do you think this could be cause of disharmony?
Please help as Killer Danio is now living in a cocktail-shaker inside big tank, so that his water is still warm & filtered.
As for the Betta issue I might try some of the pellets suggested, I do not think he is starving but soon i will start to be concerned!

 

[The-Wolf]

Please help as Killer Danio is now living in a cocktail-shaker inside big tank, so that his water is still warm & filtered.

seperating and confining the danio will only exasperate the problem.
your danio is establishing itself as the dominat fish in your community.

you can relive the aggression by keeping the temperature in the ideal zone for leopards, which is 18-24c / 64-75f.
I suspect the true problem though is over crowding as 88 ltr is 23 gallons; ergo you have 1 fish per gallon when the rule of thumb is 1" of fish per gallon.

 

[lolly]

I went to LFS, last night & they swapped my killer danio for another one. The advisor there said my tank had correct number of fish as i bought tank & fish from him, i sort of trust his word. However i will not be putting any more fish in unless it is to replace ones i already have.

Thank you for your help.

As for the Betta hunger strike it was broken last night. I distracted the other fish with flake food @ one end of the tank then put some blood worm in the corner were Crawford (that is his name) was hovering. He did manage to munch up 3/4 bits before the others got in on the act.


So to sum up I hope to have a harmonious tank from now on!