Saved a CAE

[FloridaFishGuy]

My bother in laws parents had a fish tank but are getting rid of it. They had a CAE in the worst water ive ever seen in a fish tank ever. I took him home and put him in a big bowl (Hospital Tank) and added some aquarium salt and a air pump. I left him in there for about a day and he seemed to be doing fine. The fish is about 4in and i put him in the tank with my 3 black skirts and 3 bloodfin tetras. When i put him in the tank he seemed to be fine but when i woke up this morning i noticed when ever some of my fish swam near him he would get aggresive and chase them. I need some advice on what i should do with this new fish and what needs to be done with him.

 

[AquaNut]

Ugh. That's a really tough one FishNewbie. Good for you for trying to help him out, though!!

CAEs get really large and extremely aggressive and mean. Sadly, your ten gallon community tank isn't really an appropriate home for him. I have a CAE that I bought a couple of years back without knowing what he really was. He's now getting somewhat large and occasionally nasty. I bought a second hand 20 gallon tank for him, because I couldn't bear to euthanize the poor guy and my lfs has nowhere to put a big mean CAE, either. In a crazy turn of events, the 20 gallon I bought came with an oscar and... a HUGE CAE. lol So... I still have one CAE too many.

In short, I don't know what I can tell you, other than I wouldn't keep him in a ten with the fish you have. He will likely start killing them. He either needs a tank of his own, or he needs to go in with aggressive fish who can hold their own with him. You could always ask your lfs; they might be more equipped to handle him than mine is.

 

[Inchworm]

My bother in laws parents had a fish tank but are getting rid of it.

Hummm FishNewbie.

Maybe you can talk them out of that tank, being as they are getting rid of it anyway.

Their fish does need a home and if you had a place to keep it I'm sure you would give it good care.

 

[MAM]

check out alien annas comment on cae in her pinned post "newbie no-nos". maybe you should see if you can get that tank he was in before........