No, I'm not talking about a forum member, although she would probably get banned from here, too, if she could be. I'm talking about a fish. A very nasty fish. A very nasty female Marigold Swordtail fish. She wasn't that bad at first, a bit of chasing here, a little bullying there. And then I added poor ol' Bubbles and things just went downhill from there. Bubbles is a large female Oranda Goldfish that I had just rescued from a little 5 gallon. I didn't have any place to put her, so I just stuck her in my 25 gal community tank until I found a better tank to put her in. Unfortunately, Bubbles is such a mild, clumsy sweetheart, I have actually been able to raise batches of livebearer fry with her since then without having to worry about them being eaten.
Anyway, Sheila soon figured out that despite being 4 times her size, Bubbles was easily bullied. I was finally able to put Bubbles in her own 25 gal, and moved my small community of fish into a newly cycled 40 gal. These fish were not cramped in their previous tank, but despite all the extra room, Sheila only got worse. If she could bully bigger fish, why couldn't she bully smaller fish, too? With Bubbles gone, she was the biggest fish in the tank. Her bullying problem finally reached an all time high a few weeks ago, and she actually began pulling the scales off of some of the other fish, especially a small male Brick-Red Swordtail named Rowan (which I am now treating for fungus). I finally lost my temper with her a little over a week ago, and she was banned from the fish aquarium. Because I didn't really have any other place to put her at the time or a friend to give her to and I didn't have the heart to euthanize her, I ended up dumping her in the outdoor fishpond. If she wanted to play "tough girl," she could do it with all those great big goldfish outdoors. Sure, it would get too cold for her come winter, but just then I really didn't care whether that little orange booger lived or died.
So, she spent about a week--maybe more--living outdoors in the fishpond. During that time, I even felt at liberty to get a gorgeous new Lyretail Sword for the 40 because I knew I wouldn't have to worry about him getting his little lyretail butt whupped all the time. Even so, being the softy that I am, I finally felt bad for poor li'l Sheila, and decided that perhaps I could get out that dusty ol' 5 gal for her. Sure, it might be a bit cramped for a sword of her size and character, but she'd earned it. So, I caught her again and took her back inside today, but fool that I am, I stuck back in the 40 gal to see if she might've learned her lesson.
She's been meek as a lamb ever since she got back in, even allowing herself to actually be chased around by the new male lyretail. I'm still watching her like a hawk, though, and if she puts one fin out of place, she might just get dumped back in the pond!!!
Anyway, Sheila soon figured out that despite being 4 times her size, Bubbles was easily bullied. I was finally able to put Bubbles in her own 25 gal, and moved my small community of fish into a newly cycled 40 gal. These fish were not cramped in their previous tank, but despite all the extra room, Sheila only got worse. If she could bully bigger fish, why couldn't she bully smaller fish, too? With Bubbles gone, she was the biggest fish in the tank. Her bullying problem finally reached an all time high a few weeks ago, and she actually began pulling the scales off of some of the other fish, especially a small male Brick-Red Swordtail named Rowan (which I am now treating for fungus). I finally lost my temper with her a little over a week ago, and she was banned from the fish aquarium. Because I didn't really have any other place to put her at the time or a friend to give her to and I didn't have the heart to euthanize her, I ended up dumping her in the outdoor fishpond. If she wanted to play "tough girl," she could do it with all those great big goldfish outdoors. Sure, it would get too cold for her come winter, but just then I really didn't care whether that little orange booger lived or died.
So, she spent about a week--maybe more--living outdoors in the fishpond. During that time, I even felt at liberty to get a gorgeous new Lyretail Sword for the 40 because I knew I wouldn't have to worry about him getting his little lyretail butt whupped all the time. Even so, being the softy that I am, I finally felt bad for poor li'l Sheila, and decided that perhaps I could get out that dusty ol' 5 gal for her. Sure, it might be a bit cramped for a sword of her size and character, but she'd earned it. So, I caught her again and took her back inside today, but fool that I am, I stuck back in the 40 gal to see if she might've learned her lesson.
She's been meek as a lamb ever since she got back in, even allowing herself to actually be chased around by the new male lyretail. I'm still watching her like a hawk, though, and if she puts one fin out of place, she might just get dumped back in the pond!!!
