whip
Fish Fanatic
Last night I had just fed my tank. I have a 55 gal with 3 silver dollars, a red tail shark, 4 clown loaches(1.5-3 inches), and an african clawed frog. They were all getting along fine and eating well. All of a sudden I see a comotion in the plants. Apparently the frog wasn't happy with the pellets and freezed dried shrimp. Being an opportunistic predator he tried to eat the smallest clown loach. The loach was swallowed head first. I guess he really wasn't swallowed because the frog only got the loaches head in before the loach flicked his little blades out. I'm guessing it was these blades that made the frog go nuts and swim back and forth in the tank like he just ate a bottle of hot sauce. Needless to say I'm a little freaked out. Not as much as the fish and frog, but still. I decided to try to remove the fish by hand and pulled the frog out of the water. The frog has always been pretty tame. He lets me pick him up and he lets me hand fed him. I remove the two from the tank only to discover that the frog has a mouth full of soft tissue, and the loaches blades were imbedded deeply in this tissue. My best idea at the time (actually my only good idea) was to turn the fish side ways so that with a little luck he would be able to swim out. I watched in horror thinking I was going to lose one of my favorite fish as he wasn't moving much any more. I decided to get my camera and take a picture to remember him. Just as I lifted the camera to the glass all H#!l breaks loose. All the fish started to swim franticly around the tank. all of a sudden the loach and frog go nuts and after about ten seconds of this, they some how seperate and go their own way. I guess they were in no mood to have their picture taken. The loach went to his favorite cave and tried to catch his breath. The frog went to the surface to do the same.
The frog looked bad. He had white flesh hanging out of his mouth and was clearly having trouble breathing. My best guess was that the injury had caused his nasal area to swell or it was badly cut. He was rising out of the water much higher than he normaly did, and his whole body would contort with each breath. A little while later the loach came out of his cave looking pretty good all things considered. He had some reddish looking areas on his side and a whitish scrape above one eye. I watched them for about a half an hour after they split. I thought the other fish were getting a little too curious towards both of the injured guys. I thought some food might distract the other fish for awhile and added some more pellets. I was stunned to see both the loach and frog actually eat.
I'm happy to report that all parties involved are doing well 24 hours after the incident.
How either one survived this is amazing. I don't know what I'm more impressed by? The loach survived being eaten head first. The frog had his mouth ripped out by a fish with a couple of razor blades, and less than an hour later was trying to eat. I wonder if the frog looks at the loaches as a tasty treat still?
In hindsight, I wish I would have gotten photos. At the time it was the last thing on my mind , but words don't do it justice!
The frog looked bad. He had white flesh hanging out of his mouth and was clearly having trouble breathing. My best guess was that the injury had caused his nasal area to swell or it was badly cut. He was rising out of the water much higher than he normaly did, and his whole body would contort with each breath. A little while later the loach came out of his cave looking pretty good all things considered. He had some reddish looking areas on his side and a whitish scrape above one eye. I watched them for about a half an hour after they split. I thought the other fish were getting a little too curious towards both of the injured guys. I thought some food might distract the other fish for awhile and added some more pellets. I was stunned to see both the loach and frog actually eat.
I'm happy to report that all parties involved are doing well 24 hours after the incident.
How either one survived this is amazing. I don't know what I'm more impressed by? The loach survived being eaten head first. The frog had his mouth ripped out by a fish with a couple of razor blades, and less than an hour later was trying to eat. I wonder if the frog looks at the loaches as a tasty treat still?In hindsight, I wish I would have gotten photos. At the time it was the last thing on my mind , but words don't do it justice!
