otterblue
Fish Crazy
Joseph is a scarlet badis. He lives in a 40 gallon tank with other scarlet badises. This is his little story.
1 Joseph is born in the tank. He's the son of Roosevelt & an unnamed female. All of his brother and sister fry are eaten. He manages to hide until he gets bigger.
2 Joseph grows and turns out to be the smallest of the 3 males. He is chased regularly. Even the females chase him occasionally. He has no territory to call his own.
3 Roosevelt nips Joseph's tailfin, splitting it down the center. It never heals.
4 Joseph starts to lose weight. He can no longer catch his food, always missing his strikes.
5 Joseph becomes paler and skinnier. Just a head and backbone with fins. Despite trying different things, I can't help him eat.
6 I decide to euthanise him - but, he still keeps trying to catch food. I decide to give him a chance.
7 Joseph catches a cyclops!
8 Somehow, Joseph starts to gain weight. Occasionally he catches food.
9 Joseph is healthy again but still skinny (and still the worst hunter in the tank).
10 Joseph decides to claim a territory. Not the smartest fish, he picks the smallest piece of driftwood right next to Roosevelt's territory.
11 Roosevelt and Joseph have numerous encounters, always ending with Joseph being chased away.
12 Truman (the other male) gets the same illness Joseph had. I put him in the QT/hospital tank. Despite being bigger and stronger than Joseph, Truman dies.
13 Right after, Roosevelt and Joseph meet at their borders, but Joseph doesn't swim away. They swim and flare at each other, side by side. It ends in a draw and both fish swim away.
14 A few days later, despite being smaller, Joseph has become the brightest colored fish in the tank. His breeding colors are redder than Roosevelt's.
And now: Joseph has become the alpha male. He mates regularly & has claimed the largest driftwood (and the whole center of the tank) as his territory. He regularly chases females past his boundaries. He's a bit of a tyrant (hence his name, Joseph Stalin). Roosevelt doesn't enter his territory. I'm happy he's doing well.
In video below, Joseph is the fish peeking his head into frame on the left. This is before he was alpha fish.
Joseph the Underdog
1 Joseph is born in the tank. He's the son of Roosevelt & an unnamed female. All of his brother and sister fry are eaten. He manages to hide until he gets bigger.
2 Joseph grows and turns out to be the smallest of the 3 males. He is chased regularly. Even the females chase him occasionally. He has no territory to call his own.
3 Roosevelt nips Joseph's tailfin, splitting it down the center. It never heals.
4 Joseph starts to lose weight. He can no longer catch his food, always missing his strikes.
5 Joseph becomes paler and skinnier. Just a head and backbone with fins. Despite trying different things, I can't help him eat.
6 I decide to euthanise him - but, he still keeps trying to catch food. I decide to give him a chance.
7 Joseph catches a cyclops!
8 Somehow, Joseph starts to gain weight. Occasionally he catches food.
9 Joseph is healthy again but still skinny (and still the worst hunter in the tank).
10 Joseph decides to claim a territory. Not the smartest fish, he picks the smallest piece of driftwood right next to Roosevelt's territory.
11 Roosevelt and Joseph have numerous encounters, always ending with Joseph being chased away.
12 Truman (the other male) gets the same illness Joseph had. I put him in the QT/hospital tank. Despite being bigger and stronger than Joseph, Truman dies.
13 Right after, Roosevelt and Joseph meet at their borders, but Joseph doesn't swim away. They swim and flare at each other, side by side. It ends in a draw and both fish swim away.
14 A few days later, despite being smaller, Joseph has become the brightest colored fish in the tank. His breeding colors are redder than Roosevelt's.
And now: Joseph has become the alpha male. He mates regularly & has claimed the largest driftwood (and the whole center of the tank) as his territory. He regularly chases females past his boundaries. He's a bit of a tyrant (hence his name, Joseph Stalin). Roosevelt doesn't enter his territory. I'm happy he's doing well.
In video below, Joseph is the fish peeking his head into frame on the left. This is before he was alpha fish.
Joseph the Underdog
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