Hi, I've had an irridescent shark for over a year now. I also had 4 danios and recently a black molly. My tank size is 10 gallons which is big enough for now because the shark isn't that big yet. My problem is that 2 danios have turned up dead in 3 days. One appeared to have had its stomach eaten while the other was bent. The danios that were killed were the two smallest ones. I have not had a problem with fish being killed until recently so that points the blame at the molly, but it is small. The catfish is a lot bigger than the danios but it is a sissy and not aggressive at all, so I am confused. What do you guys think is happening?
killer catfish?
- Thread starter elementbrdr
- Start date
Well, how long have you had the tank set up? In all honesty if the shark had killed the danios, you probably would only notice a bludge in its stomach, or half a danio in the tank. The stomach that wast eaten out of one was probably the work of the other danios, molly, and the shark. This of course would have occured after it died. The other one being "bent" was probably just the way the body stiffend after it died. If there are no external wounds, IE missing scales and such, I doubt it was the other fish. If it was though, and since it was the two smaller danios, this could be the work of the two larger ones. Let us know how long the tank has been set up, ammonia and nitrite readings as well.
The tank has been stable for about 1 year. I don't have any readings, but the tank has not had any trouble with anything dying until just recently. This leads me to believe that there isn't anything wrong with the tank conditions. Also, the molly would probably die before danios if water condition was to blame.
Thats what I was thinking too, and sorry about missing the time you've had the tank set up. Did you notice if the two smaller danios were getting picked on at all by the biggers ones? Were they eating?
Whenever I was looking at my tank with the light on, all the fish got along fine. I have never seen any bullying or fin nipping. The danios tended to swim together rather than pick on each other.