I see it every day... People refer to this or that fish as being "mean" because it chases, harasses, or eats other fish.
"Mean" can be easily defines as: unkind, cruel, spiteful, or malicious. These are human traits.
If you place a school of Neons in a tank of large Angels, the Angels will eat the Neons. Are they being mean? Not hardly. They are doing what they were designed to do. A Neon is a natural food of an Angelfish. They eat Neons. If nothing ate them, the ecosystem in which they live would become unbalanced and everything would suffer.
This goes for everything found in nature. Everything has to eat something. It's all part of the grand design. If this seems unfair, mean, or unexplainable, might I suggest that you turn to your own personal system of faith/beliefs for answers on that one.
Some fish will bully other fish. These would be fish that come from a competitive environment (in the wild), or those who are solitary in the wild. Another fish is a threat. It could eat offspring, it could be undesired competition for limited food. They chase it away. In the wild, the chased fish may never return. In our tanks, there isn't room for them to just move on down the river, or whatever. So the two will encounter each other again and again.
Fish do not have the capacity for higher reasoning. All too often, people imprint human traits onto pets. This usually ends up with the people becoming frustrated with the pet. It isn't the pet's fault that a human expected more from it than it is capable of delivering.
Many people will keep, or try to keep, a pugnacious fish with more peaceful fish. Then they get angry with the more aggressive fish because it harasses the others. They call that fish "mean". It could easily be said that something "mean" has gone on here... but the fish wasn't the perpetrator.
Keep things in perspective. Don't try to make your fish into little submerged humans. They're fish. Appreciate them for what they are. If you want little humans, there are some very well proven methods for obtaining those. Just don't try to keep one in a tank.
"Mean" can be easily defines as: unkind, cruel, spiteful, or malicious. These are human traits.
If you place a school of Neons in a tank of large Angels, the Angels will eat the Neons. Are they being mean? Not hardly. They are doing what they were designed to do. A Neon is a natural food of an Angelfish. They eat Neons. If nothing ate them, the ecosystem in which they live would become unbalanced and everything would suffer.
This goes for everything found in nature. Everything has to eat something. It's all part of the grand design. If this seems unfair, mean, or unexplainable, might I suggest that you turn to your own personal system of faith/beliefs for answers on that one.
Some fish will bully other fish. These would be fish that come from a competitive environment (in the wild), or those who are solitary in the wild. Another fish is a threat. It could eat offspring, it could be undesired competition for limited food. They chase it away. In the wild, the chased fish may never return. In our tanks, there isn't room for them to just move on down the river, or whatever. So the two will encounter each other again and again.
Fish do not have the capacity for higher reasoning. All too often, people imprint human traits onto pets. This usually ends up with the people becoming frustrated with the pet. It isn't the pet's fault that a human expected more from it than it is capable of delivering.
Many people will keep, or try to keep, a pugnacious fish with more peaceful fish. Then they get angry with the more aggressive fish because it harasses the others. They call that fish "mean". It could easily be said that something "mean" has gone on here... but the fish wasn't the perpetrator.
Keep things in perspective. Don't try to make your fish into little submerged humans. They're fish. Appreciate them for what they are. If you want little humans, there are some very well proven methods for obtaining those. Just don't try to keep one in a tank.
