So I have a couple of Texas Orange Throated Darters in my 65g. One is about an inch and a quarter, probably female, and the other is a 3" male, a very nice one.
Now, this darter has never been at all aggressive. I've watched him sit still while pygmy cories clambered all over him like kids on a playscape, and he didn't even lunge at some small ghost shrimp I used to have (betta ate them).
I was just watching my few pencilfish that survived the crash exploring near the bottom, and the darter was near them, when BAM! The darter shoots out, crashes into a pencilfish, and all of a sudden the poor little pencil is flailing around like crazy, bleeding.
I jumped out of my chair, ran over, chased off the goby and betta who had come to investigate, fended off the seemingly crazed darter with the net, and scooped the pencil out. He's missing an eye. Completely missing, it's just a hole with a spot of blood where the optic nerve was, I can see his skull.
The pencil is now in a small contaner, anestitized with just a touch of clove oil, the other pencilfish is separated from the main tank, and I'm trying to catch the darter. Also, I just found the smaller darter dead, apparently killed by the larger one judging by the size of the bite torn out of his back.
This larger darter never showed any aggression towards the smaller one. He had this one cave he liked, and he'd flare his fins if the little guy got near it, but he never attacked it or anything else in the tank.
Why in the world would my little beauty of a darter suddenly go psycho? Is it because the tank crashed and I had to take everything out, change the water and soil, and put everything back in? I did move the cow vertebra he liked to sit under, but it's just a foot away from its original spot... He can't possibly be throwing a fit about that, can he?
I really like the darter, but if I keep him, that means I can't have tiny fish, which is what I want, so... Anyone who doesn't have pencilfish want a darter? He has a small mouth... I don't think he could de-eye anything larger than a pencil. He's really pretty, but I don't think I can ship him... I'm in Georgetown, Texas.
Now, this darter has never been at all aggressive. I've watched him sit still while pygmy cories clambered all over him like kids on a playscape, and he didn't even lunge at some small ghost shrimp I used to have (betta ate them).
I was just watching my few pencilfish that survived the crash exploring near the bottom, and the darter was near them, when BAM! The darter shoots out, crashes into a pencilfish, and all of a sudden the poor little pencil is flailing around like crazy, bleeding.
I jumped out of my chair, ran over, chased off the goby and betta who had come to investigate, fended off the seemingly crazed darter with the net, and scooped the pencil out. He's missing an eye. Completely missing, it's just a hole with a spot of blood where the optic nerve was, I can see his skull.
The pencil is now in a small contaner, anestitized with just a touch of clove oil, the other pencilfish is separated from the main tank, and I'm trying to catch the darter. Also, I just found the smaller darter dead, apparently killed by the larger one judging by the size of the bite torn out of his back.
This larger darter never showed any aggression towards the smaller one. He had this one cave he liked, and he'd flare his fins if the little guy got near it, but he never attacked it or anything else in the tank.
Why in the world would my little beauty of a darter suddenly go psycho? Is it because the tank crashed and I had to take everything out, change the water and soil, and put everything back in? I did move the cow vertebra he liked to sit under, but it's just a foot away from its original spot... He can't possibly be throwing a fit about that, can he?
I really like the darter, but if I keep him, that means I can't have tiny fish, which is what I want, so... Anyone who doesn't have pencilfish want a darter? He has a small mouth... I don't think he could de-eye anything larger than a pencil. He's really pretty, but I don't think I can ship him... I'm in Georgetown, Texas.
