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About 2 months ago, my 46gal tank had an outbreak of Ick. I had 8 cardinals, and 7 died. All the other fish lived. So now I had one cardinal by itself, and the lfs didn't have any . So this little guy was gonna have to get by for a while on his own.

At first he hid a lot, but within a week, he did something I was never expecting, he started schooling with my rummynoses! It made me happy to see him out and swimming around again, but i knew he would be even happier with some other cardinals, but still, no lfs had any.

So for the next 2 months, he was part of the rummynose school. It was very cute indeed!

Finally, 4 days ago, I got 10 new cardinals for him to school with. Now the strange thing is, after introducting them to his tank, not only has he not started schooling with them, but he has stopped schooling with the rummys, and has spent the last 4 days hiding again, just like when he was first alone. He does come out and sort-of-school with the cardinals when it's feeding time, but afterwards, he goes back into the shadows for most of the time.

I'm assuming that with time, he will join the cardinal school and be happy. But this is certainly not what I expected, and it makes me kinda sad to see him at least appear to be less happy then when he was alone.

I guess time will tell.

-Beefshank


Last edited by Beefshank at 21-Aug-2005 19:25

*breath*
maby he just doesn't know what to think?
*breath*

Yes, the poor fellow is probably undergoing an identity crisis. (Fish -- or at least tetras -- are not good at problem-solving.) Give him another week or so and that electron-sized brain of his will come to some kind of resolution.

I've experienced something like this with my 'cave dwelling Cardinal'.

Is this fish a slender one (i.e., most likely a male)? And does he hang out in shaded areas or near bogwood caves of any sort? Because if so, it could be a male looking for a female to seduce. Only Cardinals breed in near-total darkness in the wild!

My 'cave dwelling Cardinal' went on to try and court a female shortly after manifesting his weird behaviour, and on one occasion, I actually had a live spawning (albeit a brief one) in the community aquarium. Keep a look out for this!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I second Cali's observation.

Same happened to me with a single Neon. The darker area under a bogwood was his place. He hung out there most of the time (actually, still is - but less often) and chased any new Neon away that came too close.

I am not sure if he tries to get the females to come over to "his place", but I believe he manifested a territory for himself.

Furthermore, although not being the largest Neon of my school, he is the boss.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yes, it is certainly the shaded areas he hangs out in. As to if he is a he or not. I'm not experienced enough to know, but I will figure out if he is one of the skinnier ones.

By the way, it's a few days later now, and he seems to come out a little more often. But still spends most of his time hiding in the shadows.

-Dennis

he will come around...

just an update here. It's been 3 weeks, and the little guy still mostly stays off by himself.

He comes out to eat, and hangs for a while, but so far, he seems to have pretty much become a loner. I'm still hoping he gets in the school some day!

-Dennis