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hey guys,today is a sad day for me.i just put my female green terror in the freezer.
bare with me while i explane!
she was sharing a tank with a male gt!when i first put him in,she was twice the size and was the boss of him.
however over the last few months,he has just exploded in size and over took her by far.things were still going ok,but they were never a pair,she hated him.
so yesterday for the first time i noticed he had started getting aggresive!it wasnt even bad aggresion.plus she was having her go back at him.
but when i got up in the morn,i found her nearlly dead,she was rolling around at the top of the water level,trying to keep herself uprite,her tale fin is just about gone,and he was still having goes at her.
what i think happened was as soon as lights out came,he has just gone into terminator mode.
this is now the 2nd female he has killed.when he was in my lfs,they had him with another female,and he killed her too,then when they couldnt pair him up again.i took him of there hands,as he is a beautiful fish.
so anyway its a sad day.she was a very nice looking fish too.
now im worried that he will start picking on my female blue acara.i only just got her back to normall after a few bouts with sickness and popeye.shes nearlly 9 years old,and is just happy to be left alone,and this gt is just about rite in his prime.
im thinking he mite get it in his head to start harrasing her trying to get her to breed too.thats the sole reason he killed the female gt.thats what i rekon anyway.
just to be sure,ive checked my water parameters and all is fine,however my nitrates are a tad high...
has this happened to any of you guys?you go to bed and find somethings been put threw hell over night.and near death or even worse dead.this has gotta be the worst thing about fish keeping.losing a loved fish...

90% of my fish where cichlids...... so this happend a lot to me!!!! green terrors do get mean when some one messes wit them they useally get revenge....... i put a 3 inch green terror in a 240 i use to have with a bunch of diff centrel and south american cichlids and a jar arowana...... the first day i got the 3 inch gt he was getting picked on by a pair of 8 and 6 inch jags that just laid there eggs........ when he grew a little bit he got his revenge by killing the pair and eating all the babys of a diff spawn...... took him out and put him in his own 90 and try a few diff fish some being bigger than him but he killed them all if they when any where near his 1 cave...... not just chase them a way but constanly nip and bite them and wouldnt stop till they went to the surface he would stop for a bit but if they even moved he would go after them again....... he wasnt a gold suam he was a "true" green terror it was a F0 SWEET looking gt it had a perfect body color and had a hump...... i ended up selling it to a gt breeder to do some slective breed and a few months later i got about 10 of his and this other ""true" gt...... they truned out really really nice but none as nice as my old male i really regret selling her but i got a offer i couldnt refuse when i got this fish for 100 times cheaper than i sold..... but yea i have many storys of gts and other cichlids getting "revenge" or just killing them cuz they dont like them anymore.....

Poor fishie.
I thought you had your acara in a tank by herself? I would put her back if he is that mean. She wont stand a chance.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Honestly, on this one, i dont know what to say.
Its a calamity of errors. You need to start taking fishkeeping seriously. This could and should have been prevented.
Quite obviously the same thing will happen to the other fish that is still in there, but honestly ive given up hope and you and any of the fish are you keeping. You've post this and want people to sympathise with you, which some will, however those people will too learn from their mistakes.
My thoughts are with your blue acara.
Happy fishkeeping.
Mez

It is very difficult to loose any fish especially when you are doing the best you can.
It sounds like its time to move some fish around or remove the male completely.
Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos
Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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mez dont think that wasn't called for......... we know how u feel about hokese......... have u kept many cichlids????? there isnt a way he could have prevented it he saw some niping all cichlids nip u should know that....... if u read it it didnt happen tell he turned off the lights........ i have had many diff cichlids and some times a fish gets killed they are aggressive fish depending on the size of the tank, fish in the tank, ammount of fish, and the personalitys of the fish which he knew to begin with is pretty mean but he wanted to get them to breed and if hes a good looking male y shouldnt he...... some people can go threw many many fish just to get a pair....... Not trying to call u out mez im just saying that every thread he makes u dont need to say u dont like him........

riri, you are putting words into Mez's mouth. If you knew Mez you would know he has kept many different cichlids.

And if you read properly it says this is the second female this fish has killed. Shouldnt that be a clue that he is a nasty fish? If the GT is almost in 'his prime' then do some forward thinking and avoid another situation like this.

I can understand Mez's fustration. Its a situation that could of been avoided.

I also understand Hokese is upset, anyone would be.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Well, i honestly dont think anything i said was untrue. Maybe it wasnt put the way you liked it, but its still fact. I have kept my fair share of cichlids, but lets not turn this into a urinating contest. This is about the sake of the original posters livestock.

so tell me fish wizards.how could this have been avoided.
when i was asleep.
AS I SAID,the aggrresion was seldom.plus the female wasnt no wuss,she keep him in check for months.
to get a pair i have to try them together dont i?
plus when he killed the other female,she was like 3 times smaller than him,plus they were in a 2 foot tank,at the fish shop.
im already using my 2 dividers.
the blue acara only got moved back while dad was away with work.she is going back into the 29gal at dads today!
also this will probly get deleted.
And you are right, it did.
also i didnt want sympathy from anyone,how pathetic,im a grown man.
i only posted to see any if anyone else had had this happen to them.
this site is gettin kinda sad,theres more bitching and moaning going on than decent info.no wonder no one comes around.
anyway......
yeah thanx keith,the ba is waiting in the transporter now,just waiting for dad to get home.the gt is sharing his tank with a ba pair,but i have a divider in to keep them apart.well now that the male gt is on his own.
he cant do any more damage.
also keith,on a side note.i emailed that fisheries mob in qld,and hit them up.they emailed me a whole page,info,diet,what to keep with.water parameters.dos donts.yeah its great.so thanx for the tip mate.
riri,i aggree %100 those TRUE green terrors can be RUTHLESS,they make the gold saum gts look like pre schoolers!
the last true gt i had,ruled the roost with a iron fist.

the asking him about if he owned cichlids was being sarcstic...... i know hes owned a lot of cichlids...... my main point about this not being avoidable is because he was trying to get them to breed and if u have ever bred cichlids u know that they nip and lip lock a lot and test there mate........... With gts its trial and error to find a mate..........

Well, the simplest way I can see that being avoided is, knowing that the male GT could be dangerous to the female, to keep them separated. If you're trying to get them to pair up, allow them together only when you are present to observe.

><>

Superlion is on the right lines.
The PROPER way of doing it IMO and IME would be to obtain a group of juveniles and grow them up and let a pair naturally form a bond then remove the others.
Im suprised all these large fish are legal in Australia.

lol wow........... he just said that the tank was a small 2 foot tank at a pet store and the female was 3 times smaller than him......... like he has said before he wanted so see if this has heppend to people before and so far i think i have been the only one that has posted something that is even on the same topic......... i mean come on mez now ur out of stuff so u have to talk about if its legal....... no offense but i really dont think that was cool.............

honestly riri,dont bother getting in the mud with em mate.
im done with em.there not worth your time typing.
but your rite,your the only 1 whos even answered with some experience.
but as always with this site,1 member just get bombared with dos and donts,instead of just anwering the qeustion as you did.
also youse have really annoyed me with this garbage about it could have been avoided.
they have been in together for ages with no probs.
as i said all was fine when i went to bed,the nips were nothing really.they didnt even have any torn fins,thats how little nipping was going on!
then while i was ASLEEP,then he when to work!
so how am suppoze to know that the gt male was going to get sieko after dark!tell me that.
normally if i want a pair i will get a bunch,and let them pair of on there own,however in this case,i already had a female gt,who was laying eggs without a partner,thats why i got the good looking male.
i thought i mite get them to pair up.

MAN
READ what i say.
The "PROPER" way of doing things.
Im sick of reading about these 'expriments'. Go back and find the post originating with these fish and the blue acaras and how Hokese is experimenting. I told him the 'experiment' would fail, and it did. As did many other people, one of them being one of the most respected cichlid keepers in america.
Also, these fish (these being a general term) are illegal in australia for reasons. People keep them incorrectly, and then cant deal with the outcome. They end up releasing them into lakes, which has large effects on your natural ecosystem.

yea most of the time u keep any ammount of fish in the same tank in a "experiment".......... Cichlids have so many diff personalitys....... i have gotten a fish from a store that was the meanest in the tank and i brought it home it was the largest fish in the tank and it got the crap beat out of it......... not saying that its good but it keeps the breeding lines strong which is becomeing a problem in the asian and florida fish farms........