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hey guys.
atm i have a female blue acara that ive had for just over 7 years(i got her just b4 my daughter was born,and she turns 8 this year)
when i got her she was already a robust,6 inch fish,so she could even be closer to like 10 years old.
now ive red that the blue acaras life span is around 8-10 years!
now about 9 months ago,she lost her green terror partner,and this is guna sound funny,but she has been suffering bad depression,ever since!
she has lost her livelyness,shes not real good looking anymore,her colours are drab,she dosent each much,and for a fish that once when up against a jag,now she has zero aggression,she wont even defend herself anymore!
she wont even chase her food,i have to hand feed her or she wont eat!
i have other males in there,but she dosent want a bar of them,i even tracked down 2 smaller really nice looking green terror males,just incase she liked gt better than blue acaras!but she dosent go near them ether!
now from what i can see,she is getting old,like i said above atleast nearlly 8,that i can say for sure!
now i think all the above has taken its toll on her ammune system,and her mentally too,because she has contracted a mild case of dropsy!
all the other fish in the tank are thriving and breeding and doing fine.
but my poor blue acara just wont come back to normall.
i think the grim reaper is pounding on the lid of the tank!so after all that info,i have 3 qeustions?
1,should i just leave her in the tank shes in,and live out her days in there.
2,should i set up a 29 gallon and put her in there,ether by herself or with a small male gt.
3,this is guna kill me,euthanasia?should i do this?
my daughter is going to be shattered,its actully her fish,and ol bluey(thats her name)has been there since she was born!
please let me know what you guys think on this matter!
i have started treating the dropsy,but im not sure how it will go,i did catch it early,and started treament fairly quick,but as i said,i think she is pretty weak.

I'm soooo sorry she's not doing well. But maybe, just maybe a change of scenery will do her some good. I say give her the 29 with a new friend to pal around with and see how that goes for a week or two? In the meantime, she can have her meds, recover and relax. Hopefully she will perk up.

I lost my Japanese Akita recently after 14 years of companionship. I know it's hard. I think I took it harder than the kids. (He was older then both of my youngest.)

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Poor Bluey is feeling fragile! I would move her to another tank, make sure good foods are available to her, and give her a companion. Good luck with her.

---

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

Honestly, the most humane way for non-huge fish would be to bang them on the head.

Lindy!

yeah i hate watching her like this,im just thinking i mite just see how see goes for a few days,with the meds,and ill set the 29 gal up for her and 1 of the small gts,they dont seem to mind each other,theres no aggression between them 2.the poor darlin,it will be weird if she dosent pull throo,or come back to normall,she has just always been there!

Humans can be similar to cichlids in this sense. Once a life long partner is lost (taken or deceased) they loose interest in living. Most larger cichlids pair off for life only desiring that one partner and only pairing the once (from my reading when i had my oscar). I know its tough and hard to conceive, but your acara has seen better days and her age alone signifies that she's already on the bottom end along with the depression of her dying mate.

make her as comfortable as possible. put her in the 29 and give her the meds. I dont think that she'll be very interested in the other smaller GTs but its worth a try.

I'm really sorry she's doing this badly and I really hope she pulls through, but if she only gets worse than euthanasia might be the next thing on your list.

My best regards and sympathy,
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Mez

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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.

yeah it was sooo sad when the gt died,they never left each other side,from the first day the gt got put in with her,they were meant to be!
even the moring when i found my beloved gt dead,she was hovering rite next to him.from then on,shes never been the same....
ok ive dug the 29 out the shed,its going up to dads today,so ill set that up for er,and get it cycling.
i can kill 2 birds with 1 stone,with the 29 gal,while my blue acara is living in there,i can chuck my large anubais plant on wood in there,and give that a chance to heal up aswell.
now the tank the blue acara is in,ive put a divider in there,to keep the other fish away from her,so far this has been a great move,she has come out into the open water,like i mean shes not hovering in the corner above the internal filter,
shes out swimming around,pecking around the gravel!
so far(touch wood)she has responded well the meds,the dropsy was only a very mild case.
she did stop eating,but since ive put the divider in,she has coloured up a bit,and is now eating again!
so fingers crossed,now its just a matter of time,waiting for the 29 gal to cycle!jeez im glad she perked up a bit,the other nite when i posted the 1st post,i really thought id find her floating the next morning,but just the same as the last 7 years,there she was waiting for the day to start!
also while were chatting about this fish,im also concerned about her eye sight.
i always here people saying/writing that fish are just like humans!
so does there eye sight deteriorate as they get older,like some peoples do?
her eyes arnt clouded or damaged in any way.just sometimes i will put a worm in front of her,and its like it takes a second or 2 for her eyes to come into focus them once she can see what it is,she takes it!
but with my other fish,the second its in front of them,boom,its been slurped down the hatch!
now one thing that i can think of that mite contribute to her shabby eyesite,when she was younger and still had her partner,she was constantly laying eggs,and rasing fry,but she was a bit clumsy in chasing away tankmates,and used to bang her eys all the time,resulting in swelling or when bad enuff pop eye.even another member had the same problem with his blue acara too!
so could this be the colprit for her poor eyesite?

Is it possible that it's a genetic thing? Some dogs are e to deafness, ie dalmations. Some are e to kidney disease, or cancer. Same with cats. Same with humans. Is it possible that certain fish are e to lost of eyesight, fin rot, kidney disease, popeye, bruising, cancer, ect. due to a strong genetic disposition? Some of these fish have been inbreed for a long time. I know a lot are also wild caught, but I don't think that will always have a "saving grace" factor. [This is coming from a person who is predisposed to being a huge klutz! And my kids have it too!]

Just throwing that out there...

I'll be quite now.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Given the VERY strong pair bonds that cichlids can form with each other, it's not surprising that the death of one partner leads to symptoms resembling depression in the other. Since Blue Acaras are known to have a life span that hovers around a mean of 10 years, it's possible that yours is in the winter of its life, and having lost its partner, has basically lost its reason to go on living.

If your deceased Green Terror was a reasonable size, then popping in a juvenile might not reawaken that spark your Blue Acara had in the past - it might be a better idea to go looking for an old widower that's a closer match to the recently deceased partner, though the introduction will have to be performed with care if you find a big one of course.

Other than that, it might be time to consider a humane farewell as it were if the Blue Acara fails to respond to appropriate TLC. If you can obtain MS-222, this is a veterinary anaesthetic that will provide the most humane means of saying farewell to a much loved fish ... basically you over-anaesthesise the fish and it slips away quietly.

[Edited for minor typos]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

yeah shes just never been the same,and yes her partner was a BIG FELLA!well i think were into like the 4th or 5th,and so far she is resonding well(touch wood again)!
since ive slipped the divider in,and given her time to rest and a break from her lively tankmates,ive seen a big change in her behavour!
the change is a positive one,but shes still not herself,and to be honest i dont think she will ever be the same.
so as long as she keeps responding well to the meds,i think she will be ok.
as for a new partner,i dont think thats going to happen ether,shes had beautiful gts to choose from,small gts up to big gts,but she just didnt care.
if over the next few weeks she does ok,then im going to put her in my 29gal,with a large anubais plant on dw,and if i can get the pair of bristlenoses i have my eye on,ill put them in with her.
then she can live out her days in there,in peace without getting harrased or bullied.
do you think this is a better option for her.
i dred anything happening to her,shes been there for so long

If she's recovering, it might be as well for you to run with your "retirement home" plan for her. After all, if she's exceeding 10 years of age, she's doing very well indeed and would probably welcome a rest from the hectic rough and tumble of the main aquarium ...

As for companions, if there's enough space, have you thought of a Raphael Cat? Heavily armoured enough not to have anything to worry about from even the nastiest Cichlid, but peaceful enough not to start a fight as well.

Glad to hear she's pulled through!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

How's she doing?

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

TOUCHWOOD,so far she is doing fine,the dropsy is all gone,but im still usings meds just for a few more days yet,i like to make sure i kill it %100!
she has come bouncing back in a big way.
so my plan is the 29gal is just about ready for her,but the 2 bns parents fell throught,he decided to keep em,they are gourgous.
so im guna put in 10 bn babies,(i have 38 babies all in a 8gallon tank underneath my 89 gall,and that has 4 bn babies,so ive got plenty.
i know she wont bother them,she just counldnt be bothered hunting anymore!
so i think she wiil live her days out nicely in there.
cal as for the amoured catfish,i dont think ill need 1,she just has no will to harras,fight,bother any fish anymore.
she just wants to do her thing and be left alone ,from what i can see.
so ill think the move into the 29gal will be a little over a week away.
if by some chance she did wanna snack on the bns,they will have a huge anubias plant on driftwood,with HEAPS of roots and shoots and little gaps to snuggle into,so i think they will be fine...
my hat goes off to this blue acara,she is 1 HARDY fish,the ups and downs,and tank changes,she has been throo is amazing.
also some of the fish she has been mixed with,i cant fault this fish.
ive had $500 import flowerhorns,and still they didnt have the affect this blue acara has on me,simply by being there for so long!
as ive said b4,shes just always been there!thus i got real fond of her,lovely girl she is...

hey cal,do you know of a good informative article on cichlid pair bonding?
id like to learn some more about this...