This is a throwback post.
I woke up last Friday to find both our Barb fish at the bottom of the aquarium, dead. I was crushed, so were the girls. Though the fishes had only been with us for a week, we have grown to have a liking towards them. One of the Barb fishes was a real survivor. When we first brought it home, we found it half dead the next day (New Tank Syndrome, I think). It was floating on top of the water and not moving. We thought it had died. For half the day, we tried to resuscitate it by knocking on the aquarium and it moved. Then it tried to swim but kept swimming deliriously and kept nose-diving down the tank. After we transferred it into a separate container and let it recuperate, it grew stronger and stronger and became a healthy fish again. We then bought another Barb fish to keep it company.
And the culprit for killing the two Barb fish?
This little fella. Don’t know what species this fish is. We have now named this fella the Big Bully!
On Thursday we decided to put the two Barb fish back into the big aquarium to be with the rest of the fishes. But we noticed that Big Bully kept nipping the fins of the Barb fishes. We were not sure if Big Bully was just kissing Barb (as in welcoming them) or nipping them. We are not experts in fishes and were totally clueless.
When both the Barb fish died the next morning, we were certain that Big Bully killed them. More sad news unfolded throughout the day.
The rest of the fishes began to die, one by one. When one fish died, the partner of the similar species followed suit in death. In just one day, 6 fishes died, including one that was pregnant. We were all devastated.
Could Big Bully be that vicious? We removed it from the aquarium and isolated it from the remaining 3 living fishes.
Long story short, the last living Angel fish eventually died too, after we managed to resuscitate it when it was gasping and sank to the bottom of the tank.
Cass quickly removed the dead fishes from the aquarium the moment she stepped into the house from school and buried the fishes in our potted plants.
When Alycia came home and saw the last Angel fish dying, she kept tapping on the tank to try to resuscitate it. We isolated Angel in a separated container and saw it spring back to life again! We all cheered when Angel swam again. But it just wouldn’t eat and sadly, the next morning it died too 😭
Big Bully has been very inactive and looks very depressed ever since it was isolated. Cass says it’s now in fish prison for murder 😬 After several days, I decided to put Big Bully back into the tank and observe if it’s still bullying the other 2 fishes. I was right. The moment it was released back into the aquarium, it became ‘alive’ again and started to nip the orange fish. I Googled and learned that Big Bully could be attempting to mate with the orange fish.
Did you know that Guppy mating takes less than a second, and it looks just like he is stinging her at her vent where her gravid spot is located? But again, we were not sure if Big Bully was nipping on Orange or trying to impregnate it 😂 Now Big Bully is back in isolation/prison 😆
We’ve learned so much about fish in just a short period of two weeks. As the aquarium is just next to my work desk, I can observe the fishes all the time. And I’ve realized that fishes have feelings too. 🐠 🐟
Enough about fish, let’s talk fruits 🍒🍌
Sil #2 from Hong Kong bought lots of cherries, blueberries, jumbo avocados and jumbo grapes from the fruits wholesaler in Selayang. We’re now popping super sweet cherries and blueberries into our mouths everyday 😋
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