Small Fish Eat Big Fish

Eric is an aquarium enthusiast with over two decades of experience caring for a wide array of tropical fish.

Your aquarium setup went flawlessly. You chose the perfect spot in your dwelling, the decorations looked fantastic, and you stocked it with a agglomeration of gorgeous freshwater fish. Beaming with pride, you lot rested your head on your pillow that night and counted guppies until you lot drifted blissfully into a sweet slumber.

Just the adjacent morning time something seemed off. You lot were sure you'd stocked ten neon tetras, only now you but see 8. You must have miscounted.

When on the 3rd morning you found merely 5 neons, it slowly dawned on you. There was a murderer in your midst. Ane of your beautiful fish was snacking on your other cute fish!

How and why did this happen?

Why Practise Aquarium Fish Eat Other Fish?

Big fish eat little fish. Some fish are predatory and volition stalk and eat other fish. Others are opportunistic, and if we stock them with very pocket-sized fish, they may swallow them. Notwithstanding others are simply too aggressive or territorial to go along with most tank mates, and they may kill them.

It should go without saying that you don't want to mix predatory fish and fish that are easily preyed upon such as small-scale tetras. You likewise want to make certain you don't stock tiny fish with others who might grow large enough to consume them.

As I always mention in these articles, the most important thing is to research a fish before you bring it home then you meliorate sympathize its behaviors. While that won't completely eliminate any surprises, it gives you lot the best gamble of success.

Listing of Predatory and Ambitious Tropical Fish

Hither are some of the ambitious fish you might encounter in the aquarium trade:

Angelfish
Leopard Bush-league Fish
Oscar
Bichir
Green Spotted Puffer
Red Devil
Jack Dempsey
Jaguar
Texas Cichlid
Red Terror
Flowerhorn (hybrid cichlid)
Peacock bass
Carmine tail / rainbow shark
Betta fish
Gourami

Most novice and intermediate fish keepers aren't going to bring home an Arowana, merely they might make the mistake of stocking one of these fish without realizing the true nature of their new pet.

Read on to larn more than about some of the common aggressive fish aquarium owners often regret bringing home.

Angelfish

Freshwater angelfish are among the most popular aquarium fish in the world, and probably among the most misunderstood. They are often kept in community tanks with smaller fish, and when they are juveniles, at that place are commonly no bug.

Nonetheless, they are aggressive ambush predators, and when they get a little bigger, you lot might notice some of your smaller fish have gone missing. You'll want to avoid stocking angelfish with neons and other minor tetras.

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Leopard Bush-league Fish

Also called the spotted ctenopoma, spotted climbing perch, leopard gourami, African bush fish, or African leaf fish. They are anabantids, relatives of betta fish and gourami, and they are stealthy deadfall predators. They practise best in tanks with large, live plants, where they can blend in and expect for some unsuspecting snack to swim by.

While they are predators, when they aren't hunting, they are quite docile fish and prone to bullying by other big, aggressive fish. They grow to about six inches long and can fit fish around one-half their size in their enormous mouths, so stock them with peaceful fish their size or bigger.

Meliorate still, you might go on a single fish solitary in a 55-gallon tank and feed live fish. They tin can live upwards to x years.

Green Spotted Puffer

Light-green spotted puffers can live in freshwater as juveniles just must acclimatize to brackish water equally they age. Still, I have seen pet stores listing them equally freshwater fish that "may nip fins." If you bring one home and plop it into your pretty community aquarium, you lot will take a big surprise in the hereafter.

The GSP is one of my favorite fish and, when you can exercise it correctly, they are a joy to continue. They are ambrosial as juveniles, but fifty-fifty then they are petty wrecking machines that may attack, kill, and even eat any other fish in the tank.

They are best kept in single-specimen, specialized setups with specialized foods. That means a brackish tank and shelled foods such as pond snails. Unless yous are willing to go all in, you should avoid this fish.

Oscar

Oscars are large, ambitious South American cichlids. While they may exercise okay with other fish when they are young, as adults they need proper setup and food. This means a tank of at least 55 gallons for a unmarried fish, merely bigger is better.

Yous can feed pellets as the chief staple of their nutrition, but many oscar keepers adopt to include alive foods in the form of feeder fish. This ameliorate mimics their natural nutrition of small fish and insects. For this reason, it ought to be obvious why you wouldn't want to include small tropical fish every bit tank mates for an oscar.

Meliorate tank mates include other big cichlids, provided you have a big plenty tank, and large schooling fish such equally silver dollars. However, if yous are non an experienced fish keeper, you are probably better off keeping an oscar as a unmarried fish or fugitive them altogether.

New World Cichlids

Along with the oscar and angelfish, there is a long list of new-globe cichlids that can and will eat other fish in your tank. They are predators, only in the right setup, they tin be wonderful fish to go on. This often means they should exist kept in very large tanks, alone or with other big tank mates they can't push around.

Here is a partial list of aggressive new-earth cichlids:

Red Devil
Jack Dempsey
Jaguar
Texas Cichlid
Scarlet Terror
Flowerhorn (hybrid)
Peacock bass

Again, I will say, it is very important to inquiry fish before y'all bring them home. They sell nearly of these fish as three or four-inch juveniles just trying to get by in the world, just every bit they become bigger and their natural instincts emerge, they can exist a scattering.

Carnivorous Fish FAQs

Here are a few things people wonder about when information technology comes to fish that eat other fish:

Practice near fish eat other fish?

While not all fish are predatory, many are opportunistic feeders or browsers that will accept reward of a meal if it swims past. Doing the research before you bring a fish dwelling and not mixing large fish with small fish tin can assistance avoid disaster.

What is the nigh aggressive tropical fish?

African cichlids are some of the most colorful freshwater fish y'all are going to find, known for their assailment and territorial behaviors. Still, yous should stock new-world cichlids with intendance as well. Many species are extremely aggressive and will not tolerate tank mates. A predator tank is in many means the complete opposite of a community tank, just the aforementioned rules utilize. You ever want to stock fish that are compatible with each other.

Are betta fish predators?

Betta fish are known as ambitious fish, but when information technology comes to other fish, this is because of territorial and mating behaviors. While they may endeavor to prey on snails or shrimp, and will not turn down very tiny fish such as fry if they can catch them, they won't hunt other fish for food.

Are goldfish aggressive?

Goldfish are not tropical fish, simply they often end up in tropical tanks managed by novices. They are not ambitious, but there are many reasons yous don't want to mix goldfish and tropical fish. 1 is considering goldfish grow much larger than people expect, which means big goldfish tin eat small fish if given the opportunity. Goldfish also pollute tanks quickly, and they require cooler h2o than tropical fish.

Betta fish won't prey on other fish, but they can be aggressive. — Betta fish won't prey on other fish, merely they can be aggressive.

Khoa Pham via Unsplash

Should You lot Stock Fish That Eat Other Fish?

Aside from legal limitations, in that location isn't a fish in the world you can't stock if you lot have the feel and the right setup. But that is where the problem lies. Experienced fish keepers know what they are doing. They know how to continue aggressive fish in the correct situation, and when they should avoid a fish if they can't properly care for it.

On the other hand, novices are oftentimes blindsided by behaviors they weren't expecting, or the staff at the pet shop never warned them virtually.

Again, therefore, it is so important to enquiry fish before you lot bring them home.

Many experienced fishkeepers notice great satisfaction in caring for predatory fish. They are a little more interactive than the typical community tank because of the feeding requirements, and maybe they have a little more than personality.

It is upwardly to you. The bottom line is to firm whatsoever fish y'all stock in the correct tank with the right tank mates.

This article is authentic and truthful to the all-time of the author's knowledge. It is non meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, handling, prescription, or formal and individualized communication from a veterinary medical professional. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinary immediately.