Barbara

I have a silver dollar that is only small about 2 inches in size, recently he has attacked and killed my glass catfish, complete ate 1 guppy and attacked and killed my blue gourami, I was told by my pet store owner that they aren't agressive fish, do I need to take him out?

Mike

Hi Barbara - welcome to FishLore!

You sure you have a silver dollar and not a piranha?

Moving post to the freshwater section.

susitna-flower

Your tank is 18 gallons or just a little more....which means you are over crowded at this point, which always leads to aggression. The profile of a silver dollar is that they are peaceful, but aggressive eaters, and will eat live food.....

That is only one problem in this case. Gouramis are known to be aggressive, and this could add to problems, even though one of these ended up on the short end.

Lastly Silver Dollars grow up to 6-7 ", each, and should be kept in schools of at least 6....which means they need that school for them to exhibit proper characteristics, and this is MUCH more than can be housed in your tank.

OR I just read Mikes post......that would account for it too.

Shawnie

wow that would be a first of a silver dollar goin after a gourami LOL but its a free world I guess..im with mike ...maybe get a pic of him/her and let us see?

seedy

My silver dollars are big softies when it comes to the other fish and I have never seen any aggression even to neons. My big one ( about 5" ) does enjoy a garden worm every now and again so its not totally impossable.
There are a few species sold as silver dollars, so a photo should help to identify what you have.

Barbara

thanks for your advice, I have checked photos and it is definitely a silver dollar. It has stopped eating the other fish. I have found out though that I have an over crowded fish tank, and this has caused fin rot in my tank I have now ordered another tank so that I can save my fish!