My fish... has a friend?

Ok, I have this fish my friend gave me, I don't know what it is.
That's not the point. I added him to one of my community tanks with 2 cories, 2 mollies, and a platy.
The fish won't let any fish NEAR him but the platy. One time he tried to attack my other fish, and I put him in a 5 gallon of his own. He kept acting all depressed until I put the platy in there. The platy was also somewhat depressed. They are back in the community tank now.

I was considering giving him away because he was too aggressive, but I don't want to be sad to see him going without his friend.
So, can fish have friends? Should I give him to my other friend?

 

Good morning,

Is there any way that you can post a photo of the fish in question? Maybe there can be a way to keep the fish and not have to give it or its friend away.

Too, if we ID this fish we can tell the suggested requirements to keep the fish happy and healthy.

Keep an eye on your fish. If it is aggressive, your fish are at risk of being attached, hurt and or possibly killed.

Ken

 

My camera doesn't work. Sorry.
He's not that aggressive anymore. The other fish won't go near him anyway.
Must've learned his lesson.

 

What does he look like?? If you describe him or look for pics in the internet maybe we can figure out what he is and help you

 

That wasn't the question. He's gray. That's all that can really describe him.

 

Nevertheless its important that you know which fish you are keeping to make sure you're giving them the proper care, after all every fish has different needs and requirements and it is our responsibility to make sure we do so.

 

Well, I think my friend knew, and we keep the same conditions so...

 

We are all here to help you no matter the situation that is why it's a forum... but keep in mind that we can only help you to the point you will allow us to

Grey is a very very vague description

They are only asking questions to help you out so you can know if the fish will be able to stay in the community tank or not for all any of us know it could be an aggressive fish that could grow to 3 feet and kill everything... LOL Just trying to help you out!

 

Quoting what I said earlier, my friend bought the fish, said it was OK to be in her tank, which is the same size as mine. And, mine has less fish than hers.
She said it won't grow much bigger than it already is.

 

Tank size matters as well as what type of fish she had in her tank... Do y'all have the same type of community tanks?... Where did she get the fish? most LFS will just sell you a fish and say it gets along with what you have when I would say about 75% of the time usually isn't the case... How big is the fish? Which fish is the fish in question picking on or acting aggressive to?

Ashley

 

Many people say that about Pacu & other tankbusters too....doesn't really mean it's true.

 

Or even the common plecos that get HUMUNGOUS!! You buy them for 2-3 bucks in a store to eat some algae and next thing you know they are causing issues in the tank with crazy bioload and ripping up your plants and everything else because they get big! People see them so small and don't realize they get big and the LFS rarely will ask any questions when somebody comes in to look at fish... atleast around here! They just bag it, sell it and bid it adieu

 

To answer your original question, yes, they can be friends. I have a guppy and a albino corie that run around together. I often see those two playing and definitely not aggressively. Last night I saw them laying with each other away from the other fish <3.

So yes, I firmly believe they could be friends . If he gets to big or aggressive then maybe start a tank based on just those two.

 

I called her. She said it was from an expert. NOT the LFS.
She also forgot the name. It's a bit bigger than the platy. Now, this has gotten off topic.
Original question time.
Should I break up the two?

 

And once again, we tell you - we CAN NOT give an honest answer without knowing what exactly it is!

 

I wouldn't if everything seems fine. Just keep a very very close eye on it for the first few weeks. If it sets up a territory you might have problems but I doubt that.

 

I called her. She said it was from an expert. NOT the LFS.
She also forgot the name. It's a bit bigger than the platy. Now, this has gotten off topic.
Original question time.
Should I break up the two?

Without any of us knowing what type of fish the grey one is then we can't really give you any advice or pointers on him having a tank with all the others, fish can develop bonds with other fish as previously posted. But you aren't helping any of us to give you the answer that you are looking for ??? I would go online and look at community fish and try to find a picture of what he looks like it would help all of us to help you out! We just want to make sure that we lead you down the right path instead of drawing conclusions based on inadequate information...

 

Ok, I'll just assume I can't separate them and make a tank for both of them.
I don't know what it is or how to find out so I'll figure it out later.

 

There's so many things you can do from taking a picture of him with your cellphone and taking it to the store to looking at fish species in the internet or even taking him to a LFS and finding it out later. Your friend could even call the person he/she bought it from. We're all just trying to help because you might even end up losing your fish because of lack of research

 

And once again, we tell you - we CAN NOT give an honest answer without knowing what exactly it is!

+1 on that and 2x ehehhe

 

The idea behind people asking for the fish type is they would like to get an accurate picture of it's personality, more or less.

 

There are tons of fish species here, its actually a list from PetSmart so these are pretty common fish, take a look and tell us if you find yours.

 

The only thing with a camera that I have is a DSI but I don't have an SD card slot in this comp.
Sorry, no way I can get pictures.

Edit: It's some sort of tetra apparently.

 

that's going to be a problem as tetras prefer to be kept in schools and can become territorial if there aren't enough of them around. that might be why the tetra is accepting the platy.

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to paste the link haha.. see if you find it anywhere here, there are three pages to choose from

 

why don't you check out this link to fishlore's freshwater fish list: it has a section of tetras there as well as everythign else with pics, so you can probably ID it that way. My guess is a white skirt or blind cave if its just "grey".

Please don't get upset if others can't answer you're question right away. Everyone is just trying to help you, and in order to get the original question answered, finding out what the fish is can really help to solve it. Yes, some fish can appear to develop bonds, but you also mentioned that this mystery fish chases the others ones. For the sake of the other fish involved, what kind of fish it was, was a valid question.

If it is a tetra, like mentioned above, it should be in a school of about 6. That might solve your aggression issue. It is more likely that this grey fish is looking for another to school with, because it has none of its species, and that's causing it stress and aggression. I would not say it is because it has developed a friendship - that would be humanizing it.

Here is the link: https://www.fishlore.com/freshwaterfish.htm

 

Quoting what I said earlier, my friend bought the fish, said it was OK to be in her tank, which is the same size as mine. And, mine has less fish than hers.
She said it won't grow much bigger than it already is.

Is your friend an expert fishkeeper? I'm thinking no since she didn't know which species of fish she gave you.

Please..... let us help you.... and your fish. There are always compatibility issues to consider when putting together a community tank.

Perhaps you can google gray fish and see if you can link us to a photo that represents what this fish is.

tetra, huh?

Is it one of these?

 

It looks much like the second one.

 

Red eyes are pretty standard aquarium fare. I had a school of them. But they killed each other off, one by one. Strangely enough, the one the school targeted was the largest, then the next largest and so on. Didn't quite get that logic.

As mentioned above, tetras need numbers. They will require at least 6 in the school, 8 is better.

 

Would they school with pandas or neons by any chance?

 

No..... tetras will school with tetras.... and only with their particular species of tetra.

 

they will nip your neons fins, I know a few people who have had problems with them even with them in a school

 

get your tetra some tetra friends so it doesn't stress out the other fish.

 

impressed with how hard yo work to help others

I am very impressed with these community for pouring out helpful suggestions

 

when I had a serpae tetra that wasn't in a school when I began and I had a bit of trouble with them I took it to my lfs and traded it in for a differents tetra and got a school of glowlights maybe you could consider something like that

 

Ok. I bought some while at the LFS.

 

ok cool hope all goes well with the tank it should now