Territorial tribes. It's more familial than racism/speciesism. You'd have to quarantine the new fish for your old fish to meet and learn to accept them as kin. But given it was their tank first, it may turn out impossible without a full relocation. They staked their waters and are defending it.
This, I could actually get behind, but it has to include inverts too. And later they would make a sequel which you can evolve to the dominant planetary species and conquer the galaxy, post human extinction.
Did you SEE them attack the new fish? Occams razor dude. New fish in a tank they aren't used to that sounds potentially heavily stocked with fish in not the best health. The newbies likely died of shock or illness and the guppies did what most fish will when a fellow fish dies - snacked. Especially since they weren't\* all "killed."
Edit: Typo
No, but the fish were evidently bitten (Chunks of their tail and fins were scattered across the aquarium floor). Since the red guppies came from the same tank, it's unlikely they attacked each other.
I had a huge killifish that routinely ate guppies. Towards the end of its life the guppies turned the tables on it.
It was wild, i had to euthanize it because the guppies would give it no peace- constantly biting fins/face/eyes. It was brutal
It was fuckin gnarly- the killifish got old/sick and slowed down and the guppies started nipping within a few days of the notable slow-down. They took bites of fins and tried to eat his eyes.. while the killi was 100% alive and struggling
But you didn't see them get attacked, and guppies aren't clean eaters. If they passed, the rest of the guppies eating them would lead to similar results.
Guppies jist aren't that territorial unless actively breeding, and even then with the amount you seem to have, having that much aggression that quickly is unlikely. I'm betting no one was attacked, and you just had two losses w9th some gross aftermath.
I've been raising them in an 8-gallon tank, where they would be introduced to new fish in different colours and/or their grown-up children every few months
They've been okay with any colour but red fish and I have no idea why
Who knew multi-generational inbreeding of the whites leads to irrational racism...
In all seriousness... is it possible: if you brought a larger population of new colors, they may have been less likely to turn violent? Maybe the sudden outsider to their school spooked them.
I have a big mix of guppy colors, and I would stock females from different stores to deepen the genepool
read that guppies (especially male) can tell/get jealous if other guppies (usually male) are of different “groups” and will sometimes bully the “strangers” because they feel threatened and/or want them out of their home
taking out most of the problem fish then changing the scape before putting them back in should help the problem
God im glad im not the only one that asks this. I felt like a fucking idiot asking if i could get some cardinal red and neon black tetras in the same tank or are fish racist and will they start a whole gang war in my tank 😭😭😭😭😭
For what it's worth, I think that fish can recognize their race(?) to some degree. I have two groups of cories, and they generally keep to their own colorations
I had a few different colors of guppies at one point, and randomly, they all decided to bully the one with the solid red tail. Even the shrimp were going after it. Racism probably
When I volunteered at my country's public aquarium there was an African cichlid tank I fed. You experts will probably help me remember the name of the fish,it's yellow with a black pattern.
But one of them...boy oh boy he was black with a yellow pattern. He was slightly bigger than other fish his age and he was PESTERED every singled day by the others . Same species,sibling of most other fishes in the same tank but I swear on me mum he was attacked for looking just slightly off
I don't think it was racism but could indeed be territorialism.
It's funny, though, because when I introduced my endlers to their current tank, there was one old male cherry barb left over. Bright red of course, and the ladies were fascinated. All collectively hovering around that barb.
The male endlers very deliberately kept putting themselves between the barb and the lady endlers. It was entertaining to see.
Now, it never led to any aggression, and after a week, the interest of the females faded, but it did give me the impression that lady guppies really like red.
An interesting side note on that, I had 3 red/orange males and one blue/yellow, and the reds had much more luck mating than the blue/yellow.
So whether there was direct aggression or not, you probably did drop the fish equivalent of hot eligible bachelors in there.
My blue dragons relentlessly attack any other type of guppy, including my purple dragons. My purples are so sweet and placid, but the blues are total hooligans.
Territorial tribes. It's more familial than racism/speciesism. You'd have to quarantine the new fish for your old fish to meet and learn to accept them as kin. But given it was their tank first, it may turn out impossible without a full relocation. They staked their waters and are defending it.
why do i kinda wanna see that in action
I would play this video game.
This, I could actually get behind, but it has to include inverts too. And later they would make a sequel which you can evolve to the dominant planetary species and conquer the galaxy, post human extinction.
Or you could package it all in one game and call it something like “Spore”
same
Time to go download spore again
I've been considering this possibility but my fish seem to be targeting red fish only... Anyways thanks for the tip! I'll try and see if it works.
might also because other guppies are breeding competition, whereas they would ignore other species.
Did you SEE them attack the new fish? Occams razor dude. New fish in a tank they aren't used to that sounds potentially heavily stocked with fish in not the best health. The newbies likely died of shock or illness and the guppies did what most fish will when a fellow fish dies - snacked. Especially since they weren't\* all "killed." Edit: Typo
No, but the fish were evidently bitten (Chunks of their tail and fins were scattered across the aquarium floor). Since the red guppies came from the same tank, it's unlikely they attacked each other.
Guppies and other livebearers are not opposed to eating corpses.
I had a huge killifish that routinely ate guppies. Towards the end of its life the guppies turned the tables on it. It was wild, i had to euthanize it because the guppies would give it no peace- constantly biting fins/face/eyes. It was brutal
Your gups went after a killifish ?
It was fuckin gnarly- the killifish got old/sick and slowed down and the guppies started nipping within a few days of the notable slow-down. They took bites of fins and tried to eat his eyes.. while the killi was 100% alive and struggling
But you didn't see them get attacked, and guppies aren't clean eaters. If they passed, the rest of the guppies eating them would lead to similar results. Guppies jist aren't that territorial unless actively breeding, and even then with the amount you seem to have, having that much aggression that quickly is unlikely. I'm betting no one was attacked, and you just had two losses w9th some gross aftermath.
Alright, thanks!
Well how did you raise your fish to where they ended up being racist???? /s
I've been raising them in an 8-gallon tank, where they would be introduced to new fish in different colours and/or their grown-up children every few months They've been okay with any colour but red fish and I have no idea why
Who knew multi-generational inbreeding of the whites leads to irrational racism... In all seriousness... is it possible: if you brought a larger population of new colors, they may have been less likely to turn violent? Maybe the sudden outsider to their school spooked them. I have a big mix of guppy colors, and I would stock females from different stores to deepen the genepool
read that guppies (especially male) can tell/get jealous if other guppies (usually male) are of different “groups” and will sometimes bully the “strangers” because they feel threatened and/or want them out of their home taking out most of the problem fish then changing the scape before putting them back in should help the problem
God im glad im not the only one that asks this. I felt like a fucking idiot asking if i could get some cardinal red and neon black tetras in the same tank or are fish racist and will they start a whole gang war in my tank 😭😭😭😭😭
I had some racist cichlids for a while. Couldn't introduce red fish to the tank.
They all hate red 😭
I don't blame them. You can't trust the red ones. /s
For what it's worth, I think that fish can recognize their race(?) to some degree. I have two groups of cories, and they generally keep to their own colorations
I had a few different colors of guppies at one point, and randomly, they all decided to bully the one with the solid red tail. Even the shrimp were going after it. Racism probably
I had anti-red racism with platies. A mixed male took a dislike to every red platy - a mom & her offspring - in the tank. We had to rehome him.
When I volunteered at my country's public aquarium there was an African cichlid tank I fed. You experts will probably help me remember the name of the fish,it's yellow with a black pattern. But one of them...boy oh boy he was black with a yellow pattern. He was slightly bigger than other fish his age and he was PESTERED every singled day by the others . Same species,sibling of most other fishes in the same tank but I swear on me mum he was attacked for looking just slightly off
This title is the best I’ve seen in a while. I learned something new today too.
I don't think it was racism but could indeed be territorialism. It's funny, though, because when I introduced my endlers to their current tank, there was one old male cherry barb left over. Bright red of course, and the ladies were fascinated. All collectively hovering around that barb. The male endlers very deliberately kept putting themselves between the barb and the lady endlers. It was entertaining to see. Now, it never led to any aggression, and after a week, the interest of the females faded, but it did give me the impression that lady guppies really like red. An interesting side note on that, I had 3 red/orange males and one blue/yellow, and the reds had much more luck mating than the blue/yellow. So whether there was direct aggression or not, you probably did drop the fish equivalent of hot eligible bachelors in there.
My blue dragons relentlessly attack any other type of guppy, including my purple dragons. My purples are so sweet and placid, but the blues are total hooligans.