Killer Goldfish

I had myself a killer goldfish.

I started out with four goldfishes, two gold ones (fishy #1 and #2) and two white ones with a red head (fishy #3 and #4). They swam happily in the tank and came swimming to the top whenever I walked up to the tank to feed them. Then two days later, one of the white fishies was floating, belly up at the top of the tank. Fishy #3 (or maybe it was #4) went to fishy heaven. There was a short funeral at the toilet.

Two days after fishy #3's death, I found fishy #4 floating belly up at the top of the tank. Perhaps it was lonely without it's mate and decided to join it in fishy heaven. After another fishy funeral at the toilet, I took a look at my tank to see what was wrong with it. The remaining two goldfishes looked fine and were swimmingly back and forth. I noticed the water was a little green so I decided to change the water, added some more clearing liquids, anti-fungus liquids and stuff to make the water the right pH level.

About a week after I changed the water, fishy #2 was floating belly up at the top of the tank, and there was another flushing at the toilet. This time, however, I noticed that fishy #1 was nipping at dead fishy #2 when I discovered its death. At the time, however, I didn't give much thought to this discovery.

Thinking that fishy #1 was all alone swimming by himself, I went out and bought another goldfish. Fishy #5 lasted one week before he joined the others in fishy heaven. At this point, my BF suggested that fishy #1 was a killer goldfish who was selfish and was trying to keep the whole tank to himself. I laughed at this suggestion and thought it foolish that my BF would even think that goldfish can commit homicide. Well, replacement fishies #6 and #7 each lasted about a week, in that order. And fishy #1 was also nipping at it when I found each dead fish. (I also added an algae sucker, fishy #8, but it died after I changed the water.) I was beginning to think maybe killer goldfishes do exist, and believe it or not, a Google search brought back many results! Killer goldfish DO exist. And they kill because: 1) they're horny and ready to mate, so they fight off other male fishes; 2) they're mentally insane from an ick fungus infection; 3) they just territorial.

Well, fishy #1 met his match with replacement fishy #9. I decided to buy a much larger replacement to perhaps deter fishy #1 from any more murders. Unfortunately, both fishes fought each other to the death. This is my theory: Fish #1 wanted to kill for his territory and thus attacked fishy #9. However, being larger than fishy #1, fishy #9 fought back for his safety. The end result was two fishies floating belly up in my tank, a duel funeral at the toilet, and an empty fishtank for me.

Since I no longer had any fishies, killer goldfish or otherwise, I decided to start all over again, but much more slowly. I added fishy #10, a black moor, and it lived happily for a month. I spotted some white spots on it's fin and figured that it had ick, a fungus, and treated it for that. Since it survived the month, I figured it was a good time to introduce a friend, fishy #11, the gold goldfish. The two got along quite well, considering that it was both fairly the same size. They didn't nip at one another. Fishy #11 survived a month in the tank with fishy #10 and I decided to add another fish, particularly an algae eater so that it can help with the algae growth, so basically a cleaner for the tank. Fishy #12 was added and all three has since flourished in the tank. I also got a new filter that is so powerful, I haven't had to change the water for months!

Going through all those fishies and a killer goldfish, I didn't want to name them because I didn't want to get attached if they died. Well, since fishy #10, 11 & 12 have lived for nearly six months now, and don't seem to be dying off anytime soon, I thought it was only proper to finally give them names. And here they are:

Meet Lola, fishy #11. For some odd reason, she likes to float belly up near the top of the tank. Yeah, I thought she was dead when I saw this for the first time. She usually floats belly up after eating too. It's really funny to watch her swim to the bottom of the tank, flip over and then just let the bubbles float an upside-down fish floating to the top.

This is BB (for Big Black eyes) and she's fishy #10. She's also the biggest of all my fishies. She started out the same size at Lola.

This is Ally (short for algae eater), fishy #12. Yes, that's right. I decided to make my fishes all female. That's why they all get along together. And Ally is not sucking on another algae eater, it's just a reflection from the glass. She rarely leaves the safety of her home: the treasure chest.

Lola and BB playing together. Ally was inside that treasure chest behind them.

BF quote of the day: "I have to work this weekend because I need the overtime to pay your bills. Why don't you put that on your blog?" First, what bills? Second, I will!