The Uberfish Saga

Natalie writes:

I have just been witness to another Uberfish in my own tank. I have a rosy barb who was too mean to stay in the tank with his fellow barbs and so I thought to make him food for the 7½ in cichlid in my 30 gallon. The cichlid in the 30 gal is alone because he is too mean to be kept with other fish even of his own size or larger. He is beautiful with a bright blue body and bright yellow orange fins so the tank doesn’t suffer from having only one fish. I tossed in this barb with attitude figuring he would be gone within minutes, I was so wrong. The barb swims around wherever he wants and Leo just

lets him, giving a token chase every now and then. It has been three days and I have yet to see the rosy even try to run for cover. He has developed a slight nervous twitch so I can tell he knows he is in a tank with a fish at least 60 times his size, perhaps size is helping him though as he is too small for Leo to think of him as more than a snack or an annoyance. I think I will name him Fritz and see how long he lasts as the only other tanks I have for him are the black convict’s tank (where he would be eaten for sure), the jewel cichlid’s tank (once again eaten for sure), back into the

barb tank (where he would rip up the other fish again), guppy/african dwarf frog/neon tetra’s tank (Where he would wreak havoc), or the guppy breeding tank (where all the little babies would be terrorized and eaten by little Fritz). As you can see this uberfish will not get a ceremony unless I invest in another tank and I think I can do without for now.