Paradise Fish Bully

Question
Hi there - in desperation for the sanity of my daughter and the other fish in our tropical tank, I removed the bully Paradise Fish and placed him in water of its own.  When in the presence of the other fish in the tank (one neon, another paradise fish and two algae eaters) - he/she turns into a realy bully.  The second paradise fish has taken to hiding inside one of the tank ornaments to escape.  Since moving the bully out - the rest of the fish have come out of hiding and have started feeding properly again.  The bully is in solitary confinement for the moment - but I don't know what I should do next.  People tell me that fish have no memory - I am afraid that I don't believe this....  Help from a mum who wants the fish to be good pals!!


Answer
Hi Karen (nice to see another "Karen" fishkeeper! ;-)

Unfortunately, although I hate to be the bearer of bad news...Your paradise fish's behavior is completely normal. They are quite territorial and aggressive little fish -- especialy towards others of their own kind and to smaller fish. Really your only option is to give this one fish his own aquarium. You may actually have two males together. Two male paradise fish will behave in much the same way as male bettas will -- in fighting constantly. The best thing to do would be to keep the bully paradise fish in a 10-gallon tank of his own. Or relocate him to a tank with fish that are bigger than him. Larger tetras, barbs, giant danios, silver dollars, and other similar sized fish should be suitable.

Keeping the bully paradise fish in a seperate container and then returning him back to the main aquarium won't make him behave any different. A lot of fish have their own individual personality, even though they are all the same species (some are aggressive, some are peaceful and some are very shy ect...) and I have actually found that fish can have memories and they will remember a certain fish that they had fought before. When they were seperated for months and then put back together, they would fight as usual.

I'm sorry about the bad news but I hope this helps!
Karen~