# outcast Strawberry Peacock questions



## TfnG (Dec 29, 2012)

last wednesday i picked up a few new fish for my 55g tank. 1-Ruby Red 3" 1-Blue Neon 1" 1- Strawberry Peacock 1.5". i brought them home and left the lights on for an hour. the other tank mates were checking them out but no fighting. i then shut the lights off for rest of the night. next morning, everything seemed good but i did notice the Strawberry kind of laying low to the sand. he looked just fine and figured nothing of it.

got home from school to find my Strawberry dead and the other 2 getting along just fine. his fins were damaged but there was an Chinese Algae Eater on him when i got home and thought maybe it was chewing on the Strawberry. but i had been gone 9 hours and dont really no what exactly happened.

so i took the Strawberry back to fish store to get another. the owner said he thought the fish had been beat up on because of the fin damage...and that albino fish will get picked on sometimes. so i got another 1.5" Strawberry and brought him home. everyone picked on him immediately as well. i feared he would die, so put him in my 29g Brichardi tank. in there i have 5 1" Brichardi. they immediately pushed him to the top corner of the tank and he has stayed there since last thursday.

what should i do? will he get sick just sitting up in the top corner? should i put him back in my 55g and see if he ends up dead or in the top corner of that tank?


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I would return it to the store.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Adding one fish into a tank is often trouble, but adding a single fish into a smallish tank with brichardi is a guarantee for trouble. He has a far better chance in your other tank, than he does with the brichardi. How brightly coloured are the Strawberry peacocks?


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## TfnG (Dec 29, 2012)

Maybe I will put him back in the big tank and see what happens then. He's very brightly colored. At the LFS all of the Strawberry's were this size and same color.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

TfnG said:


> Maybe I will put him back in the big tank and see what happens then. He's very brightly colored. At the LFS all of the Strawberry's were this size and same color.


If they were all brightly coloured, they were hormoned. This is likely what caused the death of the first one. They really shouldn't have any colour at all at that size. The hormones increase the colouring and finnage of the fish at a young age, and it makes them more saleable. Unfortunately the mortality rate is very high, and for those that survive, typically their longevity is decreased. The hormones would have been introduced at the breeder/fish farm.


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## TfnG (Dec 29, 2012)

Good to know. I was surprised they showed so much color for being so young.

Well I swapped him to the big tank last night so ill see what happens. Kinda worried tho, this morning he was hanging low to the sand...just like the first Strawberry did the day i came home and he was dead.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

TfnG said:


> Good to know. I was surprised they showed so much color for being so young.
> 
> Well I swapped him to the big tank last night so ill see what happens. Kinda worried tho, this morning he was hanging low to the sand...just like the first Strawberry did the day i came home and he was dead.


If it dies, probably more to do with the hormoning than anything you did. Lesson, don't buy brightly coloured small fish for a Peacock/Hap tank. They should all be plain when very small.


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