how did my fish do this?

Question

once i had a goldfish in a ten gallon tank with one golfish in it and after a couple of months I added a black moor. Of course, I thought my goldfish was totally pissed about this but they seemed to get along well enough. But when I woke up........well, the black moor was at the bottom with most of his skin ripped off and the goldfish was upside down at the top just barely alive looking totally torn up and he had a huge gash on his side! How does a frigg'n fish without teeth do that!?!?!
( my mom made me flush the gldfish alive):

Answer 1

Goldfish have pharyngeal teeth (kinda like molars) so its possible thats how they hurt each other.

Oh, and just to let you know if you ever have a fish that is suffering and is about to die, there is a humane way to put it down before flushing it. I've only done it once but you could tell the fish was in extreme pain and slowly dying anyway. You put a bowl of water in the freezer and keep it in there until it has a thin layer of ice over the surface. Break up that layer and put the fish in. The fish will die in a second, literally, and its painless.

Answer 2

Now that it has happened, you cannot go back and change anything. Hopefully you will have learned a few things:

Never flush a dead or alive fish in the toilet. They may have diseases that can be transmitted to the main stream and onto other fish. Plus, it wouldn't be easy to breath for them and they would be breathing in toxic waste. I am not trying to make you feel bad, but maybe you can let your mother know this?

Another way to euthanize a fish is to place it into a plastic baggy with a cup or so of its water and place it into the refrigerator. Their system slows down first and then they die. Usually pretty quickly. Another way is to add some ammonia to a smaller container with the fish already in it,with some of it's tank water.

When you are going to add another fish to your established tank, get on line and do a search on fish compatibility. Even if it says they are okay together on several different sites, check on them frequently to make sure they are going to be suitable tank mates.

Try to check on them without them aware you are watching. When they get distracted by your presence they will be focused on you and you won't be able to see their true behavior. Keep in mind too, that they each have their own personalities and won't always get along no matter what the info/experts say.

Sometimes you will have to remove the fish if it is being chased a lot or nipped at. No matter if it is only one fish or several. They do gang up on new tank mates at first especially.

Answer 3

not knowing the whole situation it could be a few things.

my first thought is one was sick and fish will attack sick fish to get them to move out of the shoal for the good of the rest of the shoal.

if you ever have a sick goldfish you should put it in its own tank or they will pick it to pieces. you can even watch them still picking at the ones that are already dead at walmart.

second thought - they both could be crazy dominant males. usually a male goldfish will nip and pick at everyone else in the goldfish tank to establish dominance. if the other one wasn't into being dominated then you got a fish fight.

Answer 4

Black moors are weak,sensitive fish. The move to your tank may have put it in shock. The tank had too little oxygen and too much ammonia so the y hit each other until they died of their wounds. The quick sudden hitting movement is like a good fast blow to the fish,causing it trauma.

Answer 5

Haha... yeah, goldfish can be vicious. Once I had an adult goldfish in a tank of about 20 younger ones, and it tore them apart.
It was actually pretty sick.
But, honestly, I have absolutely no idea how he did it...
My best guess would be that he might have seen the new fish as either a threat or competition for food, and therefore felt the need to defend himself against him?

Answer 6

poooooooor Black Moor.

owner of 1 black moor, and 3 other goldfish.

Answer 7

for the love of Pete!! they tear each other's skin off by mere force of their mouths. It seems barabaric, but you must have the fact in mind that all nature's habits have a course and cause. Seems odd too.. but all with it's porpouse.
FUSH THE GOLDFISH ALIVE?!!!! arrrrrrrrghhh..
oxox
Ive

Answer 8

u should have asked the pet shop person whether it would be ok to put that particular fish with your goldfish ,very important....you wouldn't put a pitbull with a toy poodle would you??????

Answer 9

maybe the fish did it with his mouth... and he has a tail 2!

Answer 10

they may not have giant shark teeth but they probably have little tiny pricks lol... or they could have used their mouth... like.. muscle lol
fish muscle =D