Hello, I have 2 young tank-raised false percs that I bought several months ago hoping to pair them up. After 2 months or so one of them seemed to have become the female, or at least the aggressor of the two. Despite the male submitting himself to her she never let up with the chasing and attacking, so he eventually exiled himself to hiding deep within the rocks and only coming out when my hand is in the tank.
Now after some weeks have passed the male is slowly dying. I'm assuming this is because of the stress and having to expend all of his energy hiding from the female. A few weeks ago he started swimming erratically, sideways, upside down, etc, and having a hard time seeing or finding his food. He will however eat out of my hand if I give him enough time to stumble into it. Now the past few days I keep finding him laying down inside the rocks or just floating at the surface. Thinking he is dead, when I reach in and try to grab him he starts moving around again. I'm thinking of just taking him out of his misery since he seems to be a goner anyway, but I just thought it was strange that he would behave like this for so long. I'm wondering if I should just remove him rather than have him die someplace inaccessible and foul up the tank. Any thoughts?
Now after some weeks have passed the male is slowly dying. I'm assuming this is because of the stress and having to expend all of his energy hiding from the female. A few weeks ago he started swimming erratically, sideways, upside down, etc, and having a hard time seeing or finding his food. He will however eat out of my hand if I give him enough time to stumble into it. Now the past few days I keep finding him laying down inside the rocks or just floating at the surface. Thinking he is dead, when I reach in and try to grab him he starts moving around again. I'm thinking of just taking him out of his misery since he seems to be a goner anyway, but I just thought it was strange that he would behave like this for so long. I'm wondering if I should just remove him rather than have him die someplace inaccessible and foul up the tank. Any thoughts?
