sidthimunki and Dace eye loss

[Jessica]

My dad... acquired some dace 6 weeks ago and a week and a half ago we added them to my tank. They were QTing in a bucket and I didn't realize how many there were until we added the bunch. I had been planning on waiting a couple months and removing a large amount of them to his pond as they were still small. However, last night I discovered one of them was completely blind. His eyes had been removed. This morning, I realized that there are easily 6 I can pick out with one eye missing.

Presently, there are an unknown number of dace, but likely over 70 (still at about 1-1.5inches), 18 botia sidthimunki, and 1 bristlenose pleco in a 60 tall. The dace are extremely active and make well adjusted guppies look lethargic and amateurish in their begging.

I realize this isn't "normal" behavior for sids, but has anyone heard of this? As I see it, the only possibility is some odd disease which only effects the eyes, leaving the rest of the fish happy and healthy, just missing sight, or that the sids are having a feast of fish eyes.

I should also mention, the sids acted like they thought their new companions were food when I added them and their markings became muddy looking. Since I've kept them with many other fish with no ill effects, I figured this was a passing phase from having going from nearly a species tank to having a very bouncy, active fish added. They also have never harmed the pleco, but I can't help but wonder if the dace act to much like food fish. sigh.

I'm seriously thinking of removing the dace when I get home tonight, though i don't relish that task.

thanks for any thoughts.


EDIT: I should also mention that when I feed sinking wafers, the dace try to pileup on the wafers, and the sids at first didn't seem to know what to do, but now pile into the mass. i could see an easy opportunity to grab an eye or two in that body press...

[andyroo]

Looking at general loach structure i'm always a little surprised you don't hear of more eye-predation from botia-types. You'd think they're built for it, if the opportunity arose.

Dace are pretty fun. What spp and where are you? Water temp should be a little high for them, but i suppose it's summertime so the streams will be warm as well. You're certainly overcrowded, so monitor your water quality until the pond is ready.
A