Dominance hierarchies

I got another fishie!!! This one's super cool. It's a dwarf gourami. He is the long awaited Aristotle. Unfortunately, he and Napoleon aren't getting along too well. Napoleon's been emperor of my aquarium for the past month. And now here I go adding another "big" fish. Fortunately, Aristotle was one of the smallest of his flock at the fish store, so he's probably used to being the omega (as Yann Martel puts it in Life of Pi). This predisposes him to submit to Napoleon's alpha posings. So pretty much Aristotle's spent his time either being chased by Napoleon, or hiding from him. He's very good at hiding. Not that he's completely concealed or anything, just he's always lurking behind something, or even more dramatically in something. It pleases me greatly to see him camping out in the cave in the lava rock, or skirting behind my fake vegetation. Yesterday I found him actually in one of the fake plants! It's nice to know that my aquarium decorating efforts are useful and appreciated =).

So hopefully they'll establish their hierarchy and Aristotle won't have to be so furtive anymore. He really is a beautiful fish, and I'd like him to be bold and immediately visible! I think part of it is just that he has a pretty skittish temperment. None of the other fishies are afraid of me. In fact, they excitedly and openly greet me when I'm near their tank. They know that I'm the source of fish flakes. Aristotle, however, nervously flits away from me (while Flit, one of the tetras, is much more couragous, much less skittish). He seems to be becoming bolder, though, as he's becoming more used to his new environment and new companions. I don't think I should have any coexistence problems. Yep, I'm confident that he and Napoleon will become firm friends.

I'm actually rather relieved by the current structuring of their relationship. I find it very heartening that Napoleon, the angelfish, is dominant. You see, this is the second aquarium I've had. The first was way back when, when I was in elementary school. I had an angelfish that was my absolute favorite fish. He was one of the first fishies I'd gotten, and he'd grown to quite a respectable size. His name was King Kamehameha. I also had a blue gourami, a breed presumably closely related to dwarf gouramis. Blues aren't nearly so pretty, however. In fact, he was a most undistinguished fish. Yet after a year or so, he decided to turn mean. He attacked and maimed King Kamehameha! Poor King. He wasn't dead yet, but there was nothing we could do to help him. =( Then I got another cool fish. A betta, one of those Vietnamese fighting fish. It was also attacked by the blue, who succeeded in killing this one. After that I had to get a tank separator and place him in solitary confinement. I couldn't bring myself to flush him alive. I'm not so cold-hearted as a blue gourami =).

So I'm happy that Aristotle reacts very meekly to Napoleon. It suggests to me that he won't go on a murdering rampage. So really, everything should be hunky dory, right?!