The General's son and his rise to power

The fish world of Cichlids is not unlike our human nations. There are power struggles in government, rebellions, and even family feuds. The pursuit of power, property, food and family peace is a daily chore in the fish world.  This is the story of The General’s son, his name is General Junior the Second of the Metriaclima Estherae family.

General Junior the Second was born to one the General Senior’s 3 wives.  General Junior was one of many siblings, a batch of 20-25 little fry.  A few were picked to remain in “Jake’s Tank”.  The others were taken to the fish store to be sold to other private owners. 

It may seem cruel to not keep them all.  It’s not so much a matter of space (we have a 75 gallon tank) but a matter of keeping family feuds to a minimum.  There can only be one Alpha male!  Alpha males have the control of the tank.  Alpha males will separate the other fighting fish as he is the only one allowed to fight.  He will hang out at the center of the tank with the best view of his domain.  There he enjoys the security of having the quickest access to food from the surface.  As opportunistic feeders, they will rush to any food and get as much as they can hold in their mouths.  The alpha male is also entitled to choose his cave.  The best cave is private enough for sleeping but has enough space for a mating dance.

 

The General Junior has not yet mated with any of his wives, so we’ll write about that ritual later.  It suffices to say that if the Alpha male sees another male wooing one of his girls, the intruding male is chased away in a hurry.

One Alpha male will be established, and Beta males are secondary to the leader.  It’s also acceptable to keep multiple males of the same family, but one must be prepared to have casualties.  Males of the same family will fight, sometimes to the death, to determine their position in life and their right to breed.  Disputes between families and within families are fought often until a balance is reached.

The General (General Junior’s father) was in power for many years.  There are three families of fish in the tank (Labidochromis Caeruleus, Labeotropheus Fulleborni and the Metriaclima Estherae family).  He kept a working balance between all three successfully.  The General died of old age April of 2009.  The Beta male called El Presidente of the Labeotropheus Fulleborni family took over as the leader.  He also died about a year later leaving the tank in the hands of, surprisingly enough, a female fish, named Ungji.  She is an angry and suborned fish, sister to General Junior, but older. The Metriaclima Estherae family took over the tank once again.  The strongest fish will claim leadership during a power struggle.  Ungji kept her reign for 2 years.  We even had to move her sister out of the big tank to the small tank because of the constant beating she received under Ungji’s dictatorship.

General Junior the second, when young, survived the Big Disease of ’06.  The fish casualties reached the triple digits in the small tank where the children fish are kept.  The cause is still unknown. The pestilence, the horrific death toll was even more heartbreaking because it targeted the very young.  General Junior was in (what you might call in human years) his early teens, so he survived the plague.

When he was old enough, he was moved to the big tank.  He has grown much like his father, except his father was a little bigger and had no stripes.  The males of his kind have a light blue color when they are on alert.  As an Alpha male, they are constantly light blue displaying their leadership coloring.   As a teenager, they are dark colored and only light up when fighting.  He is now a beautiful blue like his father before him.

The battle starts.  A shift of power is about to take place.  General Jr. swiftly swims toward Ungji as she dodges and swims around at a matching speed.  He goes back to his domain; reevaluates, and goes for a second try, ramming on Ungji’s sleek and scaled body.  They both have fins starting to tear from the constant back and forth.  Ungji takes a hit.  Adrenaline keeps their colors bright and fins fully fanned out.  General Jr. is a little younger, and perhaps more fit, but determination has a lot to do with who wins and a major part of the struggle.  Ungji can’t believe that she has had to retreat to take a rest.  But she must return if she is to keep her place, she tries hard to keep the area she had.  She is frustrated in her efforts as the General Jr. keeps chasing her away all over the tank.  She attacks, but he attacks back.  Finally, they face each other; they grab each other by their mouths.  They twist and swirl while still attached at their lips in a biting attack that could end very badly.  Should a jaw be damaged, or a lip ripped off, the fish will die for lack of eating ability.  Luckily it does not reach that point.  They let go, Ungji swims away to a hidden corner.  Maybe she’ll try again later, but chances are, her fate is set.  

(he looks almost white in the video)

The General Junior is now in charge and this is the story of his rise to power.  He will likely retain his leadership role for quite a while.  He has taken his place as the patriarch of his household and the leader of the families in the tank.  But will Ungji revolt and try to take the throne back?  Will General Jr fall in love with one of his girls and make an heir?  Will he rule with a firm and yet gentle fin? Or will he let the tank fall into Chaos?   The rest of his story remains to be seen. 

The End.