Accidentally changed my tank

Ok my good nature has once again upset my tank , a friend / co worker bought a fish tank being a noob to the hobby bought all the fish with his tank , I tried to give advice but being late at night he had no way of getting the stuff he needed so the best advice I could give him was the fish are going to have to go in tap water over night don’t turn on the filter just use a air stone and heater ... half of his fish died over night , whilst at work he pleaded with me saying can you take my fish tht are left so they don’t die while I sort the tank out it me being me said sure thing mate knowing my tank is twice the volume of his I was sure I could accommodate half that stocking for a week or so .... wrong !!
The lead brings a bucket to my house in the bucket is a 13inch common pleco and a 8inch blood parrot , I instantly say I can take the pleco for a while but the parrot will cause too much trouble , again the story of it’s going to die it’s not fair please take him so I did , story gets dark !!! I put them in my tank instantly the parrot gets bombarded by my eba who rules the tank despite being half its length and again half its weight it was a bad show so I take it back out and put it in the bucket, logical thinking this fish was destined to die and I can’t deal with the hassle of fighting cichlids one being my beloved Thor so I decided to leave the fish in t he bucket over night with no heater by t back door and kill it ... I know I’m going to hell but , next morning feeling guilty I go to empty the bucket and break the bad news to my mate .... it was still alive in a bucket of water that had dropped to 17c over night . I instantly change my mind thinking this fish deserves a life and I’m glad it proved me wrong cus I felt so bad all night so now I have a adult blood parrot in my tank .. stay tuned for the inevitable drama

Oh come on, just get another tank

mmm that is a bit of a predicament.

Could you not just have given him some filter media? Though if he is keeping big fish like that in a tank half the size of yours is he ever going to be in a good place?

Just remember at times like this that rescuing fish is not always doing them a favour as they could be better off back in a store tank for someone who will be able to accommodate them long term. And in the meantime you could help your friend by showing him fish that would work in his tank - eg rather than a pleco go for bristle nose and if he likes the red balloon like parrot show him red baloon mollies? Or a smaller cichlid?

Wills

Wills said:

mmm that is a bit of a predicament.

Could you not just have given him some filter media? Though if he is keeping big fish like that in a tank half the size of yours is he ever going to be in a good place?

Just remember at times like this that rescuing fish is not always doing them a favour as they could be better off back in a store tank for someone who will be able to accommodate them long term. And in the meantime you could help your friend by showing him fish that would work in his tank - eg rather than a pleco go for bristle nose and if he likes the red balloon like parrot show him red baloon mollies? Or a smaller cichlid?

Wills

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He has agreed that his tank is too small for the fish and I’m in no place to keep it really just the whole dynamic of the tank has changed , il be rehoming it myself to the same man I rehomed my Oscar to , I’m stuck as wht to do with the pleco as my tank is too small for a common but isn’t most people tabk too small and don’t want to confirm it back to a smaller tank , currently the parrot is sitting in a corner with everything else looking at it , it’s not aggressive it just wants it’s owns space but my fish aren’t really allowing that, just don’t want to save fish from dying to have to kill them lol

That sounds good but equally most maidenheads will take fish in really easy so if it’s that or being put down it’s always best to give it to someone to care for them. MAs usually have massive sumps that they can put big fish in and they are usually on top of sorting big fish out properly.

Wills said:

That sounds good but equally most maidenheads will take fish in really easy so if it’s that or being put down it’s always best to give it to someone to care for them. MAs usually have massive sumps that they can put big fish in and they are usually on top of sorting big fish out properly.

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I think I will be asking around the larger stores to take the pleco , I just don’t trust people with a potential 2ft fish always expect the worse I would of kept it but my L200 is only small and don’t know how they would get on , there is a baby parrot also around 2inches I don’t know what to do with it lol I was hoping his tank would be all set up but it’s looking at a few weeks

UPDATE!
only updating as I’m shocked
Blood parrot is in a bucket waiting to be picked up .. I wish I filmed what just happened as I honestly would call BS myself
My breeding pair of eba hve just evicted the blood parrot it’s took them all day but the big dope has had a rough day , found him lying on its side with them both in turn biting its eyes and face as soon as I took it out it’s swimming round the bucket happy as a pig in poo .... speechless owel problem solved

Wow what a day! Glad you’ve got him sorted

Does that mean you still have the big plec and the small bp?

Wills said:

Wow what a day! Glad you’ve got him sorted

Does that mean you still have the big plec and the small bp?

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At the moment yeah I’m in two minds as what to do at the moment , I think il be keeping the parrot for a while as it’s 2inch and I don’t have any orange fish ahhha and it’s quite cute in a way the pleco is another story as I have my l200 which is 2-3 inches and I’m not sure how they will be with each other once they are competitive for food and such and honestly I’m not 100% it’s a common pleco I was adamant at first but now I’m not too sure , I’d like a positive Identification before moving it on mainly because if it is a common I will be taking it to a good pet store I know who take fish on and don’t resell them just because they don’t trust anybody to have a 7ft tank so it will probably live out it’s life with an Oscar or a green terror but I mean if it’s not common and it’s at max size now I’d look to give him to a fellow hobbyist

Bad photo I know but looks common ?

Pretty sure that’s a common finding him a home like that will be better than most of them get so quite a lucky fish in a way. Really really wish big fish were regulated never a big fan of stuff like that but if it were any other animal there would be something in place.

Wills said:

Pretty sure that’s a common finding him a home like that will be better than most of them get so quite a lucky fish in a way. Really really wish big fish were regulated never a big fan of stuff like that but if it were any other animal there would be something in place.

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They have several “display tanks” last time I was there one had a arrawona in the other the biggest Oscar Iv ever saw and a huge tropical pond that has pacu and green terror with a red tail catfish problem is they possibly all have a pleco in there and if there worth any reputation they would hesitate to add another large pleco , they do sell the fish in those tanks but they send an employee out to your house with the fish and they look at your tank and water test it really good in that respect they are , I just hate to think that the best life this pleco could hve is cramped in my 500l and it’s 11-12 inches so there a chance of stunting maybe I don’t know all I know at the moment it’s better off with me than my co worker ahahah