Fish I've Seen At Walmart...

[Larkspur]

My boyfriend has a 36 gallon and he moves into his house sometime this week. He'll be immediately putting up his 55 gallon and beginning the cycling process. He has 5 or 6 cichlids to date so we're going to be getting more to fill the 55 later.

Well there has been the cutest orange cichlid at walmart the last 2 weeks. It has a spot over one eye and stripes only on one side of his body. He's the most unusual thing. I always point out that "Patch the Pirate Fish!" is still alive.

I thought about getting "Pirate" and a 10 gallon and crossing my fingers he can survive through a cycle. To be honest I can't believe he's still alive at my walmart. They have about 20 cichlids stuffed in about 5 gallons and you can tell some of the fish are suffering. Somehow this one is still alive. I definitely wouldn't want to expose it to his others yet either...hence the 10 gallon tank. He is going to be getting a 10 gallon soon to use as a quarantine tank. This fish would definitely be going through quarantine first.

What would you do? Get the ten gallon and the fish and take your chances? Leave it at walmart and hope he is purchased before he dies? Either way the fish is going to be in some sort of trauma. I wish my bf had a 10 gallon set up now, but he doesn't get the keys to his house until either this evening or tomorrow.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Do you know anyone else who can look after him for now? I know nothing about chichlids so someone else will have to help you but that's the first thing I'd look at.

and wow Walmart do fish?

 

[Jenste]

to be honest, a picture would greatly help.....i know that walmart likes to carry parrot cichlids - - - which grow MASSIVE and would not be happy at all n the 10 OR 35 gallon. you could have it in the 55 but not too many other fish with it.

please, never by a baby fish, stick it in a small tank with the plans on upgrading when it starts growing - - most of the damage to the fish's body and will already be done - - they will most likely wind up stunted and unhealthy

 

[Larkspur]

Nope. Nobody else with an established tank with no other fish in it.

Cichlids are real bullies and you can't really put them with other fish. They'll eat them. XD

Maybe I'll get off lucky and will go to walmart this week and he won't be there and then I can tell myself he was happily adopted.

And yes, the walmart here sells fish. I actually got my albino BN catfish from walmart. But, the dirty little secret is he came home and happily infested all my tanks with ICH. The ICH killed some ottos, but otherwise everything survived the treatment including the BN. *rolls eyes* Hence QUARANTINE. We don't want to take chances!

I know my bf didn't cycle his 36 before adding 5 cichlids. (He didn't know he had to) All the cichlids got through it fine. Not one looked to be suffering. I know they're hardy little fish. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts them in his 55 gallon this weekend without cycling. Sometimes you can suggest something, but it goes in one ear and out the other.

to be honest, a picture would greatly help.....i know that walmart likes to carry parrot cichlids - - - which grow MASSIVE and would not be happy at all n the 10 OR 35 gallon. you could have it in the 55 but not too many other fish with it.

please, never by a baby fish, stick it in a small tank with the plans on upgrading when it starts growing - - most of the damage to the fish's body and will already be done - - they will most likely wind up stunted and unhealthy

He looks something like this:

(the orange ones) But he has a spot over one eye.

He's setting up his 55 gallon this weekend. The 10 gallon would be a temporary residence for the new fish until he goes through a minimal 3 week quarantine. Then, if he does fine, he'd be added with the other fish in the larger tank.

They're mixed African cichlids at my walmart. They also carry the parrot cichlids too, but we have Africans.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm really hoping one of the experienced people is going to come and tell you it's fine to get it for your 10G as long as you keep up the fish-in cycle. I really want you to get it!

 

[Larkspur]

I'm really hoping one of the experienced people is going to come and tell you it's fine to get it for your 10G as long as you keep up the fish-in cycle. I really want you to get it!

Thanks. I really know their is a risk getting a fish and putting it through a cycle, but I am weighing the odds and to be honest in this situation it seems like its better to take the risk and give the fish an opportunity to live than leave it there. It's been there more like 3 weeks (at least) and is in bad water conditions now. He seems to be one of the more perkier africans in the crowded tank. I feel bad and I'm a silly girl who likes to get emotionally attached to fish.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I don't have mine yet but I'll be exactly the same!

 

[BethK]

Can you not pay for it and ask walmart to keep him as 'reserved', until your fella's tank is sorted?

 

[Davo86]

Look you have a cycled 35G tank, so take 10% of the filter media and stick it in the 10G filter and put the rest of the media into the 55G filter, thus giving you two cloned setups. Simples..

 

[Assaye]

As Davo86 said, if you have mature filter media you can use that to "insta-cycle" the tanks. Split it between whatever tanks you want cycled and then just add the fish and keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite readings for a week or so.

It does mean he loses a cycled 36 gallon but it sounds like getting his 55 up and running is the priority. You could also use a bit of media for the 10 if you got it.

You do need to find out what species that fish is. You don't want to find you end up with a cichlid that needs 75-100 gallons in your 55.

 

[Larkspur]

Assaye,
That was the plan originally to take the water and fish and put them in tubs to take over to his new house and add the water into the 55 gallon and then top it off with dechlorinated water.

He has to completely empty his 36 gallon anyway. It's located at a relatives house and moving it with water in it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

I'm almost positive the fish is an OB zebra cichlid http/www.tropicalfishandaquariums.com/AfricanCichlids/Zebra.asp


BethK,

It's walmart...they can't even ID their fish or give basic care instructions. To be honest I don't know why they still carry fish.




Who knows. He may not be in the tank by the end of the week. *shrug* I will probably go to walmart tomorrow and get the 10 gallon set up. (He needs it anyway) And if he happens to be there well...he /might/ be coming home. Really depends on the whole house situation too. I'll just end up leaving him and saying "sorry" if my bf isn't in his house by the end of the week. Too much other stuff going on unfortunately.

 

[drobbyb]

Something else to consider here: While the fish may look fine, ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning is invisible and permanent. Usually the fish sold at Wal-Mart are kept in poor overcrowded conditions with high casualty rates and oft times the dead fish are bloated or partially eaten before they are removed (dead fish = huge ammonia source eek!.) I'm not saying that all Wal-Mart fish departments are run this poorly, but I would never buy fish from one.

 

[BethK]

I'm in the UK, so I've had no dealings with walmart. However, I have seen youtube videos, which have shown tankfuls of dead fish. Not nice or healthy at all

 

[fishnovice]

If I were in your position I would
1. Get correct ID for Pirate fish species
2. Chech max size and copatability with current stock.

Assuming that's OK and your boyfriend moves in as planned get that poor fish out of Walmart immediately before it is poisoned by ammonia and damaged beyond repair. Don't worry too much about cycling- in an emergency you can always clone a new filter with a bit of old sponge from existing filter as others have already advised. I do it all the time with my new tanks and it works OK. Keep an eye on water stats and do frequent water changes if necessary. A partly cycled tank with clean regularly changed water is 100 times better for poor Pitate than a filthy overcrowded tank at Walmart. Just make sure Pirate is kept in quarantine for a few weeks until you are sure he hasn;t got anything contagious -dose his 10 gallon tank with meds like ADSA 2000 as a precaution.
Good luck to you and Pirate. I know how you feel, I can never resist a Fish in Need and have ended up with 6 tanks full of rescued fish and 3 turtles!

 

[Quisty]

We have fish at our Wal Mart...and sadly...it isnt any better here. There is never anyone back there caring for the fish. I was looking at the fish one day and there was a tank full of them with ich. A family was looking at the fish and were discussing getting one of the ICH infested fish... I pointed to them and told them that the spots are a sign of disease and that if they had fish in their tank already it would infect the other fish... I then directed them to our LFS. I found a Wal Mart employee and brought them over explaining to them the fish were sick and not to sell them. She wrote a note and placed it on the tank but who knows if it stayed. We have a store called Meijer here thats like a Wal Mart. They do plant their tanks and show some care in them..but they are still over crowded and they dont care for sick fish either.

Its sad that places like this sell fish and then don't hire staff to care for them. I feel bad for the fish..