My House Is Beginning To Seem A Bit Like A Fish Rescue!

[TheShrimpGirl]

It seems like all of my fish are rescues and I can't help coming home with more rescues every time I see an Ad on CL or go into the LFS.

For instance, yesterday I was at the LFS and there was this female guppy in a tank with all males and she was hugely preggers.So, needless to say, she is now in my breeding tank and is looking really squared off and she will be dropping her fry any day now.

Last week a guy called me who had gotten my number from someone else. His tank had shattered and wanted to know if i could take the surviving fish. I did and now have a BGK, tiger barb, and serpae tetra.

Anyone else have any fish rescue stories or am I just too soft hearted?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I rescued 2 zebra danios, 3 harlequin rasboras and 2 panda cories all at the same time. Unfortunately they all went one by one. Each of them had issues. I lost them all over the next 4 months. I just gave my spare 10 gallon tank to my brother who got a bunch of minnows and was keeping them in a 3 gallon tank. The 10 isn't big enough, but at least its bigger.

 

[Mr Spoon]

I rescued 3 common pleco's, they are 15 inches long and was living in a 200 litre tank, poor things could hardly turn round as the tank was only 12 inches wide, I felt so sorry for them They seem a lot happier in my 400L tank, I know it's not ideal but its better.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

A friend of mine rescued my severums, but the fish he had in his 150g turned on the severums, so I rescued them back

 

[trianglekitty]

That's the whole reason I got into fish. I came back to work after a 6 month break to find a dwarf gourami in the foulest tank you can imagine. No heater, terrible tiny filter, no water changes for at least 6 months...you could barely spot the fish, the water was so black. I have no idea how he survived. I immediately seized him and got him a new set-up. He lived in my office for a few months, than came home with me when our office moved to a new building. I eventually lost him to dwarf gourami disease. I've vetoed all future fish in the office.

I also rescued guppies and cory cats from my cousin who was threatening to flush them. Most of my fish have been rescues.

 

[mike455555]

my friend was closing down a tank getting rid of there fish altogether, it was the 2f tank in my sig. but it had a clown loach in it and a 12" common plec as well as 40 guppies (give or take)

the plec went to the fish store (my LFS is a good one, and know's how to treat fish so there rarely in need of rescue)
the loach i kept for 2 weeks (mum and sis dident want to give him up),then i swapped him for a bulb for my other tank. =]

still have some guppies

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's the whole reason I got into fish. I came back to work after a 6 month break to find a dwarf gourami in the foulest tank you can imagine. No heater, terrible tiny filter, no water changes for at least 6 months...you could barely spot the fish, the water was so black. I have no idea how he survived. I immediately seized him and got him a new set-up. He lived in my office for a few months, than came home with me when our office moved to a new building. I eventually lost him to dwarf gourami disease. I've vetoed all future fish in the office.

I also rescued guppies and cory cats from my cousin who was threatening to flush them. Most of my fish have been rescues.

The only thing that makes sense to me would be that gouramis are labyrinth fish, so being able to gulp air from the surface probably served a great purpose to help him survive. I have a dwarf gourami now, and I love him. He's the biggest fish in my tank and he is constantly showing off at the front of my tank. My fingers are crossed that he doesn't get DG disease. I also have a shoal of neons and have just recently found out that my rasboras are also susceptible to neon tetra disease! My work at keeping the water pristine has just begun! The best defense against these things is perfect water. I just did a 40% water change, which is slightly bigger than my normal 30% weekly. I might go a full 50% every week from now on, just so that I can keep the water as clean as I possibly can.

 

[trianglekitty]

That's the whole reason I got into fish. I came back to work after a 6 month break to find a dwarf gourami in the foulest tank you can imagine. No heater, terrible tiny filter, no water changes for at least 6 months...you could barely spot the fish, the water was so black. I have no idea how he survived. I immediately seized him and got him a new set-up. He lived in my office for a few months, than came home with me when our office moved to a new building. I eventually lost him to dwarf gourami disease. I've vetoed all future fish in the office.

I also rescued guppies and cory cats from my cousin who was threatening to flush them. Most of my fish have been rescues.

The only thing that makes sense to me would be that gouramis are labyrinth fish, so being able to gulp air from the surface probably served a great purpose to help him survive. I have a dwarf gourami now, and I love him. He's the biggest fish in my tank and he is constantly showing off at the front of my tank. My fingers are crossed that he doesn't get DG disease. I also have a shoal of neons and have just recently found out that my rasboras are also susceptible to neon tetra disease! My work at keeping the water pristine has just begun! The best defense against these things is perfect water. I just did a 40% water change, which is slightly bigger than my normal 30% weekly. I might go a full 50% every week from now on, just so that I can keep the water as clean as I possibly can.

He was an awesome little fish...I didn't know fish have personalities before I had him. He was a great companion at work and helped brighten up my day and kept me less stressed. I never intended to get more fish but I enjoyed having him so much I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately, he was sickly from day 1 (not surprisingly). We overcome many crisis together, and I'm convinced he lasted as long as he did because I did daily water changes for 8+ months. I'll never own one again because I can't face the heartbreak of the disease. Good luck with your little guy though! I hope he stays very healthy and happy.

 

[Tolak]

The ad read "Assorted cichlids, free to good home, must take all". Probably 40 fish, about half cons, the rest a mix of Texas, GT's & so on. Woman was emptying a 120 gallon for a move, take them all or they get disposed of.

I get a call from a friend. Some friend, asking if I could open up tank space for these, knowing I have an empty 150 gallon tub, and 1kw heater, but no heat controller, planned for setting up outdoors. Oh, and it's the middle of March, drops to maybe 28F at night outside.

OK, you help me set it up, insulate it, keep an eye on the temperature unplugging & plugging in the heater every few hours & it's a go. I'll do nights, I live here, you come by during the day. You bring them here, we'll sell them at auctions & swaps, split the money. I'll order the controller on Monday.

This was on a warmer day, after the heat controller came in.

Strategically taped moving pads for the sides & a 2" thick piece of styro for the top. All cichlids got a new home by early summer, tub got several trios of platys for a summer breeding project.

We'll be rehoming some tanks after the first of the year, got a deal on a guy shutting down his fishroom. It's like a gravity spot for unwanted fish & gear here.

 

[fluttermoth]

I've had a lot of rescues over the years.

Probably the worst we had to deal with was three fantails, two common plecs, two weather loach and a channel catfish that someone dumped on my friend's doorstep in the middle of the night in a washing up bowl We found someone with a private lake to take the cat, I took the plecs and my mate kept the others.

I've also had;
a couple of oscars; the first was unsold at a fish club auction, so I took him in; I still have the second one that my ex pulled out of a two foot community tank last year and passed onto me.

a gibbiceps that came from another two foot tank that my ex bought second hand

a spotted and a striped talking catfish that were about to be flushed (still have those too, 13 years later!)

an unknown synodontis spp that had had most of it's tail eaten off (still got him too; his tail has never grown back; his name is 'Half-tail')

a lovely cichlid (we never indentified what he was); he was blue and white with orange fins and an orange throat; he was in love with my friend and used to dig pits in the gravel and flirt with her whenever she sat next to the tank

Unfortunately I lost the first oscar, the plecs and the unknown cichlid to a particularly virulant kind of septicaemia many years ago now. Still miss them though.

RIP Moomintroll and Hemulen (the plecs), Wilde the oscar and Gulpy the cichlid

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Unfortunately, he was sickly from day 1 (not surprisingly). We overcome many crisis together, and I'm convinced he lasted as long as he did because I did daily water changes for 8+ months. I'll never own one again because I can't face the heartbreak of the disease. Good luck with your little guy though! I hope he stays very healthy and happy.

Maybe a honey gourami?

 

[This Old Spouse]

This is the story of my life, starting with puppies, kittens and baby birds growing up.

As of now I have 6 red eye tetras that live with my tiger barbs quite happily. Someone nearby was tearing down a tank and I got them last summer.

In my 55g smorgasbord has a pair of colored skirt tetras (one pink, one blue), 4 serpae tetras, 3 von Rio tetras, 2 silver tip tetras that I rescued from one home, and a c. ambiacus and 3 c. delphax rescued from a LFS that didn't know they weren't feeder fish for an oscar. In my cory tank I have one trili and several high fin peppered cory that are rescues.

They all live very contentedly with each other. I only wish I lived closer to some of you so we could do a bit of swapping to get our numbers up! Just looking at The Shrimp Girl and wishing I could get the tiger barb and serpae tetra she just got! (Quick ... what's a BGK?)

 

[Asteria]

Such nice stories

I went in to a LFS or rather pet shop selling fish also.
And i saw the Betta they had gotten in, 2 reds, 2 blues. One of them was like pretty much black with almost no finage.
He was with tetra and could also see the other Betta males, so i think he beat himself up and the tetra helped.
So i took him home.
After about a month of having him, he turned a brilliant shade of aqua with a green sheen and got most of his finage back, like double what he had.
I still have him now.

 

[trianglekitty]

Unfortunately, he was sickly from day 1 (not surprisingly). We overcome many crisis together, and I'm convinced he lasted as long as he did because I did daily water changes for 8+ months. I'll never own one again because I can't face the heartbreak of the disease. Good luck with your little guy though! I hope he stays very healthy and happy.

Maybe a honey gourami?

I have two sparkling gouramis now and I like them the best of all my fish (other than Bontaleer, my Betta). I just won't have a dwarf gourami again.

 

[TheShrimpGirl]

Just looking at The Shrimp Girl and wishing I could get the tiger barb and serpae tetra she just got! (Quick ... what's a BGK?)

The Tetra and barb have found homes with other fish keepers in the area. Both of them are now in larger schools and biger tanks.

A BGK is a Black Ghost Knife. He is 4" long now and could grow to 20" long or more! He is probably the coolest fish i've owned and he eats out of my hand!