Oddballs & monsters

[Paul_MTS]

sweet, just need a tank for it now!!

personal note- must invade brothers room and stick a 6ft tank in there!!

back onto track the Pangasius range of catfish is another widely availible big fish that alot of people buy but would only beable to house in there wildest dreams at full size!!

and probable the blue lobsters- the only species aaible to the UK is the Cherax Quads which grow to about 1ft. Although they don't need a massive tank (4ft) when full size alot of people would probable buy them as something different to put in there tank.

 

[candy]

i love oddball fish and everything but i also agree with whats been said about people geting these rather cute little fish who grow huge and then go oh *#%* what do i do now when it starts geting huge or evil...

one thing i am proud about it this one fish shop by where i live..as most of u know im getting a black ghost knife and anyway im in the fish shop looking at the little guy and reading the info next to the tank and the fish guy comes up to me and goes " i saw that u are very intrested in the BGK i thorght i would just tell u that they grow big and are sometimes hard to feed ...ect he spent about 15 mins talking about the fish and then i asked him if he did this with all the costomers (sp?) and he said yes..i was like oh my god a wonderfull fish guy who knows what he is doing....he said he asked what people had in there tank, water tests, size of tank,filters ect ... he also saidh e did it cause he loves fish and he would never want a fish to go to someone who cant look after there fish properly

this is now the only fish shop i get fish from..and im proud to say that there are good fish people out there and that i know one

 

[Paul_MTS]

sounds like a great find you'ved made.

I love oddballs aswell much better than your average tetra and muct cichlids, they only fish i could like more them them are plecs and catfish!!

 

[Fish00]

Yes...Same...MBU puffer are common here & so are axalotles, snakeheads, bichirs, halfbeaks & knifefish.
But the 4" mbu puffer was £250
but the 1" wild ones were £24

 

[Paul_MTS]

Holy....... we had a 5-6inch MBU here and sold that for £75!!

I don't think the axelotles are that much of a problem though as they don't grow particularly big and don't require a huge 6x2x2 kind of tank when there fully grown. One of the guys at work keeps them and has just bought a 30x15x12 tank to cater for it when fully grown.

 

[Fish00]

These are fully grown monsters For £24,
but oddballs are being mixed with community aquariums by the aragont fish
keeper who knows nothing & they loose their neons & then take it back.

 

[Oddball]

Oddballs everywhere, mmm i do and i dont like the sound of this. Its true i love 'em to bitsand would keep every one if i could but sadly, i cant. Occasionally i get an oddball to "grow on" for my lfs. This is usually a birchir/pangasius/or eel, and this serves as a double thing, the lfs gets a larger specimen in cheap after quarantine time (plus i get to keep it for a while Hurray!) and also the fish gets a label saying NOT fully grown yet!
This lfs is usually good at getting oddballs such as rays and odd/large cats but he only gets one or two of each species at a time and recommends what can be/can't be kept with em and what size tank is needed.
Alas as already pointed out, fish assistants nowadays aren't that good, and if i go elsewhere i tend to be warning people about these critters and their full "capabilities". What really concerns me is the urban myth of fish will only grow to the size of the tank, thats just wrong, and the public seem to think its true.
When i worked at the said lfs, i tried to get on with each customer and advise them as best i could. One guy really wanted a pangasius and i knew what he had tnak wise (3ft) and said, no i wouldn't serve him those fish unless he got a bigger tank.
Anyway after that he called me a T@%* and stormed out, i didn't see him for months, then one day he came in all arrogant and surly, asking if we wanted some fish, and dumped a huge box on the floor.........
Think u see where this is going? not yet it gets worse......
Opening it up is a PAIR of pangasius, they were 2.5ft long, hunched, cloudy eye (one had bubbled up) lumps on their snouts, just really deformed. Before i got over this shock he was demanding 30 pounds for them. I sisd no and offered him charity saying i would take them off him for nothingas no where else would.
He of course left, fish in tow to return four hours later to leave them with me, but not before the water had become freezing and they had gone pale. Some people are just plain selfish and arrogant.
It took nearly four months to re house these guys, free to a good home. Both can be found in the care of gary sykes one in an 8ft, the other in a huge 10ft tank. The moral of the story? dont think u can handle oddballs, know that you can and prepare for them.

 

[guppler]

Most store I've been to have some info written on the tank or nearby and if i say I want to get some, they often ask me questions, or are at least willing to answer questions. One of the funniest experiences in a way was when i was buying 4 danios for one of my tanks and a goldfish and a dojo for another tank, and maybe even some ottos for yet another tank, and I just happened to have some tiny plastic "critter keepers" in my basket. They asked if any of the fish were going to live in the critter keepers, and I asured them I did have better homes set up at home. I think I delayed buying some of my earliest fish partly because sales people stressed the importance of having a tank set up and cycling. I don't know how many would refuse to sell to an unprepared person though.
I often feel tempted by something like an adorable puffer, but if i do some research, I usually decide that I'm not ready on my own. Then I sometimes get some input from my mom, and maybe it's sometimes good that she's usually the driver, because, i wouldn't want to cary many new pets home on the bus really.
There are lots of critters I love to see and hear about, but know I can't keep at my house. Hopefully most people don't buy something new to them the first time they see one, but do some research first and ask questions to be sure they know what they're getting into. I do know some stores will buy back some fish when they get big for you, but I try not to buy fish i know I'll run out of space for anyway. Not to mention those I don't think I'll be able to feed properly or if they have special needs that I'm not prepared to deal with.

One local place actually functions a little like a zoo. We found out about them when my sister's kindergarten class went there for a field trip. They brought some neons back for their scool aquarium, and my sister talked about the "alligator" for a long time. I haven't seen an alligator there for quite a while, but last time I went they had several large fish that were clearly labeled as "not for sale", including an electric eel, and some very large Koi that swim under a bridge at the entrance and beg for food, which people can buy from a little vending machine.

 

[Paul_MTS]

some good stories there.

often people ask for an oscar or a puffer(for example) as there cute at th shop i'm at and all of the staff will ask what it's going with and then usually say you should leave it as it will attack and eat everything and grow big!! It might be a stretch of the full truth but if there stocking a community it'a all they need to know!!

I'm surprised how mnay people buy the CAE without asking anything on them. We sold a big 1 we had in yesterday which was about 7inch and we have another 2 fully grown ones coming in after talking to a lady today.

One guy that came in said he has a big shovel shovelnose a tad bigger than our shop red tail cat which is 2ft and thankfully he's trying hard to find a new home for it, I suggested the zoo to him which he said he would probable give that a bash!!

I wouldn't mind the idea to taking a fish home to grow it on a bit, some of the fish that come in are so weedy!! I'm taking my lobsters in to sell in the shop as I only have 1 left and she's barely comes out of her caves. so should beable to sell her for £20 odd being the size that she is.