$300 turd?

señor_pescados_felices

Feeder Fish
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May 26, 2006
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havn't posted in awhile,been quite busy...I know you guys missed me its all good.

thing is the widebar that I purchased about 2 months ago is not getting much better.It finally started eating a little about a week and a half ago and I thought that was going to be the big break through and it was going to stabilize but nope.

So for two months now I have had a fish that I shelled out about $300 for and it looks like a turd floating around in the water.I mean,this widebars coloration and markings are every bit as beautiful as ,lets say, a hoplias malibaricus, only minus the "cool factor"......you see what I'm getting at....

Its like having a piece of crap floating in the tank that your reluctant to take out because of the potential value and the hope that it might one day stabilize and become something purdy.....

On top of it all I really shouldn't have got it,I technically "can't afford it" I just wanted one so bad I neglected on a few other things so I could get it.I suppose it makes it that much worse....paying for something you shouldn't really be getting and then you don't even get what you pay for is a double sucker punch.....not only that but mine is a small ST,maybe 6" or so...which would make it that much cooler if it was stable but as is it makes it suck that much more being unstable.

should I still be "hanging in there" or "giving it time"?Everybody else seems to have stable widebars...I think I saw one other member who had an unstable ST and it recently stabled out for him.I saw where steve_89 was saying he waited 3 years for one of his ST to stable out,thats ridiculous. I think I can wait maybe another few weeks to a month and if it doesn't improve I need to try to get my $300 back....which means finding someone to do a local pick-up in BFE or do a no live arrival garuntee from someone who hasn't shipped before....not lookin good :(

any tips advise or suggestions are welcome at this point,and I thank you for taking the time out to hear my rant but I'm sure theres alot of people who can understand where I'm coming from. (although I'm sure theres also a number of people thinking "he's comparing his ST to a floating piece of fecal matter?")





 

señor_pescados_felices

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May 26, 2006
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errr,maybe it was too much of a rant?what I am asking is do you guys think it will come around? 2 months ago everybody told me "it needs time"," just give it some time", and "just wait it out".......when I pay $300 for a fish I want it looking good yesterday......

Just wondering what you guys think,what you would do,etc.....

thanks in advance





 

Nic

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Oct 8, 2005
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can you post a pic of the dat???
 

Bllib

Candiru
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Dec 7, 2007
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Its makes things much harder when you pay that much for a fish however you have already put this much time into it. Plus what would you do with it? Sell it? If it looks like a piece of crap floating in your tank:ROFL:, Sorry visuals got me laughing. I don't think you will get 300 for it. Stay patient:D
 

Datnoid101

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Mar 6, 2006
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Off the deep end
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I personally think that the whole stable thing is getting ridiculous. Yeah its great when your tigers are stable and showing great color but when it goes unstable people flip out and worry. Well thats the way the fish is, reacting to its environment. You buy a dat because you love the dat not because it looks pretty when its stable. The main thing is that its eating and is healthy. Plus if you say that you cant really afford it, then I would say that you cant afford to be picky. If it bothers you that much I'll buy it from you or sell it to someone else who wants it. Not everybody get a widebar even if its a "lower grade"
 

señor_pescados_felices

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May 26, 2006
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here are some pics,the first one is how it looks 95% of the time,so dark you can hardly see the stripes, the second pic is actually its best attempt at "coloring up" which it does every once in awhile for random reasons.

the only thing I can compare it to is the bumblebee cichlid from malawi,the way the males look so dark when they are in breeding color.

But yeah I probably will try to sell it if it doesn't get much better.

I know it has the ability to stable out because the pic that was posted of him by the original owner in the buy and sell section back in December showed him very stable...and there were other people interested I just got him first....so I probably would not settle for much less than what I paid for him if I did drop below that at all....it may take awhile but I'm sure I'll find a buyer with how bad everybody wants an ST,some don't even care about stability....

In fact a few days after I got him he was in real bad shape and I still had people posting things like "I'll buy it if you don't want him!"







Picture 050.jpg
 

señor_pescados_felices

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May 26, 2006
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sinister j;1582505; said:
I personally think that the whole stable thing is getting ridiculous. Yeah its great when your tigers are stable and showing great color but when it goes unstable people flip out and worry. Well thats the way the fish is, reacting to its environment. You buy a dat because you love the dat not because it looks pretty when its stable. The main thing is that its eating and is healthy. Plus if you say that you cant really afford it, then I would say that you cant afford to be picky. If it bothers you that much I'll buy it from you or sell it to someone else who wants it. Not everybody get a widebar even if its a "lower grade"

I kinda see what your saying but the thing is,while I do like dats, I did get it because of how they (ST's) look when stable....

its true I suppose you buy the dat because you like the dat but take the nice color away from a dat and you got an oscar......which I could have just got for much less.....see what I'm saying?

so yeah buy the dat because you like dats but what about when what you like about dats more than anything is their coloration?

I'm just wondering what people mean when they say "give it time" and "it needs time to feel comfortable".......when someone says "give it time" with a dats stabilization are they saying wait 6 months and then get back to us or what?




 

Razman

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Feb 17, 2007
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you must have some nice looking dumps if thats what your comparing your dat to........

but really look in my avatar, my thinbar hides all day and he is so unstable that he looks like a silver dat sometimes, im just happy i have him.

EDIT: ok you paid $300 and i paid $40 so i can see why your mad now.
 

vanimate

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Jun 3, 2005
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In the pics he seems out and about and not hiding. If he is out and not shy, then I'm sorry to tell you that this may be his color. I would try moving him into a new tank alltogether. I've had dark uncolored dats turn into totally different fish just by changing tanks. Give it a try ;)
 
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