Lost causes.

[Andyroo]

Rtc/tsn - nano systems are a thing, though: various tetras & rasboras, gobies & puffers & scorpionfish & cats that all stay below 2".
I have often thought that it would be interesting to have a 10~15gal with a 5gal paint bucket can-filter in the cupboard underneath inbuilt with a run-silent little Jaebo. Low-maintenance, fun & 1/4" glass, so cheap to build. A something like that might check your mum's boxes without compromising your own, and would be an interesting way to get comfortable with home-build... so you can rebuild your 55 when nobody's looking

PS: for those following the juv.arowana screwup of my other thread and appreciating my own hypocrisy in my earlier post, three of the above filters are being assembled now... pending sourcing sealing buckets/drums.

 

[Backfromthedead]

As much as it's sad to think of the tanks and fish that are poorly cared for, I take pride in the fact that this hobby takes a bit more effort and knowledge to be successful than with other pets. Im confident that If everyone could have a beautiful thriving aquarium in their home they would. After all, they are very nice "ornaments" as we've discussed and I'd go so far as to say a very nice large tank is a status symbol. But everyone's not willing to put in the effort, and the only positive that I can say about it is that these people usually dont stick with the hobby for long and quite often their secondhand equipment will hit craigslist dirt cheap so more serious keepers can take advantage.

You could say fishkeeping is just a selfish impulse at the cost of the fish, but this is one of those arguments that can extend into almost anything imo...commerce, construction, space exploration, procreation...at some level we're just exhausting resources to further our gains in some way. In short I dont think there are moral grounds to consider aquaculture inherently evil in any capacity.

 

[AaronKWolfe]

I know I'm late, but I will say, who would've thought a leaking tank was the fish's savior?

 

[esoxlucius]

I started this thread to have a rant about my wife's friends fish keeping skills, or lack of to be more precise. I never once mentioned how the fish I rescued are getting on.

There were four fish, 2 small bala sharks, a yoyo loach and a pictus cat (or so I thought, more about the pictus in a minute). They'd been living in nitrate infested water in the many hundreds ppm, and for god knows how long. I slowly acclimatised them to clean water and put them in a large tub with a lid on with a small seeded filter in there, and some decor for the pictus to hide in. No medicine, no salt, nothing, just clean water, and I changed out water regularly.

They started eating pretty quick, which was a good sign, and they all looked healthy enough. Nothing started showing on them to suggest any disease. This has been the case for the last month or so and so I decided to add them to my tanks. The 2 balas have gone in my 360, and the yo-yo and pictus have gone in my 180. Now for the pictus conundrum!

Firstly, I know diddly squat regarding catfish. At first I thought it was a pictus but this was more browny with spots, as opposed to silvery with spots. I just put it down to age and that maybe it was quite old and that's the colour mature pictus go. But the shape also didn't quite fit with a pictus, so I did some more research, and, I haven't got a pictus at all.....it is a featherfin squeaker!!! Never heard of this fish, but I now have one, lol.

So, in short, all four fish are now in their new homes and are all doing well. A happy ending to a completely miserable story described in post #1.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

I started this thread to have a rant about my wife's friends fish keeping skills, or lack of to be more precise. I never once mentioned how the fish I rescued are getting on.

There were four fish, 2 small bala sharks, a yoyo loach and a pictus cat (or so I thought, more about the pictus in a minute). They'd been living in nitrate infested water in the many hundreds ppm, and for god knows how long. I slowly acclimatised them to clean water and put them in a large tub with a lid on with a small seeded filter in there, and some decor for the pictus to hide in. No medicine, no salt, nothing, just clean water, and I changed out water regularly.

They started eating pretty quick, which was a good sign, and they all looked healthy enough. Nothing started showing on them to suggest any disease. This has been the case for the last month or so and so I decided to add them to my tanks. The 2 balas have gone in my 360, and the yo-yo and pictus have gone in my 180. Now for the pictus conundrum!

Firstly, I know diddly squat regarding catfish. At first I thought it was a pictus but this was more browny with spots, as opposed to silvery with spots. I just put it down to age and that maybe it was quite old and that's the colour mature pictus go. But the shape also didn't quite fit with a pictus, so I did some more research, and, I haven't got a pictus at all.....it is a featherfin squeaker!!! Never heard of this fish, but I now have one, lol.

So, in short, all four fish are now in their new homes and are all doing well. A happy ending to a completely miserable story described in post #1.

View attachment 1470517

one of the good things about getting fish from trash waters, is that they are cast-iron hardy fish, because they've proven that they can survive in awful water conditions, so they definitely can survive in yours!

 

[..puSkar..]

featherfin squeaker

Beware! Could get nasty at times. BTW it's good they got a great home.
Post pics of the bala S.

 

[esoxlucius]

Beware! Could get nasty at times. BTW it's good they got a great home.
Post pics of the bala S.

Yeah well the squeaker has already took new ownership of my 3 foot length of PVC 5" box section which was for my pack of clowns. So now the squeaker is at one end and the clowns are at the other end, lol.

The small balas were hard to shoot, this is the best I could do. The big one, in comparison, is one of my original balas. It's about 10".

 

[esoxlucius]

THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN!!!

I thought this thread was well over and done with but developments today have brought me back to it. I was going to start a new thread but the subject matter is exactly the same reason why I started this thread in the first place, so I thought I'd tag it on.

The reason? My wife's friends up the road are offloading fish again. They came down today to ask if I would take them because.....wait for it....."they want to start keeping goldfish now but their current tropical fish won't die!!!" I kid you not.

If you remember from my first post in this thread, these are the people who have the attitude, "aquarium fish don't live long anyway, and in any case they're only fish."

This time, it would seem, they have a batch of fish that must be extremely hardy and it is annoying them somewhat that they aren't dead yet! Usually they have a very fast turnover of fish, all the details you'll find in post #1 regarding the last time they wanted to offload fish.

I asked what fish they have and they said, lol, "a black thingy one, two with straggly fins and two small plecos." She went onto inform me that one of the plecos head is severely deformed because it's got "tentacles" all over it, obviously a bristlenose, but I wasn't in the mood to enlighten her.

I remember all too well the wretched state of their water when I took the last batch from them last year, so I just said, "I'll have them, I'll come up and collect them when it's convenient for you."

And that is how I left it. The woman, my wife's friend, will contact my wife in the next couple of days probably.

When they asked me if I'd take some more fish i thought, great, they must be fed up and giving up on the hobby, and then they mentioned their next project....goldfish. Poor, poor poor goldfish!

My main concern now is, what the hell am I going to do with goldfish when they decide they want shut of them too? Lol.

I cannot believe these people.

 

[GolemGolem]

Well for what it's worth I only have goldfish because my wife wanted them...but they're kinda great really. Think I might start recommending them in "what "wet pet" should I get?" threads. Lots of personality, get big, demand way more water changes than my chichlid tank. . .
I just try and remember that on average people are about average and any good qualities will be evened out, by others if necessary over an anoyingly long time frame.

 

[esoxlucius]

Well, the wifes friend rang this morning. She was emptying the tank today so she needed me to go up and collect her unwanted fish before she delves into her new goldfish project. Sigh ☹

There were six fish in total. Two bristlenose plecos (male and female, about 3"), a black tetra and three phantom tetras. I basically just picked up the bucket, made small talk, and left. I've little time for them.

When I got home the first thing I did was check the water in the bucket. The deep burgundy off the scale nitrate reading achieved after about only 30 seconds of shaking the vial, told me everything I needed to know. Absolutely nothing had changed from last time regarding their approach to water changes/maintenance.

I left the fish in the bucket and over the space of about two hours I slowly acclimatised them to the freshwater that was in my quarantine tank, ending with me introducing them all into it.

Fish are doing fine, they look in good health all things considered. They will be fine now they're in my care.

Now I can finally close this thread down, again! I certainly don't want to revisit it due to them wanting to offload their goldfish!!