Any funny fish stories to tell?
- Thread starter mrsrobertson
- Start date
I originally wrote this on February 8, 2005
"Well for the first time in perhaps 3 months, Thursday I went out and bought some 1" goldfish feeders, in anticipation of seeing some good carnage go on in my 200g.
My 200g, for those who may not know, has:
4 JDs, 1 Uropthalmus, 1 convict, and 1 Salvini, all of whom are 3"-6" in length. Then there is an assortment of about 20 3"-4" mbuna and haps, with size exceptions going out to a 6" female D. comprecisseps, a 6" crabro mbuna, and an unusually bold, ruthless 4" frontosa. And a couple catfish. Most of the fish though are mbuna.
I put them all in my 10g first, and from there fished em out for my 200g. I plopped them in the 200g 1 at a time, not adding one until the last one was eaten, so that I might personally witness each slaying in detail. I'd stick the feeder in the highly sheltered floating-plant portion of the tank, so that the ravenous hordes (I deliberately hadn't fed them that day) wouldn't just metaphorically sucker-punch the feeder the moment it hit the water, so that I could watch a good chase.
As the feeders would trickle out from the floating-plant grove, they'd immediately be set upon by all these hungry cichlids. Of course, the larger cichlids would charge through the swarm of mbuna and come out in front usually, when the feeders were in highly-visible positions. The feeders, meanwhile, would take off like bats out of hell and usually made VERY good use of the copious amounts of decorative caves/plants/etc forms of cover that are throughout this tank.
Well, the moment the feeder had been seen, and then had consequently vanished from sight, the coolest thing you'd ever see would happen: ALL of these cichlids would hit the aquarium floor and spread out like CIA agents ransacking the empty house of an alleged terrorist, feverishly looking for that damned goldfish which they KNEW was around somewhere. They'd comb over decorations in a most methodical-appearing fashion, their snouts usually in the sand floor, smashing up all the neat little sand-caves the mbuna would regularly fashion for themselves during more peaceful times. Little fox-hounds, or FBI agents, haha take your pick . It's so terribly entertaining to see, if only I had a viable means of taking pics and putting them up for the rest of you.
Anyhow, within a minute or two of this feverish search the goldfish would be discovered, and would take off in a bolt of orange after getting hen-pecked by all the swarming mbuna. The larger fish were the ones that always took the fish down though. They'd grab it about halfway in their jaws, usually, and from there the rest of the tank population would encircle the victor and try to tear the other half of the goldfish out of its mouth, as none of the big guys were quite big enough to properly gulp said feeder. It made for quite a show, more often than not the still-wriggling goldfish would be torn in two, if not three, pieces, then and there. Quality entertainment, I say!
Well, recalling the excitement of Thursday's spectacle, today I went to wal-mart and bought the biggest ornamental fancy goldfish they had-- a nice 2" long, 1" thick, fat oranda goldfish, for about 5 bucks. Took that sucker home, plopped it in the tank, and watched. This guy was apparently way too massive for the little mbuna to consider, and they basically just gathered on the outskirts of the bigger fish, who went in to inspect the newcomer. After a minute or so of inspection, the salvini and uro decide this big paluka is to be made for some good eatin'! They take sporadic potshots at it, not really doing much damage at all, until the Uro gives the oranda a nice big kiss on the side of the head, and then darts away from the scene. I notice at that point that the oranda is now missing its entire right eyeball! The Uro is apparently a big fan of Jell-O
Of course, after about a minute the Uro is back for more anyways. Most of the big fish, excepting the D. Comprecisseps (the one fish in the tank who totally disregards the fish, for the obvious reason that she doesn't have the jaw-system for mauling oversized fish). are really pecking away at this oranda now, and pretty soon they realize that the body is pretty much impervious to their bites due to its great bulk, and they start to focus on the mouth and, most of all, the now-empty eye socket of the oranda, which is fleeing constantly, but its sooo slow and clumsy that the cichlids all keep up with it with great ease. The oranda's protractile mouth is soon in shreds, and the eye-socket wound is greatly enlarged. Its body, despite its relative imperviousness to cichlid bites, is nonetheless missing more and more scales. 20 minutes into the assault, the mbuna have begun to join in too, now, and this now-ragged, ruinous circular piece of meat of a fish is very weak, and can hardly swim at all, granted its missing an eye, its head is half-destroyed and its formerly long, flowing fins are nonexistent. The relentless attack continues, unabated. These fish are hungry After another 10 minutes, the goldfish's gills stop functioning and the meat chunk floats up to the surface, until it gets stuck to the filter intake. Its totally dead. Aside from the gills, which oddly enough weren't really touched at all, there's just a white stringy morass of shredded flesh which covers the un-viewable skull. The body is largely scale-less, but otherwise no real wounds have occurred to it. The tail's peduncle and the head are the prime focus points for the cichlids.
I decide at this point that I'm going to make this item a 100% free deal. I fish the corpse out, stick it in the bag, and arrive at wal-mart scarcely an hour after having left it. I get a full refund on it, no questions asked, and voila! That was great! I got to witness a nice big oranda get destroyed by my fishies, and at no cost to me! I need to try that again some time, maybe when they get another nice (relatively big) oranda in (they don't seem to have too many of them). "
"Well for the first time in perhaps 3 months, Thursday I went out and bought some 1" goldfish feeders, in anticipation of seeing some good carnage go on in my 200g.
My 200g, for those who may not know, has:
4 JDs, 1 Uropthalmus, 1 convict, and 1 Salvini, all of whom are 3"-6" in length. Then there is an assortment of about 20 3"-4" mbuna and haps, with size exceptions going out to a 6" female D. comprecisseps, a 6" crabro mbuna, and an unusually bold, ruthless 4" frontosa. And a couple catfish. Most of the fish though are mbuna.
I put them all in my 10g first, and from there fished em out for my 200g. I plopped them in the 200g 1 at a time, not adding one until the last one was eaten, so that I might personally witness each slaying in detail. I'd stick the feeder in the highly sheltered floating-plant portion of the tank, so that the ravenous hordes (I deliberately hadn't fed them that day) wouldn't just metaphorically sucker-punch the feeder the moment it hit the water, so that I could watch a good chase.
As the feeders would trickle out from the floating-plant grove, they'd immediately be set upon by all these hungry cichlids. Of course, the larger cichlids would charge through the swarm of mbuna and come out in front usually, when the feeders were in highly-visible positions. The feeders, meanwhile, would take off like bats out of hell and usually made VERY good use of the copious amounts of decorative caves/plants/etc forms of cover that are throughout this tank.
Well, the moment the feeder had been seen, and then had consequently vanished from sight, the coolest thing you'd ever see would happen: ALL of these cichlids would hit the aquarium floor and spread out like CIA agents ransacking the empty house of an alleged terrorist, feverishly looking for that damned goldfish which they KNEW was around somewhere. They'd comb over decorations in a most methodical-appearing fashion, their snouts usually in the sand floor, smashing up all the neat little sand-caves the mbuna would regularly fashion for themselves during more peaceful times. Little fox-hounds, or FBI agents, haha take your pick . It's so terribly entertaining to see, if only I had a viable means of taking pics and putting them up for the rest of you.
Anyhow, within a minute or two of this feverish search the goldfish would be discovered, and would take off in a bolt of orange after getting hen-pecked by all the swarming mbuna. The larger fish were the ones that always took the fish down though. They'd grab it about halfway in their jaws, usually, and from there the rest of the tank population would encircle the victor and try to tear the other half of the goldfish out of its mouth, as none of the big guys were quite big enough to properly gulp said feeder. It made for quite a show, more often than not the still-wriggling goldfish would be torn in two, if not three, pieces, then and there. Quality entertainment, I say!
Well, recalling the excitement of Thursday's spectacle, today I went to wal-mart and bought the biggest ornamental fancy goldfish they had-- a nice 2" long, 1" thick, fat oranda goldfish, for about 5 bucks. Took that sucker home, plopped it in the tank, and watched. This guy was apparently way too massive for the little mbuna to consider, and they basically just gathered on the outskirts of the bigger fish, who went in to inspect the newcomer. After a minute or so of inspection, the salvini and uro decide this big paluka is to be made for some good eatin'! They take sporadic potshots at it, not really doing much damage at all, until the Uro gives the oranda a nice big kiss on the side of the head, and then darts away from the scene. I notice at that point that the oranda is now missing its entire right eyeball! The Uro is apparently a big fan of Jell-O
Of course, after about a minute the Uro is back for more anyways. Most of the big fish, excepting the D. Comprecisseps (the one fish in the tank who totally disregards the fish, for the obvious reason that she doesn't have the jaw-system for mauling oversized fish). are really pecking away at this oranda now, and pretty soon they realize that the body is pretty much impervious to their bites due to its great bulk, and they start to focus on the mouth and, most of all, the now-empty eye socket of the oranda, which is fleeing constantly, but its sooo slow and clumsy that the cichlids all keep up with it with great ease. The oranda's protractile mouth is soon in shreds, and the eye-socket wound is greatly enlarged. Its body, despite its relative imperviousness to cichlid bites, is nonetheless missing more and more scales. 20 minutes into the assault, the mbuna have begun to join in too, now, and this now-ragged, ruinous circular piece of meat of a fish is very weak, and can hardly swim at all, granted its missing an eye, its head is half-destroyed and its formerly long, flowing fins are nonexistent. The relentless attack continues, unabated. These fish are hungry After another 10 minutes, the goldfish's gills stop functioning and the meat chunk floats up to the surface, until it gets stuck to the filter intake. Its totally dead. Aside from the gills, which oddly enough weren't really touched at all, there's just a white stringy morass of shredded flesh which covers the un-viewable skull. The body is largely scale-less, but otherwise no real wounds have occurred to it. The tail's peduncle and the head are the prime focus points for the cichlids.
I decide at this point that I'm going to make this item a 100% free deal. I fish the corpse out, stick it in the bag, and arrive at wal-mart scarcely an hour after having left it. I get a full refund on it, no questions asked, and voila! That was great! I got to witness a nice big oranda get destroyed by my fishies, and at no cost to me! I need to try that again some time, maybe when they get another nice (relatively big) oranda in (they don't seem to have too many of them). "
Mine involved cleaning my big tank . I was so intent on cleaning my tank that i forgot my little 2 yr old son was in the same room with me reading a book ( 2 yr old reading a book? thats another story ). Anyways, i forgot the details but the 15 inch arowana started to freak out and splashed water on my face.. the standard reaction would be to say " Oh Shiet"!! I almost peed my shorts when a little voice from below said in the most innocent voice ever " Ohh Sheeit". Oh my wife gave me hell. 
mine is: One day I went out with my mother and left my sister, nephew and neice and my youngest at home. When I came home that night my nephew says "Aunty, I am sorry. I asked Why, he says, I was looking at the fishie( my 7 year old oscar), eating my m&m's and the fish was staring at me so I thought I would share my m&m's with him." AAAHHHH! I looked at the tank, and it looked like a tank full of diarreah, with a floater. 
I was so mad, he asked me why my face was so red. Well I didn't snap on him because he was 2 and too damn cute, but tore my sister a new one because she should have watched him a little better. 
I looked at the tank, and it looked like a tank full of diarreah, with a floater. I was so mad, he asked me why my face was so red. Well I didn't snap on him because he was 2 and too damn cute, but tore my sister a new one because she should have watched him a little better. mrsrobertson said:mine is: One day I went out with my mother and left my sister, nephew and neice and my youngest at home. When I came home that night my nephew says "Aunty, I am sorry. I asked Why, he says, I was looking at the fishie( my 7 year old oscar), eating my m&m's and the fish was staring at me so I thought I would share my m&m's with him." AAAHHHH!
You did the right thing. I salute you for not snapping at the lil one.
Too funny though.. i gave it m&ms because the fish was staring at me.
