Humility.

[C. Breeze]

What a morning. A humbling and sad morning. I left the (untreated/unfiliteeed drip going over night in a 40 breeder with a dozen Dempsey growouts from which I was going to pick a couple pairs, and who were acting as targets for my old pair of cutteri. My floor is covered in standing water. A couple fish bags floated into and blocked the drain. An air pump feeding the tanks on that wall got flooded and quit. And of course all the fish in the 40 breeder died. The other tanks had fish gasping at the surface for lack of air - but they all made it. I’ve been putting off installing a 3 stage filter that will eliminate chlorine and heavy metals etc because I want it plumbed more elegantly than the current setup allows. Screw elegance. I’m about to just go throw it on the wall and get it in the system.

 

[duanes]

I have over flowed tanks like this many times.
I finally started using float valves to help prevent it.

When a tank is sufficiently full, the red bulb automatically shuts the inflow of water coming in.
I got them a farm supply stores, they are normally used to fill cattle troughs.

They are especially useful in low flow situations.
Water filation

 

[bkfamus]

That sucks, sorry to hear.. a buddy of mine lost 30+ adult l46s recently from an oversight... the hobby can be humbling...

 

[C. Breeze]

Just hate killing fish.

I got no problem feeding off entire spawns to my pikes or whatever, but just screwing up and killing them has never sat well

 

[jjohnwm]

So sorry to hear this. Flooded floors is bad enough...it's why almost all my tanks are in the basement...but losing fish this way is indeed a kick in the tender parts.

Like you, I have no problem culling excess fry. I am also an avid hunter and fisherman, and keep my freezer full that way. Death is part of nature; everything dies. But losing fish to silly mistakes like this...and they happen to all of us...is very disturbing.

And it should be! If it ever gets to the point where this kind of thing doesn't bother me, I hope that I will stop keeping fish and other animals.

 

[koipie doll]

Amen to that. There are far too many people who keep animals that shouldn’t. They deserve the same respect that we wish for ourselves. That said, we all make mistakes. We just need to use it as a learning experience.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Just hate killing fish.

I got no problem feeding off entire spawns to my pikes or whatever, but just screwing up and killing them has never sat well

Not sure if this is the right time to ask, but what are your thoughts on them killing eachother? As in pairs that decide they no longer want to see eachother and take matters into their own hands. I have a male Rio robalo kanna I've lost two females to and a male f2 Rio Lari myrnae I've lost 3 females to.

I want to breed both as the kanna has bright iridescent green fins and ventrals that touch his tail, and the myrnae is the only full grown individual with a locale to his name that I've seen in about a year. The desire to keep females from being sent to the hell that is breeding with either however, is starting to grow stronger than my desire to get fry from them though.

Sorry to hear about the loss though. I'm surprised the cutteri were lost in the oxygen cutoff. I had a female survive the aerator being disconnected for a whole night in a crowded 55 community when I was a kid. If you want more, I have 3 pairs spawning in my 33 right now, and a friend with some half inch fry from siblings of my pairs.

 

[C. Breeze]

Cutteri were lost in the chlorine flood. I have a younger pair that made it just fine through the air outage.

Fish will kill each other but in nature- usually the other fish just leaves as opposed to getting killed. - I typically like to set them up in big enough tanks that the murders are minimized and I like there to be some targets in there to share the weight. Even my strong bonded fish have a couooe spare females in with them to help take the heat. And I like keeping 2 pairs in a 75 divided. That way they always are team against the others. My cutteri pair was 4 or 5 years old. Always had targets in with them. Male never killled the female. They were a great pair. They would have there fry all over the whole bottom of a 75 and keep everything else innthe top 1/2” of water.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Cutteri were lost in the chlorine flood. I have a younger pair that made it just fine through the air outage.

Fish will kill each other but in nature- usually the other fish just leaves as opposed to getting killed. - I typically like to set them up in big enough tanks that the murders are minimized and I like there to be some targets in there to share the weight. Even my strong bonded fish have a couooe spare females in with them to help take the heat. And I like keeping 2 pairs in a 75 divided. That way they always are team against the others. My cutteri pair was 4 or 5 years old. Always had targets in with them. Male never killled the female. They were a great pair. They would have there fry all over the whole bottom of a 75 and keep everything else innthe top 1/2” of water.

Ah I see, shame to hear still. I've started making colonies of my smaller species because it seems the whole densely populated colony setting not only brings out more frequent breeding, but less focused aggression as long as someone has an S/O. My kanna on the other hand was in a densely planted and reasonably populated 30 long when he killed his first female. They were both about an inch long. Moved him to a 29 and got him another female, he spawned with her once, spawn failed, he didn't give her a second chance. That tank also had a school of tetras and a more successful pair of myrnae going.

 

[FINWIN]

What a morning. A humbling and sad morning. I left the (untreated/unfiliteeed drip going over night in a 40 breeder with a dozen Dempsey growouts from which I was going to pick a couple pairs, and who were acting as targets for my old pair of cutteri. My floor is covered in standing water. A couple fish bags floated into and blocked the drain. An air pump feeding the tanks on that wall got flooded and quit. And of course all the fish in the 40 breeder died. The other tanks had fish gasping at the surface for lack of air - but they all made it. I’ve been putting off installing a 3 stage filter that will eliminate chlorine and heavy metals etc because I want it plumbed more elegantly than the current setup allows. Screw elegance. I’m about to just go throw it on the wall and get it in the system.

Sad to hear, it's painful losing fish under any circumstance.