What's the Most Gruesome Fish Situation You've Had?

[Deadeye]

Here’s another one:
Don’t let anyone tell you that kribs are 100% peaceful. They are terrible when breeding. They claimed half the 60 gallon tank and tore a rainbow shark’s throat out when it got too close to the fry.

 

[fishdance]

1) had a 10K liter intex pool full of exotic fish that all died when a giant goraimi holed the liner. pool fully drained and was mid knee deep in fish bodies when I walked into the shed. I was so devestated, I couldn't return for a week so you can imagine the smell and clean up effort by then. Terrible when you need a wheelbarrow to remove the dead.

2) Installed a 10 x 3 x 3 glass tank on oak cabinet into a very wealthy customers house. His house was huge with marble floors and a front door wide enough to drive the flat bed truck through. The back glass panel (19mm tempered glass) popped right off 10 hours after being filled. By then it was 4am. The water gushed out, hit the house wall which was only 15cm away which pushed the entire draining tank sliding away from the wall, hydroplaning on the smooth marble floor until the cabinet hit a low sofa on the other side of the room. The whole unit tipped over and fell onto the sofa traping the owners daughter who has fallen asleep watching her new tank. Luckily the high arm rests stopped her get getting crushed but they also trapped her for an hour of screaming until someone found her.

3) Helped a mate shift an 8x2x2 glass tank into his house. Only 2 of us but he wasn't experienced so I walked backwards and for some reason he urgently needed to put the tank down while we were halfway through the front door. He got his fingers caught, blood started flowing and I was trapped inside the house. i had to smash a window to get out, race around and lift the tank off his pile of bloody fingers while he was screaming the whole time. Stitches needed but he kept all fingers somehow.

4) Bought 3 rare fish in the hopes of breeding them. they were $6K each, unknown sexes and had to be shipped from the other side of the country. when they arrived, I discovered the only male had tried to turn in his fish bag and gotten stuck just above the water line. Fish bags should have been smaller or larger.

 

[Deadeye]

1) had a 10K liter intex pool full of exotic fish that all died when a giant goraimi holed the liner. pool fully drained and was mid knee deep in fish bodies when I walked into the shed. I was so devestated, I couldn't return for a week so you can imagine the smell and clean up effort by then. Terrible when you need a wheelbarrow to remove the dead.

2) Installed a 10 x 3 x 3 glass tank on oak cabinet into a very wealthy customers house. His house was huge with marble floors and a front door wide enough to drive the flat bed truck through. The back glass panel (19mm tempered glass) popped right off 10 hours after being filled. By then it was 4am. The water gushed out, hit the house wall which was only 15cm away which pushed the entire draining tank sliding away from the wall, hydroplaning on the smooth marble floor until the cabinet hit a low sofa on the other side of the room. The whole unit tipped over and fell onto the sofa traping the owners daughter who has fallen asleep watching her new tank. Luckily the high arm rests stopped her get getting crushed but they also trapped her for an hour of screaming until someone found her.

3) Helped a mate shift an 8x2x2 glass tank into his house. Only 2 of us but he wasn't experienced so I walked backwards and for some reason he urgently needed to put the tank down while we were halfway through the front door. He got his fingers caught, blood started flowing and I was trapped inside the house. i had to smash a window to get out, race around and lift the tank off his pile of bloody fingers while he was screaming the whole time. Stitches needed but he kept all fingers somehow.

4) Bought 3 rare fish in the hopes of breeding them. they were $6K each, unknown sexes and had to be shipped from the other side of the country. when they arrived, I discovered the only male had tried to turn in his fish bag and gotten stuck just above the water line. Fish bags should have been smaller or larger.

Holy crap!
Glad to hear all of the people are doing fine.
If I may, what were the rare fish in question?

 

[Backfromthedead]

1) had a 10K liter intex pool full of exotic fish that all died when a giant goraimi holed the liner. pool fully drained and was mid knee deep in fish bodies when I walked into the shed. I was so devestated, I couldn't return for a week so you can imagine the smell and clean up effort by then. Terrible when you need a wheelbarrow to remove the dead.

2) Installed a 10 x 3 x 3 glass tank on oak cabinet into a very wealthy customers house. His house was huge with marble floors and a front door wide enough to drive the flat bed truck through. The back glass panel (19mm tempered glass) popped right off 10 hours after being filled. By then it was 4am. The water gushed out, hit the house wall which was only 15cm away which pushed the entire draining tank sliding away from the wall, hydroplaning on the smooth marble floor until the cabinet hit a low sofa on the other side of the room. The whole unit tipped over and fell onto the sofa traping the owners daughter who has fallen asleep watching her new tank. Luckily the high arm rests stopped her get getting crushed but they also trapped her for an hour of screaming until someone found her.

3) Helped a mate shift an 8x2x2 glass tank into his house. Only 2 of us but he wasn't experienced so I walked backwards and for some reason he urgently needed to put the tank down while we were halfway through the front door. He got his fingers caught, blood started flowing and I was trapped inside the house. i had to smash a window to get out, race around and lift the tank off his pile of bloody fingers while he was screaming the whole time. Stitches needed but he kept all fingers somehow.

4) Bought 3 rare fish in the hopes of breeding them. they were $6K each, unknown sexes and had to be shipped from the other side of the country. when they arrived, I discovered the only male had tried to turn in his fish bag and gotten stuck just above the water line. Fish bags should have been smaller or larger.

I could go my whole life never seeing #2 happen...good night...

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

When I was a kid I had a snapping turtle hatchling in the tank with a full grown crayfish and found the snapping turtles head nearly severed/ decapitated the next morning. Ever since did not like crayfish that much nor find them any fun to keep.

Cooked a tank full of catfish/plecos before with faulty heaters in the past

Shocked tank with broken heaters in the early 90s/2000s

Left a beautiful 12" albino pleco rescue in a kids wadding pool outside in middle of summer while making switch around as it came with an acrylic tank purchase so was making room for hospital/QT tank and some animal took ahold of it during the night and found its eyes gorged out and some of its face chewed on. Deed more likely done by a raccoon.

 

[Belial]

when i was 8 years old my family went on vacation and we had my neighbor come by to feed the fish -- he was also 8. came home 2 weeks later to the house reeking of death and thousands of flies everywhere. turns out the heater on my tank of young oscars (my favorite type of fish for many years) malfunctioned and boiled them all. cried my eyes out and didnt buy a new oscar for like 10 years because it was too sad to remember the awesome ones i had growing

 

[Belial]

When I was a kid I had a snapping turtle hatchling in the tank with a full grown crayfish and found the snapping turtles head nearly severed/ decapitated the next morning. Ever since did not like crayfish that much nor find them any fun to keep.

Cooked a tank full of catfish/plecos before with faulty heaters in the past

Shocked tank with broken heaters in the early 90s/2000s

Left a beautiful 12" albino pleco rescue in a kids wadding pool outside in middle of summer while making switch around as it came with an acrylic tank purchase so was making room for hospital/QT tank and some animal took ahold of it during the night and found its eyes gorged out and some of its face chewed on. Deed more likely done by a raccoon.

this reminded me of another bad situation where i was forced to get rid of my massive snapping turtle just because it escaped the tank and was found under my 5 year old sisters bed. back then if i were given the choice i'd release my sister into a swamp instead

 

[bobblehead27]

1) had a 10K liter intex pool full of exotic fish that all died when a giant goraimi holed the liner. pool fully drained and was mid knee deep in fish bodies when I walked into the shed. I was so devestated, I couldn't return for a week so you can imagine the smell and clean up effort by then. Terrible when you need a wheelbarrow to remove the dead.

2) Installed a 10 x 3 x 3 glass tank on oak cabinet into a very wealthy customers house. His house was huge with marble floors and a front door wide enough to drive the flat bed truck through. The back glass panel (19mm tempered glass) popped right off 10 hours after being filled. By then it was 4am. The water gushed out, hit the house wall which was only 15cm away which pushed the entire draining tank sliding away from the wall, hydroplaning on the smooth marble floor until the cabinet hit a low sofa on the other side of the room. The whole unit tipped over and fell onto the sofa traping the owners daughter who has fallen asleep watching her new tank. Luckily the high arm rests stopped her get getting crushed but they also trapped her for an hour of screaming until someone found her.

3) Helped a mate shift an 8x2x2 glass tank into his house. Only 2 of us but he wasn't experienced so I walked backwards and for some reason he urgently needed to put the tank down while we were halfway through the front door. He got his fingers caught, blood started flowing and I was trapped inside the house. i had to smash a window to get out, race around and lift the tank off his pile of bloody fingers while he was screaming the whole time. Stitches needed but he kept all fingers somehow.

4) Bought 3 rare fish in the hopes of breeding them. they were $6K each, unknown sexes and had to be shipped from the other side of the country. when they arrived, I discovered the only male had tried to turn in his fish bag and gotten stuck just above the water line. Fish bags should have been smaller or larger.

Remind me never to let you help me move a tank. Lol. Bad luck seems to follow.

Glad everyone is ok though.

 

[GentleGiantsCichlidKeeper]

Sad to hear these, but interesting to share the word!

 

[fishdance]

5) I was putting in smooth river rocks into a bare bottom glass tank (4 x 2 x 2 - is that 100 Gallons?) in the top tank of a 3 tier rack so I was on a ladder and one rock slipped out of my hands. It fell and cracked the tank bottom. There was like half a second while that sunk in before the bottom just collapsed dropping the bottom glass pane, rocks and 380 kilos of water into the tank below which promptly overloaded the base /seams so that also collapsed into the veey bottom tier yank which also collapsed. This created a mini flood of fish and water throughout the fish room stranding me on a ladder. About 5 seconds from complete normalcy to total disaster.

Luckily it was not a 4 or 5 tier rack.

6) I had a 65cm silver arowana jump through 4mm glass lids. The fish cracked the lid, burst through the crack lifting the broken pieces like a jack in a box but didnt have enough energy to go right through. the glass pieces fell back into place by gravity and neatly severed the fish at the weak gill joint. At least that's what I surmised. I came home to a fish head on top of a cracked tank covers and a headless body in the tank. Everything else was completely normal.

I use several 1 kg sand bag weights on glass covered jumpers now. these won't break lids on the way down like a brick or bottle of water can.

7) Spectacular failure on an 8 x 2 x 2 tank. Tank was 3 years old, solidly built, braces and reliable 10mm glass. I had a 45cm sized pacu like fish (Pacu like - not pacu which are not permitted here). It was feeding time and the fish got a bit excited, rushing up to the end panel where I was dropping in food. It grabbed the food and rushed away. This created a pressure wave off water that simply popped the end glass piece right off. This happened right in front of me or I wouldn't have believed it otherwise. Luckily I jumped back out of the way from all the water (and fish).