Dropped Fish = dead

[courtnee]

Daughter and I went to the LFS for some more tetras.

I wanted 3 bleeding heart tetras. three was enough because they look just like a serpae but white and well I have 8 serpaes they can hang out with already.

The lady was getting them for us and picked out the bigger ones as we have some pictus cats growing like hogs. She said we got a 4th one free as it got in the bag and she didnt want to dig it out. We look and there is only 3. She swears she saw a 4th. We look all over the floor, check under our feet. nothing. hmmm. A few minutes go by and she keeps checking and is uncomfortable it still got out as she is bagging up the fish.

My daughter all of a sudden breaks into tears screaming she found the fish it was on the floor. The lady tells her good job for finding it and scoops it up fast and puts it in our bag. It swam funny. It had a good 5 foot drop It started to come around.

It was a honest mistake on her part and she didnt mean for it to get out of the container. She cared enough to know that gut feeling it may be out of the tank. My daughter thank goodness found it so it didnt suffer any longer.

The lady could of grabbed it and tossed it away. Or tossed it back in their tank. Instead she gave it to us and didnt charge us for him. Wished him luck to make it.

Got home and he is out of it and swimming funny. If he makes it that would be great. If he doesnt, I know the fish and snail will just eat him. I lost a serpae back when I bought my first 6 and I only found skin as he was eaten once he died.

Crossing my fingers over here. Doing all we can

Update I went to see how he was doing and he was dead stuck to the filter. I expected it would end up that way and even told my daughter that he would prolly not make it as he had a pretty good drop. That we would try. I removed him before he could be eaten. My four-line pictus cats are growing massive in size with out eating actual fish so far. LOL They dont need that treat if I can remove it before they get to it!

Im bummed but at least we tried

 

[MSU Fan]

I was recently feeding my community tank, and one of my hatchets got too excited and "leaped with joy" over the food being there! After falling nearly 5 feet to the ground, I scooped him up, placed him back in the tank, and he has since lived with no ill effects! But I have had other fish make leaps of faith, and most didn't make it, so I understand and sympathize with your loss.

It was good the way the lfs employee handled the situation.

 

[squawkbert]

I guess it's all a function of heads or tails.

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Sorry to hear about your situation. I was in this same situation not to long ago. A couple at a lfs wanted a Ropefish and the girl taking him out dropped him on the floor twice. The couple decided after the 2nd drop they didn't want it anymore so I offered to take it so it didn't have to get put back in the tank to be dropped for the next person. Unfortunately, by the end of the night it had died. I felt so bad for the poor thing.

 

[courtnee]

thanks guys.

GouramiFanatic - I remember your story! How awful. Would be great if they made it though huh?

 

[Puriti]

Wow....sorry to hear about your loss...my fish must be Gods then because I've had fish jump, fall, etc. out of my tank and that's about 4 feet right there or higher LOL I've never had one die from falling though only if they stayed out of the tank too long

 

[Berserkr]

Reminds me of the time I was horribly attacked at petsmart by an Albino Tiger Barb. The beast leapt out of the tank at me and tried to tear into my gut! The fish was placed back into the tank and we both made it through the ordeal ok lol.

 

[Burks]

I was at Petsmart one time and this couple wanted the last Jack Dempsey they had. Well the worker, not being very smart, grabbed a net for scooping out Guppy fry instead of the larger one used for Goldfish and cichlids. Well the fish decided it would rather flop its butt out of the undersized net and take a nose dive into the floor. This was a good 8ft drop from the very top tank.

Sadly it swam for a minute or two and then just went belly up. Poor guy, he looked healthy too!

 

[courtnee]

Oh man that is horrid. When I was a child I remember having this HUGE tank with two fish in it and my mom kept shrimp in the freezer for them. She called one of them Jack. I was only like 4yrs old. I out of the blue remembered it one day and asked my sister what the heck they were because they were HUGE to me as a kid. Jack Dempseys! I would beg my mom to let me feed them a piece of shrimp LOL

I think they got ich and died. This was back in like 1980. She was given them by someone.

It is just funny I remember something from when I was 4yrs old and trust me it aint much from that age, but I remember the fish!

Also my fish all on the bottom of my tank are non netters. When I get my larger tank I already told the guys at the LFS Ill hire them to come catch them and move them the right way. Pictus cats and a pleco. I rather do that then risk hurting them. They know what they are doing catching them by hand or using a glass jar. Where as me I would end up with many spines in my hand, bleeding, crying and miserable

 

[hulkamaniac]

I dropped a convict once. Then dropped an aquarium on the convicts head. Was not pretty, but the fish was too dumb to die and became one of my favorite fish. Unfortunately he didn't make a good tankmate for a Dempsey I had.