Texas Chichlids rescued

[Kingman]

Hello everyone,
My Wife, daughter and I do trash outs on foreclosed homes and today we went out to bid a house in Lake Havasu Arizona and when we opened the door we were shocked to find a hungry tank full of Texas Chichlids and three large Plecostomuses.
The fish were obviously starving and the over crowded 65 Gallon tank which was only half full of nasty water, the power has been off for three weeks and nobody has fed the poor fish so we found the food and fed them.
We went to the nearest Pet Smart in Lake Havasu and the kind manager gave us advice and loaned us a few tubs to transport the fish to our home in Kingman so we have just got them home and setup the tank and introduced them to their new home.
I used to have aquariums but most of my fish were exotic catfish and such. does anyone have any suggestions on caring for these fish or the best way to sell or re-home some of the fish to relieve the over crowding?

 

[melosu58]

Sounds like a good thing you did. Welcome to AA

 

[Kingman]

Day two of the Texas Chichlid rescue.
We fed the starving Chichlids several times yesterday and when we got up this morning they were bunched up in the corner to be fed which we did generously but now it is an hour later and they are again begging. Should we feed them or is there a danger in over feeding them?

 

[HN1]

Welcome to AA!

I wouldn't bother reporting it to the police. Unfortunately situations like this are all too common and there are (pun fully intended) much bigger fish to fry.

Good on you for the save! If you have the means and desire to keep or rehab the fish, I'd first recommend that you read up on "old tank syndrome" and the nitrogen cycle. There are some very useful articles and stickies here as well as a plethora of info on the net.

Good luck!

 

[dkpate]

You are my new hero! Good for you for not just leaving the fish for someone else to deal with. Kudos to you and your family for your kindness.

 

[BigJim]

Good work Kingman!

Fish are terrible beggars. If they look healthy, don't feed them more than once or twice a day. It's instinct for a fish to eat when it finds food because they don't get fed regularly in the wild. In a tank, they'll get fat.