Careys' Lil Miracle

[carey]

For those who may not know, I have a 29g biocube. About 8 months ago I tried introducing a yellow watchman goby(s). The first one just disappeared, the second one died 2 days later and the third is still with me. All 3 fish were about an inch big at MOST.

So i was cleaning out the biocube filter system, I removed the fuge and light and changed out the filter media. I go to put the media back in and what do I see in the back chambers? YEP, the first yellow watchman!!! i have no idea how he has survived for sooo long back there, he's actually quite big now and quite yellow. Took about an hour or two to get him out and he is now in the 20g rimless tank.

Just wanted to share what i think is a mini miracle. I mean really, 8 months or more? Thats just crazy.... here is a picture of the survivor

[joy13]

I have heard of more than one story about a fish getting in the back of a tank and doing just fine. It is great when that happens.

[carey]

Hi Joy!

Yeah, I've heard of it before too, just not that long of a time. lol

Nice to see you around again Joy.

[AquaRick]

Whoa! Very nice Carey! Love those mini surprises.

I recently had my first BTA come out of nowhere. It got chopped up by a PH. 3 months later I found a huge green BTA on my sand bed. Guess it had been hiding in the rocks.

[carey]

Nice. Love these happy ending stories. I also have been in the back comaprtment too recently and never saw him before. I've even taken a flash light and looked before ( I have some birstleworms) in the back lol. Sneaky lil fish. lol He is hanging out all by himself now, he must be like what the heck, where am i with all this room? hehe

[Wy Renegade]

Cool - gotta love these fish, they are very enduring.

[Flreefer]

That's a crazy amount of time, that must have really made your day! There's no feeling like finding something you thought was gone, and it's doing great!

[redsea]

WOW, THAT IS CRAZY!

That is fantastic, congrats Carey, that is soo exciting!

[EriksFish315]

Yay a miracle. Guess he was meant to be with you he looks really healthy for being stuck in there.

[Carpious]

Wow.

[Dary421]

Wow.... Thats so cool..

[herp_mommy]

Props to the little guy.

[carey]

Thanks everyone!

His abrupt appearance has caused me quite the conflict though. LOL

I already have another yellow watchman. I am taking the 20g rimless AND the biocube down and putting the stock of both tanks into the new 60g rimless. I can't have 2 in one tank. :-( The grumpy one I have in the cube probably won;t tolerate another one PLUS the one that lived in the filter has not been with another fish for almost a year so he's probably a little traumatized.

Any ideas of what to do with him? I just can't bring myself to just drop him off at the LFS.....

[severum mama]

Can you put one of them in your 90 gallon FOWLR?

I once bought an antenna goby for an 8 gallon Biocube I had, and after a couple of days I didn't see it anymore. After not seeing it for a couple of weeks, I assumed it had died and I had a coral only tank. I did not feed the tank after that. Lo and behold, the fish appeared out of nowhere several months later after living off the tank for that time. I was shocked to say the least.

I'm glad you found your fish, but not glad he is posing a dilemma for you now. LOL

[mr_X]

I heard of an amazing story of a wrasse. The guy thought he lost it....Broke his tank down, left it outside for months in the weather with nothing but the (mostly dry) old sand bed. Decided to clean it out and when he started pulling the sand out, out came a live wrasse!

pretty awesome considering we go out of our way to acclimate and baby these fish just to lose them for unknown reasons.
Congrats Carey.

[carey]

The 90g is a possibility, I have only a midas blenny who has taken up residence in a higher up rock so the sandbed would be free for him. Just worried since he will be very small in comparison to some of the fish that will be in the 90g. The wrasses and butterfly in there are semi aggressive so far. :-(
To be honest, I only have the option of the 90g pretty much.....The 125g is too wild for him lol.
Will he do ok in a fish only and non reef setting do you guys think? Will he need to be fed more times a day because of this? Just read stuff and that's the gist I got form it...

Thanks everyone again! I can't believe a wrasse made it outside! THAT is a miracle no doubt.

[Dary421]

What cracks me up about all of this is when people freak out about not being able to feed their fish three times a day... Obviously ., they have a unbelievable survival instinct and can take more than we can imagine if left to fend on their own.
I think fish and most critters are such opportunistic feeders that their bodies adapts to the droughts and to the feeding frenzies when ever they present themselves.
Quite remarkable stories!!

[TLTGF]

That is really awesome!

[don_chuwish]

Gives me hope for our 'missing' pom pom crab. Cute little thing was getting big, boxing its anemones at any and all comers. Not seen in a week now but there are many places to hide.

- D

[carey]

I don't think my heart can take much more! I went in the other room for about 10 minutes and came out and just happened to look at the floor near the 20g tank. You guessed it, I don't know how he jumped it, but cleared the filter, heater and powerhead and was on the floor. :-(

So I go get a piece of paper to scoope him up and he flips a tiny bit!! I get him back into the tank and he kinda sinks to the bottom. After a few minutes he got himself together and seems OK now.

so miracle number two for this little guy. He was actually a bit dried up when i got to him, no idea how long he was on the floor for. Plus he fell about 4 feet. This poor little fish. My first thought seeing him on the floor was that i should have left him in the back of the bio cube. :-(