Miracle Fish (or just weird and funny)

[smallfry]

I am interested in hearing your "unusual" but true fish tales. You know, fish who have survived amazing obstacles...or dumb fish who defie death inspite of their antics...or unlucky fish who get stuck inside treasure chests, etc. 8O (I have quite a few stories to share about my fishies) Most of the fish I've owned seem to be "unique" and different... what's that they say about pets being like their owners?

Anyway I also wanted to hear other's stories...so join the discussion and have a good laugh!

 

[glasstapper]

I purchased a beat up keyhole morph of some kind, tail none fins nubs but otherwise ok,, cleaned up beautiful low and behold next week same lfs, theres another, near death, NO fins barely nubs NO tail down to the stock no dorsal and a big open wound on the side he was given to me, took him home first thing he did ,,, EAT i ws so happy oh has only one eye no joke still no eye but otherwise a happy couple they make

 

[Christmasfish]

Heh!
Well we have my daughter's plakat, Goht...
during a tank cleaning she was waiting in her jar when the cat poked a nose in..
she firmly clamped onto the offending appendage with angry gusto.
As the cat was shaking its head the fish stayed put. Finaly the cat got her loose when it ran ito the wall a second time and she went flying four feet to bounce on carpet. The cat made a very undignified exit involving many obstacles.
The fish was retrieved angry and unrepentent. She hadn't even lost color. As soon as she was rinsed off and returned to the bowl she spent the rest of the day flaring and posturing. Her name became Seeleup Goht that day.

Her further adventures only make us see where someone got the idea to fight fish...

 

[dralarms]

The craziest thing I have seen was the betta (hence naned Houdini), that traveled up the gravel vac, through the tube and hose to land in my 5 gal bucket. 8O Houdini stays away from the gravel vac now.

 

[smallfry]

Glasstapper (I love that name) - I'd love to see a photo of your special fish couple... Good for you for rescuing the underdog!
I'm suprised the LFS would display them in that condition...or do you have an "in" with the people there?

 

[smallfry]

Christmasfish - that's the funniest story! It made me laugh out loud...

 

[deli_conker]

I had a fish defy death before.

I had to get two overly aggressive socolofi out of my tank. I tried and failed with so many different ways of netting that I ended up taking all the terrain out of my tank to catch them. The whole ordeal took about 1.5 hours. At some point, my girlfriend says "Where's the orange one?" I say "What do mean, where's the orange one?" A head count followed. The orange one was missing and there was no place to hide in the tank. I'm looking at all the terrain sitting out on trash bags on the floor and I start with the driftwood. I pick it up, glance at a known hiding place and put it back into the tank. Then I go to the next piece. There are only three total pieces that he could have been in; the rest being rock that just sits on other rock. Two of the pieces are resin cave things. The only problem I have with them is that they have a hole in them that grants access to the infrastructure of the terrain. The other two pieces go into the tank. I'm crapping my pants at this point. We wait about a minute. Nothing. I pick up the wood a bit and give a little shake. Nothing. I move onto one of the resin pieces and do the same. Out swims my red zebra. That lucky sob was outside of my tank for at least 5 minutes, probably more. He had to have been in a little pool of water still in the terrain. That's the only explanation I can see. He's actually the dominant force in my tank at this point too.

 

[smallfry]

Deli_conker - now THAT'S a spunky fish... 8O
I have to run to lunch...but I will try to write a long awaited tale of one of my fishies later this afternoon. 8) (It's a kind of a long story...so it'll take some time to write)
The suspense is mounting.....

 

[hisc1ay]

As I was putting my shoes on to go to work one morning, I glanced over at where my Betta should have been but wasn't. I was confused, so I looked around...no betta. My eyes were drawn to the floor when I saw his shriveled up body. I'm not sure how long he was down there, but his body wasn't wet anymore...just kinda clammy. I thought he was dead, so I tried to poke a little with a piece of tubing and as soon as it touched him he sat up on his pectorals. So I picked him up and stuck him back in the tank. He kinda just sank to the bottom, but within a few seconds perked right back up like nothing happened.

-j

 

[dralarms]

Hey hisclay,

Where did you get you name?

 

[smallfry]

Ok…here’s Part 1 of my tale: last June I restarted my 10g tank after a sad and abrupt end to my first set up (that’s a whole other story). Anyway I purchased 2 Platys (1 sunset fire, 1 mickey mouse) because I thought they were pretty….I must admit I knew nothing much about them. About 2 weeks later my husband was watching the tank and saw a bit of orange “fly” right in front of his nose….it was a baby! (I didn’t know fish could be born without eggs!) We were delighted, but we weren’t sure which fish was the mommy (I didn’t know how to tell the gender back then). Unfortunately the Mickey Mouse platy was found dead the next morning…so I assumed that it was the mommy and had too traumatic a delivery. I knew I needed to separate the remaining adult from the baby so I bought a 2g tank. I tried to catch baby but it was way too fast and tiny for the net…I decided to catch the remaining adult and put it in the small tank. So I had a tiny baby in the 10g and a restless adult in the 2g. Fast forward to August…my baby had grown nice and fat and big enough not to be eaten, so I moved the adult back in the 10g tank. (this is where Part 2 comes in – another day). The adult and “junior” got along great! Well…not too long after, I was doing a water change and saw a bit of color coming from the vicinity of one of the under-gravel filter tubes. At first I thought one of my fish had swam in front of it….but then I saw it again! I kept my eyes peeled – and what I saw next totally astounded me. There was a Mickey Mouse fish swimming in my under-gravel filter tube!!! He was good sized (3/4 of an inch) which leads me to think he must have been at least 2 or 3 months old (although he was very flat). Fortunately the tube was two pieces, so I just took off the top piece and the little guy swam up and out into the tank. I still don’t know exactly what happened but he obviously lived in the under-gravel filter since birth---I just don’t know how he got there. The filter is slightly smaller than the tank so there’s a ¼ inch edge all the way around. He may have burrowed down as a baby and slipped under the filter – growing up on excess food that made its way below the gravel – but that’s just a guess. I’m still not sure if my original adult Mickey Mouse was female or male. (it turns out that the sunset fire Platy is definitely female – but that’s Part 2). Now my rescued “Mickey” is a well rounded and very spunky male who is responsible for the second generation of fry I worry about in my 46g tank.

 

[Menagerie]

Great story, smallfry!

I had a male betta that lived through a few things including almost being ripped fin from fin by a female betta. However, I have a better story about him: When we first got him, I had no clue I put him in a heavy vase on the table. Knowing this was not to be his permanent home, I left him on the table while I thought about things. Before bed, I covered the vase with a stocking, so the cats would leave him alone. The next morning, the stocking was half off the vase, which was tipped over and water was every where. I did not see the betta, but the stocking was still attached to the vase. I ran into the bedroom and woke my fiance and told him the betta was gone. I stayed in the bedroom while he checked things out. Next thing I hear is, "He's right here!" WHAT!?!? It turns out, the betta was caught in the wet stocking and was alive and well.
He got a new home after that. Darn cats

 

[smallfry]

Do you still have the male betta? 8O

 

[Menagerie]

He had a chronic fin rot problem and we put him down before we moved. It was a two day move in the dead of winter from mid Idaho to Calgary and there was no room for ill fish
He was with me for a long while, and I miss him.

 

[smallfry]

Oh...I'm sorry