How many fish have you lost? Be honest

[spinman]

I'm looking for a reality check with this hobby. I'd like to see if my experience thus far is par for the course or way out of the ordinary.

In 8 months thus far I can report these sad statistics;

Not surviving:
2 B. Cardinals - both in a PH
1 BHT - to ich
7 Henis - to ich

All that remain are 2 Clowns and a YT.

What's your experiences?

Spin

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

no fish lost, but did loose a couple of pepermint shrimp when tank was about 3 months old. oh and some kind of anemone that the lfs sold me at around the same time, they neglected to tell me that it needed stronger lighting and a more mature tank.

 

[john0087]

In 5 months I have lost 2 false clowns and a BETA. All items were purchased from the same LFS that I usually do not buy from. Wont be going there again.

 

[john0087]

Sorry, that was supposed to be BTA (Bubble tip annenome), not Beta

 

[zuzecawi]

In oh, the last ten years...
To ich: 2 kole tangs, mated pair maroon yellow stripe clowns, one royal gramma, three fire gobies, one hawkfish
To temperature changes: one scopas tang and a bunch of snails
To a shorted out powerhead: three fire gobies, a clarkii clown, a coral beauty
To old age: one long nose hawkfish, two yellow tail blue damsels, a clarkii clown, a green mandarine goby.
To stupidity in the early years: 2 fire fish, 2 engineer gobies (both due to poor husbandry, going too fast, not long enough cycle on a too small tank)
To the red spiny reef lobster or mantis shrimps: four fire gobies, one royal gramma, two purple fire gobies, and a barred sand goby.

Lessons learned: Don't let mantis shrimp live in your tank, lobsters are pretty but better left in the sea, QT should be no less than 6 weeks, let 8 weeks go between each fish/pair fish added, redundancy in heaters is a must, mercury thermometers can lie, don't rush your tank, don't overload your tank, and grounding probes are more than just a cool idea.

 

[lando]

Over the years I have lost count. I can say that my success has increased since finding AA!

 

[melosu58]

I`d like to say that we all have lost something in our tank unless you just started yesterday. The important question is not how many but did you learn anything that might prevent this from happening again. So many people lose a tankmate and then dont care why and just do it again. I`ve seen it over and over again on this site and others. May we learn from our mistakes.

 

[localhost]

What's depressing is not knowing what caused a death. I've lost an O Clown and a Coral Beauty to unknown causes. Posted question here with information, and what caused the deaths were not discovered.

Also lost a sand-sifting gobie. Reason was probably starvation. It would eat prepared foods, but not much of it. Lesson learned, like cleaner wrasses, some fish should be left in the sea.

 

[ColdFish]

Lost a blue starfish due to not being familiar with how to acclimate stars. Was kicking myself afterwards. Can say that it taught me to read up on acclimation procedures on everything now.

 

[cmor1701d]

Over the past 3 years I have lost:
3x Green Chromis - 2 in cycling, my bad. 1 after 2½ years to MFD
1x Green Manadarin lost during Ich QT of main tank
3x Firefish, Purple all died within days. No longer buy from that lfs
1x Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse to carpet surfing
1x Lawnmower blenny - Have not seen it in 2 months. MFD
1 Yellow tip Ritteri Anemone - not enough lighting

With the exception of the MFD I have learned from each of these losses. AA has certainly helped in that regard.

 

[zenn]

In my own defense, i've lost the majority of fish to either freak accidents, uknown causes or to other aggressive fish. The only fish that i lost that i was my fault was a yellow tang and a pearlscape butterfly that i lost cause i was a noob.

 

[Civicman86]

To many Some where just freak and some were cause i didnt know what i was doing (had quite a few carpet surfers)

 

[johnkristie]

In the three years I've had a SW tank I've lost three fish:
1 longnose hawkfish - jumped out of tank
1 flame angel - stopped eating
1 royal gramma - old age

I'd say it really has to do with your level of experience with fish and recognizing their behavior and compatability. Fish incompatible with each other will cause stress tank wide and will affect all fish in the tank IMO. I've had experience working in a hatchery and at Sea World for about 4 years. It also has a lot to do with your setup at the start. If you have the right system from the start, you will have a lot less problems.

 

[tjara03]

i do not know exactly for sure how many but somehere between 7-10 fish, but none recently, i have learned alot and now know better than i did at first...

 

[robertfah]

Ok, lets see.....in 8 years I've lost approx. 10 fish. Most recently I lost 4 in the past 3 weeks to Marine Velvet which I am still fighting. Of that 4, the clown was 8 years old so it kinda sucked that he died that way.

Lessons learned: Don't let mantis shrimp live in your tank, lobsters are pretty but better left in the sea, QT should be no less than 6 weeks, let 8 weeks go between each fish/pair fish added, redundancy in heaters is a must, mercury thermometers can lie, don't rush your tank, don't overload your tank, and grounding probes are more than just a cool idea.

I can't agree more with the above statements. A QT tank is vital to having peace in this hobby and understanding fish is more important. Some fish are more sensetive to things than other fish, so it's a good idea to know how your fish will interact with each other instead of dumping in fish that 'look pretty' into your tank.

 

[Wood_Dog]

In the early freshwater days I lost heaps, but so far so good since going to saltwater, maybe because now I pay a lot more attention to whats going on in the tank...and my test kits are no longer just gathering dust,lol

 

[chelli]

I lost count on fish but it's really in the $1100 range now.. but we have hurricanes and LOTS of them.. so only $150 is due to a crash (nitrate?nitrite) 2 years ago.. the rest due to no power, no anything.. BUT we did buy a massive 4000w generator yesterday so no more powerless fishtank days.. hurrah....