A Disappointing Day

Well. I went out with my son and his friend to get our first fish yesterday, he'd not been to this site for years so we had a wander round all the shops looking at this and that, buying the few bits we needed and double checking the fish we were going to get. After we had lunch I realised I'd forgotten to take any pain meds with me and my hip was killing me so my son said he'd go and collect the fish and he'd meet me back home.

And here we get to the disappointing, sad and annoying part. He bought 11 fish instead of the 6 we'd chosen as our starter shoal, not the end of the world, it just means I need to keep a really close eye on the water chemicals. The problem came when I saw the fish he'd bought.

Hideous 'coloured' Indian Glass fish x6 and x5 dwarf suckermouth, I was horrified and so angry I just couldn't speak to him last night. There was no way we could take them back because the shops had shut and because I walk with sticks andhe  won't be free until the weekend again (he is my 'baggage handler')  they had to go into my beautiful tank.

I don't think he realised exactly what 'coloured fish' are but he does now and he's appalled with himself and the cruelty that creates them, he said they didnt look that un-natural in the tank in the shop and if he'd known he wouldn't have bought them.

So here I am stuck with 6 fish I would never have bought and 5 that our tank is going to struggle supporting.

ARGHHH!!!

Don't panic!

Although the painted fish are not what you would have chosen, you can give them the best life possible until they succumb to the treatment used to dye them.

It is nice sunny weather (mostly). Get a few rocks and put them in a glass container of water on a sunny windowsill. Maybe add a dash of ammonia as well. They should grow algae on them. Put them in the tank one at a time, replacing them once the algae is eaten, and put the 'spent' one back in the windowsill container to grow some more algae.
Or try sushi nori. Messy but otos are reputed to eat it.




And next time threaten your son with the worst thing you can think of if he does it again.

That must be very frustrating for you... and I agree with Richard about boycotting that shop.

The glassfish are more of a worry to be honest as they don't seem to like the food the guy in the shop sold my son to feed them and I've read conflicting articles on the net. Does anyone have experience with these fish please?

Hi there, been reading through the thread and sorry to hear the situation. I have a lovely group of 5 glass catfish in my tank. Mine did take a while to settle in, and prefer to spend most of the day behind a very large piece of plant covered drift wood with my Black Ghost Knife.

I have found frozen blood worm and daphnia fed at 'dusk' (I use an LED moon light) allows them to get their fair share of the food and feel more secure. They also happily eat flake food crushed up fairly small. I have some floating plants to shade part of the tank too.

I am sad to hear they have been coloured however I hope they start to settle in. In summary lots of plant/drift wood cover with help them feel at home

I hope this helps!

Hi Sue, they are Indian glass catfish and sadly I found one dead this morning in the bottom of the tank, but it's been swimming on the tilt since we got it so I'm not particularly suprised. The others seem fine. I checked the water chemicals just in case there was a problem but thats all ok so it must have just been a weak fish, I had a good look when I took it out and there was no sign of disease on it.

I bought them some live food yesterday (tiny little 1mm shrimp) and they yummed those up and I crumble up the flaked food into fine powder and they seem ok with that. I've got quite a few nice dark places for them to hide; one of my pieces of wood is leaned against the side of the tank and it has a nice recessed bit in the back and they've set up camp there and lots of plants which makes a daily head count a bit of a challenge.

We're aiming for a much bigger tank within the next 6 months so if the poor things are still alive they can go there. They are actually really attractive fish in their own right when you look at them properly and we have 2 males and 3 females I've discovered. They should be kept in shoals so I hope no more die. I'm very tempted to take them back but as my son said they'll have a good home here so maybe not.

As for the little Ottos...they are absolutely delightful fish and seem to be doing fine (very tempted to add to their numbers in a week or 2), I picked up some catfish pellets yesterday which they enjoyed chowing down on but I think I'll put one in every other day to stop them being too dependant on them and give cucumber or courgette on alternate days. Is that the right choice? I extended the airline tubing yesterday as I noticed that they seem to delight in playing in the bubbles and all 5 of them were zooming up and down the bubbles like loonies and were great fun to watch. When I moved the airline I noticed it was quite slimey so there's obviously some algae in there and they do graze all over the place and they are all pooing so they're definately eating something and their little bellies are nicely rounded. My algae growing stones are cooking nicely on the windowsill so I'll be able to put one of those in for them soon.

I'm going back up there on Saturday for more live food, so I think I'll pop into the shop my son got them from and have a word with the guy there. My son said he told the guy our current tank size and what else we were intending to put in it so he must have known they'd be too big and I also want to see if he carries any guarentee for fish he stocks. Ho hum!

Well thats all I've got to report atm, my son has got his replacement phone so I'll get him to take some pictures soon to show our set up.

Again, many thanks for the advice.

sad...wait i have an idea if nobody buys them for a long time the colors fade away and then the satore wont buy them again but its just an idea its not gonna happen but....