[AquaticLife] HELP!! My husband won’t stop buying fish!

January 6, 2009 @ 10:15 pm · Filed under Philippines Internet Koi Society

A question on pictus catfish. I’m going to rescue my parent’s pictus catfish out of their (yes I know it’s awful) 20 gallon tank. Good news is that he has only a few tank mates, but the really bad part of it is that he has been in that tank for easily 5+ years and I’m concerned as to how much stunting he has overgone in that time. He is about 4-5 inches in size and I don’t think he has every really grown since she got him, perhaps he might have grown a couple inches though I’m not sure. As soon as I get my smaller fish put into the 55 gallon tank I’m going to rescue the catfish and put him in with my severum and 2 angel’s. I already know the little bugger is a great danio eater and he’s not going anywhere near my glofish LOL. Nice expensive fish food that mom got for him a few months back heh. I can’t wait to see how he does in a tank more suited for him though, poor guy.
Amber
Lenny V. aka GoldLenny wrote: > > Two things you can do.. well three actually… one of them V-8 smacks > on the > forehead might work… or divorce will definitely work… and a third > option > is to do an O.J. on him and collect the insurance and buy a BIG > tank… but > the V-8 smack and divorce are less painful.. at least to him. LOL > > What you should really do is find an LFS that will accept buy-backs that > will give you store credit and start taking them back one or two at a > time. > Tell hubby they died and you flushed them (but don’t actually ever do > that). > Then when you have enough store credit, buy a bigger tank for your > remaining > fish. > > If you try to keep everything you have now, you’ll need about a 500 gallon > tank or a series of big tanks adding up to 500G … SERIOUSLY!!! > > The sailfin pleco, one of the “common pleco” varieties, will grow to 18″+ > and need at least 75G for itself.. bare minimum water volume for this fish > to survive long term.. they live for 20+ years. The Pictus Catfish grow up > to 8″ each and will need 40G each. The Blue Gouramis grow to 6″ each and > will also need 20-30G each depending on whether they are a pair or > not. The > CAE grows up to 11″ and will need about 50G. > > But the good news is the Pictus Catfish lives a little longer, then > all your > smaller fish will become expensive fish food until you only have a few BIG > fish left and then you might only need a 250G tank. Pictus Catfish grow up > to be not-so-nice 6″ to 8″ nocturnal predators and will eat anything that > will fit in their BIG AND WIDE mouths so maybe your Gouramis, CAE and > Pleco > will survive. > > Go to http://www.mongabay.com/search.htm, > put a bullet in the advanced > Mongabay Fish section and then type in the common names on each of your > fish.. or the latin names if you know them. You’ll find a reliable profile > on each fish with all kinds of information, suggested tank sizes, water > volume and parameters, suggested companions, etc. > > Here’s your three biggest species for starters… > http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Pterygoplichthys_gibbiceps.html > > http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Gyrinocheilus_aymonieri.html > > http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Pimelodus_pictus.html > > > For suggested stocking of a 10G tank, go to my blog and on the right under > labels, you’ll see “10 Gallon Tank Stocking Suggestions” with a long > article > about what will work long term in a 10G tank. While at my blog, also go to > the long article “A to Z of Fish Keeping” and you’ll see a general > guideline > for how much tank you need for various sized fish. That 1″ rule you might > hear about is pure unadulterated BUNK! > > Right now, you are headed for a major disaster and all of your fish > will die > an early death after a sickly life. Sorry but I can’t be much nicer than > that. > > Do you have a dog house for hubby? Let him live in that for a few days and > he’ll quickly learn how the fish feel. > > Lenny Vasbinder > Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com > (Links to any articles referenced in above reply are listed on the right > side, alphabetically under Labels and also under Archives by Year, Month) > > —–Original Message—– > From: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com > > [mailto:AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com > ] On > Behalf Of Jocelyn > Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 6:36 PM > To: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [AquaticLife] HELP!! My husband won’t stop buying fish! > > I can not get my husband to stop buying fish. If he sees a new kind at > Wal-mart or the lfs he buys it. Right now we have a 10 gal with 2 blue > gouramis, 2 black skirt tetras, 2 black phantom tetras, 2 pictus cats, > 2 australian rainbows, 2 hatchet fish, 11 babies and 1 adult platy, 5 male > guppies, 1 chinese algae eater and a sailfin pleco. In a hex-5 there is 8 > baby platies, 2 cory cats, 1 chinese algae eater, 1 sailfin pleco, 2 zebra > danios and 4 female guppies. I keep telling him there are WAY to many > fish, > that we need a bigger tank/more tanks, that it takes to much of my time > keeping the tanks clean. I change 80-90% of the water every other day. I > feel bad for the fish. I know some get really big and need more room. I > can’t get him to stop buying fish and start buying more tanks or at > least a > bigger tank for their health/well being. Any ideas on what to do? > >