Gav Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 today i had a bit of an oops moment. I had been growing up some catfish to go in with my americans. i originally bought 3 pictus cats and 2 plecos. had a few issues with white spot from the shop and lost two of the pictus, but thankfully no issues with the plecos. so a month after the white spot was fixed i decided to move them to the big tank. now my main tank is relatively large, and the quarantine is only 3ft. in the 3ft, the fish looked big enough to move..... so i move them. pleco one goes in, a little harassing, a couple of the oscars size him up, but up go the fins and he looks too big to eat (which he was) and all is good as he takes off into the rocks pleco two goes in, much the same result last the pictus. now i will mention at this time that he was not that much smaller than the two plecos. he certainly looked big enough to go in. so i feed the monsters, and dump the pictus in. all hell breaks loose. my jack dempseys, bay snook and my oscars (all 9 of them) all launch into chase mode. i thought no worries, pictus have all those spines n stuff, they may have a go n they will spit him out, he is big enough....... but no, that wasnt quite the case. too late i reach for the nets and rescue equipment before something nabs him. silly little buggar doesnt go near the rocks in the tank (which are everywhere) but just keeps swimming mid water. cant get to him and my biggest oscar (around 6 inches) nabs him head first. i think ok, he will spit him out, this is damn near a 10cm pictus here..... sadly he took the lot. 3 months after purchase, thinking he was big enough, moving him cos i was worried with more cold weather the white spot may be back, so didnt want to lose him, and in moving him i miscalculated and lost the poor little guy. my wife spent the next 15 minutes telling me its ok, dont be so sad, you didnt mean it. it really shook me, as i just felt terrible that this poor little buggar had been nailed. so yeah, thats my oops moment for today. just wondered if others had managed to do similar oops moments. in the past i have managed to lose plenty of african fry when milking and dropping eggs into a tank inadvertantly. im sure i cant be the only one to have a stupid moment though so thought i would share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Thats quite an expensive meal to feed an oscar. Thats very unfortunate, has happened to me many times, you cant really trust oscars and cannot under estimate on how much they can fit in their mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEG-IT Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 very sad to hear, and like what howard said expensive feeder, we all learn from mistakes but very unfortunate incident. I underestimated my sooty grunter before hell broke loose after 2 months of having him, he went on a killing spree, killed one of my tandanus catfish and a silver perch and barra, after that deiceded to shut it all down and trade in the rest of the natives except the grunter, which i kept as trade in was $15 way cheaper than i bought him for, the rest got my money then i payed them for what the???? aren't you suppose to be at hockey!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petshopdude Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 the joy of keeping americans is there hugh size and dominace in the tank, the promblem is they are always looking for a meal, had my jag (about 18inches) just nailed the biggest silver shark in the tank about 8 inches, came in to find the tail hanging out of the jags mouth and looking at the other fish in the tank with a look that said 'your next!!' had the big fella for years now has also knocked off a large knife fish which was hard to take, but i do have a soft spot for him as for the pictus sad news, maybe try a nice size syn. eurputs (spelling) catfish they grow quite large and pretty fast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Sorry to hear Gav maybe a night intro would have been better so the Pictus would be less of a target just shows you never can be sure of anything have seen a pair of Petania that had been housed together for a couple of years and bred where the 25cm male just turned around and tried swallowing the female that was 2/3 his size or the lowest sub male kill the group of fish one after another each night that had grown up together always a lottery Gav Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CONURE1966 Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 I know how you feel about angry Americans, Last Thursday I thought I would add another fish into my display tank inside the house it was a 25cm Brasiliensis male, Soon as I put him in the tank my 20cm Flowerhorn went crazy and smashed it. Didnt even have enough time to even think about finding a net to remove it from the tank. Poor bugger I had him since he was about 2cm. Anyway I still love my Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnesy Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Ive done the same thing I kept my Tiger shovel nose seperated in his own 5x2x2 until i thought he was big enough to mix it with my Oscars. Nope! 18cm TSN straight in the 25cm Oscars mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 i have been trying to work out what sort of big ass catfish i can get to go with these guys apart from my plecos. i would have thought a TSN would almost certainly have been safe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 I agree with Chris's comment. From the surface, where all food comes, they think the new guy is food, the new fish behaves like food sitting like a stunned mullet, reinforced by all those hungry fish looking at him as though he is food. I would have considered taking the fish to the bottom in addition to a night time intro, but then it is easy to be wise after the fact . You could have feed the fish at one end of the tank and introduced the catfish at the other (I've done this before), that way it may have gotten it's bearing and found the rocks you mentioned. The problem was that first five seconds....lucky you didn't lose the oscar as well Better fourtue with the next into Gav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Ive done the same thing I kept my Tiger shovel nose seperated in his own 5x2x2 until i thought he was big enough to mix it with my Oscars. Nope! 18cm TSN straight in the 25cm Oscars mouth. Now THAT'S an expensive feed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 The thing about TSNs is that they quickly become big enough to swallow Oscars whole...lol Oh the irony! I don't think you can achieve any long-term harmony between those two. Gav, Synodontis decorus is a lovely big cattie that will be fine with Oscars - just make sure you grow it up beyond bite-size first! Pimelodus ornatus is another nice one (if you see one around). Cheers, Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_J Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 i remember when i had my 3ft tank with just a couple of gold fish in it... out in the back yard in a bathtub i had hatch a couple of hundred koi... so i went through them and picked out the best 12... and decided to put them in the 3ft inside to raise them up a bit more... they all went in at the same time... and they all got eaten 1 after the other... goooonneeeee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 i remember when i had my 3ft tank with just a couple of gold fish in it... out in the back yard in a bathtub i had hatch a couple of hundred koi... so i went through them and picked out the best 12... and decided to put them in the 3ft inside to raise them up a bit more... they all went in at the same time... and they all got eaten 1 after the other... goooonneeeee! I thought you said you've never lost a fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 craig, when i introduced the catfish i did most of what you said. first i dumped food at the opposite end of the tank, second i did it when the lights were off (though still ambient light in the room so fish were awake) and i did dump him at the bottom of the tank as i had him in a container and removed the lid at the bottom. problem was, he decided that the top of the tank looked better than the bottom and refused to sit around like a stunned mullet which may have saved him. not only did he swim, he was up and down the tank, and first caught the eye of the jack dempseys. he was so busy avoiding them the others had time to wait to make their move. when the oscar got him, the oscar was lurking at the top of the tank, saw him coming and hit him head first. pictus went tail deep into the oscars mouth as he was going full ball and didnt see the oscar coming down at him. those barbs made it tough for the oscar, took nearly two hours to chew him up, but chew him up he did, and still managed to eat stupid amounts the next time i fed them. all up the pictus lasted about 3 minutes, had about 14 fish have a go at him then met the biggest fish in the tank in a head on collision that didnt go so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 craig, when i introduced the catfish i did most of what you said. first i dumped food at the opposite end of the tank, second i did it when the lights were off (though still ambient light in the room so fish were awake) and i did dump him at the bottom of the tank as i had him in a container and removed the lid at the bottom. problem was, he decided that the top of the tank looked better than the bottom and refused to sit around like a stunned mullet which may have saved him. not only did he swim, he was up and down the tank, and first caught the eye of the jack dempseys. he was so busy avoiding them the others had time to wait to make their move. when the oscar got him, the oscar was lurking at the top of the tank, saw him coming and hit him head first. pictus went tail deep into the oscars mouth as he was going full ball and didnt see the oscar coming down at him. those barbs made it tough for the oscar, took nearly two hours to chew him up, but chew him up he did, and still managed to eat stupid amounts the next time i fed them. all up the pictus lasted about 3 minutes, had about 14 fish have a go at him then met the biggest fish in the tank in a head on collision that didnt go so well. It doesn't surprise me that you did all that, but it wasn't mentioned. I wouldn't in that case call it a "oops"moment. Least wise, not on your part. The fish yes , you no . Have other south american keepers kept these fish together without becoming bait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 If its about the size of the mouth then in it goes. Seems you did the right thing, feeding, lights, etc & those pictus are bloody fast as well.Must have liked the colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_J Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 i remember when i had my 3ft tank with just a couple of gold fish in it... out in the back yard in a bathtub i had hatch a couple of hundred koi... so i went through them and picked out the best 12... and decided to put them in the 3ft inside to raise them up a bit more... they all went in at the same time... and they all got eaten 1 after the other... goooonneeeee! I thought you said you've never lost a fish lol tropical fish... never lost a tropical.. TOUCH WOOD! not that i've had many... so it really does not count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 I had one of those very moments today. I have a had a 4x2x2 tank sitting in my my house ready for setup for 18months or so (mainly due to lack of cash to setup) and I finally got motivated and some free cash had it all ready bare the water. I was doing the final plumbing before I filled the tank and the OR3500 slipped out of my hand into the sump and shattered the damn sump. . Now after all that I am going have to try and get the sump out without putting glas all through my house and replace the sump with a fluval fx5. I should have never have bought this damn tank with a weir. cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 must be one of those weeks... I was using a large clear plastic hose for a water change last night and turn my head to speak to my wife for about 20 secs and to turn back and see about 75% of the jewels fry get sucked up and the male get stuck in the hose..the hose was going out onto the grass so no chance of saving the fry...the male was removed from the hose looking like the shape of a banana.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Women lol, I would have been running to the hose outlet to save any fry I could.Poor Dad tried his best to save the Kids Hey Rosco cant you just cut the bottom out of the sump? surpose it was the bottom you smashed!!!! I moved the wrong way in my cramped fish room and bang a nice crack 2/3's the way down a grownout fry tank.Only a 2fter so not to bad but thats the way it goes in tooooo much of a rush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Hey Rosco cant you just cut the bottom out of the sump? surpose it was the bottom you smashed!!!! I haven't inspected too closely as just don't want to know but it will be stuffed as it was the bottom of the tank and I can see a pretty star pattern in the glass. Water pumps dropped from 30cm and glass don't mix. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpfc Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 I hope she was understanding. Fry are the reason I get away with this hobby. The Mrs loves them and feeds them for me. I am not looking forward to selling time but hopefully by then another gob full will be on the way. must be one of those weeks... I was using a large clear plastic hose for a water change last night and turn my head to speak to my wife for about 20 secs and to turn back and see about 75% of the jewels fry get sucked up and the male get stuck in the hose..the hose was going out onto the grass so no chance of saving the fry...the male was removed from the hose looking like the shape of a banana.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 I haven't inspected too closely as just don't want to know I remember the feeling but can't remember the incident....I must have never looked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpfc Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 I had my moment today. Bearded algae is taking over some of my plants at the top of the tank. I tried a double dose of Seachem Flourish Excel. Not long after my wife was asking if the fish were OK as a number were at the top as though oxygen was low. I did an immediate 25% change and fish seemed OK. Tonight a female red fin Kadanga passed away so I did another 25% change. I feel like a right idiot. There is a slight ammonia rise. I will have to test in the morning. Just when I thought the tank was settled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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