[BarkingPup]

So here's the lowdown, pardners.

About a year ago one of my coworkers (now ex-coworker) offered another now ex-coworker her fish tank. Said coworker is terrified of dirty fish water, dead fish and is not a good pet owner anyways (wants to breed her dog, treats her like a baby etc.). I offered to take the tank off her hands but she was adamant and I subsided.

So a couple days ago she came into my workplace and said "Do you want a fish tank?" Now, from what I gathered this tank is a ten gallon with tropical freshwater and coldwater in the same tank, was filthy, and overstocked. Fortunately, me being a pack rat, I hadn't thrown away any of my ten-years fishkeeping stuff so I said "Sure".

Aaaand yesterday she dropped them off. I was appalled. The tank they came with had no lid and judging from the condition of the filter and minimal water hadn't been cleaned in a loooong time (no surprises since her excuse for getting rid of them was "they're too much work"). The actual fish were being stored in a large critter keeper apparently for two days! The water was filthy and all the fish were gasping and leaping to the top.

So I pulled out all my fish stuff along with a ten and twenty gallon and set to work. I basically had to cross my fingers and pray no one died as I moved them to their new homes. No time to cycle, using well water without testing... but I couldn't leave them in that critter keeper. I waited for the tanks to get the right temperature and placed them carefully inside.

The three goldfish were in shock and took turns laying on the bottom, playing dead. Eventually, they perked up (and discovered the food I had dribbled over the top) and here they are in all their fishy glory:

Ignore those white speckles on the tank. When we moved into our second house it was flicked with paint a bit.

I've never had goldfish before so this is going to be an interesting adventure.... I just wish I had a bigger tank for them, like a fifty...

The tropical fish are a little more vague on what they are. The bottom feeder I'm pretty positive is a Cory (and if he ever gets out of the corner I can show you guys) and the small fish is probably a danio maybe a femme fatale guppy. I kept danios for ten years or so and the tiny fish looks and acts remarkably like a danio... in the same way that you can't get a bloody picture of them so here's a tank picture instead:

I've never seen a danio so small and colorless (mine all grew exponentially) and I'm pretty sure the goldfish food they were fed was being eaten by everyone else (and probably not that good for him). The cory was shocked from the move and played dead for a while but the alleged-danio just went "whatever" and started swimming around excitedly (another danio trait: immortality). Since they're in a ten gallon I'll be buying a couple more so they can school (and not bully the cory) and be done with it. Hard enough to maintain a ten :/

And those are my new fishies! Anyone got any names they wanna suggest?

 

[Sasami]

Great job rescuing the fish .

Look on craigslist and freecycle, you can often find cheap/free aquariums on there.

You have good intentions but I wouldn't add any more fish until the goldfish are moved out. As you know, the tank is already severely overstocked so adding more fish would be asking for the tank to crash.

Do you have a picture that shows the little fish closer up? I have some ideas but can't see him too well. I could ID both him and the cory cat (there are different species) for you .

Good luck with them.

 

[BarkingPup]

I only wish I could have got them sooner. I'm pretty sure she mentioned more fish so they may have died

Yeah, I'll be scoping the 'lists' for a 50+ for the goldfish. Once I have them moved to a bigger tank I'll switch the tropicals to the 20 and use my 10 as a hospital tank. I don't know what to do with my newly acquired lidless 10 but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Yeah, I'll be watching the 10 like a hawk because I really don't want to add anymore fish but if the cory is being bullied I'd feel really bad. He's soooo tiny and if I really do have a danio then it's going to get real big. It also depends on how fast I can get a larger tank for the goldfish.

I'll try to get a picture of speedy but the cory... hasn't moved from his corner. He's eating the algae wafers so he is moving around, just not anywhere I can get a good pic. It makes me sad to see such tiny fish, especially when you know how big they can get and know the previous owner had them for a loooong time.

Kay, I'll try to get a pic... Okay, I managed some bleary Speedy (hee, I officially christen him/her as such) pics and a washed out cory pic:

Oh, I forgot to get a picture of what they came in:

I can't believe she even put them in that >:

 

[Sasami]

Wow, how did they even fit in there? I have one of those tanks and they hold less than 3 gallons.... I'm honestly surprised any of them are alive, that's amazing.

Sounds like a good plan as far as the tanks go. Good luck finding a big tank, sometimes you can get lucky. I got most of my aquariums for cheap used.

As for the mystery fish, try doing an image search for these fish and see if he matches up: Danio frankei, Danio choprai, and Brachydanio albolineatus.

The cory cat is probably Corydoras paleatus. I kept them for a while and mine would only school with their own species. So you'd need more peppered cories .

 

[BarkingPup]

They barely fit. No one moved around and they all kinda sat on the bottom. They were only in it for two days but I fully expected someone to die. Thankfully (or amazingly) they're perfectly fine so far.

The cheapest so far is a 128gallon and like, six smaller tanks accessories included for $275 but they don't want to sell separately. I guess the goldfish are living in the 20 for a little while longer (or until I can convince myself that having five 10 gallons and four twenties, etc. is awesome) :/

Off the top of my head he looks like a veeeery pale zebra danio. I'll look up some pics but hopefully he might come into his coloring and it'll be easy.

Hmmmm, how big do they get? I know five are needed for a good school with most fish but if they get big I don't think they'll all fit in a twenty. I'll need at least five danios which are... two inches I believe so that's 10 gallons used up.

 

[Sasami]

Yeah, once he colors up it should be easy to identify him for certain.

Peppered cories only grow to about two inches long . So they'd probably be OK in a 20-gallon.

 

[Shayna&Liam]

That blue "Kritter Keeper" thing, my daughter has one of those with what the pet-store said was a "goldfish" but what I believe is called a black molly.... if that is the right name..... anyways, there is one of those in there and two aquatic frogs. The fish is about two inches long and doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. He seems perfectly fine in there but reading this is making me wonder if the three of them have enough room?

Side-note: Sorry if this is the wrong thread to be asking in, but in all fairness your talking about it made me think of it. =P

 

[bubbles]

Well done for taking them in, they look like they will be VERY happy in there new homes

 

[Sasami]

That blue "Kritter Keeper" thing, my daughter has one of those with what the pet-store said was a "goldfish" but what I believe is called a black molly.... if that is the right name..... anyways, there is one of those in there and two aquatic frogs. The fish is about two inches long and doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. He seems perfectly fine in there but reading this is making me wonder if the three of them have enough room?

Side-note: Sorry if this is the wrong thread to be asking in, but in all fairness your talking about it made me think of it. =P

A molly needs at least 20 gallons and will do best in clean, well-oxygenated, hard water. They really thrive in brackish environments (achieved by adding marine salt).

So yeah, it's not going to do well long-term in a Critter Keeper. The fish is going to need to be moved to a larger aquarium (with proper filtration and water parameters).

 

[BarkingPup]

That blue "Kritter Keeper" thing, my daughter has one of those with what the pet-store said was a "goldfish" but what I believe is called a black molly.... if that is the right name..... anyways, there is one of those in there and two aquatic frogs. The fish is about two inches long and doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. He seems perfectly fine in there but reading this is making me wonder if the three of them have enough room?

Side-note: Sorry if this is the wrong thread to be asking in, but in all fairness your talking about it made me think of it. =P

No problem, any question is a good question. And, yeah, what Sasami said

If it was being sold as a goldfish... perhaps it's one of the fancy varieties? Like a Ryukin, Shubunkin, or Fantail? A picture would help for sure.

Well done for taking them in, they look like they will be VERY happy in there new homes

They are much happier (although the Cory is being bullied by the danio ) but the goldfish are about to get happier as I'm getting a 90 gallon tank in a bout a week! Soooo excited!

 

[Shayna&Liam]

A molly needs at least 20 gallons and will do best in clean, well-oxygenated, hard water. They really thrive in brackish environments (achieved by adding marine salt).

So yeah, it's not going to do well long-term in a Critter Keeper. The fish is going to need to be moved to a larger aquarium (with proper filtration and water parameters).

Alrighty. Google'd it and found it he's a fancy goldfish, he's all black and pretty cute. I have an extra tank out in my garage somewhere, I guess I'll have to go dig it out and get some filter stuff. That being said, I used that tank initially for my bearded dragon, it's something stupidly huge like three feet long by a foot and a half wide and about two feet deep (I don't know how many gallons, I figured measurements would be good enough). I've never had fish before that were any more complicated than betta fish, this whole filtering, cycling thing is all new to me. Anyone want to write up "Fishkeeping for Dummies" and pass it along? Thanks!

Additional Thoughts: I'm actually going to post a thread regarding the "Fishkeeping for Dummies" info so I don't clog this one up.