Fish Rescue

[corykitty516]

I got a call from my mom yesterday. Her landlady had "a tank of fish" that had been abandoned by a tenant and would I like them? well who wouldnt want a free tank?

Well the tank turned out to be a 2 gallon with a UGF and the fish were: 1 fancy tailed calico goldfish and 1 goggly eyed (proper name?) calico goldfish, about 3" each. AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! The water was so filthy you could hardle see that there were fish in there and there was this huge plastic coral thing taking up most of the tank.

All I have on this short notice is my 5 gal hospital which I dropped my whisper 20i into for good measure. Hopefully they will be able to deal for a little while until I can set up something bigger and ultimately, when the weather warms up, drop them into the pond with my other 3 refugees. I dont know about putting something as weird as that goggly thing into a pond though ... I'll wander over to the coldwater section when it comes time for that though.

And it turns out that the landlady wants the tank back after all so she can put a betta in it.

 

[SirMinion]

Well done for rescuing the fish and well done for your landlady for alerting you to them rather than just flushing them!

Fancy goldfish don't do well in cold weather, so if the winters in your area get below freezing, don't put them in the pond.

 

[corykitty516]

Well its been 70F every day this week. It might get to freezing once or twice a year but it doesnt ever last very long. Last year we had the first ice storm in 20 years. It snows about once every 5-6 years and lasts about a day. I think if I saw on the news that its going down too far I'd net them and put them inside in a bucket or something.

It is awfully mild weather here. I dont even bring in my porch plants and herbs during the winter. In the late fall I take all the pots and set them in a bit of a trench in the ground against the house foundation then rake some leaves over them. In theory in the ground it would stay warmer. We also run our above ground pool all winter without it ever freezing.

I think I'd monitor it though before I just left them there to freeze. After February it just doesnt get seriously cold again so they wont have to suffer in my tiny tank much longer.