Have You Ever Rehomed Or Sold Fish?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Just a curiosity thread, but have you ever rehomed or sold fish and if so, where/who to and how was the experience for you?

This is something i'm thinking over right now, as i have a lot of home bred male guppys at the moment, too many to have 2-3female guppys to each, so most of the male guppys are in an all-male guppy tank at the moment. I want to have all my adult guppys in one tank again, so i'm considering rehoming a certain percentage of the male guppys so i can do this.
I don't really want to rehome them to my local petshop though, even though i could get a discount on other items there or simply get paid directly for the guppys themselves. The main reason why i don't want to take them to the petshop is because any numbnut could buy them and stick them into a horribly stocked tank, and because the petshop is pretty bad at giving advice to customers buying fish, i'm not very hopeful that any male guppys that i take to the petshop will end up in good tanks either way. So i'm considering trying to rehome them via the forum or something, so they have a better chance of ending up with someone who really cares about them and knows how to look after them well. If i do rehome some of the male guppys, it will be the first time i have had to do so in many years.

I have a story to tell though, many years ago when i first found out how large my sailfin pleco was going to grow, i was shocked at its eventual potential size and didn't see myself getting a larger tank for it anytime soon. So i caught it and put it in a bag and arranged to take it to my lfs so they could take it off my hands for me. I'd had this little sailfin for quite a while then, and had brought it back from deaths door from when i first bought it (it was starving to death when i first got it, it was so ill/thin it was actually light grey in colour), and raised it into a fat little happy juvenile sailfin. I was very attached to this fish, but knew i had to get rid of it...
So i took it to the petshop, met the owner, and put the sailfin in its bag floating in one of the shops tanks. I stood there for quite a while looking at it, and decided to go, but as i turned around i took one last glance at the little pleco. It was just sitting there in the bag looking at me, and as i went to leave the petshop, it just wouldn't stop looking at me with its big innocent eyes...
I decided i couldn't do it, and i took it in its bag and appologised to the owner. I kept it in a 30 or 50gal tank for quite a few months (i can't remember which one), before i finally got a place of my own and my first 125gal tank.
Now i still have the sailfin, and its as fat and happy as ever and i know i did the right thing by keeping it now, i'd never rehome it.
So i can understand how difficult it can be to rehome a fish because of various reasons.


So how about you guys/girls, have you ever rehomed or sold fish and how did the experience go for you ?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup, a few standard community fish i had no particular attachment to have gone back to the lfs when we've moved tanks around, but only fish that we know most people would be able to hosue go thee, anything different or that i have a sentimental attachment to i'll home with some friends for example KathyM has my opaline gourami's and SamUK has my parrot fish. It's been a good experience for me, all the fish are now happy in more appropriate homes and i've had pictures and reports from both of them

 

[The-Wolf]

yup I have rehomed some corys to Geo7X and he will soon take on my P.senegalus
also my P.weeksii and D.lussoso have a nice new home with CFC and I took a snakehead from him

 

[borissimo]

What a lovely story about Tokis' sailfin pleco. I have a pleco that has grown bigger than expected and will have to buy yet another tank in due course.

I have trouble giving fish away in case they do not go to a good home. However, since my cichlid tank disaster I do not feel like a good owner either. However, after that I did give a few of the baby cichlids a LFS (I didn't know anyone else who would take them). They were the babies of the fish I was given (and didn't have the heart to turn down) by a customer. Unfortunately they seem to breed too easily. I have since been back to the LFS and seen them in a tank of mixed cichlid babies. I feel a bit bad about it but they seem to be OK.

We also had a Chinese algae eater (Larry) and a ruby shark (Fergal) who did not get on at all. So Larry acquired his own tank and some new friends - bala sharks, angels and catfish. Both lived quite happily without each other.

Expensive business, when you can't rehome fish ...

 

[*Fishkies*]

Haven't ever rehomed. Even when I found out I had a common pleco the can grow to 24inches. You know what i did? I saved up money, planned it all out and bought him a bigger tank! Also same goes for my goldfish, bought them bigger tanks. Luckily enough I could afford to upgrade them. Once I have a fish I intend on keeping it, that's why I do all my research before hand usually. Thank goodness they all get along and everything works out too.

 

[geo7x]

yes, i have rehomed a bristlenosed plec to screamingdonkey. Thats it i think. Didn't really think much of it, i couldnt house the fish properly so i sold it

 

[my fat fish]

i just make sure im not here when the fish are being taken away i dont like to see them go
the last 1 i was okay with as i was on holiday at the time and the fish needed rehoming

 

[lilfishie]

Rehomed a few gups a while back now to some friends, i regularly ask how they arer and everything, i have also saved a betta from being flushed as well as a few other fish including a massive angel, gourami and common plec, couldn't bear to part with them so upgraded

 

[jayjay]

I have rehomed manyyyy fish, mainly fry. Of late I've rehomed probably a few thousand rainbow cichlids and on the weekend will be rehoming a senegal bichir, 5 rainbow cichlids, 3 multi's (+a fry) and a dwarf puffer.

 

[screamingdonkey]

yes, i have rehomed a bristlenosed plec to screamingdonkey. Thats it i think. Didn't really think much of it, i couldnt house the fish properly so i sold it

Yes, she's been happy in her new home.

So Tokis - I think as long as you're pretty sure they're going to a good home then that's got to be better than handing back to an LFS. And it's far more sensible to rehome than keep fish in unsuitable conditions.
Best of luck with the rehoming - I know it's not easy to shift 'common livebearers'

 

[Azaezl]

I've only ever re-homed 1 fish, it was a geophagus who was a right bully and I didn't think she was right for the tank, esp. with the plans I had(she was very destructive). I had no attachment to her, I thought she was interesting but nothing beyond that, my husband was really sad to see her go he really liked her. Well I keep saying her, we thought she was a he as the previous owner(she came with the tank) gave it the name GUS. I phoned around none of the lfs would take her, posted on here, no interest, did aquarist classifieds a few emails, mainly people hundreds of miles away who wanted her posted...no way!

Anyway I was in one of my lfs and saw another geo brasillies in a tank and mentioned to the guy there that I was trying to get rid of one, he said he'd try them together, he planned to take that one home the end of the week. He said if they got on(the male was very fussy over tankmates) he'd take them both home but if they didn't I'd have to take her back. I don't know if he had a good size tank, couldn't really ask him to show me, anyway she must have been happy as they bred and he's ended up with 250+ fry! He still has her as far as I know and he does seem to know alot about fish, unlike alot of them that work there!

 

[dwarfgourami]

Have sold fish at auction, given fish away to other fishkeepers, swapped fish with other fishkeepers and sold some to the lfs. And I am trying to find a home for my bristlenose- is there really noone who wants this attractive young man?