My Uncle is visiting-- and seeing my tanks he has of course jumped into his stories about when he kept fish years ago . . . he used to be pretty obsessed too. Then he said,
"Hey, did I ever tell you the tale of my Jack dempsi?" and I said "no."
About eight years ago, he had a 55g tank with large angels, a big plecostomas, a Red Oscar, and a single jack dempsi. They were doing fine, but he noticed that the Jack Dempsi started harassing the other fish, even leaving the oscar with some serious injuries. That Dempsi was a bad-a$$.
Thinking quickly, he moved the fish to his out-door pond.
Time went by, and all the fish were doing well. It was late January, and my uncle was just about to leave his house to go shovel the snow from his walkway, when he realized the horrible truth:
"Wait, don't ponds freeze over during the winter?"
Panicking, he ran outside to find his shallw pond completely frozen, the jack depsi frozen solid in the middle of it. My uncle grabbed a pick and began chiseling the cichlid out of the ice until he he could pull out the block of ice holding his frozen fish.
My Uncle decided that it was worth seeing if his fish were still alive, so he ran in the house and put the ice block in front of his fire place. In the mean time, he drove to his friends house to grab an old 30g that wasn't being used by his friend.
After convincing his friend to lend him the tank, he ran back to his house and filled it with water. The ice around the fish was letting up, and was just about gone.
Grabbing the fish, he attached a hose to his sink, and then inserted the other end into the fishes' mouth. He then turned the sink on, and let the water run into the fishes mouth. My uncle then grabbed the fish by the tail and pulled it backwards over the bottom of the sink to force the gills open and make water run over them.
Suddenly, the fish started wiggling and spat out the hose. It got a good bite on my uncle's thumb, but it was weak and exhausted.
My Uncle rushed to his 30g uncycled tank.
Within a 3 days later, it was swimming and eating normally.
My Uncle was of course releaved that his fish was healthy. However, this was not the end of the story. A month later, my Uncle returned home from work. As he walked into the hall, he walked past his 30 gallon tank. Then, he did a double take and walked back to the tank. It was empty. This tank had no substrate, nothing but a fish. Or should I say no fish? It also had no lid.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FISH!?" My Uncle cried, then began searching frantically about his house for his cichlid.
After 2 hours of searching every room in his house, my Uncle flopped down in his couch, extremely frustrated. He had figured after the first half hour that it was a wasted effort, but he didn't want his house to stink.
As he lay there sorting out his thoughts, he noticed a ball of dust in the corner of the room that hadn't been there before he left for work.
Sure enough, it was the fish. Note, this was 2 rooms away from where the his tank was.
Once again, my Uncle rushed the fish to his sink, rinsed it off and forced respiration with the hose and dragging the fish backwards. Once again, the fish started sputtering and flapping around.
Once again my Unlce rushed it to the 30 g, and then put a big board over the top.
Three months later, my Uncle sold his fish-- he had it. His friend actually wanted the Jack Dempsi, and took it back along with the 30g.
My Uncle is still friends with him. My Uncle says he saw his friend about a month ago, and the friend the cichlid was still alive and well.
And that concludes my story about the indestructable Jack Dempsi. Go buy one.
"Hey, did I ever tell you the tale of my Jack dempsi?" and I said "no."
About eight years ago, he had a 55g tank with large angels, a big plecostomas, a Red Oscar, and a single jack dempsi. They were doing fine, but he noticed that the Jack Dempsi started harassing the other fish, even leaving the oscar with some serious injuries. That Dempsi was a bad-a$$.
Thinking quickly, he moved the fish to his out-door pond.
Time went by, and all the fish were doing well. It was late January, and my uncle was just about to leave his house to go shovel the snow from his walkway, when he realized the horrible truth:
"Wait, don't ponds freeze over during the winter?"
Panicking, he ran outside to find his shallw pond completely frozen, the jack depsi frozen solid in the middle of it. My uncle grabbed a pick and began chiseling the cichlid out of the ice until he he could pull out the block of ice holding his frozen fish.
My Uncle decided that it was worth seeing if his fish were still alive, so he ran in the house and put the ice block in front of his fire place. In the mean time, he drove to his friends house to grab an old 30g that wasn't being used by his friend.
After convincing his friend to lend him the tank, he ran back to his house and filled it with water. The ice around the fish was letting up, and was just about gone.
Grabbing the fish, he attached a hose to his sink, and then inserted the other end into the fishes' mouth. He then turned the sink on, and let the water run into the fishes mouth. My uncle then grabbed the fish by the tail and pulled it backwards over the bottom of the sink to force the gills open and make water run over them.
Suddenly, the fish started wiggling and spat out the hose. It got a good bite on my uncle's thumb, but it was weak and exhausted.
My Uncle rushed to his 30g uncycled tank.
Within a 3 days later, it was swimming and eating normally.
My Uncle was of course releaved that his fish was healthy. However, this was not the end of the story. A month later, my Uncle returned home from work. As he walked into the hall, he walked past his 30 gallon tank. Then, he did a double take and walked back to the tank. It was empty. This tank had no substrate, nothing but a fish. Or should I say no fish? It also had no lid.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FISH!?" My Uncle cried, then began searching frantically about his house for his cichlid.
After 2 hours of searching every room in his house, my Uncle flopped down in his couch, extremely frustrated. He had figured after the first half hour that it was a wasted effort, but he didn't want his house to stink.
As he lay there sorting out his thoughts, he noticed a ball of dust in the corner of the room that hadn't been there before he left for work.
Sure enough, it was the fish. Note, this was 2 rooms away from where the his tank was.
Once again, my Uncle rushed the fish to his sink, rinsed it off and forced respiration with the hose and dragging the fish backwards. Once again, the fish started sputtering and flapping around.
Once again my Unlce rushed it to the 30 g, and then put a big board over the top.
Three months later, my Uncle sold his fish-- he had it. His friend actually wanted the Jack Dempsi, and took it back along with the 30g.
My Uncle is still friends with him. My Uncle says he saw his friend about a month ago, and the friend the cichlid was still alive and well.
And that concludes my story about the indestructable Jack Dempsi. Go buy one.
