Parting With Your Best Friend (fish)

[tetraqueen]

I am thinking it's time for my plec and my bala sharks to move on and maybe even the clown loaches.
This is making me cry. I am so attached to my plec as if one can be. He was tiny and beautiful and shy and has grown and comes out now and I really do like him/her. The others just give life to the tank and little fish seem so lost. When they are altogether they only take up 1/6 of the tank space so I don't see the problems actually apart from the plec in his log they all hide under the heater when the light comes on.

I know you say its cruel but at what size do I have to part with them and what do I get in their place.

Or will it feel so wretched all the time. Is someone who feels when letting go fish so soft to have them in the first place??

I usually keep my animals till they die this seems wrong however I did take someones Bala sharks and loaches and they have been so good for my other fish they have been great.

 

[fuzzyferret]

I also believe in keeping animals (or fish) until they die, but sometimes the circumstances are more complicated.

I don't normally buy on impulse, but when I started off the one impulse buy I did get was a common plec. It was quite cute when it was an inch long - it grew an inch a month!!

When it got to 15 inches, there was no way it was going to fit into my tank for much longer, so I had to seriously think about rehoming it. I wasn't happy just handing it in to a fish shop, so I started looking around.

We went on a trip to Maidenhead Aquatics in Peterborough, and they had large (and I mean large!) display tanks. We asked about them, and they said that they would give him a home. A few days later we packed him up and took him to his new 'home'. As we live in Hull, it cost us a small fortune in petrol to go back to Peterborough twice, but I wanted to be sure he went to a nice place.

So, I didnt' feel too bad about letting him go, as he was in a lovely large tank - I did feel bad about the petrol costs though!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

for a rough idea of the size you need to rehome a fish at, the smallest any large fish should be kept in is a tank 4 times it's length and 1.5 times it's length for the height and width. so if the fish is 10" it should be kept in a tank of at least 40"x15"x15", as soon as your tank gets down to that sort of ratio with your big fish then they need to go to a bigger home.

but in all honesty you may as well part with them now if you can't home them properly. the bigger they are the harder it will be for the lfs to sell them or for you to re-home them. and it's not going to get any easier for you to part with them when you've had them even longer.

 

[tetraqueen]

Thanks they have done very well up until now and I think like most no-one tells you you need an aquarium to home these fish who for instance are sold in very small tanks and in very overcrowded conditions in the first place. We have seen many cope very well in small tanks and I have seen some on here with fish four times the size of mine.

I hope you have the fish in mind but I feel you are very condescending saying I can't home them properly. I would challenge you to ask what makes to accuse so ?

 

[cheesy feet]

Thanks they have done very well up until now and I think like most no-one tells you you need an aquarium to home these fish who for instance are sold in very small tanks and in very overcrowded conditions in the first place. We have seen many cope very well in small tanks and I have seen some on here with fish four times the size of mine.

I hope you have the fish in mind but I feel you are very condescending saying I can't home them properly. I would challenge you to ask what makes to accuse so ?

If you need to find a home for them in a month or so i will have my 260gallon tank setup,so you know they will go to a good home and a good keeper

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I hope you have the fish in mind but I feel you are very condescending saying I can't home them properly. I would challenge you to ask what makes to accuse so ?

but in all honesty you may as well part with them now if you can't home them properly. the bigger they are the harder it will be for the lfs to sell them or for you to re-home them. and it's not going to get any easier for you to part with them when you've had them even longer.

I didn't say you can't home them properly, you didn't give a tank size so I can't possibly say weather you can home them or not, which is why i gave details in my post of how to work out if your tank is big enough. I said if

 

[tetraqueen]

I hope you have the fish in mind but I feel you are very condescending saying I can't home them properly. I would challenge you to ask what makes to accuse so ?

but in all honesty you may as well part with them now if you can't home them properly. the bigger they are the harder it will be for the lfs to sell them or for you to re-home them. and it's not going to get any easier for you to part with them when you've had them even longer.

I didn't say you can't home them properly, you didn't give a tank size so I can't possibly say weather you can home them or not, which is why i gave details in my post of how to work out if your tank is big enough. I said if

Sorry the world went wrong for me yesterday, i WAS TOO sensitive and apologise. I am afraid you spoke to close to my biggest fear. Yes I am scared to do too much too little they have been great fish and I am proud they have lasted with me so long.
I started with a very small Aqua one and now have a juwel Rio 400.

The problem will not be length for a while but they need room to turn around and well even looking at it seriously it is time to move on.

The aquatic shop did say they would swap him.

Its not easy to part with them and well I dread new fish as that is touch and go until they all settle .

My little community is all individually named and part of my family.

They get a lot more love and attention than hubby and cat who look after me but a little less than the children.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem at all, I understand how easy it is to get upset over your fish.

why not try and find them a home privatley (through the buy, sell swap forum) then you know where they've gone too, might make you feel a little better than them just going to the lfs and being sold to someone you dont know.