One tough little fish

[OBIO]

A little while ago, I was doing the weekly water change and cleaning on my 30 gallon aquarium. I use a 50 foot Python (http://www.1st-in-unique-gifts.com/...lean-fill-easy-aquarium-tank-cleaning-system/) vacuum system to clean the gravel and to siphon out the old water and replace it with fresh clean water. As the water was siphoning out of the tank, one of my small Albino Corydoras Catfish (http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/catfish/acory.php) got sucked up into the Python's gravel vac without me noticing. After the tank had been siphoned down to an inch and a half of water depth, I pulled the gravel vacuum out of the tank and walked toward the bathroom, raising the clear vinyl hose over my head to force the rest of the old water to drain into the bathtub. I then hooked the Python to the faucet of the bathroom sink and turned on the water to adjust it to match the temp in the tank so I could refill the tank with clean water. When I turned the water on...and we luckily have a ton of water pressure....I saw this white thing come flying out of the Python. My jaw dropped when I realized it was my baby Albino Cory....maybe 3/4 of an inch long....that was being swirled around the sink basin. I scooped it up, dashed back into my office/sim/fish tank room and plopped it back into the tank. I got the Python running and refilled the tank...watching the little Cory to see how it was doing. For about 15 minutes, it just sat on the bottom of the tank and breathing heavy....but now, it is swimming around the tank and nosing through the gravel looking for small bits of food to eat.

Other than having its dorsal fin (the fin on the back) torn up a little bit, the Cory seems to be A Okay. That is one tough little fish.

OBIO

 

[Naismith]

It was probably lying there thinking "you b*****d! Just yoah wayette, nex tahm y'all wanna git me outta heya ama gonna bite yoah boney-ass fingas"


(being a catfish you have to imagine a southern accent y'all)

 

[luckydog]

I'd be breathing heavy too !!!!

 

[brad kaste]

He's right up there with Nemo.............................:ernae:

 

[Daveroo]

It was probably lying there thinking "you b*****d! Just yoah wayette, nex tahm y'all wanna git me outta heya ama gonna bite yoah boney-ass fingas"


(being a catfish you have to imagine a southern accent y'all)

is that what that was???

 

[Naismith]

Where's the fun in life if we can't light-heartedly offend occasionally.

 

[JoeW]

In that dirty water, he was in paradise for a bit.

 

[Daveroo]

Where's the fun in life if we can't light-heartedly offend occasionally.

exactly......LOL.....

 

[OBIO]

The little fella is still kicking like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Cory cats are tough and hardy fish, as are most catfish species....which is one of the reasons I like them so much. I got my first aquarium, a slate bottomed 15 gallon job, back when I was 5 or 6 years old. The very first fish that went into that tank was a baby Channel Cat from the minnow tank of the local tackle/bait store. I kept it for a few months, fed it, watched it grow, then carried it across the corn field to the creek and let it go. I kept a number of minnow tank Catfish over the years.

As far as the Cory being in paradise for a bit being in that dirty water....my water never gets a chance to get dirty. I do 80 to 90% water changes each week, accompanied by thorough gravel vacuuming to remove poo and food residues and my tanks are filtered to the extreme. The 30 gallon tank, for instance, has enough filtration to filter the entire volume of water 11 times an hour....the filter I run on the tank filters 330 gallons per hour. And I use filter media made for filtering large ponds, so it is far beyond anything the pet stores sell.

My attention to details in terms of tank maintenance and fish care results in my fish living far longer lives than the general fish of their species. I recently lost a Bolivian Ram that had been a member of my fish community for nearly 6 years.....and Bolivian Rams have a "normal" life span of 3 years. I have a Keyhole Cichlid that has outlived by far Keyholes kept by other fish keeping friends. If you want to be reincarnated as an animal that will be well cared for, pampered and have a long healthy life....come back as a fish in one of my aquariums.

OBIO

 

[OBIO]

It was probably lying there thinking "you b*****d! Just yoah wayette, nex tahm y'all wanna git me outta heya ama gonna bite yoah boney-ass fingas"


(being a catfish you have to imagine a southern accent y'all)

Naismith,

I'm with ya on imagining that all Catfish have a Southern twang, specifically a deep bayou/swamp Canjun one. If any fish in the world is Cajun, then it is the catfish...even the ones from Asia and South American....they are all Cajun at heart in my mind.

OBIO

 

[JoeW]

If you go to the store and buy a box of Rid-X and put about a teaspoon of Rid-X in the Aquarium you wont have to clean it but about yearly. I have done this and it works. All you need is the air and a little filtering.

 

[Tom Clayton]

A 90% change is pretty extreme - especially on a weekly basis. If you have a good filter, it should accumulate a couple of different beneficial bacteria. The first eats the amonia in fish waste and turns it into nitrites. The second turns the nitrites into nitrates, which in a fresh water tank are relatively harmless. But if you're using city water without dechlorinating it, then you probably don't have any built up. Head over to your local fish supply store and ask them for a good seed bacteria. What we used to use was called Bio-Starter or something. It was refrigerated and a bit pricey, but well worth the money to get the bacteria cycle kick-started. You only use it one time unless something happens to kill off your established bacteria.

Once your tank is "cycled in" with the good bacteria, you only need to do about a 10-20% change weekly, making sure to add in the dechlorinator (Stress Coat is a good one) before adding the new water.

 

[Terry]

A 90% change is pretty extreme - especially on a weekly basis. If you have a good filter, it should accumulate a couple of different beneficial bacteria. The first eats the amonia in fish waste and turns it into nitrites. The second turns the nitrites into nitrates, which in a fresh water tank are relatively harmless. But if you're using city water without dechlorinating it, then you probably don't have any built up. Head over to your local fish supply store and ask them for a good seed bacteria. What we used to use was called Bio-Starter or something. It was refrigerated and a bit pricey, but well worth the money to get the bacteria cycle kick-started. You only use it one time unless something happens to kill off your established bacteria.

Once your tank is "cycled in" with the good bacteria, you only need to do about a 10-20% change weekly, making sure to add in the dechlorinator (Stress Coat is a good one) before adding the new water.

The Rid-X Joe mentioned will do exactly the same thing and its cheaper, about $7 for a 1 lb. box.

 

[OBIO]

Before getting into flight sim and becoming an SOH addict, I used to spend my net time on a fish keeping forum, Oscarfish.com. I am a member of the Advice Team on that site. The methods I use for maintaining my tanks are based on proven, scientific information and not on the old myths about fish keeping. Nitrates...even in fresh water tanks...can be harmful to your fish in higher concentrations, and in some species nitrate levels as low as 5ppm (parts per million) will result in physiological abnormalities and immune system weakening. Using Rid-X in a fish tank....not something I would do even if someone were holding a gun to my head. Totally different types/strains of bacteria than are needed to maintain a healthy aquarium. Even with my weekly 90% water changes, my tanks test at 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites, and my nitrates never get above 10ppm (after water changes nitrates test at 0ppm).

OBIO