# What's your fantasitc fish survival story?



## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Thought this might be an interesting thread. I'll start.

I changed out substrates. Took out all my hardscape. I was able to get the fish, DW, and plants back in but ran out of time for the rocks. The next morning I got up and started putting rock back in the tank. They had been out of the water all night long. Lo and behold as I picked up a rock I heard flapping. One of my plecos had wedge himself down in a hole, stayed there OUT OF THE WATER all night and was still alive. I stuck the rock in and he swam out! I picked up the next rock and there was another!!! TWO plecos were stuck in rocks all night, out of the water, and they survived. They are alive in my tank right now! AMAZING!!!


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## utricseb (Dec 28, 2006)

Wow, that's an amazing story. I'd love to read others stories. I don't have such type of story.


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## dymndgyrl (Jan 22, 2007)

I was overwintering some 8" koi in a tank in the garage. On the floor next to the tank were a couple of potted lilies in buckets with about one inch of water up over the tops of the pots.

The koi tank had an attached cover of wire fencing with 2"x2" openings. 
One morning I went out there and found a koi _in_ one of the lily buckets, basically sitting in 1" of water - alive.

It had somehow jumped through the relatively tiny 2" opening and just happened to luck out and land in one of the buckets! Who knows how many hours it was just sitting there.

I put it back and it recovered without any stress related issues, thank goodness Fish can really amaze you, sometimes!

Cheers,
Ci


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

I was walking by my tank and a SAE jumped out and hit me in the chest, he was lucky I just happened to be passing by.Then there was the horrible horrible time that I woke up from a dead sleep (up stairs and my tank was downstairs) and I could hear my co2 reactor working very hard (lots of co2 in it) I went downstairs to see that my needle valve had broken and my co2 tank was just dumping into the reactor. All of the discus and other fish were floating, they were floating so long that they had dry spots on there bodies. I grabbed them by the tales and started pulling them through the water in my 125 gal to get oxygen to flow over there gills and I then proceeded to do this with everyone of my fish standing in my living room in my boxers. the cories were just amazing they were all laying on there back getting shoved around by the current, I thought they were dead and after an hour of doing that they all just kind of woke up and started to swim around. The night before I took a pair of breeding discus out of that tank and put them in there own 30 gal. I lost a few fish but revived about 90% of them, it could have been worse.


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## Tobias (Apr 8, 2007)

The only story I can compare was my daughter deciding my sons betta needed a bubble bath. She was only 4 and did not understand the consequences. The little filter turned the 5 gallon tank into a frothing mess. I ran a net around until I came back with the betta and dumped him in some water I had conditioned the night before for a water change. I thought for sure the fish was going to die. I am not sure if I caught it right after she had dumped it in, the fact that it was no tears kids bubble bath stuff, or betta's are just that tough but the fish seemed no worse off than normal and we still have him.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Great stories guys! Keep 'em coming!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Before I wised up and got a Python, I used to do water changes on my old 30 with a siphon and bucket. I had several _Apistogramma borellii_ in there, including a mated pair and their offspring. A juvenile male was tolerated by the adults but never really grew much. One day, I was dumping the bucket of mucky water into the toilet and noticed that the juvenile male was swimming around in the bowl! I netted him out and returned him to the tank. When his father died, he quickly grew into one of the most beautiful specimens I've ever seen and was the foundation of a good breeding stock a friend of mine got going.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

I've saved an 8" JD from a near death brush (carpet surfing - required some manual pushing of water through opercula to revive him), and I found a juvie ACFrog hopping down the hall at least 10' from the little box he escaped from. I also had to run down an escaped Crayfish in a college science building once - he too was many yards from his aquarium.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Squawkbert said:


> I've saved an 8" JD from a near death brush (carpet surfing - required some manual pushing of water through opercula to revive him), and I found a juvie ACFrog hopping down the hall at least 10' from the little box he escaped from. I also had to run down an escaped Crayfish in a college science building once - he too was many yards from his aquarium.


The word's out - they're closing Guitmo! Have fish/invert/anphibian will travel!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Last summer we sent about 30 Amano shrimp to a guy in Texas. The address was wrong and the shrimp where in the mail for 11 (eleven) days instead of 1 to 3. When we got them back all but 1 where alive!

For those that don't know Texas is very hot during summer, especially that close to Houston - 95F-100F is usual temperature. The shrimp spent 11 days in the area between Dallas and Houston - hot, hot, hot.

--Nikolay


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

the one i remember most is when i had just purchased some pork chops for my tank... about 10. naturally i couldn't count all of them because of the plants. fast forward a little over a month's time, it was time to clean out my XP3 filter, which had needed one after 6 months of constant use.

as i've just removed the motor housing and was draining the water into the tub, when i noticed something wiggle towards the drain. it was a porkchop!

apparently it had been sucked into the intake and had survived... somehow, in the motor housing. it was extremely thin and pale. i managed to catch it and get it into the tank. it managed to survive for a few more months before it finally did pass away in a more calmer environment.

r.i.p. little porkchop.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Freydo - what is a pork chop? All I can think of is a pig.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

Hmmmm. So that's where pork chops come from. I had no idea it was seafood.

yeah, what's a pork chop?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I think he means a harlequin rasbora (_Trigonostigma heteromorpha_).


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

ah yes, they do resemble a chop of pork. Who knew?


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

i thought everyone knew what pork chops were


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

One day when doing a water change with a python I got a call and went to another room to answer it. I spent to long on the phone and came back to see the tank over flowing with water all over the carpet.
What has this to do with survival you ask? 



My wife didn't kill me!!!!!!!!!


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

The old man said:


> One day when doing a water change with a python I got a call and went to another room to answer it. I spent to long on the phone and came back to see the tank over flowing with water all over the carpet.
> What has this to do with survival you ask?
> My wife didn't kill me!!!!!!!!!


LOL!

I've had a few over the years.

We've had a few power outages (before we bought the whole house generator) where it's been out for days after a storm and the house has gotten either really cold (below freezing) or really hot. Some of the fish were to the point of being almost white from the stress, but they managed to pull through and recover fully after things were back to normal.

I've had some saltwater snails escape from the tank and make their way across the room, and found them in the morning thinking they were toast, but fully recovered after putting them back in the tank.

Then there are the times I've unknowingly sucked fish into the bucket (especially rasboras) and didn't find them until they were flopping in a snow bank, and grabbed them, put them back in the tank and they started swimming like nothing ever happened.

And lastly for what I can think of is finding a baby Bristlenose in my Eheim when I was cleaning it, and found the poor little guy in the bottom of the canister when I was dumping it out. He was covered in filter filth, so he's affectionately named "Pigpen".


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## xtremefour (Sep 30, 2008)

Not a fish story but I had an AAfrican clawed frog (not dwarf) for 15 years. One time he jumped out of the bowl and went down about 12 steps to the basement and was covered in dirt and cat hair. Do not know how long he was out of water. He was the size of a quarter at this time. Tossed him back in the bowl and he was fine.

Then when much biger body about 5" long not counting his legs he got out during a cleaning and fell into an open heating duct. He somehow managed to make it over the metal screws in the heating system without getting even a scratch. My dad and I could hear him moving around in the duct work. We unscrewed a few pipes and he fell out. Put him back in the tank and he was fine again. He died the night I graduated from H.S.

Matt


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## Felf808 (Mar 21, 2006)

My CRS story...

It seemed like I was buying C grade CRS every week because I would somehow find a new way to kill them each time...After doing this for a few months I gave up but continued researching everyday until I was finally ready to order some A grade shrimp: Through breeding 10 shrimp became 20, then 30, then my co2 regulator went crazy and they all died...I ordered 10 more from another source and once again...10 became 20, then 30, then we had a heat spell and I was left with 3; one male and two females. The females both berried but both died(including the male) while still carrying the eggs so I removed the bodies but left the eggs in the tank. I didn't see anything after two months until one day I removed my 3" thick HC lawn and 10 babies shot out. I put them in a bucket while redoing the tank but for whatever reason only 2 survived...It took them three months to sexually mature and at the end of the three months I was somehow blessed with 1 male and 1 female. I now have 40+ A-S grade CRS from those 2 sole survivors. Very expensive lesson but well worth it.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I'm loving these stories. It's amazing to me how resilient these animals are.

I once has a silver sail-finned mollie female. She came down with fungus. Since I didn't have a quarantine tank I decided to see if she would overcome it herself. She didn't. There she was swimming around with this huge fungus on her side. (Everyone else was fine.) I felt so sorry for her I decided to treat the entire tank. The next morning there she was with the fungus hanging almost entirely off in a clump. In a couple of hours the entire wad fell off and her side looked fine, like nothing had ever happened! All in 24 hours! Amazing!


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I transferred a pair of white cloud minnows to a little 2.2g open-top nano and came back an hour later or so to check on them. 

Our cat was playing with something by the tank. It turns out it was the female, covered in dust, dried out, and not moving. I don't know how long it was out of the tank. The cat was promptly excused and I put the fish back in the tank. It sort of rolled around with the current and I assumed she was finished. I sort of propped her up in front of the filter return to get some water moving over the gills. After about 15 minutes she re-animated and swam off. That was about 6 months ago. She and her partner spawn regularly and are still doing just fine.


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## 1aqumfish (Jul 28, 2008)

The Northridge earthquake took my son's tank broke on the floor we picked all the fish except one catfish we missed in the dark. In the morning light we found the catfish dry on the carpet. So I gave him a chance and put him in my 55 he floated like a stick for about an hour, then went into the deep plant cover not to be seen for a month or so. He a least doubled in size before I traded him away.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Incredible!!!!


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I had a pair of sliver dollars that when I got them new had a very nasty case of fungus. one had a hole all the way thru its body, had them almost 16 years, they only died do to power outage that last 6 days in 120 degree heat. I lost all my fresh water fish/ plants, thankful my generator kept my reef alive, but just hanging on by a thread. 1 month later I had sold every fish related item I owned.

It was a bad week.


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## brownietrout (Feb 5, 2009)

A friend of mine worked in a soil testing lab and someone threw 3 goldfish into a tube that held water for some test they do. The fish lived in there for over a year without being fed! My friend finally couldn't stand it and rescued them and they lived another couple happy years in a fish bowl in their living room. Larry Mo and Curly  three tough fish!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I received some riccia and planned to use hairnets to tie it down to steel mesh. Apparently when I walked through the house with the open bag of hairnets one slipped out and fell into my 44 gallon tank. I discovered it 3 days later (this morning) when I saw one of my opaline gourami on its back struggling weakly and nearly white in color near some driftwood. When I pulled out the poor fish it was completely tangled in the hairnet and could barely breathe because of the net holding its mouth and gills nearly closed. I carefully cut the net off and released the fish back into the tank. Smart fish immediately stationed itself in front of the filter outflow and is looking nearly normal now instead of ghostly. I'll definitely be more careful with hairnets in the future.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Catherine- So glad you found him. Poor baby.

Brownietrout - your story is too unbelievable.....:twitch: ...it sounds fishy to me!


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## brownietrout (Feb 5, 2009)

It is true and my best friend was the one who saved them. We were all amazed at how long they survived in the tube, it was unbelievable! I don't blame you for questioning it but it did happen.
Cross my heart X


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## simpsota (Mar 11, 2006)

My wife and I bought a new house a few years ago. During our first walk through I noticed a 2.5gal tank that looked like the water hadn’t been changed in several months. The glass was so cruddy and the water (what was left of it) looked so nasty that I figured nothing was in there and they just hadn’t gotten around to tossing it out. (This was in-line with the cleanliness of the rest of the house… Yuck!)

During a follow-up walk through I realized that there actually was one fish left in there, a red-eye tetra. I have no idea how it was surviving in that water. With no signs of any fish food around I assume he/she had been eating the tremendous amount of algae in there. He may have been choking, but at least there was a vegetarian buffet for dinner. 

Closing was around the 4th of July on a day when the temps were well over 90F. We did our final walk-through in the morning and I noticed the tank was gone. I figured that he was now in his new home, hopefully with fresh water. We finally finished the paperwork and by late afternoon headed over to the house with our first load of belongings (mainly cleaning supplies!)

Much to my shock, I saw the tank sitting on top of a pile of garbage at the bottom of the driveway waiting for the trash truck. Sure enough, the fish was still in there, much of the water had evaporated and the tank was only half full. It was so hot that the temperature reading strip was maxed out.

I brought the tank in to the house, scooped up the fish in a glass, scrubbed the tank clean, put fresh water in it (without water treatment as I had nothing with me) and dropped the little guy back in the tank.

He lasted almost 3 more years which included a bout of ick that wiped out half of the tank mates he ended up with. We lovingly named him Survivor.

The best part is that I’d been out of the fish hobby for a good 10+ years prior to that day. I now have a 50g planted tank, 20g shrimp tank, and 10g shrimp/grow-out tank.

Thanks Survivor!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

simpsota- Incredible!! I guess if he could survive what you described, ick was a cake walk! I'm so glad you rescued him from the trash truck. He surely wouldn't have survived that. If anything...a story like that has to get you back into the hobby.


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## simpsota (Mar 11, 2006)

Yeah, I couldn't just leave him down there. I was shocked someone would just leave him out in the sun to boil or get tossed in a trash truck. Survivor was a great fish, he'll always be my favorite.


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## FBG (Jan 2, 2006)

I have a few stories to tell but I'll only post one.  

when I was first ready to start up my 2.5 gallon I found the two male endlers in my colony tank who were the weakest and worst looking to separate from the breeding stock to keep it clean. 
When my 2.5 gallon was ready for fish I started acclimating them to the aquarium water and temperature using an air hose to suck the water out of the tank into a smaller container. I walked away for 45 min waiting for the small container to fill up completely. When I returned I only saw a single endler in the container. I started looking around the floor and found him under my bed about 8 feet from the aquarium. dry as a bone and full of cat hair. out of pitty I put him into the container w/o the other smart endler in it to see if he'd pull through and after 10 min of him sitting in there he started swimming around. 

I still have them living nicely in the 2.5 gallon. I have stories about killifish and danios...both love to jump out of aquariums. 

great stories so far everyone!


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## maxima (Feb 23, 2009)

My killifish A. Lineatus male had jumped out of the tank (was my first killi really, didn't think it'd do that) and I'm not sure how long it stayed on the floor but I found it, it was almost dry and covered up in floor dust. I was pretty sure it was dead since it looked so dry but I thought I'd give it a chance and as soon as I put it in the water - voila ! It starts twitching and in a few minutes, it started swimming too. 
However, he remained kinda disfigured and died after about a week, I still feel so sad about him.


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## jmontee (Feb 7, 2008)

This was one isn't as exciting but still amazed me. A few months ago I got my first SAE and he's a really interesting fish. Always swiming around and constantly eating. A few wekks ago I started noticing him getting a little thick so I figured he was just gaining weight. Then I started to notice his scales start to raise. Oh no, this was dropsy. Aftewra couple of days he had balloned to twice his size, all of the scales on his abdomen sides and back were raised and I could see some enlarged veins under the scales. To my surprise he just kept right on eating everything he could get his mouth on. After a couple more days he was now almost deformed lookin but I couldn't bring myself to euthanizing a fish that was still acting "normal." THis was against my better judgement because I have never heard of or had a fish survive dropsy, especially with no treatment. Now it has been a couple off weeks and he is completely back to normal.

Needless to say I am glad that U stuck by him.


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## grak70 (Jan 5, 2010)

Sorry to dredge up this thread again, but it caught my eye...

I was doing a thorough cleaning of my tall hex a few years ago. I decided to take everyone out to do this since I'd need to completely remove the dirty water left over and let it settle before reintroducing my denizens. Three pearl gouramis, 6 tiger barbs and some otos all went into a styrofoam cooler with a lid on the apartment balcony. I lived on the second floor (I'm sure you can see where this is going).

The lid on the cooler was on, but not tightly. There was a small gap on one side facing the railing. "What are the chances?" I thought to myself. I had almost finished preparing the tank when I heard a small *splash*.....*splat*. Open the cooler: "1,2,3,4,5....!" I look over the balcony and there, one story down on the concrete patio of my neighbor, lies my male pearl gourami. Splat indeed. 

I ran downstairs with wet hands to pick him up. He appeared to have some gill trauma and was bleeding from the opurculum. "This dude is toast" I thought to myself. But what the hell: let's try. I put him back into the tank, slowly moving him forward and backward to force water over his gills. He floated stunned for about 10 seconds, then twitched...and miraculously swam away like nothing had happened! There was even some damaged tissue trailing from his gill, but he appeared to be no worse for wear. Eventually, this tissue detatched, his gills healed and there was no sign anything had ever happened.

I kept all of those fish for years. Slowly, my barbs grew huge, got old, and died. Everyone eventually perished, though they all had a good long life. My male gourami, who had earned his pilot wings, was the last to go. What a trooper.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I love these stories. Survival of the fittest!


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

lol, i just spent like an hour reading these awesome funny stories!! mine is not as exciting as others, but this one time i got some pelvicachromis pulcher from a friend and put them in my 125 newly planted. just happened that that weekend i decided to clean my fluval 405 after about 3-4 months running, i oppened the cap and "flap!" the little female jumped out and into the sink!! scared the crap out of me, but i quickly graved her and put her back, she did well and i think is still alive in my parents 75 where i have a bunch of them, all ages!


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## Weq (Sep 1, 2009)

I had a yabby go walk about, no sure exactly what time, but i ended up finding her curled up in a fluff ball by the balcony door (heading for water i assume!). I pickd her up and felt a little warmness so i dropped her back in the tank and sure enough, after a few minutes she was somewhat back to life. It took her about a week to get back to normal - and then she was ready for more adventures!

On another occasion i was having a party and friends had been playing with the tanks and had taken the vodka bottle off the tank (which i used to keep her inside!) and drunk all of it. Morning comes around and i go to the living room and ask everyone how their sleep was, and one commented that she has seen a rat during the night... Confused (never had rats) i immdiatly looked at my tank and sure enough, no yabby to be seen. A short look around the area and she was hiding behind the TV unit.. LOL.

After about 5 or 6 various escapes she continues to live on, brood after brood, but it more content these days with the confines of her tank.. 

Some of the storys in this thread have been amazing. espically Survior, that really tugs at my heart strings..


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