Just a little back story for ya first...
I had a customer come in the store looking to get rid of his tank about 3 months ago and said it had just a few small fish, so I thought it would be a great tank to donate to the school. Well I went over to look at it and maybe pick it up and holey snot what did I see.
2 6"+ Plecos
1 6" red cap Oranda
1 3" Black Moor
1 6" Calico Oranda
1 3" Three Spot Gourami
3 1.5" Skirt tetras
All living in a 29 Gallon tank....
So of course me being the fish fellow I am I immediately said heck yea I will take this while the whole time in the back of my mind going this guy needs to be shot. I will say this though the tank was clean and all the fish were in good health. So I pack it all up and headed home. The Plecos went into my 75 with my filleting size Severums, My Rainbow Shark, and my plant eating, fin challenged terrors the 5" Silver Dollars. Well they settled in nicely and are now probably about an inch bigger than when I got them. The smaller fish all went into my tropical tank and I re-homed all the fish in it 2 months back. The goldies went into my recently departed 55 gallon cray tank which they promptly cleaned out every snail I was using for feeders for my Assassins. So now I have these 3 fat and happy goldies swimming around and my plan was to re-home them come pond season to someone with a 100+ tank or a well protected outdoor pond.
Those plans came to a screeching halt 3 days ago. The Calico Oranda and the Red Cap decided to lay eggs..... and of course my newly turned 4 year old daughter (It was her birthday) said "Daddy we are gonna have baby Goldfish can we keep them all now?" Dang those blue eyes and unbearably cute little face, I said sure honey.....
Now my secret hope was that the eggs would be no good and I wouldn't have to deal with it and continue on my plan of re-homing, but alas no it wasn't gonna be. The Red Cap is a male and the Calico is a female and I now have at least 10 fry I know of. So out came the breeding nets to keep them safe and we will see what happens. Thank the lord this was their first clutch and it was small around 25 laid and only 10 good so far. I can just imagine what the next crop is gonna be like.
Guess I need to let the kids name them now... At least the Red Cap is one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen and the others are better than the average goldfish as far as color and fins go but defiantly not a show winner by any chance.
So there went my chance for turning the 55 into a native tank or a nano tank.
So I have stripped the heater out of the 15 gallon to bring it in line with the bigger tank as far as temp goes and I will put the sponge back over the intake in the morning and when the little guys are free swimming and eating well I will move them out of the nets and into the 15 to raise if any make it that far.
I had a customer come in the store looking to get rid of his tank about 3 months ago and said it had just a few small fish, so I thought it would be a great tank to donate to the school. Well I went over to look at it and maybe pick it up and holey snot what did I see.
2 6"+ Plecos
1 6" red cap Oranda
1 3" Black Moor
1 6" Calico Oranda
1 3" Three Spot Gourami
3 1.5" Skirt tetras
All living in a 29 Gallon tank....
So of course me being the fish fellow I am I immediately said heck yea I will take this while the whole time in the back of my mind going this guy needs to be shot. I will say this though the tank was clean and all the fish were in good health. So I pack it all up and headed home. The Plecos went into my 75 with my filleting size Severums, My Rainbow Shark, and my plant eating, fin challenged terrors the 5" Silver Dollars. Well they settled in nicely and are now probably about an inch bigger than when I got them. The smaller fish all went into my tropical tank and I re-homed all the fish in it 2 months back. The goldies went into my recently departed 55 gallon cray tank which they promptly cleaned out every snail I was using for feeders for my Assassins. So now I have these 3 fat and happy goldies swimming around and my plan was to re-home them come pond season to someone with a 100+ tank or a well protected outdoor pond.
Those plans came to a screeching halt 3 days ago. The Calico Oranda and the Red Cap decided to lay eggs..... and of course my newly turned 4 year old daughter (It was her birthday) said "Daddy we are gonna have baby Goldfish can we keep them all now?" Dang those blue eyes and unbearably cute little face, I said sure honey.....
Now my secret hope was that the eggs would be no good and I wouldn't have to deal with it and continue on my plan of re-homing, but alas no it wasn't gonna be. The Red Cap is a male and the Calico is a female and I now have at least 10 fry I know of. So out came the breeding nets to keep them safe and we will see what happens. Thank the lord this was their first clutch and it was small around 25 laid and only 10 good so far. I can just imagine what the next crop is gonna be like.
Guess I need to let the kids name them now... At least the Red Cap is one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen and the others are better than the average goldfish as far as color and fins go but defiantly not a show winner by any chance.
So there went my chance for turning the 55 into a native tank or a nano tank.
So I have stripped the heater out of the 15 gallon to bring it in line with the bigger tank as far as temp goes and I will put the sponge back over the intake in the morning and when the little guys are free swimming and eating well I will move them out of the nets and into the 15 to raise if any make it that far.
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