Rescuing 2 F8s from my LFS.

[JRC3]

We don't really have any mom and pop fish stores here anymore but we do have a place that has grown into like 25 locations here in Ohio. I remember going there as a kid back in the early/mid 80's when it was one location...Anyway...I've gotten back into fish keeping and when it comes to puffers I have 3 DPs and just got an F8 because this store had them in stock 3 weeks ago and he's doing well in his 29g that he shares with 2 BBGs that I also got from the same store...I want a total of 5 but I can't find anymore. OK, the store is Jack's Aquarium and Pets and they've never carried F8s that I know of before. I stopped in one day and they had 6 or 8 and I went back once or twice to look at them so I finally bought 1 3 weeks ago today. Anyway, I stopped by the store yesterday to look at the f8s and they still have 4 in stock and they look like total death. they are solid gray and 2 of them can't have but a few days left. Their fins a chewed completely of all the way down to bloody flesh and one has a completely concaved belly. These fish are completely full grown and I can't remember what they were housed with when I bout mine, but now they are in with some juvinile GSPs and something else that I can't remember. When I went to an employee to ask "so you guys are just gonna let ur F8s die" he told me that they had moved them to the other tank because they were getting chomped....So anyway, the owner and who I think is his brother are at this store sometimes and I'm going back today to try to catch one of them. I know the owner is there on Tuesdays so worse case I'll go back then. My plan is to go in and talk to them about the 2 worse fish and see if they will give them to me...Or at least give them to me for cost. The've bought several fish from me and always give me a credit for 1/3 the fishes value so I'm going to ask for that...

My question for you guys is what should I do for them once/if I get them home. I have a 55 that only has a 5" pleco in it, should I divide it and put them in there? I obviously won't be able to put any salt in there and the F8s are currently housed in FW anyway. I'm only asking about the salt right now because I wondered if there bloody stumps of fins would do better in some salt. I could house the pleco somewhere else if needed. I have a 15 gallon high sitting in the basement that I could set up with with some cycled gravel and filter and acclimate them with salt, but it would have to be slowly as not to crash the biofillter. My current F8 is slowly being acclimated and currently at 1.002. I'm just wanting to know if the possible rescue fish should be acclimated faster. I will treat them obviously for IPs and I have plenty on the menu to get it into their big mouths with medication and I would also guess some Melafix or Pimafix and some stress coat.

I hope I can get them as I said but I'm not willing to pay the $13 a piece to rescue them. If need be I'm going to threaten the store with my business. I don't want to come off to the store as I'm trying to get something for free. Hell, it's gonna cost me more than the fish are worth to treat and feed them. My second plan is to offer to foster them........

Anyway, I've been lurking here at the forum for a long time and I appreciate all your guys knowledge and just want a little advice now. I'm still not sure what to do long term but I'll figure that out when the time comes. I just know that right now they need to be any where else but there.

Thanks, Jack

[JRC3]

I know everyone likes pictures, so...











*edit*

Well I just called the store to see if the boss is going to be in today and I was told hat he's on vacation until next Sunday. @#*%! Looks like I'm gonna have to wait until Tuesday...

[Hilly]

If they look very sick, I would go with the 15g option and set that up as a hospital tank for them, they're not going tobe in it long term so for now it will do. Carry out all treatments in that,you have already mentioned melafix which will be could for the healing on the bloody stumps on their fins, treat for Ip's, keep water pristine and if they make it through and come back to health shift them then.

I wouldnt put themin with the Pleco in case they are sick and kill that off with any potential disease.

If they are at deaths door in the LFS definitely try and haggle them down.

Good luck.

[Pufferpunk]

I agree with Hilly.

[autophotos]

some lovely colours on yours there.

[pufferpuggirl]

I think it's very admirable that you're willing to help out those poor little F8's, and I hope you are able to get them at a good price.

I love your tank, it looks very nice and the sort of tank a puffer would love. And I'd just like to add that your F8 looks beautiful! Good job.

[JRC3]

Thanks guys for the compliments. My current f8 is finally settling in and has stopped pacing so much. He has stopped eating blood-worms and brine shrimp, and will only eat snails and mill-worms. I've bought and tried wax-worms, night-crawlers, crickets, krill, and mussels to no avail. I have ghost shrimp in there but he has only snacked on about 2 or 3. He has a healthy, plumpish belly and I love how white it is. I have a 10g snail tank up and coming but I won't have any feeders for about 2 weeks.

I'm going to stop by the lfs tomorrow and check on the sick ones but I probably won't be able to talk to a "decision maker" until Tuesday. I really want these fish for some reason...I walk through Meijre and Wal-Mart and see all their dead and sick fish but feel that most of those are bred for the trade. These F8's were snatched from there healthy, natural homes and crammed in to unacceptable conditions. In some ways we all are responsible for this but at least most of our intentions are good. Most of us try to give them a comfortable and healthy environment with plenty of food in exchange for their beauty and entertainment.

Okay, enough of my rambling, sentence fragments, and overall bad grammer...LOL ...Anyway, we will see what I can do for these guys.


Said 10g "snail jail".


I started with 15 adult ramshorn and 2 pond snails...There are egg sacks everywhere. That is a lone guppy fry in the middle that was picked up with the ghost shrimp. Looks like he got a rebate on his life because I'll probable just leave him in there.

[pufferpuggirl]

"These F8's were snatched from there healthy, natural homes and crammed in to unacceptable conditions. In some ways we all are responsible for this but at least most of our intentions are good. Most of us try to give them a comfortable and healthy environment with plenty of food in exchange for their beauty and entertainment."

I totally agree with what you've said there .... I love my puffers, but I can't help feeling badly about the fact that we, as humans, feel the need to yank animals out of their natural habitat and stick them in tiny tanks (compared with their natural environment). It really saddens me to think of all the ones that aren't cared for properly and basically given a death sentence.

I know, it's a cruel world and I should just accept that, but I don't think I will ever get used to cruelty in any form.

[JRC3]

*Warning* This is going to be an incoherent rambling. You have been warned. haha


Well, I went in today to hopefully get the f8s and was unsuccessful. I went in at about 11am in hopes that it wouldn't be busy and it wasn't. I went straight back to their tank and didn't see them at first. I asked the employee who happened to be the asst. mgr. that was doing some tank maintenance right by and they had been moved to a tank right next to the original. I told her about me being in the other day and that these fish were on deaths door. I asked if I could have them to save them and she told me that she couldn't give them away so I asked how much will it be to buy them. As she walked away I told her that I wasn't trying to get anything for free, I just don't want them to die. She was gone for a few minutes and on return told me that her DM wouldn't let her sell a fish that wasn't 100%. I then asked her what was going to be done with them and she replied that they would be put in their hospital tank. And I said if that was actually going to happen then I would think that they would already be in there. She told me that if she had seen them they would be in there now. Well, she had first told me that she had just moved them into the other display tank when she cleaned it. She then crammed a net into the tank and took them to the back. I asked what tank she had back there and she said a "medicated" 20g. I told her that one fish had IPs and was going to die if not treated properly. She said what's that. I explained to her how they are wild caught...parasites...stressed...And yo know the rest. I explained to her at some point that it was kind like Wal-Mart in that tank but she didn't get it. I asked her for her DM's number and she wouldn't give it to me. I explained to her that I come here very often and that I didn't like this. (sorta insinuating that I may not spend my money here again) I asked why they had gotten 8 of these unpopular fish in when they never carried them before and she explained the reason. It was a supplier thing. She said something about medicated IP fish flakes so I explained the proper treatment regiment. Anyway she wasn't hatefull or anything and their views and reason for doing things are just different than ours.

Now I just want to add that I am a very tactful person and I was very polite and not overly direct. I may not be able to write to save my life but I can get my point across very well in person. I may still have some words when the manager gets back and I will re-ask for them if they are still alive on Sunday.

These poor fish looked worse today and a third was catching up. The one with IPs was just laying on the bottom. It must be tiresome to try to swim without fins and not getting any food. The fourth was in amazing shape with just some tathered fins and a little skinny. I would like to have him because he must have some fight in him.

It's kinda funny because I thought about setting up the 15g last night but I didn't want to jinx the whole thing...Oh well.

[pufferpuggirl]

I had a similar experience with an LFS once. They had a puffer that had whitespot (ich) and I told them that I could cure the whitespot quicker and with less stress to the puffer if I had him, but then came the "we can't sell a sick fish" routine, despite the fact that they had indeed sold me some puffers with whitespot before, and also sold me some extremely sick Cutcutia puffers another time.
I no longer go to this LFS after having a very disturbing experience with them, which is a shame as they are one of the few shops that actually get in some very good species of puffers that other shops don't have. But I refuse to spend money at a LFS that conducts business the way they do.

I hope you get your puffers JRC3, I'm sure they would be better off with you than in a shop that knows very little about puffers. Best of luck.