"My puffer fish got stuck once in a fake plastic shipwreck DESIGNED
FOR TROPICAL FISH TANKS. Just like your guy he had stuck his head
through and stopped, only worse. He got scared and puffed up!
I also have had no experience with this sort of problem was
stunned. After poking him firmly from both directions with a stick
to trying to get him out, I assumed he was dead. After all he was
stiff as could be. So, I did the only humane thing a fish owner could do,
is to end his ongoing suffering. I put him (shipwreck
and all) in the freezer. I called a friend to get sympathy. My puffer
was the cutest fish ever and I was sad. Two minutes, tops. I checked
the freezer. Doh!!! He had de-puffed!!!! Oh no!!! Back in the tank, and I
grabbed my heavy duty gardening shears and began the slow process of
cutting away the shipwreck. He puffs up again while I'm doing this,
making my job even more difficult. Finally, he's free!!! He falls
to the bottom of the tank. Alright, but is he ok? Well he looks ok..and he goes off to hide for a while.
He stopped coming to the glass to be cute for me at dinner for a
few days, but survived just fine otherwise. Unfortunately a month or so later,
he was exposed to a sick fish and he got fungus and I
couldn't cure him, and he died. It was very sad. He had survived so much I
didn't think a little fungus would get him, but it did. In the end
he couldn't eat. I even tried mushing flakes into a paste and feeding
him through an eye dropper. He wouldn't take it. I now I don't put
anything in my tank
that has holes in it. And I only
buy fish at places I trust!!"
Simon Kane wrote in with another Dwarf Gourami tale....
"Following on from your "stupid Gouramis" story - I have a pair of
Dwarf Gouramis in a community tank who were doing fine. I looked in the tank
one day on an afternoon off work and thought
"funny I can't see Mrs Gourami." I looked and looked, but she wasn't
hiding under the bogwood, or in the plants, she couldn't have escaped because the lid was
still on, so I thought that perhaps something drastic had happened. Maybe my girlfriend had removed
her before she went to work, it was a mystery. Then in desparation I looked behind the filter - there she
was!! Somehow she'd managed to squeeze between the back of the tank and the filter and
got wedged in place!! I removed the
filter and she swam free looking very battered and bruised. She
sulked for a bit but is doing fine now, and she stays away from
the filter. Unlike Mr Gourami, who for no apparent reason has
started hiding underneath it with his back to the rest of the tank
and just stares at the wall!!"
Stuart Boston and his Cory Catfish...
"I had a similar problem with my cory cat fish. I bought a piece of
bog wood to put in the corner of my 20 gal tank. Unfortunatly one
corner of the wood created a Cory sized 'cave' against the side of
the tank. Like you I thought, nah, he(she?)'ll get themselves out of
this. Nope. Luckily I could just move the wood to let him out."
If any else wants to contribute to these fish tales, please do so.
Just contact me and leave your name, email
address and your story.
