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George Thompson
November 12th 03, 10:46 PM
This morning NTL finally installed my cable connection (3 weeks late)
and whilst chatting, I noticed my fish sitting on the bottom.
Thinking "oh-oh" I decided to have a closer look. After a few seconds
the fish started swimming backwards and was opening his mouth a lot.

I waited for him to turn around and had a quick peek inside his mouth
(whilst he was still in the tank). Something black was in there!
Assuming that my chocolate oranda (black scaled) didn't have a black
mouth, I netted him and stuck him in a traditional fish bowl.

In a bit of a panic (and late for work) I rang both the LGF shop & the
vet. The LGF said there was nothing I could do and it'd probably die.
The vet had never dealt with any fish.

Using my St. Johns ambulance skills, I decided to have a probe.
Holding him upside down, I noticed a tiny pebble caught on two bits of
his jaw. I gently shook him (hope that didn't cause any damage) to
see if I could dislodge it. Unsucessful, I scavenged my girlfriends
makeup box and found a pair of tweezers. A quick rinse (in tank
water) and I was probing his mouth. I got hold of the pebble, twisted
carefully and removed. The "small" pebble was just under 1/2 long,
but quite flat. Considering the poor fish is only 2" himself, it must
have been quite a mouthful.

Until recently my gravel was too big to swallow (I bought a large size
and spent ages picking out the dangerous bits) so it's time for
pebbles or sand. The odd thing is that my goldfish love gravel & hate
the glass. They're constantly re-arranging the bottom of the tank.
It's a kind of fish-sui. If any bit of the tank is left bare, next
morning the gravel is as neat as can be. I wish they'd leave my
plants alone ;- )

So now I've got to try and find some pebbles. I hate the idea of
sticking those in there. I can just see myself accidently dropping
one and watching 10g of water pour out of the tank into the eight
flats below...

I wish they'd stop growing. I need a new tank & ego stand again.
Need a new floor to support it. I can't split up my fishy friends,
they love the company of each other! anyone tried attaching a tube
between two tanks? like a hamster run?

Gunther
November 13th 03, 05:26 AM
In article >,
says...
....snip...
> Using my St. Johns ambulance skills, I decided to have a probe.
> Holding him upside down, I noticed a tiny pebble caught on two bits of
> his jaw. I gently shook him (hope that didn't cause any damage) to
> see if I could dislodge it. Unsucessful, I scavenged my girlfriends
> makeup box and found a pair of tweezers. A quick rinse (in tank
> water) and I was probing his mouth. I got hold of the pebble, twisted
> carefully and removed. The "small" pebble was just under 1/2 long,
> but quite flat. Considering the poor fish is only 2" himself, it must
> have been quite a mouthful.
>
....
Good save, is he OK?

Consider sand as an alternative. It looks nicer than bare,
and stays cleaner than gravel. The archives for this group
contain lots of articles on it. (Try http://tinyurl.com/ut8v)

Gunther

November 13th 03, 03:15 PM
get rid of the gravel. yeah, there are "runs" but would suggest you make one
yourself out of plexi. fish will willingly swim in them. If you post a question to
rec.ponds I think they may know where they can be bought. I remember seeing a
picture of some guys apartment with these "fish highways" strung all over the place.
Dont know how he kept em full of water, but..............
Ingrid

(George Thompson) wrote:
anyone tried attaching a tube
>between two tanks? like a hamster run?



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