So my child’s daycare had this tiny tiny plastic tote terrarium/aquarium with 5 tetras (not sure what kind) and one platy. Apparently the kids lost interest and only one teacher was caring for them, but she quit not long ago and they basically were forgotten. They kept them in a back area of the preschool so I never noticed they existed. They moved them up front to ask anyone if they wanted to take them. I was horrified seeing this and no one had any interest so far. I couldn’t bear to just leave them to probably all die. So we brought them home. I am in the process of doing more research. I haven’t had any tetras in years, and when I did I don’t really think I knew what I was doing but they still survived with the care I gave (this was probably 15+ years ago). I’ve never had a platy. I am going to buy a legit tank and filter system, and what I need asap, but it’s not going to happen tonight. We live about 45 min from the nearest Petco/pet smart and they close around 7-8:00. I don’t want to leave them this way until tomorrow if I can help it, but I also don’t want to kill them by moving them to something bigger with fresh water. We are on well water by the way. It’s not chemically treated, just filtered once through the pump system and then again through the tap. I have an old glass 2.5 gallon tank in storage I used for a bog plant project I tried a few years ago. I was going to use that in the meantime until I can get something this weekend and set up and get prepped for them to live in from there. I know I may have made way too much of a spur of the moment commitment here, but they were either going to die in this thing or die from attempting to save them. So please be nice, even if this was an idiotic decision.
Posted by annibchill
5 Comments
Oh and apparently they hadn’t been fed in a couple weeks so someone brought in betta food for them and gave it to me, but I don’t want to give them something they shouldn’t have so I’m going to buy new food too. Any recommendations are welcome. I used to buy Tetra brand Tetramin? I think? But there may be something better out there and not sure if that works for the platy too?
There will be folk that can give far better advice than mine – but just wanted to say thanks for taking them on.
I’ve been using a 2.5 gal as a quarantine tank for some guppies and it’s worked fine. Get a sponge filter and some rocks/plants for it tomorrow and you can use it a temporary home whilst you get your main tank up, running, and cycled.
If you change their water too fast, they’ll die of shock anyway, so you’ve got a couple of days before they need the new tank.
Best way is to add around about a quarter of a cup of bottled spring water every half an hour. Once the ‘tank’ is full, switch to swapping a quarter cup of ‘tank’ water for a quarter cup of bottled spring water every two hours.
That should essentially drip acclimatise them to better quality water. It’ll also consistently remove ammonia waste and whatnot.
Once you’ve got the new tank set up, spend around two hours drip acclimatising them to the new tank’s water. Slow and gentle is the name of the game, their health is rock-bottom so they’ll die of shock at the drop of a hat.
After two hours of drip acclimatisation, you can add them into the new tank. Keep all aquarium lights off, preferably keep the room somewhat dark, and don’t feed them for at least the first 24hrs.
Thanks so much for saving these lil guys, I’m surprised they’re still alive! What an awful way to keep fish, thank goodness you took them on
Props to you for doing the right thing. You’ve got some experience in the hobby already, so that’ll be a big help. My biggest advice would be to make changes to their environment slowly. They’re used to total filth, so dropping them straight into any other water would be a shock to their system. You could start by putting the gunk water in the 2.5, then dechlorinated water to the container they’re in. (If you don’t have dechlorinator on hand, just let a bucket of water sit out for over 24 hours and most of the chlorine will disperse, idk the correct term). They can have the betta food too, but don’t overfeed, only a 4-5 pellets per fish for now (or even less if the pellets are big compared to the fish’s eyes). Platies are omnivores and tetras will like the protein in betta pellets. Please update as this project continues, and best of luck.
Thank you for helping them! I hope everything goes smoothly