Restoring Life in a Show Fish

[Second Hand Pat]

I may be silly even to consider this with a fish but how do you renew the interest of a long term show fish. By interest I am referring to a wild fish which seems to have lost interest in life or seems dull. The third place winner of the wild class came home with me and this fish was also a show fish/winner in a 2010 show.

I know race horses have a big mental transition from a race horse to a regular riding horse sometimes requiring a year off to just lose the race track mentality and to just well, become a horse. Can the same apply to fish. The fish in question as gone from this

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Show%20Fish%20to%20Breeder/P6220029.jpg

To this

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Show%20Fish%20to%20Breeder/P6250041.jpg

in a 24 hour period and this afternoon is finally starting to interact with the other fish.

[nwehrman]

That's a nice wild Pat. Seems to be settling in at her new home much better than she did at the show!

I don't really know how to answer your question since I have zero past experience with show fish (till now) and no wild experience (yet)

Nicole


Nicole

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Nicole, it is my hope that just being with other discus in a biotope tank will be enough. She actually maintained her ground with the breeding female tonight.

[nc0gnet0]

Thanks Nicole, it is my hope that just being with other discus in a biotope tank will be enough. She actually maintained her ground with the breeding female tonight.

Shame on you Pat, ever hear of QT? That fish has been through a lot in the last week and needs a little R&R.

As for your comparisons to race horse, it's not apples to apples. Race horses have been bred for that temperment for generations, and depending on the breed, some actually transition quite fast. While I have never owned a thoroughbred, I have owned a multitude of trotters and pacers back in the day.

[Orange Crush]

I doubt it has "show fish" mentality. It is prob just very stressed from traveling and being in so many diff tanks in the past couple of weeks. I hope the lack of doing a QT does not bite your fish in the a**. I also hope that the discus looks like that from stress and not because it is getting sick from cross contamination from your other discus. :(

[roclement]

Pat,

I would have quarentined that fish prior to introducing it to your succesfull breeding tanks, it was exposed to a lot in the show and now it's going to fight to establish his/hers territory amongst the others, and may also have been exposed to other things amongst all those fish.

JMO

Rodrigo

[Cevoe]

Lack of quarantine aside, do you really think a wild fish would have an interest in life or at any point exhibit a dull personality?
It's possible that this discus has succumbed to the rigors of life in the show world and is resigned to the fact that it will never finish better than third ever again.
If your fish talk to you, just ask him.

[Skip]

If your fish talk to you, just ask him.

call andrew soh

[Second Hand Pat]

Guys, on the QT issue. The tank this fish was going to for QT was a stand alone 40 breeder which started leaking the day before I returned from the show. I did not know this until my caretaker mentioned it upon my return late Sunday afternoon. After returning the rental car there was no chance to acquire a new tank (being late on Sunday the stores close at 6) so the best choice I feel I had was to add the fish to my mixed wilds tank which is a lightly stocked 75 with a sump. This tank does have a breeding female Cuipeua X which decided to lay eggs when I was doing a WC. After the fish was finished laying I removed the cone.

OC, you feel that the fish appears stressed in the second picture.

Rodrigo, I would never add a new fish to my breeding stock tanks. The fish in the mixed wilds tank are not part of my breeding stock and this tank is located away for all the other tanks so was the best choice given the situation.

Moral of the story is to keep a spare tank which can be pulled into service at a moments notice.

Chris, I do not know and why I mentioned it could be silly given it is a fish. I could see a living thing not showing interest if kept by itself in a sterile environment.

Rick, I have no experience with trotters and pacers. During my daughter's hunter/jumper days we personally experienced several OTTB's who needed at least a year off to unwind from track life and careful retraining afterward. My daughter's TB was a OTTB.

[Second Hand Pat]

call andrew soh

Great idea Skip, chop, cut

[roclement]

got ya!

Rodrigo

[Skip]

Great idea Skip, chop, cut

no chop! cut!

on how to sit in front of a fish for 8 hours every day to learn to speak with him..

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Rodrigo


no chop! cut!

on how to sit in front of a fish for 8 hours every day to learn to speak with him..

Aw, fish whisperer lessons. I remember that now :)