# Fred (or Fran?) the Craigslist Fish



## WSTODD (Jul 4, 2012)

Hey all-
We rescued a fish off Craigslist late last night. He (she?) was free. They said it is a pink gourami could someone verify? We're in the middle of a move and the holiday so I haven't had a lot of time to research. I'm at our old house currently using my husband's computer so I wasn't able to edit the photos like I wanted to so apologies in advance. 

The story behind the fish is the Dad is in Special Forces w/ the Army and was gone on deployment and came home to find that his wife and kids hadn't taken care of anything so he was getting rid of all the things they didn't treat well. One of them was Fred. I named him Fred after our 3yr old son's favorite movie Cars.

Anywho, in the posting it said the tank would need a good cleaning. He wasn't lying. It was disgusting. I've never seen a tank so filthy. Then again, I've only had small fish and this thing is HUGE. 

It's 29-gal and I'm not sure what all it came with. I can take more pictures when we go back home tomorrow. We scrubbed out as much as we could and put the filter and heater back in and hoped for the best. He was swimming around a lot last night and even ate some food that came with him. Just general tetra flakes. My husband said he read that he can eat lettuce and other things like that. 

Our concerns are the algae. We have to get that cleared up. Any suggestions or do we have to buy a whole new tank? Also, his eye is injured. My husband thinks it happened when he was putting him in the tank. The net we were given with him is way too small. He for sure lost some scales. We also have two pink tetras in a 10-gal tank that we've had for about a year and a half. Are these fish compatible with each other?

We're pretty new at fish keeping. My experience was when I was younger and we'd feed them and then they'd die and that'd be it. It wasn't until we got my son fish during my research I found out we need tank heaters and lights and all the other stuff. We want to do it right and especially with such a large beautiful fish we want to give him a much better life than he (or she?) had. 

Thanks everyone!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Yes its a kissing gourami, size can be up to 12 inches.


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## Rufus' Mom (Jan 2, 2012)

You don't need a whole new tank just because of the algae. I'm thinking lots of water changes and thorough gravel vacuuming until you get it under control. With clean water, the scales should grow back and the eye should heal on their own.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

12-18 inches, up to two pounds - it's a food fish. It is super tolerant of pollution, but as a plant and debris eater, it also pollutes at an extraordinary rate. It's as dirty as a goldfish to keep.
In Thailand, they are fed through pouring vats of fresh pig manure directly into the pond. They are tough.


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## WSTODD (Jul 4, 2012)

Rufus' Mom said:


> You don't need a whole new tank just because of the algae. I'm thinking lots of water changes and thorough gravel vacuuming until you get it under control. With clean water, the scales should grow back and the eye should heal on their own.


That's good to know. We didn't scrub it out with anything other than hot tap water and my husband used the hose outside just for some power behind it. I skimmed some of the algae out last night after we got everything set up in our dining room. 



navigator black said:


> 12-18 inches, up to two pounds - it's a food fish. It is super tolerant of pollution, but as a plant and debris eater, it also pollutes at an extraordinary rate. It's as dirty as a goldfish to keep.
> In Thailand, they are fed through pouring vats of fresh pig manure directly into the pond. They are tough.


Glad they're tough because I'm super nervous about keeping this sucker alive and am shocked our tetras are still kicking. Now, being "dirty as a goldfish" has me worried. Is there something we could put in the tank to help with that? Should we look at getting a larger tank down the road?


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

you have to use dechlorinator when you add new water to the tank. a nice little bristlenose pleco will help keep the algae under control too. but he'll need bogwood and fresh veg like courgette and lettuce. i take it you know about cycling a tank etc?

and re him being dirty, weekly water changes of 50% and gravel vacuuming will help keep his dirtiness under control. make sure you get a decent liquid test kit like API and watch the reading like a hawk.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Kissing Gouramis, Giant Gouramis, goldfish, common plecos and the ultimate poopmaster 7000, Koi, are awful fish to keep, IMHO. All are herbivores (plant eaters), and that means they digest only a portion of their food. It's the cow effect.
Any fish you add just means more work. With those fish, you become a water changer and gravel vacuumer - they take a lot of work from the keeper. Filters, tankmates - nothing changes the fundamental truth that a creature that poops that much is going to be a problem if the water does not move on.
I maintain a few hundred gallon pond at a school, and two summers ago, a friendly and helpful heron ate all the koi and goldfish. I thought that was tragic, at first.
I restocked with livebearers, and suddenly - no more green water, I can see to the rocks on the bottom (which aren't encrusted with algae) and the waterfall looks refreshing and clean. I used to work hard to keep an ugly green pond, and now for a quarter of the effort, I have a thing of beauty to care for.


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