Please tell me I'm not an idiot

So I just spent my last 25 bucks on a half dead full grown oscar fish. The pet store guy said he was surrendered and that the owner claimed the fish had been ramming into the side of the tank. I find it hard to believe as his mouth and lips are completely shredded. More likely he was fighting with another large fish and lost. He has all these broken teeth, old scars, ich, and fin rot everywhere. He was in a small tank with several large plecos and another medium sized oscar. He freaked out when anyone walked by and he thrashed horribly when the dude just opened the tank lid. From deductive reasoning it doesn't look like the store people were doing anything to take care of him. Then the store owner was like "yeah I'll sell him to you for 25. That's what I paid for him so I'm not making anything" I'm calling the bullsheet card you d*** face magoo. I doubt you paid anything for him since your not doing anything to fix him. That pet store has always been a little iffy. We shop there because it's close and I've already written off two other stores in town. We are severally limited as to where we can pick up animal supplies. Well they aint gettin any more of my money. I understand he's "just a fish" and they dont have too many pain receptors but life is precious and we're charged with taking care of it. If you can't ease the suffering of a simple fish then you obviously have no regard for life period. I dont have a quarantine tank large enough for him so he'll probably give everything to the other oscars in the tank. Hopefully he doesn't kill them or my husband would probably divorce me. But he just looked so pitiful. However my husband DID let me walk out of the store with him. I do love that man. Because he's a special fish he gets a special name. Elvis!

As we were leaving Omar said "I'm glad it wasn't an abused rabbit or dog. I couldn't afford the bail money"
I didn't think I was on that big of a rampage. Though I'm sure everyone in the store heard my thoughts on the matter.

So It's going to be frozen chicken and rice until the next pay period. And a lot of walking.

Someone please tell me I'm not an idiot.

whatever rampage you went on was definitely warranted. I don't care if it's "just a fish", you don't let it suffer in crap conditions, in horrible need of medical care.

If you have an excess filter or airstone and a heater you can make a temporary quarantine tank out of a rubbermaid bin. That way you can treat him and keep your other fish safe. If you can't do that and need to keep him in with the other fish, keep a very close eye that the other fish don't pick on him more. Also watch your healthy fish if you use meds to treat him. You can treat Ich with just salt/higher temps. And just do TONS of water changes so he doesn't get infections in his wounds and ripped fins. Shredded fins should heal just fine if you keep the water clean.

I've rescued fish before too. I'm part of our aquarium club and also a local fish forum. So if I can't house them there are always people willing to take them. One girl on the fish forum even started a fish rescue for our province. Members donated tanks and she saves the fish, heals them up and sells/gives them away once adoptable.

It makes me so mad when people make the comment " well they are just fish". They are still animals and deserve to be treated properly. This is part of the reason I don't go to petstores anymore.I can't even walk through them let alone buy fish there. I only buy my fish from a few good quality fish stores or from fellow club/forum members. Makes me so mad

We have one really nice fish store. It's two guys that are hobbyists. They had multiple tanks and were selling fish out of their house. Now they have a little store that is booming. If they dont know they can put you in contact with someone who does. We try to get all of our fish and fish stuff from them but some stuff they cant keep in stock fast enough. I'm thinking once he gets well enough I may turn him over to them or find a better home for him. He's in a 90 now with two other oscars about six inches. Once he gets to feeling better someone may become lunch. That would be bad. But I just couldn't leave him. His poor little face and fins. It's nice to know there are fish rescues. My husband really enjoys his fish and most of them have names and personalities of their own. He's working on collecting spare parts to quarantine him. I have an eel that I'm a little worried about. Everything else should be ok with the minimum exposure.

personally, I could care less about fish - I find them boring after a short time and you can't DO anything with them... but at least I have the decency to recognize that they're "just fish" in my eyes and not own them in the first place. just because I don't find them exciting doesn't mean they're not living things, capable of suffering. if only other people who feel the way I do about fish would also make the choice to not get them in the first place instead of getting fish, neglecting them and then surrendering them back to a crappy pet store ><

Fish can and do feel pain, all too often in my opinion.

They can make amazing pets if given properr care and living conditions.

The one most common mistake people make in fish keeping is not quarantining new fish. We (myself included) have been responsible for causing the death of perfectly healthy fish. New fish many times bring home unwanted parasites or diseases that may not be noticeable at first. It's definitely not worth exposing your healthy stock and risk possibly losing them because of it. I definitely recommend some sort of quarantine (the Rubbermaid bins are awesome for this purpose)

I hate to say this but its also quite possible the new Oscar will not be acaccepted by your current Oscars especially if they are adults. Please keep an eye on them and be prepared to make other arrangements if necessary.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

You're not an idiot at all! I read this earlier but couldn't comment. I think you did a great thing! I love fish, and I love my fish. They're still my pets even though I can't really pet them. I do pet them, but thats besides the point.

I hope that big guy makes it and doesn't give your other Oscars any of his germs, lol. How big is he? I don't know much about them, other than they're always grumpy looking and they get massive. You said he was full grown, so that means he huge right?! I do love Oscars, they're just a little too aggressive for my tank.

I'm glad you went in there when you did and he should be too. You'll give him a great home and hopefully Omar will learn to love him too!
Thanks for saving that big guy! And post a picture if you can, its so hard to get fish pictures though!

Some say fish don't feel pain. It has something to do with the cerebral cortex or some rubbish. I think new studies have shown that they do, and even invertebrates like octopus can.
Thanks for helping him. I have kept fish for decades and love them. I presently have a 90 gal tank of fancy goldfish and loaches.

eww, loaches... I have no idea what those are, but they rhyme with my least favorite thing on the planet!

LOL, no not those. One type looks like tiny striped underwater snakes, the other looks kind of like tiny gold mosaic flounders.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pangio-kuhlii


http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sewellia-lineolata

Ha Jen you are so silly sometimes. Not a fan of them either though. But that's ok. We took Elvis to the super nice hobbyist fish store. They put him in a pretty sweet hospital tank and medicated him right away. He did perk up and almost jumped out of the tank but sadly a few hours later he died. There was another client who had lost his Oscar to a fight with a dempsey. He was very attached to the Oscar and would have taken Elvis if he had survived. Poor guy. Oh well atleast he got some calm and comfort before he died. They think he had internal parasites as well and that was what had finished him off. Stupid pet store. And stupid "owner" that surrendered him. I hope Karma takes a large chunk out of their a**

Oscars get up to 12-15 inches. Omar's large ones are about 6 and 5 inches. He just got two more one about two and a teeny tiny baby about one inch. They like to pout a lot and list to one side when they're upset. i enjoy making fun of them.

I didn't use to be big on fish. I dont like to stick my hands in the tank and I'm waiting for Omar to get some weird fish disease. I have a big silly goldfish that's pretty OCD and swims in patterns. He can really mesmerize me and calm me down.

I like to stick my hands in the tanks, lol... petting fish is fun if they don't mind it

I'm so sorry to hear that Elvis died... at least you did what you could for him and gave him a nice final day away from all the torment of his past. swim free, little guy! :rainbow:

as for loaches... I'll admit, they're pretty darn cute! I like the face on the first one and the body on the second one. they still have a very unfortunate name, though.

Awww, I'm really sorry that Elvis passed on. I am glad he got to know a little compassion before he went though! Fish know whats going on. Swim free! :rainbow:

My big blood parrot lets me pet her, haha. Its weird to pet a fish, but she lets it happen. I think she sort of enjoys it.

ew ew ew. ew I have a chaca chaca (frog mouth catfish) that you can pick up. He's very unusual. I get omar to poke him every once in awhile to make sure he's still alive. However I did help clean tanks today! It only cost me one pair of crocs and two pairs of jeans

Fish are lovely and have great personalities. I have two clown loaches and two bristlenose plecos. I love fish.

So glad that were able to rescue an oscar, but sorry he died.

Fish can have damage to their mouth by swimming fast into the glass of the aquarium which could have happened while he was fighting with the other fish.

there wasnt much you could do for him, but good for you for trying

its very possible his tank was way too small and he bashed his face into walls ect and cut himself on decor bc he couldnt swim around it.

they got him for free no doubt. most places wont pay for big fish bc they dont sell.


and oscars are about the most interactive pet you could want. mine spit ping pong balls out of the tank, nudged me and let me rub his head, jumped out of the water for food, even would get diving rings and carry them around the tank. so some people are just an ill educated to say fish dont make good pets.