The things you find on the side of the road:-)

[capewind]

Was out for an errand this morning, and hubby spotted this as we drove by $40 for the 55 gallon tank, stand, lights, decorations, a filter, etc. Took 6 hours to clean it all WELL, to MOVE the mid sized babies kiddie pool, get the new tank up and running etc, but soooooo happy not to have a plastic pool in my kitchen anymore. The water is still cloudy from the gravel, but should be crystal by morning (Running the filters we had in the kiddie pool.)

 

[sissy]

wow that is a fantastic find .Nice stand too and looks like the area under can hold another tank .

 

[j.w]

Great find CW and must have really been dirty to take 6 hours to clean! Boy but you made it look like brand new and fishies look all nice and comfy in their new home :goldfish:

 

[JohnHuff]

Good deal!

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
Nice deal
I never get deals like that.

Ruben

 

[capewind]

One of the first things I noticed when hubby got it in the house was the stand was the style that can hold another 55 gallon tank

The reason the whole process took SO long was the kiddie pool was half sitting where the tank is. So we had to drain about 50 gallons of that water into totes, to be able to scoot the pool over... had to wash the floor in that area since the pool had been there since ??? July ???... then wash EVERYTHING WELL... Hubby did all the hard stuff for me Things really weren't THAT dirty, but I dont think anyone in their right mind would just set it up without being certain it was clean... I think I spent an hour alone just on the gravel LOL.

Did discover some bad news tho after getting the fish moved... NOT with the tank, but my babies... Need to cull a few:-( Ya know when they are in a blue pool darting around, and you can only see them from the top, you cant see EVERYTHING... Have a couple with both funky looking gill plates, and deformed mouths:-( Dont know how they even survived to well over an inch, closer to two inches... also have another I knew was a bit twisted, but was too hard to catch, and since (s)he was eating, figured I would deal with it later... Poor thing is even uglier than I thought... its head bends one way, tail bends the opposite, and has a camel hump in front of its tail... If I had been smart, I would have inspected them all before dumping into the tank, but noooo, I was tired and just caught them all and dumped them all into one bowl, and then just dumped them into the tank (same water, in the same room, so no big deal in moving from container to container)... Will learn from that mistake LOL...

 

[JohnHuff]

Don't cull them because they look different!!! They must be surviving, so let them live!

 

[addy1]

Great deal! our 55 gallon is sitting under the tv on the floor. The shubbies are growing, growing growing, they love this nice warm house and good food over winter.

 

[capewind]

Addy, all the kids we've moved down stairs are doing awesome. About half or so are coming up on 4" now. The comets especially have exploded in growth being in with the plants, which are not doing great... have friggin spider mites on the water hyacinths:-( Need to look up how to get rid of those damn things. All of the koi babies downstairs are gaining on 4" too, and still developing colors and patterns... Only have a few shubbies down there, and they are averaging about 3". Have a few fish in the 55 who should have been moved downstairs, but hubby switched the food down there to our normal food (the Tetra Floating sticks vibrance), and they are just not big enough to take those:-( I really want all the babies in the 30 gallon tank to grow some more tho. Of the 26 surprise babies (all comets and shubbies) we found last month, it looks like 10-12 are shubbies and are going to be mostly blues. They are not showing the hints of yellow to red the others showed at this size. A bit of "grey" showing (know that will be black as they grow), but the rest of their bodies are still white. If you catch a glimps in the right light, you can clearly see a pale baby blue Hubby better make good on his plans to get the 40 x 50 liner next spring, as of the 140-150 babies, I am going to want to keep most of them LOL. Well, I WILL be willing to place several of the comets, I dont need to keep another 40 or so of those LOL.

John, I wont cull for being ugly, I dont mind having some rejects at all, but dont want to let any suffer either. Even for a fish, I do worry about the quality of life. One guy is super thin too. His mouth is where it should be, but looks like it is half glued shut (face area is shorter than it should be as well). He did take the crushed food I put into the tank last night but I cant keep feeding him like that forever. His gills are clearly not shaped right, but even beyond that, for lack of better wording, if a fish had a "neck" his is VERY long (like he was made of silly putty and stretched) and the gill plates do not cover the gills like they should. It's a shame, as he is a powder BLUE butterfly koi, and already has massive fins, and a really neat looking scale pattern. I dont know the proper name of the pattern... along the spine, they are the Doitsu looking scales (but body colored), and on his sides, he has huge armor like scales (metallic like too). I am going to have to net him sooner than later, and will try to get pictures.

 

[capewind]

These pics are super blurry, but you can make out the shape of the guy with the deformed mouth, gills, and "neck"...

 

[capewind]

I cant get a top view, but this is the guy shaped like an "S"... his head bends to the right, then a straight back, and then just before the tail, he bends to the left. You can see in these pics how short his face is, and his camel hump. Color is off in the pics, they make him look goldish in color, but he is a metallic pewter color. I would guess him to be a hybrid, but I am 99% sure he was out of the indoor spawn, which would be all koi, BUT I did add a few babies, that I thought were either comet or shubby from outside... The outside babies ARE accounted for, but there is a CHANCE that I miscounted ....

 

[capewind]

well, the filter got the little guy with the deformed mouth, gills, etc... I took some pictures, to show some of how he just wasnt right, and also measured his length. EXACTLY 2" from tip of nose to end of tail. The red on the lower body near the tail is from the filter... he got sucked in tail first:-( We have a couple with tiny mouths like his, but theirs open... Actually, I just looked again, amd have another guy that has the exact same body structure, with the shorter face, long neck and too small gill plates (with normal scales) that looks to be doing well (weight looks good).. Kind of bummed out about the deformities, as we only got a few babies that would have been the powder blue like a couple of the dads (I am certain these are from the indoor spawn)...

 

[j.w]

Poor babies! I couldn't cull, would just have to let nature takes it's course, those that make it do and those that don't do so on their own.

 

[addy1]

I am feeding mine (once a day) some good koi food, trying to keep them from outgrowing the tank. I clean the filter every two weeks and change water, the tank is technically overcrowded

But they are still growing, looking good.

 

[capewind]

How many do you have in what sized tank? Wondering with increased filtration, how many you can put into a tank, and still give them enough room to act like normal fishy...