If you have fish I am not house-sitting for you

:(

Friends of mine are currently in Melbourne and I was asked to go feed the fish and cat. No problem. They have 5 tanks of fish. Day 1 a small fish in one of their larger tanks was floating. Oh well. Plenty more fish in the tank. Day 3 (today) go this morning to turn their lights on. Their big oscar fish has another fish in it's mouth. I message my friend and get told "just don't feed that one tonight" I go back tonight and the fish in it's mouth is still in the same position, and the Oscar fish is now looking a bit worse for wear. I took a photo and sent it to my friend waiting for some sort of instruction as to what to do (if anything) and all I got was "omg ewww" in return.

I think I am going to have a dead Oscar fish on my hands tomorrow.

As we all know, i suck with Fish babysitting too.

I am not qualified to give advice. Just sympathy. Fish babysitting sucks.

I can't even be trusted to house sit a plant! Hope the fish outlives your expectations, these things can't be helped xx

Well I've googled and it's apparently a common thing. Quite a few photos similar to the one I took. Just a waiting game to see if it actually digests the fish and survives. The way it was looking though I don't like my chances.

I housesat for my cousin, and she has a heap of Koi. I went out one morning and there were 4 close to the top, but I didn't take much notice because I was being assaulted by her dogs that are taller than me. Next day, those fish were in the same spot, all swollen and yuck. I couldn't get hold of her, so I rang her brother, and he goes 'Oh my god, I can't believe you killed her fish - she LOVES them, they're like her children!'​ He was trolling me, she didn't mind :rofl:

Oh Keike I would have burst into tears, if he had said that to me LOL.

I almost did, but I've known him long enough to not trust anything he says EVER ;)

Well as of late this morning said fishy was still alive and had spat out the other fish *phew*. I put the dead fish down the loo, so he couldn't do it again. But now it looks like he has lock jaw. Oh well. He bites I am not catching him to fix it LOL.

They might all be dead by the end of the week if no one brings fish food. 3 times I have msged my friends to say I am getting low, and last night to say I didn't have enough for today. I was told they had organised someone to get it, but still waiting. It isn't the run of the mill fish food either and they haven't kept the actual packet so I can't go to a pet shop and say "hey do you sell this" cause I have no idea what it is. At least that won't be my problem.

LOL can we see this picture?
Sorry i had to laugh at it all :)

My fish ate my sister's fish. There was plenty of fish food, it wasn't anyone's fault, it just wanted fish that day, or my sister's fish annoyed it a bit much, or whatever ...

I thought fish could go a while without food, though ... ? If they can't though, and they need that fancy food, and your friends love their fish, surely they would have made sure you had enough?

Hope it all ends up ok xx

Yeah that's what I don't get Peanutter. My friend personally can't stand the fish, her partner on the other hand. Maybe she isn't passing on my messages to him :think: LOL.
HJ The pic is on my phone and I've lost my computer/phone cable. I can link you to what it looked like though, it just wasn't THAT fish in particular. The fish they have is black and orange.

Good grief!!! That would have freaked me out!

Why do fish always die when their owners aren't around? We had someone housesit for us on our 9wk honeymoon, we offloaded the cat to my parents but asked him to feed the fish, well, feed them he did, like a cup morning and night. Guess we should have been more explicit with the amount to feed!

They are touchy creatures sometimes.

PS - lockjaw??? Is his mouth stuck open?

I have to say I have no idea about fish, but that is both fascinating and disgusting... Im grossed out but not enough to turn away lol...

LMAO I know what you mean BlackCat. I sat there staring at him for about half an hour last night. Mainly wondering what in the hell I could do (if anything).

OP - Yeah I think his mouth is stuck open. It was wide open this morning when I was there. Will see how it is when I go back tonight.

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I have to say I have no idea about fish, but that is both fascinating and disgusting... Im grossed out but not enough to turn away lol...

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LOL.

Well he seemed all good tonight. Found some other food I could give it and it ploughed into the side of the tank and popped it's jaw back. Stupid fish.

:

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HJ The pic is on my phone and I've lost my computer/phone cable. I can link you to what it looked like though, it just wasn't THAT fish in particular. The fish they have is black and orange.

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Bahahahahaha that made me laugh even more :ROFL: however that would of made me panic a bit too.
This fish saga just keeps getting better with it going onto having lock jaw now ploughing into side of tank :lol:

oh my goodness :rofl: that photo is disturbing!!!!!! you poor thing. ohh but this situation is so unique and hilarious at the same time!

Well I am happy to report that fish sitting duties are now over. My friend comes back this afternoon, and the fish is still alive. He was looking a lot better last night and ate his fish food like he hadn't eaten in a week. Oh wait he hasn't... well not much anyway lol.

phew I'm glad he survived :)

Lol. I can't be handling fish. They always die on me.
One if mine killed itself by swimming into a shell and getting stuck. I thought he was just enjoying some peace and quiet until the 2nd day and by then he was past help.

LMAO at enjoying the peace and quiet.

Ohh dear that photo is disturbing!! Silly fish glad to hear he survived while on your watch and now its owners issue!!

You watch, it will die tonight as its not under your care now lol

We had a friend house sit years ago when we had a few goldfish. She sprinkled their food in the top of the tank and then the next day messaged us that the dogs were fine, however, the fish hadn't eaten any of their food. We asked her if she'd lifted the glass lid before sprinkling the fish food....

We've since had a large outdoor pot with fish in it and didn't feed them fishy food. Ever. They ate insects and bits of plant goop and lived for 4 years.

oh astrolady how did i miss this? i have to say i LOLd!! mainly cos we have a tiger oscar (same as your friends if its black and orange) and they are pretty hardy. ours once lived in a plastic box for a week (with the filter and heater in of course) cos she cracked our tank attacking the cat.... she has also gone 3 days without food with no ill effects. im curious as to why they had any other fish in the tank!!! ours even ate a freshwater crab we had in there!!!