Hardiest fish

What are the hardiest fish you have ever kept any why.

I had a shoal of Minnows in a cold water tank and I put them straight in to a Discus tank withot climatising them. They lived for ages until they got eaten.

I also have a Ghost knife fish and a Roal plec that have been in a Discus tank with pH of 6.2 and are now in Malawi tank with a pH of 8.4.

When I were a lad, I had an obligatory Goldfish.
A bog standard one.
He was in a 1' plastic tank, not a bad little tank I might say, the lid is still out my ma's back garden, with cactii growing in it!
Anyhoo of course I got bored with him eventually and the little beggar got put out the back, tank and all.
Skip forward about 2-3 years and I got interested again.
Brought in the little tank to clean it and there he was, the goldfish still alive.
No food, no water changes.
His spine had curved a little upwards at the tail but apart from that he was fine.
He went in with tropicals and lived for about 2 more years before finally giving up the ghost.
That little guy was rock hard.
I'll always remember that goldfish, especially when I deal with todays fish.
Oh no, you must match the water temps!, ph? Are you mad man it'll kill him!

Todays fish are pussies.<br><br>Post edited by: Didihno, at: 2007/10/02 10:14

Anthony wrote:

I had a shoal of Minnows in a cold water tank and I put them straight in to a Discus tank withot climatising them. They lived for ages until they got eaten.

Discus eating minnow? We are talking about Phoxinus phoxinus, right? No way a discus will eat them. I'd say the prolonged exposure to high water temps finally got them and the discus were feeding on the corpses.

Hardest fish I ever kept?
Probably a plec I had for 15 years. The old man wanted to get rid of it and I took the plec in. At that stage the fish was about 3-4 years old. He was in with anything from Discus to Tropheus. Where ever I needed a fish to clean up the mess left behind by other fish. He even got a proper burial rather than the usual trip down the white porcelain altar.

When I moved house last year I couldnt catch a Laetacara curviceps(sheepshead cichlid),he was trapped under juwel filter,so I left him there to get the other fish moved.Came back 3hrs later and he was flapping about in the 5mm of cold filter gunge in the bottom of the tank.Put him in a bag of cold water,went to the solicitors in town,did all the business there,then went back and took him through rush hour traffic to the new gaff.Put him in tank and he 'fell' to the bottom.Its mate came over,propped him up,and held it upright.They spawned 2 days later.About 9hrs from leaving it in the gunge,to getting it into new tank.
I reckon thats hardy.

definately convict cichild (fry). i got a free tank with convicts and fry off someone that turned out to have a slow leak, so i drained it, bagged all the fish and fry, and gave them to my bro to mind in his tank. i was left with the pea gravel and a minimal amout of water, u know the last bit u cant get out when u completely empty as tank. anyway 2 or 3 days later started taking out the gravel to re silicone the tank and found a 1-2cm fry still alive and kicking!!

Had a goldfish when I was young. He lived for 25 years in a 30 litre tank.

apistodiscus wrote:

Anthony wrote:

I had a shoal of Minnows in a cold water tank and I put them straight in to a Discus tank withot climatising them. They lived for ages until they got eaten.

Discus eating minnow? We are talking about Phoxinus phoxinus, right? No way a discus will eat them. I'd say the prolonged exposure to high water temps finally got them and the discus were feeding on the corpses.

Hardest fish I ever kept?
Probably a plec I had for 15 years. The old man wanted to get rid of it and I took the plec in. At that stage the fish was about 3-4 years old. He was in with anything from Discus to Tropheus. Where ever I needed a fish to clean up the mess left behind by other fish. He even got a proper burial rather than the usual trip down the white porcelain altar.

The Discus did not eat them. The Tilapia Buterkoferi did.
Holger you are a tit.

Its either my syno multi which i saved from my friends tank. It surrived in a fish bowl with cold water for 3 days while i set up another tank just set up the tank no cycle and in went the syno he surrived for 6 months until the day i siad it would take a world war in the tank to kill that guy. It turned out that i had used to much of the anti fin rot medicine raised the nitrate and ammonia levels killing all the fish excluding 5 neon tetra who were my first fish and are still doing well. So i suppsoe they are the toughtest fish iv had.

Gotta be a little pleco that got left behind in a tank when I was moving them. He was only about 1 / 1.25 inches and survives in a cup of water in the bottom of a tank for nearly 2 days before I found him and put him back with his brothers and sisters.

Anthony wrote:

apistodiscus wrote:

Anthony wrote:

I had a shoal of Minnows in a cold water tank and I put them straight in to a Discus tank withot climatising them. They lived for ages until they got eaten.

Discus eating minnow? We are talking about Phoxinus phoxinus, right? No way a discus will eat them. I'd say the prolonged exposure to high water temps finally got them and the discus were feeding on the corpses.

Hardest fish I ever kept?
Probably a plec I had for 15 years. The old man wanted to get rid of it and I took the plec in. At that stage the fish was about 3-4 years old. He was in with anything from Discus to Tropheus. Where ever I needed a fish to clean up the mess left behind by other fish. He even got a proper burial rather than the usual trip down the white porcelain altar.

The Discus did not eat them. The Tilapia Buterkoferi did.
Holger you are a tit.

You never mentioned the Tilapia. May I return the compliments

Don`t be so hard to judge in the future.


Compliment re-returned will knobs on.

I had a gold fish that lived in a cistern sunk into the back garden.
He lived for several years without been fed.

I had a Jewel cichlid that would spend the summer months in a large tub of rain water full of plants and loads of wildlife.
Once the temp. started to drop he was brought back in doors to a tank of aquatic frogs. One confused cichlid.

I have a Sarasa Comet that my little brother won at a funfair several years ago. Really warm day,lying in a plastic bag for hours and he survived. He was brought home and put in a goldfish bowl where he lived for couple of years in dirty water. My little brother had long lost interest so my mother was doing the water changes- just emptying all the water and re-filling it with cold tap water (no stress coat), all with the fish still in the bowl. I got a tank, I can't remember if I got it with him in mind or if I got it anyway but in he went and he's been there ever since. We've had him about 7 years now, no idea how old he actually is. He's lost all his pigment now, is plain white, and doesn't seem to get any bigger. A few years ago I got him a weather loach to keep the tank clean. I had orandas, shubunkins in the tank over the past few years, none of them lasted, the comet and weather loach outlived them all. He seemed a bit quiet for a while so I gave him some new friends. He now lives with the trusty weather loach, 2 baby gold barbs, and a Sunset Platy. My guppies will be going back into the tank as soon as their fins are healed from the mauling the Siamese Fighter (RIP) gave them. I had neons but they died. My old goldfish is the most peaceful guy in the tank, I've never seen him touch another fish, the gold barbs are 1/10th of his size and he doesn't touch them.

Second hardiest would be my guppies. They lived in my tank until the Siamese Fighter took big chunks out of their tails. One was affected much worse and was being bullied by the other fish so I moved him to a pint glass with lots of aloe vera in it to help him heal. Then I bought him a 20L tank and stuc in the other injured guppy. Both are healing nicely and live without a heater or filter, just regular water changes. Who says guppies aren't what they used to be!