Dsanchez1221
Community Member
Hey everyone! This is sort of a "story time" post with a question at the end. It's a long post just so you are prepared. But I feel like I need to share this and get everyone's feedback and advice.
About 5 months ago my neighbor, an elderly woman, passed away. She was estranged from her family and I was her only friend (mostly because she was bat **** crazy and a hoarder, but she didn't deserve to be left all alone). Anyways, she always admired my two aquariums (a 90g and a 28g nano) and wanted to start her own with my help. Of course I was all too willing to help her. Her being only 2 houses down from me, meant that I pretty much had a third aquarium. Something I really wanted but didn't have the space for. She went bigger to allow more wiggle room for errors in water chemistry and bought a 130g tank with a sump in the stand. I LOVED this tank and we put a lot of effort (and money) in to it. It quickly cycled and we began adding fish. Mostly all "beginner" fish and corals. She REALLY wanted a Blue Hippo Tang but I explained why we needed to wait for a fish like that and she seemed to understand. About 2 weeks later she knocked on my door one Sunday holding up a bag with the Blue Hippo Tang in it. She named her Luna, so we will just say Luna going forward. The next couple month's I put a lot of time, energy and effort into trying to keep everything perfect for this fish. The tank had only finished it's cycle 1-2 week's earlier and the previous day, we had just added 4 other fish ( 3 clownfish, a yellow goby, a peppermint shrimp, 2 hermits and 3 snails). So I was already concerned Luna would die because the tank was no where near stable enough that I would recommend getting ANY tang! She loved this fish so much so I did everything I could for it. It was about the size of a quarter and very sociable for a tang in a new environment.
Flash forward 2 years and I'm still taking care of the tank. She left all the maintenance to me and she just admired it which I was fine with. I considered it my tank as well. Luna was growing and doing just fine (despite all the challenges), but wasn't growing as much as I expect a tang to grow. After 2 years she was about the size of a large egg! For some reason Luna's growth seemed stunted despite a well balanced diet and array of different foods. However, Luna seemed very happy so I wasn't too concerned.
About 6 months ago, my neighbor suddenly passes away while I was out of state taking care of my mother after heart surgery. I was away for 3 months and had the tank set up with the Apex controller and a feeder so my neighbor didn't have to do much. The tank was very stable at this point and thriving! I was her only friend so no one knew she had died until I discovered her roughly 2 weeks after she died. Not something I care to ever witness again in my life. I'm not sure the cause, but the tank had A LOT of losses. Almost all the fish died with the exception of Luna and a few LPS and 2 SPS survived.
Luna looked very rough! Her color had faded drastically, her fins were all frayed, she wouldn't eat and had very little energy. She was surely gonna die. I quickly netted her and took her to my house and put her in my 10g QT tank. I got her eating and healthy-ish again in just a couple weeks. In the meantime I was breaking down the neighbors aquarium and had planned on taking it to my house. I was gonna sell my 90g and replace it with the 130g. I got rid of all the surviving livestock but kept Luna like my neighbor would have wanted!
The very day I was moving the tank and equipment to my house, the neighbors brother pulls up. Keep in mind, he hasn't seen his sister in YEARS! But he was next of kin and decided he was keeping the tank! I got very angry and it got heated, but in the end I had no legal claim to the property. I had already gotten rid of my 90g like an idiot so my 10g QT was full, waiting for the 130g. Including Luna! So the only place I had to put Luna was in my 28g JBJ Nano-Cube. The 2 clownfish from the neighbor stayed in the 10g as a breeding tank for now.
So Now I have Luna, a Blue Hippo tang, in a 28g mixed reef nano aquarium. Keep in mind, she is still pretty small for being over 2 years old and has room to swim around a bit, but I feel incredibly guilty for keeping her in a nano reef tank. I have grown attached to her and she surely would have died had I not saved her. But I HATE that I can't really post videos of my tank like I used to, or post pictures that have Luna visible because I will get A LOT of hate from the "tang police". I've even had a couple death threats and told I'm torturing her. Yes, PEOPLE HAVE THREATENED MY LIFE over this fish! And EVERY SINGLE post I upload that has Luna in it, there is at least one comment lecturing me on the species and explaining why "Finding Dory" is the devil. It really bums me out!
I'm looking for a new home for her, but I only want her to go to someone who is knowledgeable about the hobby and will take great care of her. She is special to me and was my deceased friends favorite fish.
What would you guys have done? I've been told I should flush her, put her in the freezer, give her to my LFS to sell, or give her away on Craigslist but I don't wanna do ANY of those, lol.
Thanks for reading my story. I look forward to reading your comments and what you would have done in my position. Share your experiences, I'd love to know if anyone has had a similar issue with the "tang police"!
About 5 months ago my neighbor, an elderly woman, passed away. She was estranged from her family and I was her only friend (mostly because she was bat **** crazy and a hoarder, but she didn't deserve to be left all alone). Anyways, she always admired my two aquariums (a 90g and a 28g nano) and wanted to start her own with my help. Of course I was all too willing to help her. Her being only 2 houses down from me, meant that I pretty much had a third aquarium. Something I really wanted but didn't have the space for. She went bigger to allow more wiggle room for errors in water chemistry and bought a 130g tank with a sump in the stand. I LOVED this tank and we put a lot of effort (and money) in to it. It quickly cycled and we began adding fish. Mostly all "beginner" fish and corals. She REALLY wanted a Blue Hippo Tang but I explained why we needed to wait for a fish like that and she seemed to understand. About 2 weeks later she knocked on my door one Sunday holding up a bag with the Blue Hippo Tang in it. She named her Luna, so we will just say Luna going forward. The next couple month's I put a lot of time, energy and effort into trying to keep everything perfect for this fish. The tank had only finished it's cycle 1-2 week's earlier and the previous day, we had just added 4 other fish ( 3 clownfish, a yellow goby, a peppermint shrimp, 2 hermits and 3 snails). So I was already concerned Luna would die because the tank was no where near stable enough that I would recommend getting ANY tang! She loved this fish so much so I did everything I could for it. It was about the size of a quarter and very sociable for a tang in a new environment.
Flash forward 2 years and I'm still taking care of the tank. She left all the maintenance to me and she just admired it which I was fine with. I considered it my tank as well. Luna was growing and doing just fine (despite all the challenges), but wasn't growing as much as I expect a tang to grow. After 2 years she was about the size of a large egg! For some reason Luna's growth seemed stunted despite a well balanced diet and array of different foods. However, Luna seemed very happy so I wasn't too concerned.
About 6 months ago, my neighbor suddenly passes away while I was out of state taking care of my mother after heart surgery. I was away for 3 months and had the tank set up with the Apex controller and a feeder so my neighbor didn't have to do much. The tank was very stable at this point and thriving! I was her only friend so no one knew she had died until I discovered her roughly 2 weeks after she died. Not something I care to ever witness again in my life. I'm not sure the cause, but the tank had A LOT of losses. Almost all the fish died with the exception of Luna and a few LPS and 2 SPS survived.
Luna looked very rough! Her color had faded drastically, her fins were all frayed, she wouldn't eat and had very little energy. She was surely gonna die. I quickly netted her and took her to my house and put her in my 10g QT tank. I got her eating and healthy-ish again in just a couple weeks. In the meantime I was breaking down the neighbors aquarium and had planned on taking it to my house. I was gonna sell my 90g and replace it with the 130g. I got rid of all the surviving livestock but kept Luna like my neighbor would have wanted!
The very day I was moving the tank and equipment to my house, the neighbors brother pulls up. Keep in mind, he hasn't seen his sister in YEARS! But he was next of kin and decided he was keeping the tank! I got very angry and it got heated, but in the end I had no legal claim to the property. I had already gotten rid of my 90g like an idiot so my 10g QT was full, waiting for the 130g. Including Luna! So the only place I had to put Luna was in my 28g JBJ Nano-Cube. The 2 clownfish from the neighbor stayed in the 10g as a breeding tank for now.
So Now I have Luna, a Blue Hippo tang, in a 28g mixed reef nano aquarium. Keep in mind, she is still pretty small for being over 2 years old and has room to swim around a bit, but I feel incredibly guilty for keeping her in a nano reef tank. I have grown attached to her and she surely would have died had I not saved her. But I HATE that I can't really post videos of my tank like I used to, or post pictures that have Luna visible because I will get A LOT of hate from the "tang police". I've even had a couple death threats and told I'm torturing her. Yes, PEOPLE HAVE THREATENED MY LIFE over this fish! And EVERY SINGLE post I upload that has Luna in it, there is at least one comment lecturing me on the species and explaining why "Finding Dory" is the devil. It really bums me out!
I'm looking for a new home for her, but I only want her to go to someone who is knowledgeable about the hobby and will take great care of her. She is special to me and was my deceased friends favorite fish.
What would you guys have done? I've been told I should flush her, put her in the freezer, give her to my LFS to sell, or give her away on Craigslist but I don't wanna do ANY of those, lol.
Thanks for reading my story. I look forward to reading your comments and what you would have done in my position. Share your experiences, I'd love to know if anyone has had a similar issue with the "tang police"!
