# What is your calculated cost for dead Tanganyika fish



## frschul

*What is your calculated cost for dead Tang. fish*​
Under $100.003946.99%$100.00 - $200.001720.48%$201.00 - $400.0089.64%Over $4001922.89%


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## frschul

Since you have been keeping Tanganyika fish
What is your calculated cost for dead fish, DOAs(and not compensated for) , death in the tank from aggression, breeding, tank problems(electrical, environmental, etc)... *This I guess is our version of the biggest loser*  :lol:  ...... enter comments and enter in the poll


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## prov356

Coming up on end of first year with Tangs. Only have lost 2 fish at a cost of $6 each.

I don't think I'm going to win this.


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## Number6

Well over $400 but that's nothing compared to anyone who's kept Tropheus species.


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## rogersb

hmm, lost a couple t. irsacae due to not doing my homework, a calvus got into a plant that came out of the water during a w.c. and died, and a mystery death on an elipsifer. Grand total of $62. I have not lost any tropheus yet, if things start to go bad though I will be able to change my vote quickly to over $400.


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## Fogelhund

Well, about 30 years of keeping fish... does this include fish that have died of old age. :lol:


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## 12pointer

My biggest was a little over $300 when I lost my group of wild Cyp TriColors to a heater malfunction 2 years ago. Since then maybe another $50


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## Guest

Man, over $400 for me and this is within the last 6 months since I had my new 265G tank set up. Before that, I lost one Duboise due to aggression. But this time around, let's see ...

- 10 plus cyps due to shipping issues, jumping from the tank, and one medication disaster - $100 +
- 12 Callochromis due to the medication disaster - $100+
- 6 Simochromis due to the medication disaster - $50
- 4 gobies due to the medication disaster - $50
- 5 calvus due to the same medication disaster (I have lost other fish as well, but I am only counting Tangs) - $50
- Another calvus (got sick and died not the medication disaster) - $20 
- 3 Petricolas due to filter intake accident - $30

So about $400 on this tank alone. This was one expensive tank. But then I killed over 12 discus in the last 2 years and they were a lot more expensive.  Sometimes, I don't know why I keep buying fish. :x


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## frschul

I wanted to edit and add another Poll box for $800.00 + but could not edit this poll.... So I know that the cost could easily exceed $400.00... Or if you have some of those killer Lamps. Nkambe , Elongatus, etc.


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## frschul

and NUMBER6

"Culling does NOT mean killing... just removing! "

My fish do a lot of culling :lol:


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## Longstocking

hmmm.... not saying :lol: But well over 400.00 I keep tropheus and those haven't been my biggest losses over the years. I'll give you a hint... big mean and has big lips !

Lost an entire tank of them a couple years ago due to a nasty parasite I couldn't firgure out.


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## frschul

Sarah 
Not Petros ?????


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## Longstocking

:wink:

Anyone that has kept enough of them has had some losses at some point. Now granit ... I was pissed about this loss as it was a very nice tank. What happened... someone sold me sick fish. Fish didn't show any signs. They could live for months with this stupid bug.... never did figure it out. Just slowly died.

It was a heart breaking 6 months... to watch one fish after another drop (almost quit the hobby because of it). Petro fasciolatus, tropheus, gobies, petro giant blue, petro trev. So needles to say... I thnk I win for "biggest loser" in one tank :lol:

Learned my lesson though... I only buy from a select group of people now  Call me a snob, I don't care... not going through that again !


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## Multies

im not sure...
*** lost...
at

3calvus
at least 5 occies
1 caudopunctatus
a couple lepidiolamprologus lemerii(spelling corect?)
1 paracyp
1 cyp
many many MANY guppies, they all keep on dying on me...
some brevis
manny daffodils
some julidochromis regani's
a wc daffodil
at least 10 plecos(never seem to survive in my tank)
and other things that *** missed.

grand total- i have no clue. *** had 3 or 4 tropheus duboisi for a month or 2, but they seemed fine by my food. which was alot of protien. but *** never thought if it until now.


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## DJRansome

$0, but I've only been keeping Tangs for a few months. The Caudopunctatus were DOA but the vendor gave me a refund. Calvus going strong, knock on wood.

Oh, wait, do you count Synodontis Lucipinnis? Then I guess $30. I had a juvie choke on a particle of green pea, my first fish death, very traumatic because I had no confidence I could keep ANY of them alive. They have been in my Malawi tank 2 years, I forget they are Tang.


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## hazard

Is this including fry that have been born in my tanks. If not probably a few grand over the last 5 yrs. Who am I kidding. probably 3-4 grand. With fry I am probably at the 10 grand mark.


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## triscuit

My first Tang tank was a disaster... very similar to Longstocking's experience of unexplained slow deaths over 4 months. Lost every cichlid I had from some disease bought in a mail order from a particular company that went out of business for awhile but seems to be back selling cichlids on line. :?

However, I did a fishless cycle after bleaching the snot out of everything and tried again.  While I've lost some of my old WC breeders, their children and grandchildren populate my tanks. So, there's definitely been a net gain over the last 3 years. Trading for new species has kept the cash output down, and having enough quarantine tanks has kept diseases out of the show tanks.

And yes, I'm becoming more picky over who I get fish from!


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## lloyd

i've spent more than $400 on meds (for me) alone: 
give me a 't'...give me an 'r' 'o' 'p' 'h'
give me a "m'...give me a 'e' 't' 'r' 'o' 
what you get??...what do you get??


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## castor

A bit over the $400 mark for me, say about $600. Most all was you guessed it, troheus. I had a WC breeding colony of 24 moorii muzi cherry rainbows.... went on a two week vacation... you can guess what happened. The alpha male decided to go nuts and killed every single other fish in the tank while I was gone. I come home to a bare tank with him just swimming around almost happy like. I sold him and took down most all of my tanks, a lot were fry growout for the troph. I sold the male, feel sorry for the unsuspecting person that got him.

I went into salt water after that. Want to talk about $$$ losses ask anybody that keeps a lot of corals. I suffered my biggest lost when my 29g full reef got cooked. Heater controler got water splashed on it and it stuck on while I was asleep. Woke to a tank with the temps over 100F. Lost about $4,000 in coral and fish in one night.

Now I am back to cichlids. Ha, goes in cycles I guess.


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## 24Tropheus

Argg same here vacation returned to find 2 seven foot tanks full of dieing Troph. Must have lost over 120 fish (costing Â£5-32 each to replace with small ones here) in about 6 weeks of slow dieing)). Horrid. Still not got back to those numbers even a year or more later.


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## 24Tropheus

Oh just remembered another incident that I had blocked out where I lost over Â£500 of fish due to heater stat sticking on. Why do I keep going, well I guess the good times out way the bad. 8)


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## 24Tropheus

lloyd said:


> i've spent more than $400 on meds (for me) alone:
> give me a 't'...give me an 'r' 'o' 'p' 'h'
> give me a "m'...give me a 'e' 't' 'r' 'o'
> what you get??...what do you get??


Death of the colony by any chance? :lol: 
I sure know what you mean I think. Saves 50% when you catch bloat early and nothing more, unless you are lucky.


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## Furcifer158

OK you all thought you had it bad 
I lost 12 Wild Xeno Cherry Princess when the tank they were in broke, do to a rather smart cat that was trying to get to them. It jumped straight at them and the glass cracked, you could hear it for like another min cracking I tried to get them out but all of a sudden 75 gallons of water came pouring onto my feet. I put them in another tank right away but they died within an hour. I lost $1,200 in just an hour, much less it's going to take me forever to find these fish again
:thumb:

Jonathan


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## Winston Smith

Only fish I lost was because of an idiot mistake I made. I was doing a water change and forgot to dechorinate the water. I lost two Ziare Blues at a cost of $60.00.


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## eklikewhoa

Haven't really lost much.....usually take the time to research for their well being before jumping into it and then I don't buy from just any random place.


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## punman

Another factor would be the number of months (years) one has been at it.
To say you lost $300 on dead Tanganyikans sounds bad but if it were over a 6 year period, that is better than the guy that lost $100 in three months. Time puts the actual cost into perspective. 
Other than losing a few fry that were spawned in my own tanks, I have only lost one Tanganyikan in three years - a fish that cost $8.


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## perlhack

Haven't lost any yet, granted only had Tang's about 2 weeks and I've only got 10 total at the moment.


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## markw

First of all does my wife get to see this? I know she knows, but its one of those things you try not to discuss. I just look the other way when she comes back with a few new shoe boxes!
I've lost at least 3 colonies of Trophs. DOA prepaid.(add a new number in your survey with that alone), another partial 2 colonies to another parasite with wild caughts. Half a load of Nigrippinis(DOA). During my latest move, lost 2 more Troph colonies, 3 adult Tricotis, 8 Decampsii,3melanoguenus, plus too many cyps. And thats in only the last 6 years. I blocked out the stuff from before that. But in 30 years, alot of things can go wrong! For some reason I felt better before I posted this! :-? :-?


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## hazard

markw said:


> For some reason I felt better before I posted this! :-? :-?


I feel the same

Countless numbers of tropheus that I raised up from fry. A group of 24 wc tropheus rainbow red.

Plenty of calvus/comps- most due to over aggressive fish, nkambe, ventralis, 16 wc decampsi, Many wc paracyps, cyps the list goes on.

I generally don't lose fish to a massive die off. A death here and there

Fry are totally different story. I have lost tanks of tropheus and calvus fry in a day because of water changes.


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## Longstocking

There are many factors to this... I guess the biggest is how long you've been keeping them. In total over the years is probably in the 2,000 area. But that is retail online cost... I try and look for good deals... or friends gave me the fish. So not near that of my actual money. Probably more like 700 of my money. Which, when I think about... is REALLY good for the amount of tanks I have and how long I've been keeping them.


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## frschul

Now I don't feel so bad guys.... misery loves company.... :lol: 
When I created this biggest loser survey..... I knew I was near the top.... but was I wrong.... 
I am in the $1,000.00 range.... boy raising and showing fancy guppies in the IFGA (International Fancy guppy Association) was much cheaper... I lost a ton of fish via aggression(those crazy killer fish . And yes the stupid occasional water change / moving fish to another tank mishaps....
So now I don't feel so bad.... and I too hope my wife does not see this... :lol:  :thumb: 
So my congrats to all of us THE BIGGEST LOSERS .... because with the death... I know that a lot of you have been successful in breeding some of the TANGS.... :thumb:


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## Longstocking

You shouldn't feel bad at all... you keep some of the harder tangs so that other hobbyists can enjoy them at a fraction of the cost. The reason mine is so high is that 1 wipe out of a petro tank or it would be in the 100's. You keep some expensive fish frschul ... if one dies you are out 80 or so dollars sometimes. If one petro of mine dies that's 30 to 350 dollarsa pop. You have to look at in perspective.


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## Fogelhund

frschul said:


> Now I don't feel so bad guys.... misery loves company.... :lol:
> When I created this biggest loser survey..... I knew I was near the top.... but was I wrong....
> I am in the $1,000.00 range.... boy raising and showing fancy guppies in the IFGA (International Fancy guppy Association) was much cheaper... I lost a ton of fish via aggression(those crazy killer fish . And yes the stupid occasional water change / moving fish to another tank mishaps....
> So now I don't feel so bad.... and I too hope my wife does not see this... :lol:  :thumb:
> So my congrats to all of us THE BIGGEST LOSERS .... because with the death... I know that a lot of you have been successful in breeding some of the TANGS.... :thumb:


Frank, I'm easily into the thousands as well. I've been keeping Tangs for nearly 30 years, and fish don't live that long. I don't even want to begin to calculate a number.


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## Multies

except your 28year old catfish :lol:


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## Longstocking

:lol: LMAO Multies.... that was too funny !


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## Multies

i just had to bring it up 
i asked him what was his favourite fish, he answered.. S.multipunctatus.
he said he had a 28year old multi :lol: 
if im not mistaken, it was 1981?


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## Fogelhund

Multies said:


> i just had to bring it up
> i asked him what was his favourite fish, he answered.. S.multipunctatus.
> he said he had a 28year old multi :lol:
> if im not mistaken, it was 1981?


You are mostly correct. I can't say for certain that the multi is 28 years old. I would say, he is at least 28 years old. A wildcaught imported as an adult in 1981, so how old it actually is....


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## Guest

I know Tangs are more sensitive than other Africans and more expensive, but I bet the discus keepers put Tang loses to shame. Like I said earlier, my Tangs cost me over $400, but that's nothing compared to my discus loses.


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## kid_stripes

I used to keep 2 Florida Gar Pike at 10 inches long each with my assorted cichlids if I missed a feeding I would loose at least five fish!!!    By the time that i sold them i lost count of the cost of all my cichlids lost at $768.00 approx. by the way the pike would eat 8 eight dozen minnows in five days.


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## Fogelhund

Here is the old man.


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## Multies

AT LEAST 28years old.. hes probably older. catfish do take a long time to grow..
*** probably lost about 150-200$ on fish, just guessing though :lol:

love the multi, makes me want to get some. just dont want em stealing fry.
i bet hes been growing that whisker for a LONG time..
those whiskers are very nice  does he trim it every so often?


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## stslimited84

lol. what is the expected lifespan of the multi? or just syno's in general


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## aaxxeell

*** been keeping tangs for just under a year, and i am hooked!
recently me and my girlfriend drove a few hundred kilometers to buy some fish from a big aquarium warehouse, yes thats right for fish you americans take for granted... black calvus and susnspot brevis..

i lost 1 lil' black calvus that cost me $20(AUD) and i was devastated...
over here in australia, its not the money that is a big factor, its the fact that cool cichlids, especially tangs are pretty hard to come by...

maybe we should start a new poll on whos gone to the greatest lengths to aquire the fish they want. :thumb:  :thumb:


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## frschul

Try about 860 miles ,,, New York City area, to Rochester, NY ..into Canada, to Michigan, going west around the lake to Cleavland Ohio (OCA), Yes and I too lost my fish (a pair of Wild Nlamp Werneri).... But its a matter of what you are willing to do for fish :fish: :fish:   :lol: :lol:


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## aaxxeell

i couldnt have said it better myself...
hey if could find some good wild caughts over here in australia, id probably drive 800Klms to sydney... but not 800miles.
i take my hat off to ya, your obviously a bit more cichlid crazy than me :thumb:  :thumb:


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## Reel North

I have had some trainwrecks. thats for sure

WC Moba Fronts - 280.00

2 males that were beaten to death

WC Yellow Calvus - 300

6 that died in a filter failure

WC Similis - 150.00

Same Filter

WC Boulengeri - 40.00

1 had infection, 2 in filter accident

WC Kigoma Cyps - 500.00

20 over 2 weeks due to septic filter

WC Tropheus - 800.00

Same filter

I am sure there are others, but I really dont want to add those up lol.

Still love the hobby tho - I learned some valuable lessons


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## Multies

and those lessons were.. 
1) always have a extra filter handy :lol: 
2) this hobby is expensive
3) you think of fish differently now then before.

am i right?


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## Joels fish

So far I think I'm pretty lucky. I've only lost 2 N.Brichardi , total cost = $5.


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## Multies

Joels fish said:


> So far I think I'm pretty lucky. I've only lost 2 N.Brichardi , total cost = $5.


sooner or later your going to lose more fish. its all a matter of time..
everyone gets it :lol:.
*** lost tons of fish. 
most of them being killed by breeding pairs or getting eaten.
never jumping out though.
cyps and paracyps in a tank with NO LIDS. thats right no lids.
i didt lose a single one to jumping.


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## Joels fish

I would hate to imagine what the total would be if I added up the total cost of all the fish I've lost over the years of other types of fish. :roll: CAs ,SAs, salt water, geez I could probably buy a couple of big plasma tvs :lol: .


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## Reel North

Multis

I would say you are correct lol.

I also realize my limitations as to the types of fish I can really take care of, and also know what types I enjoy more.

Fascinating hobby :dancing:


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## rogersb

Add another $20 to mine, I lost 5 multies in one night due to a heater malfunction. I got my q-tank up a week ago, threw a filter on it, some guppies in to keep the ammonia source there(the filter was already seeded), but no heater until the day I got the multies. I threw on the heater and headed out for the weekend. They get smelly at 100 degrees for a few days :lol:


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## RAFF

I had a drunk relative dump a bottle of beer in my 135 tank that I had just stocked a week before with petrochromis trewavassae, petrochromis ikola, and tropheus ikola's. Bloat kicked in by morning and I quickly lost $400 in fish.


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## frschul

I know what happened to the fish but what happened to the drunk relative :-? :lol:  
Is he swimming with the :fish: :lol:


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## 12pointer

The same thing happened to me but it was my daughter that did it. I had a grow out tank with about 25 1'' Ngara fry in it. She thought they were thirsty so she dumped 2 big glasses of milk in there. I had a hard time trying to figure out why the water was white, :-? until she told me.


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## k_sheep

Hmm only keep caudopunks and did have 2 frontosa. Lost 2 punks to the frontosa (no big surprise there - but was the only spare tank I could put them in).

Lost 2 to aggression.

Lost 1 to tile diving on xmas day 

$15-20 each here, so up to $100.


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## hoffmansthal

5 DOA baby Eretmodus cyanostictus (USPS delay) -- partial refund
1 DOA juvenile Eretmodus cyanosticus (ditto above)
2 DOA juvenile N.buescheri (shipped and murdered in same bags with mature N.buescheri tankmates; full refund)

1 wild male Eretmo injured upon introduction to tank, culprit unknown, dead in 3 days

The following were user error in a poorly stocked and overfed 10gal (I've learned my lesson):
2 N.Brevis (dead by tank maintenance issues and inter- or intraspecies aggression)
2 N.multifasciatus (ditto)
4 N.ocellatus gold (ditto)
4 N.caudopunctatus (ditto)


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## cholile

12pointer, guess your daughter didn't consider living in water good enough to quench a thirst.

this whole thread is quite an eye opener for me. i've yet to even venture seriously into tangs (just a few in my tank now) and yet despite trying my best to vigilantly clean the tank, change the water weekly, not overfeed, and quarantine new arrivals I still continue to lose fish here and there. I definitely have become more selective in where I buy fish, though I simultaneously try to look for deals.

i think someone asked, and i am curious too, how long do tangs (and malawis for that matter) generally live? or does it vary wildly by genus?


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## frschul

Well I just lost my F0 pair of AltoLamp. Fasciatus but they don't count in this poll as they were 5+ years old.... The male was at least 5.5 inches and the female is still alive but is visibly old..... I lost my F0 trio of Nlamp Crassus..... crimped airline .... what a bummer they really looked fantastic... nice coloring, nice size .....


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## BrownBullhead

I can't even begin to add it up right now, it's too late for such complex mathematics.

I estimate my total is $2,000 CDN.


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## The Big Cichlid

Number6 said:


> Well over $400 but that's nothing compared to anyone who's kept Tropheus species.


He ain't lyin'!


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## Rick_Lindsey

Joels fish said:


> I would hate to imagine what the total would be if I added up the total cost of all the fish I've lost over the years... geez I could probably buy a couple of big plasma tvs :lol: .


Yeah, but would a big plasma tv bring you NEARLY as much enjoyment as your fish have over the years? Granted I'm atypical since we threw out tv out about a month ago (we're embarking on a 6 month television fast, at which point i'm expecting we'll no longer miss it and not bother replacing it).

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who found life to be better without a television)


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## frschul

Well, the power went out for 8 hours...... And there wasn't too much that I could do for most of my tanks..... because I was asleep and when I went down to the basement the fish were near the top of the tanks. I could not spend much time in the basement because I had an important meeting to got to at work. Well here is the big list ..... 4 seven inch clown loaches that I got at the OCA 3 years ago for 12 each when they were 3 inches. Don't know how much they would have been but my guess is at least $35.00 each.... 1 Wild pair of Red Lufubu Comps. (3.5 inch+ male) cost 
50.00 for the pair which I had for about 3 years.. 4 Giant orange Leleupi (which I had for 4 years) cost ??? .... wild pair Buescheri Kachese 75.00 .... 
1 Alto lamp Fasciatus female cost 25.00. 2 wild Nlamp Pectoralis (looks like two females from the colony).

So I guess this is my biggest lost since I have been keeping Tangs.... So I would say about 260.00 - 300.00+ ????....
Maybe I should have had a generator..... or kept up with my scheduled water change routine.. LOL ..... but I think this is a sign to start cutting back on the number of tanks....   :-? :-? .. I just don't have the time nor energy to devote to all of those tanks....


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