Shortest time you kept a fish?

[Morbo]

I know the goal in this hobby is to create an environment in which our fish/corals/etc. will thrive and live for as long as possible. Unfortunately things don't always work out that way.

What's the shortest time you've kept a fish (i.e., before it died)?

Mine is about two days. We bought a bonded pair of Yasha Gobies and a Pistol shrimp. Less than 48 hours later I found one of the Gobies on the floor next to the tank. It had jumped through the 1/4" screen on top of the tank. (

 

[MONTANTK]

I had a Colin’s angel and a Venustus angel for about two weeks at separate times. The Colin angel died because I could never get it to eat. I tried feeding it at least 15 different foods. The Venustus died from infection after being attacked by my purple tang

 

[One Reefing Boi]

one of my first fish (longknose hawk) jumped after a week of being in the tank. I now have a lid on my tank..

 

[Everything Aquatics]

I know the goal in this hobby is to create an environment in which our fish/corals/etc. will thrive and live for as long as possible. Unfortunately things don't always work out that way.

What's the shortest time you've kept a fish (i.e., before it died)?

Mine is about two days. We bought a bonded pair of Yasha Gobies and a Pistol shrimp. Less than 48 hours later I found one of the Gobies on the floor next to the tank. It had jumped through the 1/4" screen on top of the tank. (

Yea saw some of your fish losses on Boston reefers, sorry Hopefully you will get better luck

 

[BlennyTime]

I had a pretty flasher wrasse that my six line bullied to death in less than a day. Took me two months to catch that little menace and take him back.

 

[JohnnyBeagle]

I had a canary fang blenny for three weeks that would not eat and I tried everything I could. Poor guy starved himself to death

 

[Viking_Reefing]

A long time ago when I was introducing a lion fish to my tank it freaked out and rammed in to a rock stunning itself and died a few hours later.

We were both very surprised.

 

[fishlover1478]

not sure if this counts because its FW
i had a otocinclus for 3 hours.
but there really finicky and they generally don't do well to begin with.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

1972, and I’m walking home from the pet store with fish in a brown paper bag, as I recall, the paper bag got wet, and the goby fell into the snow, and its plastic bag burst. Roughhousing with my friend may have been involved (grin)
Jay

 

[Kryptonian]

Bought a new clown the day after introducing two clowns. Let's just say they got territorial Very fast and tried to murder the new clown the second it touched the water. Physically tried to take it apart! Was a very concerning first experience with marine fish in a tank. First 3 marine fish I owned. Local reefer arrived 30 min later to take the new clown off my hands.

Also had a gorgeous Lyretail Anthias gone within 6 hours. Came with four other fish that all did great! Still no idea what happened there.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sohal tang - bully SOB made it 29 days
My shortest is heniocus butterfly who made it overnight which is what it took him to eat 2 colonies of zoa

 

[Heart of Dixie]

Purchased a Royal Gramma from LFS, drove 30 minutes straight home. Dead on arrival.

 

[Azhari06]

Yellow Coris wrasse, he dove into the sand, found him dead next morning.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

I bought a flashing tile fish, look them up they’re crazy, and it was dead the next morning. That was $120 down the drain 10 years ago and another innocent life lost. In all fairness I learned later that they’re close to impossible to keep and it should have never been sold to me.

 

[Dr. Jim]

My story goes back more than 50 years, when I was in high school and working in the first pet shop in NJ to have saltwater fish. (The saltwater fish hobby was just introduced 2 years prior to me starting this job, so we all had a lot to learn!) I had a 30gal tank with an undergravel filter and a Eheim canister filter, with a percula, domino, blue devil and sergeant major because I could only afford fish under $2 on my salary of $3.18/hr which was the minimum wage at the time. One day I splurged (and felt very guilty) spending $6 on a tiny butterfly fish of some kind that I had my eye on for a couple of weeks. We didn't know about Q-tanks back then so I came home and put the fish right into my tank.
Within 5 seconds, the blue devil grabbed the little guy by the head and gave it a quick shake, killing it immediately.

I'll never forget the shock of my first devastating misfortune in the hobby.....(there have been tons more since!)

 

[Morbo]

Wow. Thanks for all the different stories.

It's amazing how many different ways Murphy or the Grim Reaper can strike.

 

[rapid]

about a month.

I had a set of mollies 2 of them. i acclimated to salt water and then put them in my reef. They were doing great both of them eating swiming they were so much more active then in the fresh water. about into a month i went to feed the tank but didnt notice the mollies ? that was two years ago? they just vanished no body nothing. if i had to guess my nems ate the two fish for they liked to hang with the clowns and at night lay on the rocks near the nems my guess is the nem ate them