(for an article) tell me the funniest thing that has ever happened to you related to your aquarium
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Arcticreefer
Community Member
I have a big dog, a bullmastiff that has twice rescued my yellow watchman goby when he went carpet surfing. First time he picked up the fish and came to me with the fish in his mouth all covered in dust and drool. Thought the fish was done for but washed him off and put him in the tank again and apart from a few frayed fins he was fine.
Then one day my dog comes to me acting oddly. Thought at first he wanted food or his water bowl was empty but then I see the bloody goby has jumped again and landed in the water bowl and my dog wasn’t too happy with sharing his water
No idea how long he was in the bowl but he seemed to not have suffered from that adventure.
Yes I have a net top now.
Then one day my dog comes to me acting oddly. Thought at first he wanted food or his water bowl was empty but then I see the bloody goby has jumped again and landed in the water bowl and my dog wasn’t too happy with sharing his water
No idea how long he was in the bowl but he seemed to not have suffered from that adventure.
Yes I have a net top now.
Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
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Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
So today I walked into my workshop/fishroom/workshop/ManCave and I looked at my tank. OMG!! The tank was totally cloudy and the fishes eyes were all smoky. Every one of them.
Then my wife, who followed me in said "Whats on Fire?" .. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGggggg. The tank wasn't cloudy and the fishes eyes weren't smoky. The place was filled up with smoke. Ahhhhhhgggggggggggg. There was also a big puddle under the tank which I jumped right into to start unplugging things. I looked around and couldn't feel anything hot or leaking. But then, my electricians keen eye saw this. (see picture below) Now I went to High School and everything so I knew this wasn't good. There was water coming out of the brand new electrical outlet and the pumps and other things plugged into it were not running. I checked the breaker and it had tripped.
But I still couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. I replaced the receptacles and melted plugs and turned the power on.
AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhggggggggAAAaaaaaaaa Flood. Water was shooting out of a pipe coupling near the top of the skimmer and hitting the ceiling. Then it was traveling down the side of the tank right into the outlet. The PVC coupling that was used for many years completely split in half and most of the water that was supposed to go into the skimmer, went into my outlets.
I then turned on my really huge, Manly exhaust fan full force until my ears were clean of wax and cleared out the smoke.
Now I fixed the coupling and electric and all is again well.
Then my wife, who followed me in said "Whats on Fire?" .. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGggggg. The tank wasn't cloudy and the fishes eyes weren't smoky. The place was filled up with smoke. Ahhhhhhgggggggggggg. There was also a big puddle under the tank which I jumped right into to start unplugging things. I looked around and couldn't feel anything hot or leaking. But then, my electricians keen eye saw this. (see picture below) Now I went to High School and everything so I knew this wasn't good. There was water coming out of the brand new electrical outlet and the pumps and other things plugged into it were not running. I checked the breaker and it had tripped.
But I still couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. I replaced the receptacles and melted plugs and turned the power on.
AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhggggggggAAAaaaaaaaa Flood. Water was shooting out of a pipe coupling near the top of the skimmer and hitting the ceiling. Then it was traveling down the side of the tank right into the outlet. The PVC coupling that was used for many years completely split in half and most of the water that was supposed to go into the skimmer, went into my outlets.
I then turned on my really huge, Manly exhaust fan full force until my ears were clean of wax and cleared out the smoke.
Now I fixed the coupling and electric and all is again well.
OP
OP
Seawitch
Water, water everywhere,
Wow, these are great! Thank you @brandon429 @Arcticreefer and @Paul B. @Arcticreefer that's a great story. I imagine my 3 bulldogs would not have been as charitable as your Bull Mastiff.
My cat jumped up onto my tank. It is open top.
The funny part was the sound effects
Spoosh MEORRRRWWWWspoosh ROWWWWWWWEOEOEOsplat thump thump thump
It was a big mess.
Helping do a water change
Mocha the swimmer.
The funny part was the sound effects
Spoosh MEORRRRWWWWspoosh ROWWWWWWWEOEOEOsplat thump thump thump
It was a big mess.
Helping do a water change
Mocha the swimmer.
Last edited:
SDK
Reef Diver
I made the mistake of putting a decorator crab into a holding tank with a bright blue sponge filter. The crab tore it to shreds and completely covered himself in the pieces.
I had what looked like a mobile blueberry muffin roaming my tank for months after that lol...
I had what looked like a mobile blueberry muffin roaming my tank for months after that lol...
dantimdad
7500 Club Member
Funny now, but not at the time.
I was working on a sump modification. Got it leak tested and drained and was about to carry it into the house. I tripped over the hose/pump cord and literally threw the sump. It landed on my Camry and dented\scratched the hood and shattered.
I can only imagine what a sight it was to see a 245 pound man trying not to fall dancing around the carport and the sump sailing through the air.
Needless to say, I have a fijicube sump now.
I was working on a sump modification. Got it leak tested and drained and was about to carry it into the house. I tripped over the hose/pump cord and literally threw the sump. It landed on my Camry and dented\scratched the hood and shattered.
I can only imagine what a sight it was to see a 245 pound man trying not to fall dancing around the carport and the sump sailing through the air.
Needless to say, I have a fijicube sump now.
michael giordano
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I was glueing some frags and wiped my face with the glue in hand. Somehow I glued my top eye lash, I then of course closed my eye and then my eyelashes were glued shut. Lol I had to have the wife tear apart my eye lashes and cut some of them off. It was a tough day for sure!
sfin52
So many pedestrians so little time
our cat Nemo caught and removed Nemo from the tank. Well she got four before I figured out what was going on.
Viking_Reefing
Valuable Member
Hmm, I’ve had a couple that wasn’t to funny at the time it happened but time heals all wounds. Here’s one:
A long time ago the 15 year old me was having to move my reef tank due my family buying a new house.
I had just gotten water in the tank (fortunately no animals) and connected the power heads.
I noticed that one of the pumps wasn’t spinning so reached down to give it a knock.
As soon as my hand entered the water I realized that I had made a huge mistake and I was getting electrocuted like there’s no tomorrow.
Anyways, next thing I remember is coming to on the floor wondering what happened.
Naturally I unplug the broken pump and go to get it out of the tank and wouldn’t you know it, I get zapped again! Luckily not as bad this time.
It was the dang pump that was spinning that was the culprit.
That would have been a really stupid way to die....
A long time ago the 15 year old me was having to move my reef tank due my family buying a new house.
I had just gotten water in the tank (fortunately no animals) and connected the power heads.
I noticed that one of the pumps wasn’t spinning so reached down to give it a knock.
As soon as my hand entered the water I realized that I had made a huge mistake and I was getting electrocuted like there’s no tomorrow.
Anyways, next thing I remember is coming to on the floor wondering what happened.
Naturally I unplug the broken pump and go to get it out of the tank and wouldn’t you know it, I get zapped again! Luckily not as bad this time.
It was the dang pump that was spinning that was the culprit.
That would have been a really stupid way to die....
20+ Yrs ago I had Whitemouth Moray that I was moving to a quarantine tank...I set the bucket with the eel on the kitchen counter near the sink...I came back after removing lid fm QT ..removed towel I had covering bucket and the eel freaked out...launched itself out of the bucket..landed in the sink and went down into garbage disposal space...I immediately poured some of the eater down the drain and not wanting yo get bit had to quickly "uninstall" the disposal to get it out and poured the eel directly into QT and re install the disposal....
ZipAdeeZoa
Valuable Member
I think we've all done some things we're not proud of in this hobby. Things like flush dilute bleach solution from our eyes with water conditioner because the LFS you worked at turned the broken eyewash station into algae brush holder instead of replacing it. Or trying to pull a snowflake eel off your finger before the second jaw grabs it while explaining to your boss exactly why this happened in the first place.
I'm actually really new to having my own saltwater aquarium so I only have one story I thought was funny with my own tank. Important note: this story is very underwhelming compared to the others above.
A few weeks ago I took a powerhead and started blowing detritus off my rock with a powerhead before I did my weekly water change. While doing this I saw a few pieces of red and blue come flying out from the rockwork and quickly unplugged the power head to see what happened. The sole resident of the tank was a dwarf blue leg hermit crab I added 2 weeks before and it was clear I had somehow managed to obliterate him with the powerhead. I pulled up a stool and stared into my tank trying to come to terms with fact that I had just killed my first saltwater creature when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement from within the tank. I was really startled because the only thing in the tank I knew of was dead and fell off my stool. I quickly scrambled off the floor and peered into the tank to see my hermit crab alive and well, just bigger. You'd think someone who has had tarantulas and scorpions for years would remember that hermit crabs molt;Hilarious
Thanks to everyone who's posted in this, I had a good laugh reading through it!
I'm actually really new to having my own saltwater aquarium so I only have one story I thought was funny with my own tank. Important note: this story is very underwhelming compared to the others above.
A few weeks ago I took a powerhead and started blowing detritus off my rock with a powerhead before I did my weekly water change. While doing this I saw a few pieces of red and blue come flying out from the rockwork and quickly unplugged the power head to see what happened. The sole resident of the tank was a dwarf blue leg hermit crab I added 2 weeks before and it was clear I had somehow managed to obliterate him with the powerhead. I pulled up a stool and stared into my tank trying to come to terms with fact that I had just killed my first saltwater creature when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement from within the tank. I was really startled because the only thing in the tank I knew of was dead and fell off my stool. I quickly scrambled off the floor and peered into the tank to see my hermit crab alive and well, just bigger. You'd think someone who has had tarantulas and scorpions for years would remember that hermit crabs molt;Hilarious
Thanks to everyone who's posted in this, I had a good laugh reading through it!
Nailqueencat
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And I’ll raise you webbed fingers with a frag cone stuck to them for several hours! Respect the superglue!
Alemoki
Active Member
So when I still kept discus about a year and a bit ago, I had a system where I would connect a hose to the tank and turn a valve to drain the tank and the water would only drain to a certain point where it would stop. After this I would then close the valve and then flick a switch and prepared water would pump back in, the pumping back in would not stop automatically. I was sitting across from the tank while it was pumping back in and got distracted on the phone messaging someone. I suddenly hear water landing on the floor and look up to see the sump overflowing onto the floor. Naturally I jump up and make a quick sprint to the tank and when trying to stop my feet continued forward and I did a comical backflip onto my back into the puddle surrounding the tank. In pain I rolled over and flick the switch off to stop the pump. My mom looked up from her book in shock at the whole situation and I literally just lay there in defeat drenched and in pain in a puddle of water. I eventually saw the humorous side when cleaning up the mess (still drenched)
That's my story
That's my story
While putting frozen fish food cubes in a cup to thaw, my tea water boiled. So I made a cupa. Well I put a cube of fish food in my tea by accident. Yes i did drink it. Waste not want not.
Not a tank story, but a DIY nightmare.
The Money Pit
When my wife and I purchased our first home one of my little one's socks became caught in the washing machine's pump. This happend while we were preparing to move and we wanted all the clothes washed before moving. So I rush to find and install a new pump. Then during the move we got hit with a early freeze and the plastic tank liner cracked, so after installing the washer it flooded the utility room. Thinking the pump or a hose failed I once again tore the machine apart only to find out it was useless. Having a young family we purchase a large capacity washer and I install it, now the little slosh sink cannot handle the washers discharge and once again floods the utility room. What I haven't said is that I was working out of town during this whole process of looking, buying, moving and repairs, I was also a newb at some of this homeowner stuff. So once again a precious weekend spent buying and installing a large utility sink, and of course the supply and drains had to be reworked to accommodate the larger footprint and location. I buy the tools to solder the copper lines then proceed to the drain, while tightening the trap to the black pipe going threw the floor the pipe broke under the house in the crawl space were the drain connects to the main drain, I discovered that the 1.25" black pipe was not reamed like I do with conduit and the burrs caught and held the lint that is in the discharge water and that standing moisture rusted the pipe in a complete 360 degrees, all it took was a little force to shear completely. So now I spent another weekend under the house with my three new pipe wrenches, one in every size, a large and and hard (@ the time) to find ez-out for 1.25" pipe and and assortment of pipe nipples. Surprisingly that was the easiest job of the entire ordeal.
The Silver lining in all of this was I received a job offer because of the skills obtained from the optional traveling, installing automation threw out the country, not to mention the paychecks that made all of this possible.
Oh and the squeaky clean little squeaky ones that I would do anything for.
The Money Pit
When my wife and I purchased our first home one of my little one's socks became caught in the washing machine's pump. This happend while we were preparing to move and we wanted all the clothes washed before moving. So I rush to find and install a new pump. Then during the move we got hit with a early freeze and the plastic tank liner cracked, so after installing the washer it flooded the utility room. Thinking the pump or a hose failed I once again tore the machine apart only to find out it was useless. Having a young family we purchase a large capacity washer and I install it, now the little slosh sink cannot handle the washers discharge and once again floods the utility room. What I haven't said is that I was working out of town during this whole process of looking, buying, moving and repairs, I was also a newb at some of this homeowner stuff. So once again a precious weekend spent buying and installing a large utility sink, and of course the supply and drains had to be reworked to accommodate the larger footprint and location. I buy the tools to solder the copper lines then proceed to the drain, while tightening the trap to the black pipe going threw the floor the pipe broke under the house in the crawl space were the drain connects to the main drain, I discovered that the 1.25" black pipe was not reamed like I do with conduit and the burrs caught and held the lint that is in the discharge water and that standing moisture rusted the pipe in a complete 360 degrees, all it took was a little force to shear completely. So now I spent another weekend under the house with my three new pipe wrenches, one in every size, a large and and hard (@ the time) to find ez-out for 1.25" pipe and and assortment of pipe nipples. Surprisingly that was the easiest job of the entire ordeal.
The Silver lining in all of this was I received a job offer because of the skills obtained from the optional traveling, installing automation threw out the country, not to mention the paychecks that made all of this possible.
Oh and the squeaky clean little squeaky ones that I would do anything for.
5altkreep
Active Member
I used to thaw my frozen food in an old coffee cup... one morning we had friends over, and not paying attention, i managed to pour my coffee in the tank instead of the food! I use creamer, and the whole tank went to insta cloud! My audience thought it was much funnier than i did lol.
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