should i save it?

i went to my LFS yesterday and they had a sailfin tang that was beautiful but it was getting the crap kicked out of him by a sixline. it is only 30 dollars adn its fins are pitiful. its active and helthy except for a scar or two on its body. its about the size of a quarter. is it worth it to nurse it back to health then return it to a different lfs? thanks

 

no cause it may give ich to your tank and that would be a pain to get it out of your tank.

 

I would say no also unless you have a dedicated quaretine tank. Also if you are on good terms with your lfs they may let you buy it cheaper knowing you are going to try to bring it back to health and then return it once healthy. Fish in good condition will generally catch someones eye and sell faster than a sick beat up fish.

 

i have a ten gallon QT tank but thats not big enough for him at his size i dont think.

 

you would think the lfs would notice the problem between the 2 and seperate them. it doesnt do them any good, and casts a dark cloud to would be customers id think. persoanlly id try and work something out with them in trying to help the tang out.

 

Tangs can be fragile to begin with, so a stressed and injured one doesn't look good. If your willing to take the risk then that's cool, but I have done this with to many fish only to lose money and a fish.

 

I would offer them at the most $15. It will definitely be a gamble if he makes it or not.

 

this lfs doesnt really seem like the budging type. they dont know much about their fish or corals because they have mushrooms for $50. i dont think i could get them to go down on the price. i can always try though.

 

There is an arguement that can be made by your "saving" it that you are encouraging the fish store to continue improperly treating their animals as well. By shopping there you could be considered to be condoning their actions (the store is still making their money so why would they change?).

As harsh as it sounds the only thing some business owners understand is losing money, if their livestock dies, they lose money. If people continually come in and save these animals the store keeps their business going.

I would just not give them any more business if it were me and if this was a consistent thing, even good stores sometimes have accidents/problems etc.

 

they said that a fish was picking on it. they sold the other fish but noone wants this guy they put the fish down to 20 dollars. he isnt very big and i have meaty foods and algae here for him. would he override my bioload?