Snow's 10G Underwater Tropical Jungle Retreat (365 Day Challenge) - Taking It Down.

[Snow_Phoenix]

22 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Yes the corals do look like they are responding positively to the WC. That is great news. 

Thanks. I only wish *all the pieces would respond the same way, but I think I might lose my montis and cyphastrea. I guess SPS is trickier and less forgiving than softies or LPS. 😞 

 

Right now, I'm focusing on regrowing all the dying frags I could find first - once they're back and stable, and in full health, then I'll try to focus on growing them out into larger frags and mature colonies (in years to come).

 

I'll still try to move over a few frags from my 60G to this reef in the weeks to come. Thinking of transferring my Purple Death Palys & Jack-O-Lantern leptoseris, for starters. 🤔

 

My blasto garden has lost its proper color too, so I *might move that over next month. Still debating about it, because there's a *lot of blastos in that garden, and I don't think the 10G has enough space to accommodate all of them. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

So, I made a friend at the LFS today: 

 

 

 

Very cute fella and already eating/accepting food readily. Also mimicked a stingray (flattened himself and turned white), which was pretty cool. 

 

Pricey though, for a small guy. 

 

Back to my jungle reef, my LFS gave me a nice freebie today - a small rock of unhealthy green acans with a tiny unhealthy toadstool leather coral attached to the rock. 

 

The piece doesn't look great now, but I think it'll look amazing once it regrows. I'm actually picking up unhealthy/dying/shrunken/tiny coral frags at my LFS and trying to nurse them back to health in this tank. 

 

I have this little random corner with colorful 'grass', 'mushrooms' and 'toadstools' on it - and I plan on adding more zoas, shrooms and other soft corals in the future:

 

One of my blastos is bouncing back very quickly. The new heads are growing fast:

 

Unfortunately, I lost the purple encrusting monti, but still have the green version, although it's still beiged-out. I moved it to the back corner of coralline ledge, but haven't glued it down yet because I'm not confident I can restore this piece, even with multiple WCs and time. 😞 

 

 

I also noticed a small part of one of the blades of my blade caulerpa has turned white. But my fern caulerpa is growing, so I'm not sure where the nutrient imbalance is: 🤔

 

My torch coral is doing well. I was thinking of picking up a second torch in the future and adding it to the left side of the tank. Torches are pricey though, and this was meant to be a budget tank (with a bit of flexibility here and there). What do you guys think? 🤔

 

I'm still facing issues with the clowns trying to pair up. It's quite confusing because sometimes Pisces the Occy submits to Panda the Perc, then he divebombs her and tries to nip her. I've seen them face off several times too, which isn't a good sign - because I think both of them *might be female. My platinum is very docile though. She only looks mean - but she always retreats when my Occy goes for her.

 

I'll keep observing them for the next week. If the nipping and aggression doesn't stop, I *might return Pisces to the LFS and wait for a shipment of new clowns (either wild or aquacultured) which are smaller in size. 

 

I think the main problem here is that they're both almost similar in length. I've never had issues with clowns pairing up in the past because I always had two clowns of noticeable difference in terms of size. Definitely something worth considering, if I'm adding two clowns to one tank. 🤔

[Snow_Phoenix]

Few quick updates:

 

1. My mother returned home from PD several days ago, and she brought a container full of seashells in SW for me from the beach. The 'seashells' actually contained a bunch of living things, including a large conch (which I added to my 60G reeftank) and several tiny snails which I added to the nano:

 

So far I've observed them lounging about the sandbed and occasionally cleaning the glass. They're ultra-cute, and now I have half a dozen of them. 🥰

 

2. I had to separate Pisces from Panda because he began attacking her. Right now, I'm pretty convinced they won't make a good pair. Due to the lockdown state of my country because of the coronavirus outbreak, most stores are closed including LFSes. They've also temporarily ceased any importation of new livestock for the time being, so I can't swap Pisces out for a smaller clown. So for now, he remains in a tiny breeder box in my nano and is kept isolate from Panda:

 

3. The half-melted acan freebie given to me by my LFS has bounced back relatively quickly. It's also increased in vibrancy, and I'm hoping it'll pop up new heads in the future:

 

4. I also now have two tiny toadstools in this tank. The older toadstool, which detached and wouldn't reattach to my LR (no matter how many crevices I've slot it into), has found a comfy spot on my sandbed and actually attached to some rubble there. It's also slowly regained a mild green tint in some parts, so I *think this coral might actually change color down the road:

 

5. Dusky the blenny has picked out a new burrow near my Torch Coral:

 

6. Derp is a troublemaker as always:

 

7. I performed a 3G WC today morning and replaced the filter floss. The sump compartments were surprisingly clean, so I didn't clean it out. I also adjusted my scape a little by pushing the bottom LR on the right corner of the tank to the left, because I couldn't scrape the glass next to the torch coral otherwise. I also shifted Coralline Ledge to the right a little so that it overshadows the LR below it a little. My green leptastrea was knocked over as I moved things around, so I had to re-glue it to the ledge. My John Deere leptastrea has now encrusted to the LR, but hasn't spread out yet. I think it might take a few more months before I actually see some 'yellow flowers' draped across Coralline Ledge. 🤔

 

Overall, the tank is doing fine, but I had to toss out my green encrusting monti - it didn't make it. 😞

 

I think I might need to toss out my cyphastrea too in the future, but I've already booked a new frag of Alien Pox from my LFS. After the lockdown is over, and the stores are fully open again, I'll swing by to see what else I can scavenge and rescue from the discount racks, or at the bottom of the frag tanks. There was a very small bubble coral that drew my interest last week, but I'm not sure were to put it in this tank, or if it fits the theme I've picked out.

 

I'll pick up my rainbow brain coral and a small frag of merlettis in the future too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Definitely more good news than bad. Too bad the little clown just will not behave. Love the additions from Mom.

[Snow_Phoenix]

More updates!

 

1. Managed to snag a few pics of Panda - you can see the edges of her fins are ripped here and there due to Pisces's nipping, but now that I've isolated Pisces from her, she's recovering and swimming happily all over the tank:

 

2. Derp is a Master of Chaos. He's honestly cute, but very, very destructive at times. Today, he toppled over one of my zoa towers and was trying to pick on the glue under my blastos: 🙄

 

3. Some of the previously dying corals have either regained color or are slowly regrowing lost flesh:

 

4. I also noticed some new polyps on my previously melting GSP frag: 🙂 

 

 5. My green leptastrea finally displayed some very stubby polyps today. It's not much, but it's something:

 

6. I saved the best for last. 😛

 

One of the tiny toadstools showed full PE today! 😄 

 

 

Tank is chugging along quite well for now with the regular weekly WCs of 3G per week. And 2 drops of dKH buffer every other day. 

 

I'll try to feed the corals a mix of reef roids and zooplankton tomorrow. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

It is wonderful to see so many of your corals making a recovery. You are the coral whisperer.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

It is wonderful to see so many of your corals making a recovery. You are the coral whisperer.

Hardly a whisperer! Lol. 😄

 

Just trying to give them a second chance. Will take a while before they can grow into mini colonies though. 🤔

 

I'm thinking of picking up more softies in the future - especially kenya trees to pass off as 'trees'. 🙂

[MainelyReefer]

That leptastrea looks more like a short polyp goniopora

[Snow_Phoenix]

Updates:

 

1. Few days ago, I fragged off pieces of my monticaps from my 60G and added them to this tank. The monticaps had some weird black sponge/fungus-like (?) growth covering it, so I had to trim off the 'bad' edges and was left with some very small pieces. 😞

 

The color of the pieces are dull too. But I'm hoping that they'll bounce back in this tank:

 

The piece in the far left of the box is not a monti though, but some sort of cyphastrea which began receding in my larger reef. I glued the new frags to the LR - 2 red monticap frags in the middle LR tier, and 1 red/green monticap frag + 1 cyphastrea frag on Coralline Ledge.

 

I had a small red digi in my 60G which was doing so-so, but smothered in a sponge at the base. Managed to snip off roughly ~1cm of the tip and glue it down on Coralline Ledge as well - it already has full PE and has retained its color:

 

2. I also spotted a large microbrittle on the glass at night once:

 

3. The Zoa 'toadstool' corner is doing well:

 

4. Torch coral:

 

5. I'm currently comparing the growth and color differences between two same types of toadstool leathers I have growing in different areas of the reef (top pic is coral located on LR, in the middle of the tank, bottom pic is coral located on sandbed):

 

The one at the top has much better PE, but a lighter color since it is receiving a lot (maybe too much) light. Bottom one has less PE, but a nice dark color with some mild green highlights as well. 

 

6. I did run into some issues with one of the freebie acan frags I've received. Derp has tossed this frag to the sandbed several times, and I *think this injured some parts of the coral. Some of the already-melting flesh had melted away even quicker, but at least there is still a bit of flesh remaining at the edges. I can't glue down this rock piece because it's actually quite big for a frag (this used to be a mini acan colony in its prime), and I'll have to use a ton of glue to get to stick - *if it even sticks at all. Plus, one of my mini toadstool leathers occupies the same frag rock as the acan. BME, whenever I tried to glue down anything with a leather on it, the coral usually melted away. 😞

 

So I left it be, and hope it'll bounce back somehow in the upcoming months - because the original green color of the acans are very vivid and striking:

 

 

7. Here comes a slightly uneasy part on my behalf. (Please read in full before judging) 

 

I acquired a blue Mandy quite recently for the 60G. Dorsal-view looked great, but the fish's lateral lines were showing and it's underbelly was very sunken - basically, it was starving at the LFS. I *thought if I brought it home, I could train it onto prepared and it'll be fine with my other two existing dragonets - a Spotted & a Scooter. I also *thought this Mandy was female. 

 

Skip along a few days, everything seemed okay - blue Mandy wasn't eating, I spoke to some more experienced reefers about it, and there was the possibility that the Mandy might be beyond saving because it was making minimal attempt to move in my tank, let alone find some pods to eat.

 

My Spotted even slept next to the new Mandy, and I thought it was fine.

 

Until one day, I wake up to find my Spotted (which is a very healthy, chubby male btw) ripping into my new Mandy. 

 

And by ripping - I mean he was trying to *kill her. He'd latch on to her dorsal fin, shake her a few times, and drive all the way up to the surface of the water (my 60G is a 2'ft tall) in hopes of pushing her to jump out of the tank.

 

I have seen Mandys fight at the LFS before (Spotted/Spotted males), but never this aggressively. 

 

I managed to catch my Blue Mandy using a Brine net (easy to do since she was leaping up repeatedly and nearly hitting the bracing of the 60G) and quickly transferred her into a breeder box into my 10G.

 

Ordinarily, I'd call up my store and quickly return the fish or try to rehome it. But now that the lockdown has gone from bad to worse, with curfews implemented and army deployed at multiple exits leading out of my district, accessing the store would be extremely difficult. So that is how I wound up with 4 (erhmagawd!!!) fish in my 10G for the last 3 days. 

 

Up close in the breeder box, the Mandy finally raised it's badly ripped up dorsal fin a little, and it turned out it was a male too. 😕 (Which would explain the fighting with my Spotted)

 

This fish is ~3" and it was having a hard time moving about in the breeder box - and still refused to eat. I released it into the 10G DT, in hopes it would feel more comfortable in the tank (since it's slow, I can always catch it again) and that is how, this tank currently has a Blue Mandy in it (for the time being).

 

Please note this is simply a temporary measure - once the lockdown has been lifted, I'll be taking this Mandy and Pisces the clownfish back to the store to rehome both of them. For now, here's Blue (originally named Electra):

 

 

 

I've tried giving him frozen pods, but he's not interested in eating them. He's actually disinterested in even foraging the tank for other things to eat, which is a worry. Belly still remains sunken, and no improvement from the first day since I got him. 

 

This one is fully my fault - I should have asked more members who have successfully kept multiple mandarin types/pairs in a tank before, before attempting this. I just presumed that with my Spotted and Scooter getting along so well, adding a third dragonet wouldn't be an issue. I was wrong, so very wrong. 😞

 

Lesson learnt, but moving on, I'll try to hatch BBS next. My main issue with this fish is it's very slow (even by Mandy standards) and makes no attempt to even eat. I have a feeling I could toss a bottle full of live pods in this tank and it still probably won't go for them. A healthy dragonet would constantly be pecking at the rocks all day long. A starving one (like this one) would just be, 'Meh'. 

 

For now, the tank does have pods:

 

 

But I don't think he'll go for them. 😞

 

I'll keep trying, however. More updates to come later - any coral additions over the next few weeks will probably be only the ones I can pullover from my 60G since I currently can't access both my LFS. Hope my stores don't collapse. 😞 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Good luck I hope the little guys starts eating. Some times we do our best but can not save them. He may have got beat up but you never know he could make it. I think hs chances are probably still better at your house then the LFS unless they actually put him in his own tank.

[Snow_Phoenix]

27 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Good luck I hope the little guys starts eating. Some times we do our best but can not save them. He may have got beat up but you never know he could make it. I think hs chances are probably still better at your house then the LFS unless they actually put him in his own tank.

At the LFS, he was in an almost empty frag tank (only few SPS pieces on a small frag rack - no other coral, rocks or sand) with another Spotted Mandy and 2 very chunky Scooters. The Spotted Mandy was like him - shrunken belly, lateral lines showing etc. 

 

All the dragonets we get here have been wild so far. It is very unusual to come across a dragonet that would eat readily at the store, tbh. I struck gold with my Spotted - he eats pellets and isn't fussy. My Scooter is so-so - a bit picky, but still accepts frozen pods and the occasional NLS pellet, so he's not too bad. 

 

I notice Blue Mandys arrive thinner at the LFS as compared to the Spotted or Scooter ones. I'm unsure why - perhaps it's because Blues are very picky. BME with blues, they've always been a bit more difficult/challenging to wean onto prepared food as compared to other dragonet types.

 

Mine is still not eating - even today he goes hungry. 😞

 

I will keep working on him though. He still has a bit of bulk left on him, but dragonets can thin out fairly quickly if they refuse to eat/are not eating enough. 

[debbeach13]

I have no doubt you are trying every thing you can. Some times a fish that is not eating will learn to from his tank mates. I hope some how for some reason your little guy takes some food soon.

[devaji108]

good luck with it.  my all time favorite fish. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

I have no doubt you are trying every thing you can. Some times a fish that is not eating will learn to from his tank mates. I hope some how for some reason your little guy takes some food soon.

Thank you and I hope so too. 

[debbeach13]

Good morning How are you and the tank doing? Is the mandy OK?

[Snow_Phoenix]

On 4/27/2020 at 7:23 PM, debbeach13 said:

Good morning How are you and the tank doing? Is the mandy OK?

Hi Debbeach! I'm so sorry - either I didn't get a notification for your post (I usually do) or the notification was quickly swamped by other notifications for my other threads. Otherwise, I'd have answered sooner.

 

The tank is not doing too well - actually, I wanted to do a general update, but kept sitting on it.

 

I'll start with the Blue Mandy - it's in extremely poor shape. Never ate anything live or frozen since I had it - wouldn't even make an attempt to go after any pods (both live/frozen). 😞

 

In a last ditch effort, I tried to keep it in a breeder box to target-feed it more easily, but it ignored all attempts of feeding. Because of the heavy MCO restrictions in my country (people being fined or thrown straight into jail for simple violations - yeah, it's that serious over here), and the fact that the police/army blocked direct access to both my LFSes for the past few weeks, I couldn't return my fish to the store to rehome it, or couldn't even pick up any of the dry items I ordered in. 😞

 

I'll be honest - the Mandy is stick-thin now. Lateral lines showing, not moving, and barely alive. I fear he won't last long. He took a major beating from my Spotted - recovered a little, but his persistent disinterest in food pretty much starved him. I don't think he's going to make it tomorrow. 😞

 

As for the tank overall, it's been sitting at 33'C consistently for almost two, going on three weeks now. Even with my new fan, I could only bring the temp. down to 30'C, but it doesn't stay that way for long. We've been having extremely hot afternoons that average on 35'C to 38'C for the past month. During certain parts of the day, it's boiling, and the room the nano is in traps a *lot of heat, even with the fan and ventilator on. We've been lucky enough to get some rain showers for the last week, but I was still struggling to bring down the basic temp. of my tank. 

 

A *LOT of corals melted and died. Most of the SPS except the pavona bleached - everything else either shriveled or died off. Even parts of my macro didn't make it. 

 

So I did an emergency TTM and re-set up my 2.9G OSPRC pico in my bedroom (currently coolest spot in my house, which also has my 60G reef in it), and transferred all corals from the nano into it. 

 

I believe it's been a little over a week, but the TTM went over smoothly. The surviving corals are already showing signs of regrowth, which was fairly quick. 🙂 

 

This is my Pico today:

 

 

It's actually full of unhealthy coral, including a few pieces that I salvaged from my 60G. So far I've done 2 WCs, and it's super easy to maintain. Currently running barebottom because I ran out of Grade 3 crushed aragonite sand. The only invert in there is the large brittle star from my nano, and hitchikers (like microbrittles and tiny snails) from the LR. No fish. 

 

I wanted to add two turban snails to this, but I'll need to find a way to get to my LFS to purchase them (most probably use one of the backroads to get to the store). Today, my govt. relaxed the MCO/lockdown rules by a fraction and now allow citizens to travel in pairs to grab essentials within a 10km radius *only. My father and I will try to drive down to my primary LFS (will ask if they are open first - most stores have closed down/are closed) to grab the dry items I ordered, as well as some CUC for all my current tanks. 

 

Hope this answers your question.

 

(As of now, my nano only has a small clump of chaeto, a strand of fern caulerpa, three large LR pieces and fish in it - I have no idea how I can convert it back to a reeftank if the temp. problem isn't resolved, unfortunately. 😞)

 

[debbeach13]

So sorry things have taken such a bad turn in your tanks. Sounds like your doing the best you can under the circumstances. The pico actually doesn't look bad to me. It is sad about the mandy and I know you feel bad but I hope you don't actually blame your self. That fish wasn't doing well when you got it. You made every effort to help it. It just didn't respond and that is not your fault at all. Right now I guess finding a long term solution to keep the tanks cooler is your biggest concern. I wish I knew something that would help. Not sure why the fan doesn't seem to work. In my 20 when I had high temp.'s I used a large floor style fan set on top of a small table to blow across the top of the water. It did work but evaporation was extreme. It did not have an ATO at the time. Had to manually top off a couple times a day. Do you think you could get a chiller? I have never had one and image they are not cheap.. I imagine it is probably hard to find a used one for cheap. Good luck with your trip to the LFS. Please take care and stay safe.

[A.m.P]

A chiller sounds necessary, water is interesting in that it has some really fascinating temperature properties, but if you want to cool subambient, you need a subambient source. Otherwise, even with evaporation, you're mostly just slowing the warming process down. (It's allot more complicated than that XD)

Sorry you and your tanks both haven't been doing well, but I second debb in that the transferred pick looks great ^^

[Snow_Phoenix]

16 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

So sorry things have taken such a bad turn in your tanks. Sounds like your doing the best you can under the circumstances. The pico actually doesn't look bad to me. It is sad about the mandy and I know you feel bad but I hope you don't actually blame your self. That fish wasn't doing well when you got it. You made every effort to help it. It just didn't respond and that is not your fault at all. Right now I guess finding a long term solution to keep the tanks cooler is your biggest concern. I wish I knew something that would help. Not sure why the fan doesn't seem to work. In my 20 when I had high temp.'s I used a large floor style fan set on top of a small table to blow across the top of the water. It did work but evaporation was extreme. It did not have an ATO at the time. Had to manually top off a couple times a day. Do you think you could get a chiller? I have never had one and image they are not cheap.. I imagine it is probably hard to find a used one for cheap. Good luck with your trip to the LFS. Please take care and stay safe.

 

15 hours ago, Amphrites said:

A chiller sounds necessary, water is interesting in that it has some really fascinating temperature properties, but if you want to cool subambient, you need a subambient source. Otherwise, even with evaporation, you're mostly just slowing the warming process down. (It's allot more complicated than that XD)

Sorry you and your tanks both haven't been doing well, but I second debb in that the transferred pick looks great ^^

 

I'm unsure why the fan isn't working either. But that room the tank is in *is quite hot in general. We keep the door open and the major ceiling fan/ventilator on during the day, because my parrot is in the same room. I'd love to get a chiller - but my main concern is the startup money required to purchase it, as well as the spike in the electricity bill once the chiller is turned on. If I'm not mistaken, a Resun chiller for a nanotank should cost ~RM 1K (brand new) or ~RM 850 (second-hand). It's quite expensive, and right now, I can't afford it. I have been floating ice cubes and *iced water bottles in the tank, but it has minimal effect. 😞

 

So for now, this will be a fish-only-with-macro tank. It's unfortunate, because I really wanted to convert this back into a reeftank again. 

 

And thanks guys - the pico is very low-maintenance, and right now the easiest tank to keep in the house. Thinking of starting a separate thread for it later. 🙂 

 

[debbeach13]

I understand now that I am retired and living on a fixed income reef purchases have to be planned and then saved up for. It was a surprise gift certificate that made my pico tank purchase possible. Agreed the ice cube and iced water bottles helps a couple degrees. It is good for the absolute hottest time of the day but you do have to sleep!

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

...but you do have to sleep!

 

-

 

Just j/k. 😛

 

I'll keep trying to pull the temp. down. Thank goodness fish aren't as fussy as coral when it comes to temp. Mine seem to actually enjoy the warm water. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A small update: Blue Mandy finally passed away today morning. 

 

This fish never ate for me. I tried everything - I'm not a novice to keeping dragonets, so I knew what I was in for when I brought it home. But I was still unprepared for the fact that it might not even eat live (brine shrimp, pods & mosquito larvae), so I was genuinely at a loss on how to stop it from starving itself to death. Yes, it wasn't in great shape when I brought it home from the store. At the LFS, it was in the corner of the frag tank, not moving and had lateral lines already showing. All warning signs of an unhealthy fish. 

 

I guess I just thought I could help it somehow and give it a fighting chance. I was enamored by the short-term success I had with my two other dragonets, that I *thought I could handle another one without any issue. I was wrong. 😞

 

And yes, I feel bad, although some of you told me not to blame myself, a tiny part of me still does. It's a shame, because I personally find dragonets one of the most beautiful and rewarding fish to keep, once they're on a stable diet of prepared. One classic example is my current spotted dragonet, Poseidon - I enjoy watching him as he swims around my tank, looking for pods, and he eats pellets readily (real stroke of luck, this one), so I don't have much trouble making sure he stays healthy and fat. 

 

*Maybe, in the future, when I have a far larger reef system upwards 100G which is dedicated to keeping dragonets (like a thriving macrotank with softies/sponges/gorgs), I will try a Blue Mandy again. But for now, this fish is off my list. 

 

It's gut-wrenching to 'rescue' an animal from the store, then fail at the rescue attempt and have it die on you, I guess. 😞

 

As for the remaining fish, I currently have two clowns that *don't get along (the regular Occy is in a breeder box to keep him isolated from the platinum perc.), a bicolor blenny and a jerk of a hermit in an almost-empty tank with a few scattered macro here and there. One good...peculiarity though, is that my fern caulerpa is actually growing quickly in this tank now with all the corals gone. It's strange, but it has this wild-look about it that I kinda like. 

 

Maybe I'll just sit back and watch as it takes over the rocks. Like 'jungle vines' all over the place. That'd be cool. 

[debbeach13]

So sorry. I know you feel bad. You know I know you did your best and that is all you could do. I am singing "Welcome to the jungle" right now. Good thing you can not hear it!

[Ratvan]

I'm sorry and know how you feel, essentially though you took on a really difficult rescue fish and did so much for it. It's why I stopped doing it myself

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

So sorry. I know you feel bad. You know I know you did your best and that is all you could do. I am singing "Welcome to the jungle" right now. Good thing you can not hear it!

 

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

I'm sorry and know how you feel, essentially though you took on a really difficult rescue fish and did so much for it. It's why I stopped doing it myself

 

Rescuing anything hasn't always been easy. And the worst off an animal is in the beginning, the longer it takes for it to recover, if it can hold on long enough to recover at all. 😞

 

I learnt this after picking up the fish others don't want/rejects from the store. Same goes for birds, dogs - any animal basically. 

 

My first 'rescue' was my first dog (a terrier-spitz crossbreed/mutt). Rejected by previous owner for being skinny and mangy. When she was returned to her breeder, the breeder started to call her 'Reject' as a name. Until we picked her up, and I renamed her. And she turned out to be the best dog for my family, and an excellent therapy dog for me. 

 

Ever since then, I developed a habit of picking up animals left rejected from stores by either the previous owners, or animals with bad behavior issues (ever had a pet psychotic hamster that bit everyone, but trained himself to run back into his cage on his own? I actually had one! 😄) or deformed ones. Prior to picking up my spotted dragonet, I actually eyed on an one-eyed anthias at my LFS which was also missing a chunk of its head (result of being bitten off by a grouper (?) because it accidently jumped from one holding tank to the other). Almost brought it home, until it jumped again into another tank and got eaten by a larger fish (if my memory serves me correctly, it was another grouper as well, but a very small one/different type). My worker-friend was in tears because she liked it, and how it defied the odds and kept living with one eye and half a head. 😞

 

I liked the lil' guy too. 😞