Earthquakes aren't good for fish...

[trilobite]

We had a few earthquakes on thursday. The first one was M 5.8 (I think) and tried to tip the tanks and stand over but luckily the door stands opened and held the stand up on a weird angle. Then after a few small aftershocks, another one came along, this guy was a M 6. I was sitting outside enjoing m icecream in the sun when it came at first it was nothing special then I heard the smashing of glass... and sure enough my little juvies and 3 adults were flopping around all over the ground.

So I had to scoop them up amongst the glass shards and drop them into my dogs water bowl. Finding them all was really hard and most of them ended up under the couch. Power went out as well so I couldnt heat their water. I chucked them into 2 tiny spare tanks I found outside and put it into the glasshouse to try and heat it up.
My bf had power so I smuggled them to his house later and had a good look at them...they were all covered in scratches and looked very upset with themselves but the next day they all perked up and ate a good meal of tubifex worms, and the male adult blew a little nest for the ladies he now has to share his tank with.

Anyways, I learnt that bettas are so much more hardy then I gave credit for.
From being thrown out of a warm tank across the room, cut up by glass, left flopping on the ground for 10 mins and then dumped into cold water...

These are my last two tanks and left...they better not break

[Jrf456]

Oh my, that's horrible!

I'm so sorry this happened to you, I can't imagine having that happen.. I live in Florida and we don't get any earthquakes (knock on wood)..

I'm glad you were able to save them all!

Merry Christmas!

- Joel

[dramaqueen]

I heard that you had an earthquake there. I hope that no one was hurt and I hope your fish will be ok.

[Sena Hansler]

I love bettas for that reason - even some people saying they came home to a half dry betta, tossed them back into their bowl and the fish perked up ina couple hours bettas, are great for that <3

and sorry to hear about your tanks!

[trilobite]

Thanks :) theses guys are doing pretty well at the moment. I've just gotta sort out some new places to put the grumpy old male.

Yeah these two remaining tanks are now strapped to the wall and cabinet with metal bracing and so is the cabinet so it will have to be a tough quake to get them off this time.

Originally Posted by Sena Hansler

I love bettas for that reason - even some people saying they came home to a half dry betta, tossed them back into their bowl and the fish perked up ina couple hours bettas, are great for that <3

and sorry to hear about your tanks!

Thats awesome! they are amazing wee fish, I also like the fact that they are able to live with low oxygen. When my main tank smashed back in Feb only the angels and siamese algae eater survived. But they ran out of oxygen in their small tank overnight and died the bettas once again were the survivours.
Bettas for the win!

[Sena Hansler]

aww poor fish :( that sucks doesn't it? I'm kind of glad alberta doesn't get earthquakes ><

[trilobite]

You dont know what you're missing out on but nah they're not fun one they start destroying things.

Dont you guys get hurricanes though? I wouldn't be able to do well in one of them

Scary thing is no one even knew chch had any major fault lines running beneath it so we thought we were safe.
And we also have the alpine fault which goes straight through the south island..its long overdue and going to be huge.
Hopefully I manage to escape to aus before it decides to go off.

Dont come to christchurch anytime soon

[Badjer]

Scary stuff...glad to hear that your bettas are ok! Hardy little things aren't they? No earthquakes here in Michigan. We don't really have any natural disasters here, unless you count the snow storms! I hope things start settling down for you guys and everyone (fish included of course) stays safe. (:

[Sena Hansler]

Well, no hurricanes here. What we do have (welcome to Alberta! The Canadian ALABAMA!! D: ) is constant tornado warnings, some touch downs... We also, one year, had a freak storm that not even weather forcasts saw coming! it collapsed the Big Valley Jamboree stage, killing a woman and injuring some others. It was nice outside, summertime, then I sat down stairs just to hear the gate slamming, so I went to close it. The wind that day went from non-existant to category 2.5-3 hurricane standards! In a matter of literally, 3 minutes O_O We have freak storms a lot... and it sucks. A tornado almost struck the area I lived in years ago, by appearing in less then 10 minutes after having a clear blue sky.

[gidgeystartedit]

Scary stuff.