# 16" rhom



## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Here's my 16" rhom when I first received it:
















The fish was emaciated, had cloudy eyes, the right pectoral fin was split all the way down to the body and showed signs of fin rot, both gill plates had signs of damage, all the fins were frayed (especially the dorsal), and finally the body had various scrapes (especially towards the tail area).

Two weeks later:

























I decided to take out all of the gravel and decor to facilitate water changes. I added salt at 0.3%, did a 20% water change twice a week, kept the lights off (turned on the lights just to take pictures), and fed him shrimp and fish fillet every night.

Tank setup: 90 gallon, wet/dry filter w/ 25 watt UV, Emperor 400, 300 watt titanium heater in sump, temp at 82 F. Inhabitants: 2 bleeding heart tetras, 3 zebra danios, 4 rasboras, 1 pleco, 20 cardinal tetras.

Results... No more cloudy eye, all fins have healed (the dorsal has grown almost an inch!), the split pectoral fin has healed perfectly, and it has gained considerable bulk. The left gill plate is slowly healing, but that one is going to take a while...

An example of how quickly piranhas can heal.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

OMFG! Wow DonH I can see a HUGE difference! Way to go man!


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## C-172 (May 28, 2003)

That fish is AMAZING!!

Is that the big guy Shark Aquarium was selling?


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## GARGOYLE (Feb 12, 2003)

WOW! Looking good, great improvement.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

I can't see the pics.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

hold shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**....very nice don...


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## HOLLYWOOD (Feb 6, 2003)

Now thats HOT!!!!


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

lol, apparently I am the only one who can't see the pics.lol
I tried in Netscape and I/E,
I can't view any images hosted @ 1asphost.com.
Weird..


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

Fantastic!


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Damn man, that is a beautiful fish. Amazing job Don..


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

wow what a monster, great recovery work dude!!


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

I'm speechless...Bravo!!!


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## Petzl88 (Feb 5, 2003)

Absolutely beautiful fish! I'm glad that he is doing better. How does he fare in the 90 gallon? Did you get him from Ron? What is he like?


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)




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## MikeR (May 29, 2003)

Love the Rhom. Great work. I bet you were worried when you first saw him.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

Absolutely incredible job














I thought I healed up my Caribe quick, but what you did with that rhom is just amazing. He's gonna be a killer beast when he's completely healed up, which at the rate you are going will be an hour or two from now.

Joe


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## 521 1N5 (Apr 25, 2003)

great job!


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## DiXoN (Jan 31, 2003)

thats one amazing fish and nice working bringing it back to its best
dixon


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

winkyee said:


> lol, apparently I am the only one who can't see the pics.lol
> I tried in Netscape and I/E,
> I can't view any images hosted @ 1asphost.com.
> Weird..


Same here: I think it's because 1asphost sucks ass - their server is down like 50% of the time...








Imagine having your website running there (....like I have....





















)

I bet you did a great job, DonH - just too bad I can't see the pics... :sad:


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Thanks for the complements guys...

The reason why I switched to 1asphost was because arofanatics no longer provides remote image hosting.

I have moved the images to arofanatics as a link:Here along with some additional photos.



> I bet you were worried when you first saw him.


Actually, I was quite impressed! I picked it up at the airport in a box that weighed 142 pounds. When I opened the box, it was in a large plastic laundry basket. The water was pretty dark (probably because of the tranq) but when I lifted the basket up from the water, the shape of this huge fish covering the entire bottom of the basket just blew my mind away.


> How does he fare in the 90 gallon? What is he like?


He is a very active rhom. A little skittish right now but I think he's slowly adjusting to the environment. Fortunately, he eats a lot and consistently so far. The 90 gallon really displays him quite well but I know he will be much happier in a 180. If I have enough funds for another setup...


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Thanks for moving the pics.
What a difference in the fish . 
Damn huge .








Pete


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## JesseD (Mar 26, 2003)

that fish is crazy huge!!!









excellent work on healing him up.


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## LaZy (Jun 17, 2003)

Nice loOking fish man


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## MikeR (May 29, 2003)

Each one of those pics is a potential Pic of the Month








That fish is beautiful. Congrats!


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## dadygee (Apr 16, 2003)

Definately a pic of the month candidate, What geat looking creature!


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## Memphis (Apr 26, 2003)




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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

DonH said:


> Inhabitants: 2 bleeding heart tetras, 3 zebra danios, 4 rasboras, 1 pleco, 20 cardinal tetras.


Now, 2 bleeding hearts tetras, 3 zebra danios, 1 rasbora, 1 pleco, and 17 cardinal tetras.









Oh... and one thick 16" rhom.









I'm adding 20 small Myleus schomburki from Brian Scott this weekend to see how long they last.


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