fish die

Sometimes…your fish just die

Here is something you don’t see written about this hobby very often. 

Sometimes your fish just die.

You can care for them the same way you care for everything else in your tank but despite your best efforts, the fish might just die. While I’m pretty sure it’s worse for them then it is for us…(pretty sure?)…I certainly don’t love when it happens.

I’ve found that the level of sucking is directly proportionate to the amount I paid for it.

In this case, I paid $50 for a Flame Angel. Not an extremely rare or expensive fish, but also certainly not a goldfish.

flame angelfish quarantine

So it sucked pretty hard. What happened? I’m not sure, really. I had her in quarantine for about 29 days. She was doing very well and then, she just died.

She was eating well.

She was swimming fine.

I didn’t see any external parasites.

It’s easy to see how this hobby can be discouraging to newbies. I’ve been at this game for years now, am fairly confident in my fish-keeping abilities and I lost this fish after providing some reasonable care…I think…

I don’t really see much written about it. 

Forums and Facebook groups are filled with people asking questions about what is happening to their fish….

Why does my fish have white spots

Why is it scratching on the rocks?

My fish won’t eat

And sometimes, they just die, suddenly, even when they otherwise look fine.

It sucks. I was pretty excited about my flame angel.

But this is as far as it goes.


RIP my little fishy friend.

Time to start shopping online again.

Can you share your experiences by leaving a comment below? Have you ever had a fish die, despite all other positive signals that it was a healthy fish?

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