Fish Fucked

Just a short entry. My fish is going to die. =(

He’s an eel-tailed Tandanus Catfish, and he’s been a sickly little fellow almost since I bought him. He’s always tended to lurk sulkily in the bottom corners of his tank, and when I first noticed him lying slightly on his side, I figured he was a goner, but he often got up and swam about vigorously with no trouble, it was just when he rested, he had a slight list.

The other day, I moved him into a tropical tank. Catfish can usually handle cold water or tropical tanks, but he came from a tropical tank at the store, so I figured maybe he just wasn’t adapting to my cold water tank properly. So I set up a tropical tank and migrated all my fish and other creatures to it. Everybody was fine for the first couple of days, but now he’s lying right flat on his side when he rests, and when he gets up and tries to swim, he swims upside down, frantically turning circles as he tries to right himself. If I could somehow know he was perfectly fine, it would be a very entertaining and comical sight to watch, but knowing that he’s sick and going to die, it’s a little bit morbid. Like a clown with cancer. He’s capering about and everybody thinks it’s funny and cute, but he’s actually dying before your eyes. Hmm.

It made me wonder, what actually causes fish to swim upside down? I mean, anybody who’s ever owned a fish knows that it means it’s not long for this world, but what is the actual scientific explanation for it? So naturally, I Googled the problem (can you even imagine what it must have been like to be an adult in the days before the internet? =P), and discovered that most often, it’s a malfunctioning swim bladder – a small air filled sac inside the fish which it uses to regulate its depth. If it gets fucked up, it can cause anything from an inability to float up or sink down, to improper balance control while swimming. And most of the time, yes, it leads to the permanent upside down float, and a visit to the land of the Great White Bowl afterwards.

So yeah. Give me sympathy. By my next entry, that fish will most likely be dead.

On an upside though, I bought another Tandanus Catfish the other day, hoping that a friend might cheer the sick little fellow up a bit. It didn’t, but it certainly cheered me up – the new fish is the most interactive, charismatic fish I’ve ever seen! Normally fish just… well, exist. And they dart away when you so much as move near the outside of the tank. But this fish actually plays with you like a puppy! I first discovered it when I was trying to help a marine snail that had fallen up. While I was turning the snail around, the fish swam up and starting trying to play with us! He was swimming circles around the snail and my fingers, darting in to nip at my fingers with its little toothless mouth. Ever since then, each day I put my fingers in the tank, and he swims up and plays with me for a while. If I spin my finger around, he chases his own tail like a silly puppy! He’s quite the character. I’ve never seen a fish who’ll even let you touch it, let alone one that actively tries to play with people. Easily the coolest fish I’ve ever known.

Well, I guess I have to go back to the pet store now and buy another fish. I hope the new fish is cool like the last one I bought, and not just sickly and sad like it’s predecessor. Either way it’s worth the trip though – the pet store is fully staffed with beautiful young girls, each one hotter than the last. Luckily for me, fish are cheap. My buddy wasn’t so clever, he ended up buying ferrets instead, and his hormones cost him several hundred dollars. Now, he has to keep going back to buy expensive ferret food when he wants to see the girls. Me, I just buy a cheap fish. =P

EDIT:- Not two hours after I wrote this entry, the poor little guy gave up the ghost. He didn’t go silently unto the night, either – his death was violent, frantic, frenzied, and largely unpleasant to watch. Usually when fish die, you just wake up the next day, see them floating on the surface, dispose of them and replace them. Actually watching this fish die an excruciating and torturous death however, gave me a new perspective on fish as pets. They feel pain just like a cat or dog might when it gets sick and dies.

Thankfully, they are not expensive to replace, and I actually put in an order for more catfish at the hot girl pet store just the other day, when I bought my last one, the cheerful fellow with the puppy personality. So I’ll get another one soon.