Fish Stories

[BigV]

My whole family loves pets, dogs and cats and more. We have both, by the way, one dog and three cats. I'm a dog person primarily. But I also keep fish. Are there any other fishkeepers out there?

I have only three tanks active right now. I have one 10 and one 20 gallon tank at home, and a 10 gallon at work. At home I have a couple of sailfin plecostomus in the 10 along with a pair of botia modesta and one bullhead minnow, or pinky.

In the 20, I have a zillion guppies. The are actually called "millions fish" in some parts of the world and the way they breed when the conditions are right, I can see where the name comes from. Guppies are livebearers. The females are impregnated and hold the fry until they're born, freeswimming and able to fend for themselves. In my tank I provide a lot of cover for them, as they represent a tasty treat for any other fish that imagines it could swallow one. When born, they're about 3/16" long, and all eyeball at the front. They grow quickly and reach sexual maturity in about three to six months, and the cycle of life gets another big boost.

It's interesting to watch theses critters. They're just pigs for food. Ok, ok, there are a lot of mouths to feed and small frequent feedings are better by far than large infrequent feedings. But they can see me coming and positively SWARM the corner of the tank where I drop in the food. They'll even follow my hand from one side to the other, begging for food.

I used to have another tank, which is closed down for the time being, that had another population of fish I'd trained to hand feeding. These were my favorites while they lasted. I had a juvenile pair of silver arowanas, about 12" long each. These fish are from the Amazon river and can reach 5 feet long! They're called "monkeyfish" in some areas, since they've been known to LEAP FROM THE WATER and snatch their dinner from a branch overhanging the water, birds, monkeys, whatever. They have mouths like drawbridges, hinged at the bottom and open up huge. Gulp! I trained them to eat from my fingers. I would hold the bite of food, like a chunk of frozen smelt about 1"x1/2" between my thumb and forefinger a couple of inches above the surface of the water. I could see them watching and tracking their dinner and then Splash Flash Gone! Thankfully their teeth didn't represent a real danger to me since they often bit as high up as the first knuckle. Just to be sure. I'll get the arowana tank back online one of these days, and then I'll have a place for all those guppies.

Are there any other fishkeepers out there? Carnival goldfish killers? What are your tank setups? Your fish? I'll only inflict more of my fish stories on you if I learn of other stories in return, so don't be shy. We know you're lying. That's why they're called fish stories.