Friday, October 1, 2010

I think my fish took a walk

There's a bit of mystery here at chez Wandering Cat - the mystery of the disappeared pleco.

As you may have seen, in addition to three cats, I also have some fish that I am quite enamoured of. I've mentioned the angel fish, but I have a rather mixed school in my tank.

When I was growing up, my Dad had a really cool hexagon tank that I loved. It was filled with guppies and danios and tetras, and always - one Plecostamus (those big ugly sucky fish for you non-fish people.)

When we were teens, and my brother was working, he bought his own fish tank (and I was so jealous because I wanted a tank too but couldn't afford one - probably because most of my money went to shoes...) and of course, he had a pleco - whom he named Jimi Hendrix.

When Dave and I started dating, I discovered Dave too was a fish enthusiast. Eventually, Dave gave me my own fish tank and Jimi came to live there. (Jimi actually lived a few other places in between, but that's a story for another day). Sadly, Jimi died a few years later of a heart attack - I watched it happen - it certainly looked like a heart attack.

Since then, I had a couple of plecos that died pretty quickly (a common occurrence with fish unfortunately), so I tried some Siamese Algae eaters and then Clown Loaches, (I still have the loaches). But last year, I decided I wanted another pleco - ugly as they are - I love plecos. So off we went to the fish store - they didn't have any of the normal cheap ($3) brown plecos, but they did have a neat black and white spotted pleco. He was a little higher than our usual price range ($11) for a fish, but I liked him, so Dave bought him for me anyway.

As he grew, I discoved he was a type of bristlenose pleco. He looked something like this (I regret not taking pictures)He had a huge tail that he would fan out like a Flamenco dancer's skirt, and he was always hanging off the side of the tank, or the plants.

Now, admittedly, I've been so busy lately, I've been a bad fish-mommy. I feed them, but I really haven't paid too much attention to them otherwise (fish are good like that - they don't take it personal).

However, last night, I decide that the plants (I have live plants - no cheesy plastic for my fish-babies) had taken over the tank and needed to be seriously weed-whacked. So I set to it.

And, as I got the tank back to an acceptable level of vegetation, I discovered the glaring absence of my pleco. I pulled all the plants out (don't worry, they were easily replanted) just incase he was hiding from all the yard-work.

Nope still no pleco. And bad fish-mommy that I am, I honestly can't remember how long it's been since I last saw him. He could have been missing for months! (I guess it's a good thing I don't have children...)

I think he took a walk. Unfortunately, plecos are known to do that. For unknown reasons, they will jump out of the tank (Dave had one who liked to jump into the filter). I looked all around the tank, but there's no body - and I think I know the reason why....
Doubly unfortunately for my pretty pleco - I have three cats . Three cats that happen to just love seafood. One in particular who likes to sit and watch the fish (old pic before I put in live plants)
I hope he tasted good....

12 comments:

lexa said...

The poor pleco! We have two tanks but are down to one fish right now, a tetra. One tank is cold water, the other has a heater. The fish were all okay til the boys sucked me in at WalMart to get some fish, and they all died. Except the tetra. So no more WalMart fish, I'll only get them from the pet store.

Unknown said...

Oh no, poor fishy.

My step-father had a tank when I was a kid. He had a long skinny pink sucker fish, that looked like a 6 inch snake. He was quite proud of that thing. *smirk*

I have parakeets with cats. 2 of the cats like to sit and watch them. 2 of the bunnies will hop up on a box and stare into the cage when the birds get loud.

I'm afraid if I had fish, the same 2 cats would use my yarn and knitting needles to construct a fishing pole.

Monika said...

Poor guy, he didn't have a chance!

Anonymous said...

We had a similar problem with fish going missing.

The culprit? Our parrot, Mace. When we were not looking he would sit on the tank and dangle in a toe. When the fish investigated he would snatch them up and drop them behind the cabinet the tank sat on.

We got a sturdier lid after he fished out a $20 candy-apple discus.

Sorry your Pleco met a sorry fate.

Frieda said...

Oh no , poor fish , he got more than he bargained for !

Casey had an aquarium for years back when he was a teenager . It seemed to be my job to take care of the fish back then . Now it's Max who's got a small aquarium as a bd gift last year . He's really into it and would love a larger one down the way . Fortunately for the fish he's got 2 dogs who couldn't care less . Though that's not really a consolation either ...

Minding My Own Stitches said...

Oh dear! My cat at least has the good grace to look guilty when she's been doing things she knows she's not supposed to.

Jeanne said...

Awww...poor fish. We had a tank as a kid and kept a screen on it because the cats would go fishing themselves.

I'm sorry for your loss and hope the cats feel properly sorry for their actions.

Samantha said...

While I feel terrible for the little Pleco I am LMAO @ the cats feasting on it. Ha ha ha. Too funny! Do you have any snails? Lily has a snail named Shelly. She has a gold fish named Lava and a danio named Speedy (though Michael and I call him "Lunch").

TheBlackSheep said...

Poor fish! I just hope it was a quick death.

Anonymous said...

oh my........poor fish!!!!
we had some that liked to jump out of their tank too.........
i have no idea why??LOL

Ashleigh Pie said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog :-)

p.s Your cats look really cute

x

zoom said...

Sorry about your pleco, but I love this post. And you know, he wouldn't have survived the leap to freedom even if you didn't have three cats. At least he didn't go to waste. Are you going to get another pleco?