If she gouged him and took a nice size chunk out of him then disregard the above advice and tell her to stop using spoons in the aquarium. LOL

Algae eaters are strong and can burrow themselves out of tight spots so there’s usually no need to use the jaws of life to get them out. He was probably hiding from HER then was like omg she’s got a spoon. LOL

The funny thing is I once saw my fish eating in a way I didn’t think was natural. I thought he was choking and wanted to rush in and help him. It wasn’t the case at all. Thank God I decided against an underwater tracheotomy.

fma

Sister has a big fish tank – about the size of yours, I think. Hers was found in the basement of her house, left behind by the previous owners. So she dug it out and cleaned it up. Bought some fish. Learned that fish don’t get fat – they get pregnant. Her fish are apparently hermaphrodites. So when the eggs were hatched, she bought a breeding cage (not before some eggs “disappeared” – AKA were eaten). Her kids were delighted to see the fish grow up and be released. Some of the toddler fish were released this week and took over the former abode of the algae-eating fish. The algae eater, being a good grandparent fish let the toddlers have his former house. He moved back to his prior home, which is a smaller rocky dwelling place. The problem is that the rocky dwelling place had shrunk in size (or perhaps the algae eater, like the rest of us, has gained a few pounds with his older age). He got stuck. So my sister, being the good fish mama, tried to unstick him. She pushed on his tail, tugged on his head. Finally she got a spoon and used the curved end to push him through the hole. Unfortunately Mr. Algae Eater now swims in circles so alas, his “wing” (when Sister was telling the story, she couldn’t think of the word “fin” so she called it a wing) must have been injured. When she goes to the store to buy a bigger rock dwelling place, she is going to inquire about fish slings so Mr. Algae eater can heal.

Yeah I’ve got a placo as well. He’s about 10 inches right now but in the larger tank he’ll get bigger and fatter. I’m kinda proud at how clean my tank is. In addition to maintaining my super awesome filtration system I do weekly water changes, add water softener and do a visual check of their fins and eyes for health. I don’t think regular filters work that well so I have a small bag of rocks that clear amonia, a small bag of carbon clear and a filter sponge. These work very well for fish that put off a lot of waste and a lot of ammonia. The regular store filters just don’t seem to work that well for me. I buy these individually but it still costs less than a box of filters. I pay a total of $6.00 for the three of them and can use them for about 3 months each as long as I rinse them off regularly. For me they work a lot better. I got the idea from the store where I got my fish. This is exactly how they set up their filtration systems. Proudly, my water is as clear and healthy as theirs. (pats self on the back)

The calico lionhead is my favorite of the fish. I’m not sure how obvious it is but of all Gus is my favorite pet. That might be obvious but I’m not certain Mr. I have to have an after dinner mint and Downy fabric softener on my blankets and pillows.
Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful.

Gotta run, must go buy peppermint.
Austin

And now I’m off to have some vanilla ice cream that I am strangely craving. I thought of you Wednesday when I did a chik-fil-a run and had the most wonderful peppermint milkshake. Yum