Monday, February 14, 2011
It's Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day to all the raw feeders out there. In celebration of the holiday, have a heart!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A perfectly round bite.
A few weeks ago, I learned that one of my husband's cousins was moving and getting rid of her fish, a piranha. She told me I could have the tank, and I agreed to come catch her piranha and pick up the tank. I'd been wanting to upgrade the current 20 gallon tank I had, so I was thrilled at the thought of a free aquarium! I knew she was not very dedicated to this tank, but little did I know what I was in for...
I prepared myself for a decent sized piranha in a 55 gallon tank like she'd told me. Knowing it wouldn't be an easy task to move, I recruited my sister to help me. I borrowed the heavy-duty gravel vacuum/siphon from the pet store I work at, along with some buckets, fish bags, and nets. Once we walked in the door, I immediately realized the tank was not a 55 gallon at all, but a 30 gallon cube in horrendous condition. And hiding in a corner behind a tacky decoration was a 6-7" red bellied piranha, named Jaws (original, I know).
We doubled up (or was it tripled?) some good sized fish bags and filled it with water. My sister held the bags as I netted Jaws. No problem. He didn't swim away, so it was a pretty easy scoop. He flopped around a bit in the net as I raised him out of the tank toward the bags. I carefully dropped him into the waiting bags, and for a brief moment, all was well. Hooray, we'd done it! We'd netted and bagged a supposedly ferocious carnivorous fish! As I reached around to get the rubberbands to close the bags, we sighed with relief that all had gone smoothly.
HA!
The next thing we know, water started gushing of holes on both sides of the bag. My sister stood there, dumbstruck, as water sprayed everywhere in surprising large amounts, while Jaws could be seen/heard thrashing around inside the bag. After a moment of total paralytic shock, my sister jumped to action and dumped the bag back into the aquarium. We were soaked, the carpet was soaked, and those reinforced plastic fish bags were covered in perfectly round, nickel-sized holes. My husband's cousin, who had been watching from a distance on the couch, found the entire event hilarious, although she brought us towels to help soak up the mess.
After regaining our composure, we came up with a different strategy, and opted to put Jaws in a large plastic bucket. We used a second bucket turned upside down as a lid. Never before have I driven as carefully as I did while driving Jaws to the pet store, my sister riding shotgun and holding his bucket in between her feet. We made it successfully to the pet store, where we released Jaws into a tank of his own.
There is now a special note on Jaws' tank at the pet store that says, "Do NOT bag this fish! Send home in a bucket." I decided it was better to warn everyone, although the idea of letting them find out about the bags on their own was tempting.
I prepared myself for a decent sized piranha in a 55 gallon tank like she'd told me. Knowing it wouldn't be an easy task to move, I recruited my sister to help me. I borrowed the heavy-duty gravel vacuum/siphon from the pet store I work at, along with some buckets, fish bags, and nets. Once we walked in the door, I immediately realized the tank was not a 55 gallon at all, but a 30 gallon cube in horrendous condition. And hiding in a corner behind a tacky decoration was a 6-7" red bellied piranha, named Jaws (original, I know).
We doubled up (or was it tripled?) some good sized fish bags and filled it with water. My sister held the bags as I netted Jaws. No problem. He didn't swim away, so it was a pretty easy scoop. He flopped around a bit in the net as I raised him out of the tank toward the bags. I carefully dropped him into the waiting bags, and for a brief moment, all was well. Hooray, we'd done it! We'd netted and bagged a supposedly ferocious carnivorous fish! As I reached around to get the rubberbands to close the bags, we sighed with relief that all had gone smoothly.
HA!
The next thing we know, water started gushing of holes on both sides of the bag. My sister stood there, dumbstruck, as water sprayed everywhere in surprising large amounts, while Jaws could be seen/heard thrashing around inside the bag. After a moment of total paralytic shock, my sister jumped to action and dumped the bag back into the aquarium. We were soaked, the carpet was soaked, and those reinforced plastic fish bags were covered in perfectly round, nickel-sized holes. My husband's cousin, who had been watching from a distance on the couch, found the entire event hilarious, although she brought us towels to help soak up the mess.
After regaining our composure, we came up with a different strategy, and opted to put Jaws in a large plastic bucket. We used a second bucket turned upside down as a lid. Never before have I driven as carefully as I did while driving Jaws to the pet store, my sister riding shotgun and holding his bucket in between her feet. We made it successfully to the pet store, where we released Jaws into a tank of his own.
There is now a special note on Jaws' tank at the pet store that says, "Do NOT bag this fish! Send home in a bucket." I decided it was better to warn everyone, although the idea of letting them find out about the bags on their own was tempting.
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