|
Happy Monday!
Like the time he hurled himself from his tank and landed with a thud on the floor, life with Whiskers the 13-year-old catfish hasn’t always gone swimmingly.
“It’s been quite the journey,” says aquarium hobbyist Taylor Munroe, 29, who bought the four-line pictus catfish (Pimelodus Blochii) in 2012.
Back then, fresh out of high school, Taylor knew he wasn’t allowed to have an aquarium in his parents’ home but forked out $8 anyway for a tiny catfish at The aFISHionado, a “warehouse of fish” that was, at that time, located on St. Matthews Avenue (today the tropical fish import business is on Haarsma Street in East St. Paul).
Later, Taylor scored himself a cheap tank on Kijiji and snuck it into the house when his parents were at a New Year’s Eve party.
At the time, Whiskers was an inch long, with whiskers (barbels) adding another two inches to his tiny silver frame.
Baby Whiskers (Submitted)
He was expected to grow another three to seven inches but didn’t stop until he was a foot long.
Today, Whiskers weighs close to a pound and eats “pretty much anything” Taylor throws in his tank, including shrimp, krill and bloodworm pellets.
“I experimented with some tiny fish friends,” says Taylor. “And two mysteriously disappeared, so I guess he ate them.’
Whiskers didn‘t stop growing until he was a foot long. (Submitted)
Whiskers, a nocturnal bottom feeder who hails from South America, spends his day vacuuming the bottom of his 75-gallon tank, a watery abode that sits in the basement of Taylor’s St. Andrews home.
He’s had one companion for about seven years, and Taylor, an analyst with the federal government, recently added a pair of cichlids from Central America and four South American Buenos Aires tetras.
“He is the boss of the tank, for sure. If anyone is aggressive he’s the one pushing them around,” Taylor explains, pointing out that he’s unable to make Whisker’s tank pretty because he tosses everything around.
Whiskers weighs close to a pound now and has a hearty appetite. (Submitted)
Speaking of tanks, Taylor, a fishing enthusiast who owns two other freshwater aquariums and happens to despise touching fish, would love to have a bigger one but says the house he shares with his wife, Beverley, and nine-month-old son, Henry, has a wood foundation that might not withstand the weight of a 180-gallon tank.
Advertisement
“He’s still pretty comfortable in this one,” says Taylor, who attributes his long-whiskered pet’s long life to, well, being somewhat neglected.
For the most part, he doesn’t scrape the aquarium glass, avoids changing the decor and routinely changes the water, taking out about 30 gallons per month.
“So, the only thing I can think of is, I pretty much leave him alone,” he says.
Whiskers chilling with a couple of his friends. (Submitted)
Keep swimming, Whiskers!
Have a great week!
|
