My Favorite Fish is Sleeping with the Fishes

[EllieSuz]

I gave my Mandarin a circular funeral today. Poor little devil was deader than a doornail, stuck so tight in a rock I could barely pull him out. Before you jump to conclusions, he did not starve. A couple of years ago I asked Sue at MO to let me know if she ever got a Mandarin that was eating frozen. One day she spritzed some Hikari Brine Shrimp in a tank and out of the rock came my little Mandarin, slurping up brine from the water column. He survived two eye infections resulting in the loss of the whole eye ball and he still managed to thrive in my tank, hunting all day and getting a daily feeding of brine shrimp or Nutramar Ova. I don't know if he died of old age or actually got himself so stuck in the rock that he couldn't back out. He was fine this morning and gone this afternoon. Bummed out. He was my fav.

 

[Sophie10]

Sorry for your loss. A slight shift in the rock work might have claimed him.

 

[Geoff_Poz]

Sorry to hear.

 

[shawna1972]

Awww sorry

 

[pascal32]

sorry to hear.

 

[jdoenumber2]

My sincere condolences.

 

[lcs]

Oh no! What terrible news. I'm so sorry!

I was afraid to open the thread because I wondered if that was who it was about.

And folks, I've seen this fish and he was most definitely not starving! (Not that anyone has said he was) Probably the fattest fish I have ever seen. I'm surprised he could even fit in any hole in any rock.

 

[Willistein]

That stinks - he was a very cool fish. How long did you have him for?

 

[EllieSuz]

It would have been two years in July, Dan. We can't know the age of these wild caught fish when we get them. This one appeared fully grown. He might have just gotten old, although he didn't show any signs. An interesting observation about this death. None of the clean up crew showed any interest in the body at all. There was a lot of slimy discharge on him that floated in strands around the area where he was. I suspect that this would not be a good species to let decompose in our tanks. It was lucky that he was wedged in the front where I could get at him.

 

[andrew2010]

When I had one die when I started sw , It was vey slimy. Aprox 4-5 times its own volume in slime. Sorry about your loss. My current mandy is one of my favs in my tank.

 

[PCKRAJ]

Sorry to hear

 

[aquadonkey]

So sorry Eileen!
I'm glad I had a chance to check him out - he was a fish with a lot of character!

 

[dadoftwins]

Thats terrible ...sounds like he had a awsome home ..Hey remember the pumping zenia I got from you? they are everywhere now and in huge colinies..(looks great) .. are you getting a new mandarin?

 

[EllieSuz]

I do remember the Xenia you got and the photos you took that day are so much better than any of mine. I decided to get rid of all my Xenia because I got tired of moving a Hammer around to kill it off. Now I don't have a single one left, but I'm glad you got some before then, since you like it. Not sure whether another Mandarin is in the cards, but I'm giving it some thought.