Current mood:

sad

Lewis II, may you rest in peace.
This morning, I noticed that Lewis the fish was dead. :( That always makes me feel sad. I pulled him out of the tank, feeling guilty that maybe we overfed him or something; I hate not knowing why a fish dies. So I was looking at him just before sending him to his watery grave, and noticed a little fin sticking out of his mouth... I looked in, and he obviously swallowed (or failed to swallow) a smaller fish. I pulled on the tail, and eventually worked the other fish out of his mouth. It was one of the small Otocinclus algae eaters. I figured they would one day disappear as Lewis and Clark grew, but I didn't know they have spiny fins, so when Lewis realized the fish was a little too big to eat whole, he couldn't spit it out.

Ironic, since that's the same thing Lewis would do to a larger fish or a bird or something that tried to eat him.

I guess I'll get the other Otocinclus algaue eaters out of the tank, so Clark doesn't choke on one after he gets a little bigger. Maybe there will be a Lewis III, if I can find one at the pet store.