Update on Eric the Eel

A couple days ago, I wrote about how my beautiful fire eel, Eric, managed to jump out of his tank. Here's an update...

Iโ€™ll keep this brief, as I donโ€™t want to dwell on it too long, but I last left you saying that he was in a bad way and it wasnโ€™t looking good. But I was secretly hoping the little guy would pull through.

He didnโ€™t.

Over the course of the afternoon he started to deteriorate, and by the time I went to bed, he was just lying on his side, gasping. At this point I was pretty certain he wouldnโ€™t make it through the night.

eric-gasping

The next morning I came down early to check on him and he was gone. I was expecting it, but it was still very upsetting.

The worst part of a dead fish is that you have to get them out of the tank as quick as possible, as theyโ€™re obviously rotting and will effect the water quality. So heartlessly, I had to immediately scoop him out of the tank.

dead-eric

Saying goodbye

The whole family loved Eric. He was such a friendly and interesting fish to watch. Thereโ€™s this beautiful wisteria tree that we had in the garden of our old house, we put it in a pot when we moved and have been meaning to re-plant it ever since we moved.

So we dug a nice deep hole, put Eric in the bottom and re-planted the wisteria. Which is now called โ€œThe Eric Treeโ€. Hopefully his body will feed the wisteria and every time it flowers, we will be able to remember our little mate, Eric.

I feel awful as it could have been avoided - I knew he was exploring the lid, I knew it was only a matter of time before he got out. But I never got around to buying some weights for the lid. I do now, but itโ€™s too late.

If youโ€™re a fellow fishkeeper and have a explorative, intelligent fish, like Eric, please donโ€™t be an idiot like me. Secure the lid, as losing such a fish is really, really shit.

Bye, Eric. Weโ€™ll miss you, mate.

cute-eric

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