O—O

my oldest fish, an 8-year-old sun catfish nicknamed “eclipse” making a rare appearance tonight after skirmishing for a bit with the red pacu

So I recent started working at my favorite lfs on weekends, and so far it's been great! Most of the people I've talked to have been very open to information on fish when they didn't know beforehand, and my coworkers and the owners are really nice. But yesterday... yesterday I run into this one guy who needs some help. He's asking if he can put one of the blue lobsters we have (I think they're actually a type of crayfish) in with his oscar, which sounds like it's maybe 7-10" right now. I explain how the oscar will likely eat the lobster, and no, it cannot defend itself that well. Which he seems to understand, and then asks about different fish because he needs something to clean up the poop. I then explain thag siphoning it out really is the only good way to fix that.. but he's adamant that he needs something to "just help a little." I ask one of the other employees, and they say that the eclipse catfish we have might help some, and is big enough to not be eaten. Though they are also very much so saying that physical removal really is the only way. THEN I finally ask what size their tank is.. and he said a 28 tall. I about fell over... he's keeping decent size oscar in there, plus an "algae eater" (so probably pleco), and now takes this catfish home. I really tried to convince him they need a bigger tank.. he said they'll be setting up a 54 gal, but I explained I'd read they need something closer to 100, especially with those other fish he has. I just got the feeling he didn't listen though, and just wanted more big cool fish (he said to give something for his kids to watch) and didn't care so much about the fish themselves. Was hard to make that sale.

I'm proud of my babies. <3