My Latest Little Critter Rescue

I had to to go Petsmart to get food for my birds. I don’t really like Petsmart because most of the animals there are in very rough shape - if they survive at all. But they are the only place within an hours drive where I can get the bird food/treats that I want for my budgies. I never buy any animals from there.

I have a beautiful, healthy, natural, heavily planted fish tank. I made a fatal error of going to look at Otocinclus (teeny, tiny catfish), not because I wanted to get any but because sometime in the future, I may get some and I just wanted to look at them.

So I check out the Oto tank. Oy vey. There’s no plants, rocks, wood or caves or anything for them to hide behind. Oh, except all of the dead Otos. They’re all dead - except one. One scrawny little guy, trying to live in a hopeless pool of death.

Sigh. So I bought him. The guy working there had the nerve to ask me if I had “a proper tank for him”. I told him “I’m rescuing him from here”.

So here he is the day I brought him home:

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And just 4 days later with a full tummy:

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His name is Ancalagon because he looks enormous next to my Ember Tetras.

Good for you.
I hate looking at the little animals in those petshops. Just breaks my heart.

Good for you. I hope he will have a happy home with you for a long time to come.

Well done. I know nothing about keeping fish, but “I’m rescuing him from here,” says a lot. You did good.

In other “We should care for our animal friends” stories, this was on the local news today:

Kitten hitches 200km ride on truck engine to find a new home

It sounds as if your fish has found a good home. I think this kitten will too.

Good for you, Floaty! Ancalagon looks very happy now.

From that article:

A wild cat wouldn’t have been happy to be held by a human. A wild cat would have been terrified to be held by a human, and would probably have been next to impossible to catch.

The cat might have been a farm cat – some barn cats, though not all, are quite tame. But it wasn’t a “wild” cat. Somebody may be missing it – though as this particular one got on the news, if so they’re likely to find out what happened to it.

Nice looking tank. I used to keep several otos in my main planted tank.

On a related note, over the weekend my dtr found a very young puppy in a dumpster. One of her complex’s maintenance guys took it home. He seemed very interested in caring for it, but she’s wondering if she shoulda done anything more/different. Feeling crappy about whoever dumped a puppy in her ostensibly gated community.

That face! Poor baby. I’m glad it found a home.

Depending on the state, it might be illegal. She could report it. Animal control may aggregate information like this and come up with something useful.

Yeah, that’s kinda what she was saying. But I think she did a fine job getting the pup out of the dumpster, and into the hands of an ostensibly caring owner. Sure, she coulda tried to do more - but that doesn’t mean she should beat herself up for not doing enough. (My opinion)