Tuesday 27 November 2007

The fish called Wonder

About 15 years ago, my brother brought a little fish home which he put in our pond, together with the koi and promptly forgot about it. As usual, it became my dad’s job to take care of the little animals that we brought home.

That little fish grew and grew. It grew so fast, it became a monster! That was when we realized it’s an arapaima – the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world. To satisfy its insatiable appetite, dad switched its diet from fish pellets to fresh fish from the market. Well, it's a top freshwater predator afterall! We always had a freezer full of fish at that time.

It was a gentle giant that didn’t harm the other fishes. However, by the time it was 3 feet long, it started to knock the kois around and eventually became the only creature left in the pond. Strangely it leapt out several times (only during full moon) which took several men to put it back in again. Dad later built a wire enclosure around the pond.

While the giant was mostly tame, feeding sessions were quite a frightful sight… it would leap up like a crocodile and catch the food in its big, gaping mouth, producing such a big splash and loud suction noise! Naturally, it became a big attraction at home. Everyone who came marveled at its size. Its fish scale was almost 2 inches long!

When it grew to 6 feet, our pond obviously became too small for it to swim freely. So, dad built a new pond in the yard, complete with a nice filtration system.

Well, the sad thing is, it died one day without any warning... before it could enjoy its new pond. Obviously we were devastated to lose our giant pet.

You can find pictures of the arapaima here: http://www.iwokrama.org/forest/animals/arapaima.htm

The new pond that dad built. It is home to a bunch of freshwater fish today. At one time, 2 bull frogs were living inside and their mating calls almost drove us crazy!

12 comments:

The Real Mother Hen said...

Oh yes I remember the giant fish :)

Unknown said...

wow! what a story!
your dad is extremely hospitable. if i were a lost fish (or frog), i'd love to end up in his pond.

Nick Phillips (15/03/1967 - 04/11/2022) said...

Your dad actually built that pond? Wow, what a man. I can't build anything even if my life depended on it ... LOL!

WaterLearner said...

A pond? At home? In Singapore? Wow .. It looks so big one can actually swim in it right?

Amel said...

Oh dear...that's SO HUGE!!!!! YIKES!!! He he he he he...

The World According To Me said...

Crikey, I'm still picturing it jumping out on a full moon!
Great story!

Blur Ting said...

Correction - My dad didn't build it himself. He designed it but got the workers to build it. He was once a draughtsman and is now a builder.

Well, it's rather big but I wouldn't recommend swimming in it!

Anonymous said...

cool! what a neat pond! looks like a couple of kids could fit in there!

Mike Minzes said...

Tag!!!! You're it! Come see

SOUL said...

THAT is amazing (and sad too actually)
you know me and fish!!!
i have never heard of these fish... i would have loved to watch that thing eat!!!
or even to catch one !!!
(catch and release, of course) :))

thanks for the bit of education!

what prompted you to write about this?

happy ---- whatever it is... :)) thurs a.m???

Blur Ting said...

Hi Soul, I saw that fish in Pink Elephant's blog (she has a photo taken in front of an arapaima in an aquarium in Singapore)and suddenly remembered ours.

SOUL said...

that happens to me a lot--- but usually something totally UN-related will make me remember something. weird.
but still...cool little fish tale here!

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