I stopped by the LFS on my way home from work and picked up some Hikari Food Stcks. Usually I feed most of my cichlids Hikari Bio Gold pellets, but I figured the fish might enjoy something shaped a little bit different. Frst I fed the fish in my 90, the spectabiles, xingu pike, and polleni eagerly devored them. Then I walked over to the aquarium that had the lone remaining frempongi in it. I dropped in 2 or 3 food sticks to see if she liked them, she normally pounces very quickly on food the second I drop it in her aquarium. But there was no response. I didn't see her. There are lots of hiding places in the, but I got a little worried. But I had just turned the light on, so I figured I just startled her.
The phone rang, it was my mother, I talked to her for 45 minutes, then got on the computer for a while checking out the message boards. I had water changes planned for some of my aquariums tonight, so I finally started on that. When I got to the frempongi's aquarium, I noticed the foodsticks were still uneaten. I pulled out most of the decorations trying to find her, no luck. I then found her on the floor under a table, totally dead and partially covered with dog fur. The aquarium was covered except for a small gap where the Aquaclear filter hangs on. I did replace the heater yesterday, maybe when I was moving things around I created a little more of a gap than was there before.
Oh well, this sucks. When I bought the frempongis a couple of years ago, I had no idea I would be down to zero left so soon, I had more faith in my fishkeeeping skills. I still remember unpacking the shipment I got from Rapps, looking at them through the bag, happy they all arrived alive, healthy, and bigger than I expected them to be. It really was like Christmas for me, and I still felt happy and lucky to have them every day, they just looked so cool in the aquarium. True, they could be a real pain in the butt, but it was a worthy radeoff for fish this cool.
With the death of the lone remaining frempongi, it has opened up an aquarium. 2 of my Caquetaia spectabiles look like they will spawn soon, so at least I have extra room for the fry if I get that lucky.
Despite my hard times with the frempongis and my now complete failure, I would love to try them again some day. I am going to need more room, so I'm going to start a hunt for cheap large used aquariums to set up in my basement. Currently I have no aquariums down there, but I think now is the time to start an aquarium room in the basement. Oh yeah.
