Lost my Best Fish...

[Yellowcat]

Sadly I lost my lophiosilurus fowleri, having kept her for over 17 years. I don't know why. I did a water and filter change a couple of days ago and noticed the day after that she was much paler than usual. I checked all water parameters and all was normal, she even ate a bit last night but was not acting as her usual self, breathing slightly more rapidly than normal but otherwise O.K. Since I checked on her more often for the last 2 days as I was concerned with her color change and what it might mean. Tonight I checked on her before calling it a night and found her unresponsive and sadly deceased. I've had her since 2005, she was possibly the last surviving L. fowleri in captivity since their export has been banned from Brazil since 2012. She grew to 19 1/2" long all these many years. I will miss her very much and her interactive personality, enjoying to hand feed her as she came belly up to the glass most evenings wanting to eat her live nightcrawler worms, displaying such an amazing appetite then retreating to her driftwood hide...
I'll spare y'all the dead fish photos but this is the last photo taken of her alive...

 

[Randles]

Really sorry for your loss it must hurt having her for so long. You having her for over 17 years is a testament to you! I know they probably live longer in the wild but that's the case with pretty much 90% of everything kept in captivity. Most people don't have fish for half this time so much respect to you my friend.

 

[kno4te]

Sorry for the loss.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Sorry for the loss. Regardless of whether or not it could have lived longer, I'd say to give yourself a pat on the back for having it for 17 years.

 

[tlindsey]

Sorry for the loss.

 

[tlindsey]

I'd say to give yourself a pat on the back for having it for 17 years.

Absolutely

 

[krichardson]

I agree with all above and,sorry for the loss.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

My sympathies, Kirk! Looks like even your screen name was created after this fish. So, yes, very, very special.

Thank you for reporting the death and the many tidbits about the life of this unique fish for the last 12 years on the MFK. You are the only one I know who's kept this fish.

I do love the complete stories of our fish from beginning to end. They are valuable and form the basis of our thinking, prognoses, and expectations of the all-important sizes, ages, care, etc. The speculation, supposition, ungrounded thinking, hearsay without evidence, etc. abound in our line of hobby. I believe if we can reduce it, we all would only benefit from it...

 

[FJB]

Sorry for the loss. A very cool fish and having grown it to such a size makes it the more painful. But it sounds as if you gave it a good life.

 

[Yellowcat]

Thanks everyone for your replies and kind words, very much appreciated! Still kind of hard to believe, being that it was so sudden and unexpected, even though I thought something wasn't quite right. That 130 gallon tank never looked so empty as now. She did have a relatively long life for a pet fish, always enjoyed her unique personality, differing moods and idiosyncrasies that made me appreciate her individuality. Over the years she shared that tank with many other catfish like a tigrinus, goonch, 2 kinds of giraffe cat, several pimelodids, a bagrid or two and many others but she was always accommodating enough in earlier years to share space with the others as long as she was well fed but had her ways of letting them know that she was the boss, cruising the tank with the knowledge and confidence that she was in charge of her domain...