I am writing this to inform everyone of the loss of my largest arowana Gandalf. Some of you may know him from his famous videos on youtube.[YT]pKCp_5EMk9M[/YT]
I raised him eight years ago and had become an inspiration and brother to me. My entire life has changed because of the things he led me to. I have started the only Rescue/Research Program in the U.S. (Maybe the world) dedicated to large Amazonian fish from the pet trade. I have been given opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. I now ( at 30 ) am in my third year toward an environmental science degree. I have designed and built an entire wet lab / aquaculture hub for the U.S. E.P.A.. I designed and built a mussel larva reclamation rack in conjunction with the Newport Aquarium to further the works of Ohio State / Columbus Zoo. The focus was on glochidia hosting on large river fish in the Ohio. I successfully hosted and collected the endangered L. fasciola on a large spotted bass. Publishable results in the first summer. I have now been offered a position to design and run a native sturgeon facility focused on restocking the Ohio. School aside, Gandalf showed me into his world. He let me in. I have always rescued exotics, but his depth of character and wisdom inspired me to make Arowana my focus in life. Besides my family and the rest of the zoo!! Over the last five years I have researched and documented many unseen aspects of Arowana social behavior and learned much about their interspecies interactions. I have given sanctuary to four other Silver Arowanas and countless other monster fish. Gandalf also made his fame on Youtube eating a very natural diet. His biggest hits are eating a bird and eating a rabbit. We have documented both communication and social structure in these fish of which we can find no prior work toward. There have been some other studies on Silver Arowana published which have been priceless guides to me. The situation I have created is very rare. A large biotopic calm environment, not at an aquarium ( to many people ), or a breeding farm ( in muddy water) or in the wild ( dirty water ). They have been very well tended and socialized to occasional and brief human touch and feel. I now am in the design phase of an addition to the house which will house three times the water in ponds in a Sunroom/Four seasons room. There a more focused look can be taken at the complete life cycle of these amazing creatures. Clowd was a female I rescued about five years ago. She instantly became Gandalfs shadow and then mate. Those four years were spent never over a few feet apart. An airbladder issue took her from us a few weeks ago. Gandalf spent the next week laying on the bottom in the last place she laid or swimming in front of the glass, "talking" to me as we had done for so many years. He refused to eat and with some notice, he passed. Laying calmly in my arms for his last hour, I saw that glint of wonder and understanding that had changed my life. I ache daily for my monster G. He was my guide on this road I followed him down...I know the rest of the way, I just miss his company. I will continue my work in their names, but my days seem so hollow. I still can't get my two year old daughter to believe the other two Aros are " ANDOLF and KOWD". How do I tell her that. We life our lives incorporated into the lives of 53 animals in our home. Everything we are as a family is the balance of things and the importance of everylife. I learned that from Gandalf.......Thank you my friend.. Good bye Gandalf the Grey, the majesty of life herself will never have such valor as the one we called G. Thank you MFK for everything you are, you've been our 911 and our classroom. [YT]BVsbY8NCgoo[/YT]
I raised him eight years ago and had become an inspiration and brother to me. My entire life has changed because of the things he led me to. I have started the only Rescue/Research Program in the U.S. (Maybe the world) dedicated to large Amazonian fish from the pet trade. I have been given opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. I now ( at 30 ) am in my third year toward an environmental science degree. I have designed and built an entire wet lab / aquaculture hub for the U.S. E.P.A.. I designed and built a mussel larva reclamation rack in conjunction with the Newport Aquarium to further the works of Ohio State / Columbus Zoo. The focus was on glochidia hosting on large river fish in the Ohio. I successfully hosted and collected the endangered L. fasciola on a large spotted bass. Publishable results in the first summer. I have now been offered a position to design and run a native sturgeon facility focused on restocking the Ohio. School aside, Gandalf showed me into his world. He let me in. I have always rescued exotics, but his depth of character and wisdom inspired me to make Arowana my focus in life. Besides my family and the rest of the zoo!! Over the last five years I have researched and documented many unseen aspects of Arowana social behavior and learned much about their interspecies interactions. I have given sanctuary to four other Silver Arowanas and countless other monster fish. Gandalf also made his fame on Youtube eating a very natural diet. His biggest hits are eating a bird and eating a rabbit. We have documented both communication and social structure in these fish of which we can find no prior work toward. There have been some other studies on Silver Arowana published which have been priceless guides to me. The situation I have created is very rare. A large biotopic calm environment, not at an aquarium ( to many people ), or a breeding farm ( in muddy water) or in the wild ( dirty water ). They have been very well tended and socialized to occasional and brief human touch and feel. I now am in the design phase of an addition to the house which will house three times the water in ponds in a Sunroom/Four seasons room. There a more focused look can be taken at the complete life cycle of these amazing creatures. Clowd was a female I rescued about five years ago. She instantly became Gandalfs shadow and then mate. Those four years were spent never over a few feet apart. An airbladder issue took her from us a few weeks ago. Gandalf spent the next week laying on the bottom in the last place she laid or swimming in front of the glass, "talking" to me as we had done for so many years. He refused to eat and with some notice, he passed. Laying calmly in my arms for his last hour, I saw that glint of wonder and understanding that had changed my life. I ache daily for my monster G. He was my guide on this road I followed him down...I know the rest of the way, I just miss his company. I will continue my work in their names, but my days seem so hollow. I still can't get my two year old daughter to believe the other two Aros are " ANDOLF and KOWD". How do I tell her that. We life our lives incorporated into the lives of 53 animals in our home. Everything we are as a family is the balance of things and the importance of everylife. I learned that from Gandalf.......Thank you my friend.. Good bye Gandalf the Grey, the majesty of life herself will never have such valor as the one we called G. Thank you MFK for everything you are, you've been our 911 and our classroom. [YT]BVsbY8NCgoo[/YT]
I love your vids but i dont think they will be the same without Gandalf