Veera

Veera moved in just before the Christmas -94. Cute little red-tailed catfish was a must buy. The large measurements for a grown-up catfish were realized, but large aquarium would eventually limit growing. The sales lady thought that 700 litre (180 gallon) tank would be suitable for this creature. 300 marks (50 dollars/euros) was paid and Veera was brought from Helsinki to Tampere in a large bucket.

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The catfish was put in the tank at home and she found her home under a large jar cut in two laying on the bottom. Veera hid herself so that only long antennas were visible from the jar opening. The first worry was "what shall she eat?". I melted a few shirmps from the freezer and threw them near the jar opening. The antennas began to shake wildly, Veera's nose came visible, her mouth opened and the shripms disappeared due to vacuum effect. Obviously feeding wouldn't be a problem.

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Six months later Veera was 40 cm long (15 in). She ate one or two Baltic herrings a day and enjoyed herself being fondled from the back (no kidding!). A couple months later her length was almost half a meter (20 in) and other fishes in the tank were being bothered by Veera more often. At this point it came clear that size of the tank wouldn't limit her length. Other fishes were moved to a temporary tank and I started searching for a new home for Veera.

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Särkänniemi Public Aquarium wasn't too fond of getting a new fish, but because Veera was quite extraordinary, I managed to make a deal with the supervisor: Life-long permission to visit without any obligations. Veera moved to Särkänniemi by the Christmas -95. The first month was spend in the back room in quarantine tank. After that she moved to her display tank. Nowdays this lady is about one meter long (40 in) and weights tens of kilos.

Lesson learned: Don't take a red-tail catfish. It's not an aquarium pet.

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Red-tail catfish links:

Species Summary for Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, scientific facts about red-tail catfish.