Jant.zen’s Eel

Jant.zen loves anything to do with aquarium fish. We have had a fish tank since he was really young (maybe around six months). My brother has two salt water tanks. Jant.zen really wants us to set one up, but we have 4 tanks already. One tank is a 5 gallon hex, next a 30 gallon hex, a 30 gallon bow front, and a 55 gallon tank. In the 55 gallon tank we have fish called cichlids. The tank is also home to 2 eels. One’s a tire track eel and the other is a peacock eel. They are Jant.zen’s favorites.

On Tuesday night I took Jant.zen with me to the pet store to get frozen bloodworms for the eels. I decided that I was going to get two plecos to eat the algae in two of our tanks. While there Jant.zen saw a tank with weather loaches in it. He called them eels because loaches are kinda long and skinny like eels. He begged me for it. I kept saying no to him, but he wanted one so badly I eventually gave in (they were $4.99-not too bad). He watched as the lady tried to catch one and got so excited when she did. He couldn’t wait to get home to let his “eel” out. When we got home we acclimated the loach to the water they way we were suppose to. Later on we let him out and saw that he got along just fine with our other fish. I fed it and Jant.zen stared at it. He said numerous times that he loved his new “eel.”

I leave during my lunch breaks to go home and get Jant.zen to school. I called my husband to make sure he had Jant.zen ready and was surprised to hear Jant.zen sobbing in the background. I asked my husband what was going on and he said that he had picked up what looked like a piece of matted hair from the cats off the floor. He soon realized that it was the loach! It had jumped out of the tank and landed on the floor. My husband put it into water anyway, but it was too late. Jant.zen was devastated. He even cried when he told his teachers on his way into the school. I told him we would get a new fish after school (actually after speech which was after school). After school he was so excited about getting another “eel.” I took him to a different pet store. They had more weather loaches, but no eels. He decided he wanted the ghost knife fish. It’s actually a neat fish, but I also had to buy a tube for it to hide in. Today when I picked Jant.zen up for school he said, “Mommy, I have good news and bad news……..The good news is that my ghost knife fish is still alive…The bad news is that my loach died yesterday. Mommy, we should have had my dead loach made into a toy so I can play with it.”