An ode to Red Fish

Tonight we came home to find Red Fish had passed away. Red Fish was our Red Jewel Cichlid (Hemichromis bimaculatus) that we have had for over six years. He is survived by Brown fish and the two plecostomus. We bought Red Fish in 2003, he was the first fish we bought since being married. He is also the last fish we bought. In the time we owned him he quadrupled in size to almost 4" in length.

Red Fish shortly after he moved in with us.

We called him Red Fish because after owning several fish and having many die off on us we started refering to the fish by their appearance. At the time we had Brown Fish, Yellow Fish, and Red Fish.

Red fish had a 10 gallon aquarium that he shared only with his plecostomus tank cleaner. We once tried to put him in the tank with Brown Fish (who is about twice the size of Red Fish). Red Fish proceeded to beat the snot out of Brown Fish. He was a little fire cracker. Red Fish would spend his time begging for food at the top of the tank and fighting with the plecostomus (who is about three times the size of Red Fish) for who got to live in the skull that decorated their tank.

This time the pleco won the fight for the spot in the skull, he looks like a black tongue in the skull.

Red Fish was a good pet and he will be missed. Rest in peace.

Red Fish grown to full size, taken about a year ago.