London aquarium staff have weaned a chocoholic giant gourami
onto a healthier menu of grapes and bananas after inheriting the
creature which was raised entirely on Kit Kats.
Staff at the Sea Life London Aquarium were baffled by the 4kg
fish's refusal to feed, until they learned the gourami, named Gary,
40cm long, had been brought up on chocolate.
So the team stuffed crushed Kit Kat pieces inside grapes to get
Gary to "take a break" from his daily fix.
"I have never heard of a fish being fed chocolate, let alone
being brought up entirely on the stuff," said Gary's handler,
Rebecca Carter.
"Gouramis usually eat a diet of fruit but Gary doesn't appear to
have suffered any ill effects from his chocolate addiction.
"However, we would not recommend feeding fish confectionery of
any kind."
Gary is not the only unusual creature to come to the attraction
from private owners.
Nearby lives Ed, a catfish with decidedly cat-like
tendencies.
Ed will only accept his food by hand and likes to be stroked on
the head at the same time.
He has also learned to head-butt a lethal puffer fish who vies
for his food, staff said.
Gary and Ed's interest in food highlights a more serious issue,
aquarists said.
They have nicknamed one display the "tank busters" tank, because
it houses a number of large fish that simply grew too big for their
owners to manage.
"Many people don't do the right research when they buy fish and
end up unable to care for them," said Ms Carter.
"Catfish are a good example and we have a number here that
outgrew their homes.
"Terrapins are another - they can live for 40 years and are
actually quite costly to care for.
"We'd urge people to think before they buy.
"We're delighted we could find a home for Gary but the fact is
we simply do not have the space to accommodate the vast number of
re-homing requests we receive."
-AAP