Aquarium staff have managed to wean a chocoholic giant fish onto a healthier diet after inheriting the gourami, raised entirely on Kit Kats by its owners.
At first, staff at the Sea Life London Aquarium were baffled by the 4kg fish's refusal to eat until they learned it had been fed nothing but chocolate.
The team then stuffed crushed Kit Kat pieces inside grapes to get the 40cm-long gourami named 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
"Gouramis usually eat a diet of fruit but
"However, we would not recommend feeding fish confectionery of any kind."
Close by the gourami lives Ed, a catfish with decidedly cat-like tendencies.
Ed will only accept being hand fed 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.
But aquarium staff warn that Gary and Ed's peculiar interest in food highlights a more serious issue.
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.
"We're delighted we could find a home for
Who thinks it is a good idea to feed Kit Kats to a fish, hmmm? Raise your hand and let me see you. Where do people come up with these ideas? But then where do people come up with the idea to filter some kinds of alcohol through fish bladder? This is called isinglass and is still used today to refine certain wines and beers.How do you do that? "I was thinking to myself that the bladder filters urine so maybe the bladder of a fish can filter my Guinness?" Or how about cochineal a.k.a. carmine? It is made from crushed up bugs. I can see it now--"Ew I accidently crushed some bugs. hey, that's a lovely red colour. How can I exploit that?" These crushed up bugs were used as dyes by the Aztec and Mayan peoples of old. But haven't we come a long way, baby? Evidently not as this dye is still used in many products, including cosmentics. Red lipstick, anyone?
So I guess feeding a fish Kit Kats doesn't seem so weird after all.
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