Update on Eric the Eel

 

A couple days ago, I wrote about how my beautiful fire eel, Eric, managed to jump out of his tank. Here's an update...

I'll keep this brief, as I don't want to dwell on it too long, but I last left you saying that he was in a bad way and it wasn't looking good. But I was secretly hoping the little guy would pull through.

He didn't.

Over the course of the afternoon he started to deteriorate, and by the time I went to bed, he was just lying on his side, gasping. At this point I was pretty certain he wouldn't make it through the night.

Eric on his side, gasping for breath

The next morning I came down early to check on him and he was gone. I was expecting it, but it was still very upsetting.

The worst part of a dead fish is that you have to get them out of the tank as quick as possible, as they're obviously rotting and will effect the water quality. So heartlessly, I had to immediately scoop him out of the tank.

Erci, dead in my hand over a bucket

Saying goodbye

The whole family loved Eric. He was such a friendly and interesting fish to watch. There's this beautiful wisteria tree that we had in the garden of our old house, we put it in a pot when we moved and have been meaning to re-plant it ever since we moved.

So we dug a nice deep hole, put Eric in the bottom and re-planted the wisteria. Which is now called "The Eric Tree". Hopefully his body will feed the wisteria and every time it flowers, we will be able to remember our little mate, Eric.

I feel awful as it could have been avoided - I knew he was exploring the lid, I knew it was only a matter of time before he got out. But I never got around to buying some weights for the lid. I do now, but it's too late.

If you're a fellow fishkeeper and have a explorative, intelligent fish, like Eric, please don't be an idiot like me. Secure the lid, as losing such a fish is really, really shit.

Bye, Eric. We'll miss you, mate.

Kev Quirk

17 Mar 2024 at 10:15

The Case of the Jumping Eel

 

My largest, and one of my favourite, fish (my fire eel) jumped out of his tank last night. He's managed to survive...so far.

I generally work from home on a Friday, and today was no different. So I got up, got myself and the kids ready, and headed to my home office. The room was dark, and I could see a large black thing on the floor. My first reaction was that one of the the dogs has shit in the house. Then I realised it was way to big to be a dog shit.

I turned the light on and to my horror, it was my fire eel, Eric. He'd managed to slither out of the tank during the night.

Eric is one of my favourite fish. He's a 60cm (2 foot for you Americans) fire eel that I've had for around 6 years now. When I bought him, he was just a few inches long. As he's got bigger I've upgraded the dens he lives in, and on two occasions, his tank too.

Baby Eric, at around 15cm (6 inches)
Baby Eric, at around 15cm (6 inches)
Adolescent Eric ar around 30cm (1 foot)
Adolescent Eric ar around 30cm (1 foot)

He's a lovely fish that's so friendly and full of character. When I feel him, he eats out of my hand and swims through my fingers. When I come near the tank, he always pops out to say hello. He's very much my wet pet. I love him.

Here's a video of the second tank I had him in. He's hiding in his den (the grey drain pipe), but as always, comes out to say hello when I get close:

So to walk in the office and find him in a lifeless ball on the floor was extremely upsetting.

I scooped him up, thinking he was dead and intending to go bury him.

Then he twitched.

I immediately opened the lid of the tank and dumped him in the water. Yes, he was covered in crap from the floor, but I could fish that out later. I just needed to get him breathing again.

So I held him there, willing him to start breathing, but his gills weren't moving. I could feel his muscles starting to twitch more in my hand though. There was something there.

After 5 minutes of suspending him in the water, his gills started to move. After 5 more minutes, he was attempting to swim.

He was going to live. For now at least...

It's not over yet

It's now late afternoon on the same day and Eric is looking very sorry for himself. His slime coat is all fucked up, and he's very lethargic. He's just not himself and I'm still not sure if he will pull through.

Eric's face now. A far cry from his usually cute little snout
Eric's face now. A far cry from his usually cute little snout
Eric's body now. It's a mess
Eric's body now. It's a mess

For now, I'll just have to keep an eye on him and hope for the best. His slime coat should regenerate over the next few days (assuming he pulls through) and hopefully he will soon get back to normal.

Usually, if a fish won't eat, it's only a matter of time before they pass. I've tried feeding Eric, but he won't eat. It's not looking good.

So what happened?

Fire eels are escape artists. They're known for it. The lid of the tank in my office is hinged, so I can flip it open for feeding and maintenance. Over the last few weeks, Eric has been exploring the lid more and more, to the point where he would bang into it, especially when excited, like during feeding time.

I'm thinking something must have spooked him during the night, maybe one of the dogs, or he just got over-confident with his exploration and flipped himself out of the tank. How one of the dogs didn't get him as soon as he flopped onto the floor is beyond me (they sleep in my office overnight).

I've been meaning to secure the lids down for a while, as I was concerned that this exact thing would happen. But I didn't get round to it, because I'm a dick head.

I've ordered some weights to hold the lid down, but for now tins of beans will have to do:

Fire eels aren't actually eels, they're just elongated fish. So they can't live out of water for hours, like "real" eels can. So I assume he must have jumped earlier this morning, rather than during the night. He had been out the tank for a long time though - if I had to estimate, it was at least an hour.

If he doesn't pull through, I'll never forgive myself.

Fucking pets...

Kev Quirk

15 Mar 2024 at 15:30

Thinking about a New Layout

 

I've been thinking about making some changes to the layout of this site, but I'm on the fence. What do you think of these mockups?

I like the menu that I use on this site, but it does take a lot of space up, especially on mobile. So I've been ruminating on what I can do to improve things.

Then I had a bit of an epiphany...generally speaking, screens these days have much more horizontal space than vertical space. So why not make use of that?

I started having a think and threw together these mockups that effectively convert current site's header to a sidebar:

New layout mockup (homepage)
New layout mockup (example post)

The problem here would be that I'd need to change the layout on mobile, as they obviously have very little horizontal space. I'd probably switch to a hamburger menu for mobile, but implementing one that doesn't use JavaScript can be a bit "hacky".

So what do we think, folks? Is a sidebar weird? Is it a good idea? Or do you have any better ideas? Please let me know by using the reply button below.

Kev Quirk

14 Mar 2024 at 11:40

Selling Some Watches

 

I've decided to clear some space in my collection and sell a few of my watches. There's 7 of them up for sale, if you're interested, get in touch (eBay links at the end).

A collection of 50 watches is probably excessive, so I'm thinning out the heard a little. But, let's be honest, I'll only end up replacing them with something else. :-)

So I went through my collection recently and decided to put 7 of my watches up for sale. Here's the deets...

Casio F-91W (x3)

The first for the chopping block is 3 of my 6 (yes, six) Casio F-91Ws. They're all on custom NATO straps, but will be supplied with the original Casio strap, all tags and box etc.

There's a gold one on a green NATO, which also has gold hardware, so they go really well together. A black one with gold accents, which is on a khaki NATO strap with black hardware; again it looks great. And finally, a green one on a black NATO, also with black hardware.

  • Case size: 34mm
  • Movement: Quartz
  • Water resist: 30m
  • Strap size: 18mm
Gold F-91W on a green nato strap
Black and gold F-91W on a khaki nato strap
Green F-91W on a black nato strap

G-SHOCK DW5600-BB

The DW5600, or the G-SHOCK square as most people know it, is a design that harps back to the original, OG G-SHOCK from back in 1983. I don't have quite as many of these in my collection - only 4 - so decided to sell one off.

This one has a plain black bezel and a negative screen, which look really nice together.

  • Case size: 42.8mm
  • Movement: Quartz
  • Water resist: 200m
  • Strap size: 20mm
G-SHOCK DW5600-BB

Timex Navi Ocean 38mm

The Navi Ocean is a lovely watch, from Timex's premium Archive range, but I don't really wear it. Mainly because I prefer my watches to have more contrast between the hands and the face. Every time I look at this watch, I wish I'd wear it more.

It comes on a reversible NATO style strap that's grey on one side and black on the other. I personally prefer the black side.

  • Case size: 38mm
  • Movement: Quartz
  • Water resist: 100m
  • Strap size: 18mm
Timex Navi Ocean on grey reversable strap
Timex Navi Ocean on black reversable strap

Timex IronMan

The IronMan is Timex's equivalent of a G-SHOCK. I bought it for nostalgia purposes as I always wanted one when I was younger, but I just don't get on with this watch. I much prefer my G-SHOCKs.

  • Case size: 42mm
  • Movement: Quartz
  • Water resist: 100m
  • Strap size: 18mm
Timex IronMan

Berny AM138M

The only mechanical watch in this list. Berny is a Chinese micro-brand that offer great value for money. I actually have 3 of their watches, and all of them are brilliant.This is no exception, but it gets no wrist time, so it has to go.

It's powered by a tried and tested Myota movement, and has sapphire crystal front and back, so you're pretty much guaranteed to never scratch this thing.

  • Case size: 40mm
  • Movement: Automatic
  • Water resist: 50m
  • Strap size: 22mm
Berny mechanical watch

Are you interested?

If you're interested in buying any of these watches, the eBay listing links are below. Alternatively, you can get in touch using the reply button below and feel free to make me an offer.

Kev Quirk

12 Mar 2024 at 08:05



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