Animal Info

 
 

Should I get a Real Live Catfish or a Stuffed Plush Catfish?

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Have you ever wanted to get a fish for a pet? If you have then you have to think about what kind of fish would make a great pet?

Hmmm, I would think that the best kind of pet fish would be a catfish. Heck, if fish are good pets, and cats are good pets then a catfish must be a great pet.

Let's check it out shall we?

Well, these fish are sinkers. Yes, they have a big boney head and a small gas bladder. That maybe why catfish are bottom feeders (to bad I can't put it on my floor to vacuum up crumbs).  Some catfish have huge mouths so they can suck up as much food as possible. Thank goodness most of these fish feed by sucking up food and not biting and ripping off pieces like a shark.  Some types of catfish even use their super suctioning mouth to hold on to things in fast moving water.

The cute thing about a catfish is their barbels. They are the whiskers that the fish uses to find food.  Where as a real furry 4 legged cat only uses its whiskers to feel things..A catfish can not only feel things with their barbles..The barbles have taste buds on them.  Some people will say that a catfish can stick. Their whiskers through your hand Now, I don't think they can but, they have very sharp spiny dorsal and side fins that will stick you.  There are a few species of catfish that have a venom or toxin in their fins that can make a cut even worse. I'm not which type of catfish it is but, I know I don't want anything to do with it.

Holy cow…there are 2,000 – 3,000 species of catfish that we know of.

Since they have all sizes of catfish to choose from and maybe I want a large one.  So, that would be the Mekong Giant Catfish.  But, I think it might be way too big for my house. Not sure if I can afford an aquarium for a 10 foot long, 600 pound fish.

Maybe I better checkout the smallest type of catfish there is…that would be the Candiru. Here again we have a problem, these can grow up to 16 inches but, most are very small. In fact they are so small that they can swim up a human's urethra.  I definitely don't think I would like the idea of a parasitic pet.

I would think about a walking catfish from Southeast Asia, as that would be kind of fun. Get me a leash and take my fish for a stroll. But, that may be a hard fish to keep in the aquarium. If it did get out…it might just be lunch for a real cat.

If I ever wanted to have a good pet to zap my friends I could get me an Electric Catfish from Africa. They really do send out a shock of about 350 volts. Too bad I would always be afraid to clean its aquarium.

Well, after looking at all these types of catfish...Not a single one of them has fur. Nope, they don't even have scales.  So, they really don't seem to huggable, unless you like snuggling up to a slimy fish that can stab you.  Therefore maybe I will be better off just getting me a stuffed plush fish. That would be a whole lot safer and less trouble. Sure, I will never be able to eat it but, I couldn't eat a pet anyway.

This article is owned by Anipalinfo.com
Image of Catfish credited to Big.Dawgs on Flickr