Animal Info

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.

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Image of Catfish credited to Big.Dawgs on Flickr

The giant anteater is a somewhat strange looking animal. But, it is built to do exactly 1 job…eat termites and ants. I have had my fair share of problems with ants invading and have wished that I could have a pet anteater.  Not sure how my neighbors would feel about seeing one of these huge animals in my yard. After doing a bit of research, I think the only anteater I should get would be a Plush Stuffed Giant Anteater.  I just wish a stuffed toy could still help get rid of the ants.

So what is it about a giant anteater that may not make it a great pet?

For starters they can grow to be 5-7 feet long. They also get up to 140 pounds.  The size alone may not be a real problem since many people have dogs that are just as big as or bigger than an anteater.  I have seen the damage a dog with a long tail can do in a house.  But, a giant anteater has a tail that is 2 feet long and extremely bushy. Having 16 inch hair on its tail might be good for dusting of the coffee table but, it would probably wipe more than just the area you wanted. While the anteater uses its tail to help keep it warm like an attached blanket, not sure it would share with me if we were lost out in the cold.

Anteaters walk slowly on all fours but, they don't walk on their paws. They walk on their curled up claws. Yes, the claws could be a problem.  Their claws can be up to 4 inches long. When an anteater feels threatened by a large animal they will use their tail to balance them as the stand on their back legs and fend off the danger with their front feet and huge claws. These slow solitary animals can fight off big cats like jaguars with their claws when needed. If a big cat is afraid of a mad anteater, then I would be too.

These giant ant bears are solitary animals and may not like sharing a yard with other animals.

Now the giant anteater also has some things that are super cool and unlike most other animals. So, they would make a very unique pet.

These anteaters have become so specialized at eating ants and termites in mounds and rotting trees that they don't have a need for teeth. And teeth would not really be useful since the anteaters jaws are fused together; they only have the small opening at the end of their long slender face. They also have a tongue that is around 20 inches long. They have a sticky substance that covers the tongue so the bugs stick to it. It's like having a sticky ant trap that delivers the ants right into the anteater's mouth to be swallowed whole. Now, they can flick their tongue 150+ times a minute, right into the ant mound. Since they only feed at 1 mound for a few minutes, they have to get as many as possible in a short time.

Why do they feed at a mound for only a few minutes? Because after they use their claws to open the mound, and stick their face in, the ants are mad and start biting the intruder. The anteater also doesn't destroy the entire mound so it can come back and eat at another time. Since they eat around 35,000 ants a day, they need to ensure they don't kill off their entire food source.  I'm not sure how long my little mounds of ants would feed my pet anteater. I don't really have an urge to import any ants. (So maybe a stuffed anteater would be a better choice.)

Giant anteaters are very good swimmers. Could you imagine what the neighbors would think if I brought a giant anteater down to the community pool?

If I were really serious about getting a giant anteater for a pet, I would need to think of it as a long term commitment as they live for about 14 years.

So, even though they are super cool animals…I don't think I will be getting one for a pet. I'll just let them stay in Central and South America where they are living happily in the damp forest. The fact that they are also on the threatened species list would also make it very hard to get one approved as a pet.

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Image by Scott Liddell from the Morgue Files