(We Didn't) Release the Kraken

Now that Kraken had no competition and the lion-share of the food, his dominion over the tank had come to fruition. He was still small, but had quite an attitude. I don't believe had harbored any ill will toward the race of man. His bites at this point didn't hurt at all and I sincerely believe that they were bites of curiosity rather than malice.

We added enough water to fill the tank up and bought him a turtle dock from the local pet store, along with a fake plant decoration and some nickle-sized smooth stones to add some character to the bottom of the tank. We also purchased a Penn Plax Cascade 400 fully submersible filter to go in the tank to keep the water squeaky clean. But something was missing. Kraken started to seem complacent to the point of lethargy. Something had to be done.

But what could make a fitting tankmate for something that would grow up to be an apex predator? It was then that I remembered my tank that I kept all those years ago when I lived in Michigan. It was a piranha tank. The only thing that could live fairly reliably with piranhas was an oscar and some of the more plated catfish. So on the way back from New Hampshire one day we purchased a small oscar about the same size as Kraken. We named him Rufus (oscars have a very dog-like demeanor for those of you unfamiliar). I knew Rufus would grow faster than Kraken and wouldn't take any of Kraken's heckling.

And together they grew. I'll get into some stories about this odd couple in the days to come.