Tiger 2012–2021

Yesterday (March 8th 2021), Our Tiger passed away after being with us for 8+ years, The guy was a very smart fish with his big eyes and an attitude, he’d recognized faces judging from the fact that he had distinct behavior for each of us at home, Z used to play tank hide and seek with him, as-in he’d dash from one corner to another for biting her! My wife used to feed him, so he’d swim to the top of the tank with his big eyes rolled up like a puppy, being very expressive, blowing bubbles, little z was more fond of Mermaid (our albino pleco, his tank mate) but he knew her as well. He’d play with his blue marble ball tossing it around the tank, harmlessly bullying mermaid, tossing around the tank heaters and the ornaments and what not, he was the king of his aquarium domain, A rowdy fish!, A majestic creature in orange and black :(

We are sad but some astonishing things happened today, which brings us some joy in mourning:

1. As he was dying, Tiger was in his best colors, the brightest and darkest of Orange and Black we have ever known him to be, he looked majestic as he was taking his last breath which was not expected from a dying fish, on the contrary color-rich fish go pale when dying due to distress. The guy left wearing the best of his style!
2. Perhaps a reminder to us that death and empathy are universal and so is the love of our creator for all his creations — Our pleco “Mermaid”, who prefers to stay clear from tiger normally as he has this habit of harmlessly bullying her, nudging and reminding her as to who is the boss of the aquarium occasionally, We never thought that she’d move from her side of the tank to be with tiger, as if to let him know that “I am here for you in your last moments!”, as the big guy was resting at the bottom of the tank, she slid underneath his dying head to let it rest on hers (my entire family is witness to this) and she remained in this position as tiger was breathing his last until he stopped breathing, and stayed until the point we removed his body from the tank for burial… it was an inexplicable act of empathy from one animal to another, she knew somehow that her tank buddy, a frenemy!, was dying, I can’t verbalize what we experienced, i mean, these are fish we are talking about :(

Tiger with his favorite blue ball and his tank mate Mermaid

Tiger is gone, He is no more! we adopted him when he was probably just a few weeks old hatch-ling, measuring barely an inch, our Z was a only a year and a half old baby at that time, and since then he has seen the highs and lows, as we moved from apartment to apartment, and when pets were not allowed, we had to request our friends to adopt him until we could buy our own soon enough, eventually they couldn’t take care of him, so we had to request another friend until we get our own in 2018, and finally have him back to his own home and now 2 years out we said our good byes to him.

Tiger and my little girl Z, they’ve been bonded since she was barely 2 years old, and practically grew up together, she has been crying all day, but an important life lesson for my baby today, that death is certain for all living things, After burying him beside our pine tree, we cleaned up the tank and now Mermaid seems sad, she is lonely now, no more tiger to bother her… tank is void without him, will take some time to sink in, we prayed as a family for him and for us to feel better.

At death, he was around 13 inches and perhaps weighing almost 3 pounds, in retrospect he was a barely an inch and perhaps just a few ounces when we first adopted him… Some fond memories of him playing dead a few times in the early days come to mind (a survival tactic displayed by Tiger Oscars which we were not aware of that time) — My wife and I used to be so worried for his life with his tricks! :) but this resilient guy survived and thrived through such near death events for real, Once, we were on a vacation to LA back in 2014, The filtration system had failed unexpectedly and yet he was surviving like a fighter in some real poor quality water conditions until we returned! I had to do an emergency water change and we thought he’d die for certain but then he fought time and again when faced with odds and always used to come out strong.

We were hoping that this time he’d pull it off as well, but it was his time, this time :( He went on to live a long life almost 9 years with an attitude! proving Oscars are one of the smartest of the fresh water aquarium fish.

I can’t verbalize the emotions we are going through unless you are a fellow pet parent as well and went through similar emotions at some point in your life, so jotted down this post in memory of our big eyed guy! :(

Inna Lillah Wa Inna Ilaihi Raji’un (To you, my lord! do we belong, and to you we shall return!)

Tiger 2012–2021