mr_bentley78
08-10-2006, 2:33 PM
Ok, so this is a semi-funny story. I work at a pet store close by, and we got a new fish on our order list. Named "Electric Cat". We had never had any in the store, and the guy who usually does the fish orders had never heard of one. He orders 2 of them. This was roughly a week ago, the fish are about 3-4", and we have 2 of them.
Yesterday, on my things to do list, I was scrubbing the algae out of our store tanks. I had gotten to the tank that had these weird looking catfish in them, they are pinkish with dark spots, do not have scales, and look "eel-like". As I was scrubbing these fairly small (5 gallon-ish) holding tanks these guys were in, I had accidentally bumped them a few times. Feeling that they were a bit "squishy", much like an octopus or eel would feel, I decided to rub my 2 fingers down it's body to feel it.... it apparently doesn't like that. it twitched and sent a jolt into my hand. I was a bit skeptical when this happened that they could actually "shock" you. So I called my wife at work and had her look them up on-line. She said that the site posted that they shock their prey to stun it, and as a protective measure against predators. They can produce about 300-350 volts per jolt.
I thought about getting one, until I did the research myself on these guys. I don't have near the space you'd need for something like this, and will, more-than-likely, not attempt to sell it or even mention it to any of our customers, unless I'm sure that they know what they're doing.
Apparently, these are illegal in some states, but not where I live. I can definately see why. Some jackass would release these into the local river when they got too big for them to handle, and someone could get hurt.
Imagine this scenario happening, and some poor angler hooks it (at a 3ft adult size), and trying to take the hook out soaking wet.... he'd have a hell of a surprise coming.
Yesterday, on my things to do list, I was scrubbing the algae out of our store tanks. I had gotten to the tank that had these weird looking catfish in them, they are pinkish with dark spots, do not have scales, and look "eel-like". As I was scrubbing these fairly small (5 gallon-ish) holding tanks these guys were in, I had accidentally bumped them a few times. Feeling that they were a bit "squishy", much like an octopus or eel would feel, I decided to rub my 2 fingers down it's body to feel it.... it apparently doesn't like that. it twitched and sent a jolt into my hand. I was a bit skeptical when this happened that they could actually "shock" you. So I called my wife at work and had her look them up on-line. She said that the site posted that they shock their prey to stun it, and as a protective measure against predators. They can produce about 300-350 volts per jolt.
I thought about getting one, until I did the research myself on these guys. I don't have near the space you'd need for something like this, and will, more-than-likely, not attempt to sell it or even mention it to any of our customers, unless I'm sure that they know what they're doing.
Apparently, these are illegal in some states, but not where I live. I can definately see why. Some jackass would release these into the local river when they got too big for them to handle, and someone could get hurt.
Imagine this scenario happening, and some poor angler hooks it (at a 3ft adult size), and trying to take the hook out soaking wet.... he'd have a hell of a surprise coming.