Can Sharks Fly?

9/18/2012

Can Sharks Fly?

We had a community tank of fish many years ago and one of our favorite fish was called a neon.  It was blue and red striped and about as long as a paper clip, lightening fast and cheap.  Our tank had too many neons in it to count, a real school of fish.  Perhaps the fact that they were cheap made them our favorite fish!  We also thought angel fish with their long wispy fins were beautiful and had several of them as well.

There was the much required sucker fish that kept the tank clean and minded his own business as he grew large from eating algae.  It was a lovely, friendly tank and everybody got along.

Then Jeff bought a shark for the tank.  Don't panic it was nothing as big as a great white, just a small 5" or 6" guy that the fish shop assured us was non-aggressive.  At first things went along swimmingly and then we noticed as we watched tv at night, we could actually COUNT the number of neons that we had and that the angel fish fins were looking a little ragged.

We knew we had to face facts.  Our "non-aggressive" shark was apparently more of a school yard bully than we had been led to believe.  Soon there were no neons to count and angel fish don't swim so well without fins.  The decision was easy - the shark had to go.  The night before we were going to return the shark to the store, Jeff put him in a separate tank with a few inches of water.

At the time we were living in a house with 1970 avocado green shag carpet (which by the way was just lovely in case you were wondering).  The first thing that greeted us the next morning was an empty shark tank and a shark flopping around on the carpet - kind of like a fish out of water!! (Couldn't resist).  I believe that we got to the shark in time to save him and return him to the store.  If my memory is rusty on this particular detail, perhaps Jeff will weigh in.  Once at the store we once again bought dozens of little neons and even a few new angel fish and once again our tank was returned to its former peaceful state.

So to answer the question posed earlier - yes, sharks really can fly - what they can't do is swim on carpet.  Perhaps my old tired green carpet might have looked like the open sea or more likely he was just trying to make good his escape!

P