Sesame Street Fish Food

One of these things is not like the others,
most of these things are kinda the same.
Can you tell which one is doing its own thing,
before my song is done....
And now my song is done.

Upstairs, in our spare bedroom, sits a 50 gallon aquarium weighing about 700 pounds. Inside this aquarium are tropical freshwater fish. These fish require food. Fish food, to be exact. That's important to remember.

I "collect" plecos. The plecostomus is a totally ancient fish from South America, and each one is so cool-looking, I can't resist buying them.

My pride and joy is Sir Glubs-a-lot, a Sailfin Gibbiceps from the Loricariidae family. I've had this bad boy since about 1996. In the last 10 years he has grown to his full size of 18 inches.

Being 18 inches long means he's a strong boy. Strong boys require lots of food. Zucchini is great, but it floats, and is therefore difficult to eat. So food comes in the form of these green algae discs, above. Sir Glubs-a-lot requires 6 of these a day. I throw in 8 each day so that my other, tiny 4-inch and 7-inch female plecos can eat too.

The other day I found something unusual in my fish food. It appears to be a piece of cat food. Beige cat food. CAT FOOD!

What is Wardley trying to tell me? That my fish need tartar control? That my fish have bad breath? Is this some sort of new marketing gimmick?

And that makes me wonder, when a new dog food is 25% tastier, how do they know this? Who tests it? Scientists? How do they add 25% more flavour molecules? And why did they leave them out in the first place? How do they ask dogs their opinions? Can dogs talk?

Not even the big orange and white Sesame Street dog, Barclay, said a word. But if he could, I doubt he'd say his new food was 25% yummier.