Just thought I'd post this story away from all the doom and gloom

I guess it was just over a week ago I lost sight of my Snowball Pl*co in my
Malawi tank. To start with I just thought it was him up to his usual hiding
tricks....the number of caves in that tank are mind boggling. Then after
almost 5 days I started to worry...still no sign of him. I've had rising
temp problems which caused even more concern....and then of course he has
never, ever taken any suplementary food that I have dropped into the tank
for him. By this time I am really, really worried....

Then I remember I gave him his full name in an update to this
newsgroup....all the Pl*co superstition starts to come into play......

Last night, I decide that the Pl*co must have met his demise....Hubby is
away and I can't cope with the full pull of every single rock out of the
tank on my own....but I need to know....I open the tank and armed with a
bucket for some of the rocks I start taking the caves apart......very cross
Mbunas....."hey what do you think you are doing with our caves!!!" .... lots
of nibbles of my hand....I also checked the back in case he had jumped

Failed in the search and resigned myself to having to do the very sad death
search today.....with the complete rock removal and all pumps and air bricks
turned off - I know that this will cause more Mbuna in-fighting but they
cannot live with a decaying fish

And then all of a sudden there he was.....strutting his stuff right in the
open on the substrate in the middle of the tank...."hey look at me....that
spooked you and the Mbunas" - lol

Then the Queen Arabesque , in the Community Tank, that always hides (but at
least I know where) with some sort of Pl*co telepathy I'm sure goes out into
the front of the tank and attaches himself - never happens....at least not
when I'm awake

I go upstairs to check Matt's 30 gall....same thing...the Gold Nugget Pl*co
is out there for the world to see.....slightly more confident than the
others but very rare....

I promised my Pl*cos I will never use their full name again....they all came
out to play....

Fishy Tales are good sometimes - :-)

Gill