Good bye to an old friend

Last night, my Gold Striped Maroon, Marlin passed away. She was as sweet as can be and broke every maroon rule in the book. Never attacked when I cleaned the tank, bonded within minutes of a new male that was introduced into her tank and immediately hosted with a bubble tip anemone. She welcomed being pet when it was feeding time too.
She was 8 years old, and went from Marlin the male, to Marlin the female, but kept that docile personality the whole time. She waited until I got home. She was breathing heavy on the sand, so I reached in to pick her up. Her eyes moved towards me for a moment, then moved back, then twitched and died in my hand. It's like she waited for me to come home to say good bye. I'm sure gonna miss her.

 

Sorry to hear, sounds like you have many great memories of your time together

 

I'm sorry thats one cool looking clownfish to

 

Yeah she was a pretty fish, thanks. My LFS wanted to buy her back a couple years ago because she was so large.

 

sad news Tigermike

must have been 1 very contented clown fish IMHO
8 years is a credit to you, and I hope you take some concelation from that factor

Steve

 

sorry to hear that Mike, sounds like you gave him/her a great life & I believe that she waited for you also

 

sorry for the loss of your pet Marlin

 

Sorry to hear.

 

Sorry for the loss. Sounds like she had a great life though.

 

Thanks everyone. I think she had a good life too. She was tiny when I first bought her, maybe 1.5" and grew to about 7". The only time she ever showed any aggression was after I put the baby male maroon in the tank. She chased the 3-stripe damsel out of the tank so they could have the tank to themselves. But she bonded with the male immediately though.
And thanks Steve, 8 years is quite a long life for captive fish. I was hoping for more, but she was starting to look "old" and knew her time was coming. She LOVED the ORA-Glo food!