A Giant gourami at Sea Life London Aquarium has had to be weaned off a diet of prawn cocktail flavoured crisps by staff.
Gerty the gourami was inherited by the aquarium from a private keeper, but staff were having great difficulty getting the 40cm/16" fish to feed. After making enquiries about her diet it turned out her former owner had fed her on Skips — and this has led to Gerty having a rather pinker than usual colouration!
"I have never heard of a fish being fed crisps," said aquarium curator Jamie Oliver. "Gouramis usually eat a diet of fruit and vegetation, but fortunately Gerty doesn’t appear to have suffered any ill effects from her unhealthy addiction. However, we would not recommend feeding fish crisps of any kind!"
Experts at the aquarium have now managed to get her eating a much healthier diet, which includes grapes and bananas.
Sea Life London Aquarium supports the Big Fish Campaign which aims to raise awareness about the problem of large-growing aquarium fish that eventually become too big for most tanks.
Jamie added: "We’re delighted we could find a home for Gerty but her case just goes to show how important it is to be responsible when buying creatures for home aquaria."
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