Oscars are not really "exotic", can be purchased at Wal-Mart for under $5, & are a kick a$$ hearty fish that will grow from 2 inch to 12 in a year. I had to burry my tiger in the yard as there was no way I could cram him into the toilet. He was HUGE, strikingly colored w/ orange & had a great personality like a dog under water. It's amazing how fish brains work...
You hear every so often of someone buying one and then getting bit when they clean the tank. A few facts on the poison "There is no known antidote. First aid treatment is pressure on the wound and rescue breathing. It is essential, if rescue breathing is required, that it be continued until the victim begins to breathe, which may be some hours. Hospital treatment involves respiratory assistance until the toxin is washed out of the body. The symptoms vary in severity, with children being the most at risk because of their small body size. The victim might be saved if artificial respiration starts before marked cyanosis and hypotension develop. Victims who live through the first 24 hours generally go on to make a complete recovery. It is essential that immediate and full time respiratory support be given (e.g. artificial respiration/rescue breathing) even if the victim appears not to be responding. Tetrodotoxin poisoning can result in the victim being fully aware of his/her surroundings but unable to breathe. Because of the paralysis that occurs they have no way of signalling for help or any way of indicating distress. Respiratory support, together with reassurance, until medical assistance arrives ensures that the victim will generally recover well. The blue-ringed octopus is currently one of the most toxic known sea creatures. Another cephalopod, Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish, produces a venom roughly equal in potency to that of the blue-ringed octopus. Despite its small size, the blue-ringed octopus carries enough poison to kill 26 adult humans within minutes."
ha! This is great. Typing in "blue ring octopus for sale" into google gets you this... Maybe not such a good thing to buy for your kids? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Take up scuba. That way you can experience the biggest and best stocked aquarium in the world-- the world's oceans ................. Nothing like having a 12 foot manta, 8 foot moray or a 12+ foot Leopard shark in "your" fish tank to name just a couple. Nothing like having "your" dolphins come up and give you a kiss like they did to my 6 year old son in the middle of the Red Sea. Nothing like having "her" 12+ foot manta, of its own accord, swim within 6 inches of my wife and give a pretty girl the "Once Over." Nothing like having "your" favorite stingray come up and give you a pedicur (yep, swam up and nibbled my toe nails the day after Steve Erwin was killed). If you do not dive and are physical able, please seriously consider it. You will NOT be disappointed.
