That brings back really fond memories of one we kept for almost 20 years in a pond in the back of the house.
I was about 10 years old when I caught it, classic nightcrawler on hook method, out of a swamp near the house, it was about 8 inches long, IIRC. Took it home, threw it in the pond, and feed it a steady diet of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and kangkung (Ipomoea aquatica) leaves that grew abundantly at the same swamp.
At a certain point, after I saw it take a grasshopper that had landed on the water, I started feeding it cockroaches, giant centipedes, huntsman spiders, more grasshoppers, any big invertebrate with legs I could get my hands on, and it downed everything with relish. I see some of you thinking, "Chernobyl grasshopper!"
It grew and grew and got really tame, you could stroke it and it would actually lean into the palm of your hand. I named it Sam.
During my high school and university years, I was away from home, so I only saw Sam the rare weekend during term, and at the long school breaks, but it was always ready to lean into my hand.
When Sam died, I was on Weno Island in Chuuk Lagoon in the Central Pacific, about 3,400 miles away from home. My dad broke the news over the phone, and I actually cried. Over a dead fish. Just as I've always cried everytime one of our dogs died.
At his passing, Sam weighed 16 lbs or so, according to my dad. The one in the video above looks like an 8-10 pounder, so you can imagine how big Sam was.
Now, in Southeast Asia, among men and big otters, the Kaloi is a prized food fish, and at his size Sam would've made anybody/thing salivate at the thought of grilled Kaloi or Kaloi sashimi, but my dad did the right thing, he buried him deep. Feed the trees, instead of greedy man and his parking lots.
Thanks for letting me reminisce,
Kenneth
