Archive for March 8th, 2005
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005Tank Life
I wanted to own fish. I imagined the sound of the tank, the movement of the fish as they swam peacefully about, the gentle waving of the plants, the soft glow of the light. Fish ownership came late in life for me. The year I turned 40, I set off for the pet store and came home with a twelve gallon tank, rocks, plants, and five fish. They swam in their tiny plastic bags and looked horrified. I followed all the directions to set up the tank. The fish floated in their bags on the surface of the water, adjusting to the temperature, before I dumped them into their new environment. They immediately swam behind the plants and out of view. The next morning three of them were dead. I returned to the store, dismayed at my failure as a fish mother.
“Oh, they die in the beginning,” the girl behind the counter told me, snapping her gum loudly. “That’s why we tell people to buy cheap ones at first.”
What kind of pets die within 24 hours of bringing them home? I thought. I was glad I had not named my fish because then flushing them down the toilet would have been that much harder.
The first month of fish ownership revealed my total inadequacy of parenting fish. I believe the total body count was somewhere around thirteen. Eventually, however, I had a tank that began to thrive. I had chosen platys and swordtails; nice fish that seemed to get along until one of the platys delivered a bunch of fish babies; the other fish ate all but two of them. Life in the tank was far from peaceful and was about to get worse.
Less than a year after getting the fish, I decided to move 3 hours away. The move proved traumatic for my fish who developed some sort of goopy disease which killed them off one by one. I started over. I hated failure.
This time I decided I wanted tiger barbs. I knew nothing about tiger barbs except that they were pretty fish. I bought three of them. The store clerk also advised me to get an algae eater. What she didn’t tell me is that the algae eater would soon grow to an immense size and become a bully of monstrous proportions. He chased the tiger barbs around the tank; he chewed on their fins. I decided I needed more fish to gang up on the algae eater and put him in his place. The store clerk recommended sharks.
“They’re aggressive enough to hold their own.”
Of course they are, I thought, they’re sharks.
Yes, she was correct. My fish tank become a battle ground. It was far from peaceful. The fish lay in wait for one another; they swam in a frenzy about the tank. Apparently one of the sharks was a pacifist; he didn’t like the violence. He jammed himself between the plants and hid most of the day.
Since then, I have refrained from replacing the fish which die. I’m down to three now and the algae eater (who continues to grow). Perhaps next time I’ll try guppies.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005After A Bath
Argus loves his baths; he loves the tub; but best of all he loves his towel. For more about Argus, check out Towel Dreams posted on March 4, 2005.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005Argus as a Puppy
Even as a puppy, Argus had a gleam in his eye; a clown in the making!