For years I’ve had my old district take money out of my paycheck, to pay me for the six paychecks I don’t get over the summer. It always works about the same. The first few payback-paychecks are smaller than they should be. If I call and complain, they tell me some mumbo jumbo about how the days changed (but I still, no matter where the days fall, worked a ten-month schedule). Then I get checks that are just exactly the same as the ones I’d get through the year. Then I get one that is twice what I usually get, paying me the last of what they owe me because math is apparently really hard. I mean, I know I’d have to poke the numbers a bit to do better, but this is the entire payroll department of a very large school district. You’d think they could get it sorted eventually.
Anyways. Friday I got paid that big paycheck. Conveniently, it’s the week BEFORE the kid goes back to school (the timing doesn’t always work out that well), so back-to-school shopping we went.
Coming home with an aquarium is just the sort of thing that happens when I do commonplace things like back-to-school shopping.
I don’t have fish yet. I haven’t exactly decided that I will (though it’s pretty likely) but I know I need to learn a lot more about aquariums first. I do try not to kill things with my whims.†
So anyway. Aquarium. I’ve always sort of wanted one, but been realistic about the time and money I’d be willing to put in, which for most of my life has been “not much.” Now, though, I’m thinking I might go for it. A co-worker recently placed a betta fish in her office, and it was all I could do not to steal it. So I think it might be time.
Now I have to figure out where to put it, and what to put in it. It’s a 10-gallon tank, not 20 as I’d initially reported. However, there were a couple larger tanks in the thrift store, maybe I’ll go back and grab one and use the 10-gallon as a quarantine tank?
I’ve been reading up, you see.
Anyway. I’ve always wanted neon tetras because they are so pretty, but I see that cardinal tetras are even prettier. But at some reports, less hardy? Plecostomus grow, I read. Snails can multiply and be a problem. Some fish like lots of plants to hide in, some want clear water to live in. Bettas range from having to be completely alone, to living peacefully with just about anything but their own kind, depending on what I’m reading.
I want to design my aquarium for a variety of healthy, happy, pretty fish. What would you get? Why? Is it really that hard? Should I just give it up and stream the Monterey Bay Open Sea cam whenever I want to see fish?
Check out this guy, who goes to where the fish live, and makes aquariums that look like their home. It’s pretty cool. (And this video is for cardinal tetra!)
† Unless I’m writing, anyway. Within my stories, no guarantees apply.
Yes, but will a 10 gallon tank hold a tuna? >_>
Have fun picking your fish. 😀
The tuna already have a lovely home in hammer-space.
My mom keeps fish (in the aquarium she originally bought for me to keep a turtle in – the turtle never happened, because I did my homework on them and had a moment of sheer panic when I realised how much work they were, and how long they lived).
Anyway – she keeps platy, which are pretty hardy and easy to care for, and I think she’s getting a black molly next.
The only really challenging part of keeping fish is to clean the aquarium – which isn’t difficult, really, it’s just hard work, with scrubbing the glass and changing the water and whatnot.
ooh, platy are pretty! One article said you had to be careful or you’d have lots of new platy swimming around. That’s not a problem?
Once I got my platys and they started having surprise babies, I found out it really wasn’t hard to identify the sex of an adult — I just didn’t know it was a good idea to do that beforehand 😉 So, yeah, if you want to get platy, you might want to do that at the store.
Fishies. ^_^ Lookie you, considering a quarantine tank. \o/
My platys are probably the hardiest fish I’ve had; they’ve even started breeding. o_o Tetras are pretty, but you need a school of ’em to keep ’em happy. So consider at least six to ten.
Planted aquariums look pretty nifty too (and I thought it’d be nice for the fish), but they’re actually a heck of a lot of maintenance from keeping the growth in check to keeping them alive (dying plants = decay = not good) to battling an algae bloom, *headache*. I’d recommend pretty fake rocks, plants, structures for your fish to play around.
Yes, if I had room I’d probably want about fifty tetras. >_>
Oh dear, to the plant issue. That is sad-making, as I do love plants. I will keep that in mind!