Sushi

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:55 am

I inherited the classroom fish for the summer. The little guy looked so lonely in the 10-gallon aquarium that I went looking for a companion for it (now it's her, but it was it at the time). Petco is less than 1/2 mile from the house; they were having a sale - several species to choose from at 5 for $5, a great deal. so I got a gourami to keep the original (she's a gourami now, but it was it at the time) company, and 4 tiny neon something-or-others.

Two days later, three of the neon things died suddenly. I'd been watching them swim, left for about 20 minutes, and came back to 3 dead fish. The fourth died that night. Since Petco gives a 15-day guarantee, I took them back. The clerk said a gourami is sometimes territorial and might have killed them. I rushed back home and saw that Spot (formerly it, you'll remember) had half her tail eaten off. The new gourami was the murderer!

I took the murderer back and got replacement fish for all five: three different types of platy (the Mickey Mouse is my favorite), a zebra danio, and a Chinese algae eater. While picking the fish, I noticed a tank of tiny goldfish for 12 cents each. Feeder fish, the clerk explained, though some ranchers put them in their water troughs to control the algae. Hey, I have a small pond with green water ............ Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Suddenly I have 6 fish outside and 7 inside. I never considered owning fish before. :-2 Go figure.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:16 am

You are truly a teacher now, AC. I inherited my fish from the local carnival. My students went and played the game where you throw the ping pong ball in the little glass bowl and win a goldfish. They took their fish home, and mom tells them to get rid of it. They all bring them to school, knowing a science teacher always has extra tanks laying around the storeroom. Some of those fish are pretty big now, and live the good life at school. The janitor takes care of them for the summer months, but I will soon enough see how much bigger they have grown over the last two months.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:35 am

ACC what about the fish from your classroom is it OK will it survive the summer? This is huge as the kids will be devastated if you don't bring that fish back (or one that looks just like it). :-2

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:52 am

My 8 yr old has asked for an aquarium for her 9th birthday, the tank alone is 100 quid so I said lets go buy a basic starter set and 2 freshwater fish and see how much you really like it before we spend all this money.

Going tomorrow to buy the bowl and fish...

Ill post some pics:D

Im sure she said one was going to be called connor (her boyfriend in school lol)

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:02 am

is Sushi the name of the original fishy or the fate of the ones that didn't survive??

:wah:

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:58 am

I hadn't thought of leaving the fish for the janitor. Maybe next year. :yh_think

Spot's fine. the tail fin is back to normal, pretty much. I don't think anybody will notice.

The thing now is, this morning I saw a bunch of dirty spots in the little pond in the back yard. A closer look ... tadpoles! Thousands of 'em! I don't know if I should be concerned or not. I saw a huge toad hanging around a few days ago & didn't give it a second thought. :-3

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:00 pm

Chezzie;920963 wrote: My 8 yr old has asked for an aquarium for her 9th birthday, the tank alone is 100 quid so I said lets go buy a basic starter set and 2 freshwater fish and see how much you really like it before we spend all this money.

Going tomorrow to buy the bowl and fish...

Ill post some pics:D

Im sure she said one was going to be called connor (her boyfriend in school lol)
You can do goldfish on the cheap with just a tank & a little gravel for the bottom. Shouldn't cost more than 10-12 quid, fish & all. It's all online.

raptures_music · Post by **raptures_music** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:48 pm

I think the "neon things" you're referring to are Neon Tetras. They're very sensitive to water quality -- experts say you need a fully-functional aquarium setup complete with filters and the other do-dads and you need to run it without anything for six months. Gouramis are aggressive, and should only be kept with other gouramis. I don't know much about aquariums (my mom's the fish person), but I remember her telling me that gouramis and Neons don't mix.

I recommend reading as much as you can about aquariums, what fish species coexist nicely together and what species shouldn't be put in the same living space no matter what. There are plenty of fish magazines available at Petco, Petsmart, and various other locations.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:47 am

raptures_music;921490 wrote: I think the "neon things" you're referring to are Neon Tetras. They're very sensitive to water quality -- experts say you need a fully-functional aquarium setup complete with filters and the other do-dads and you need to run it without anything for six months. Gouramis are aggressive, and should only be kept with other gouramis. I don't know much about aquariums (my mom's the fish person), but I remember her telling me that gouramis and Neons don't mix.

I recommend reading as much as you can about aquariums, what fish species coexist nicely together and what species shouldn't be put in the same living space no matter what. There are plenty of fish magazines available at Petco, Petsmart, and various other locations.
Yup, tetras. Really cool looking but I need my reading glasses on to see them, they're so small.

The Petco guy should've known those guys wouldn't get along. He told me he hated that department. I should have smelled something fishy .... if it hadn't been for the fishy smell.

The guys I have seem to get along just fine now, though.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:23 am

Here are some pics

This is the aquarium. You can see the 3 platies & the zebra dani. See the one with the Mickey Mouse on her tail? That's Spot lurking in the background. You can't see it, but she has two blue spots - thus the name.

This is the fountain I built outside. I'm pretty proud of that.

This is the pool of the fountain. If you can see the goldfish you have better eyes than I do. We've named them That one, That one, That one, That one, That one, and That one.

Those little spots are tadpoles, a gift from the rare and endangered Texas Toad (really!). Once I found out they eat algae off the rocks & plants, I scooped a bunch and put them in the aquarium.

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:33 am

wow fab pics...............I couldnt see goldy:D

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:58 am

JAB;922293 wrote: Sextuplets? :-3 :wah:
:wah: No reason not to go overboard, eh?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:24 pm

I found That one dead this morning.

Try as I might, I couldn't see but two fish (That one and, surprisingly, That one) swimming around. I might have to go back to the store and invest in bigger fish ... maybe 20 cents this time.

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:26 pm

Awww sorry to hear you lost one, that one...