I guess I should title this "Salt Water Tank - Phase 5".... but since the beginning, this has been an adventure. An amusing adventure of a hobby of which I have no clue of what I am doing. So I thought it more appropriate to call it "The Fish Tank Diaries". Having it in phases makes it seem like I actually know what I'm doing and have control over what happens in the tank. Not the case. I left off on phase 4, but let's have a recap on the last 8 months of my new hobby.
It started off hilarious when I just went and bought the fish tank used from some fish nerd that lived out in the middle of nowhere and didn't tell my cousin until later that night when I had no idea how to set it up and he told me my fish would die if I didn't set it up that night. So my cousin got on FaceTime and tried to guide me and my roommates on how to put it all together while using phrases like "find the heater, it looks like a popsicle with a cord coming out of it". It got traumatic when transferring the rock with a fish stuck on it and the rock broke and fell and we all screamed... but with the help of my cousin on FaceTime and the 3 of us girls putting it together... we did it and the fish lived.
A couple days later my cousin came and brought some extra rock... set it up so it looked awesome. After that... I didn't think I needed to do anything but feed the fish. It all look good and clean. I didn't do anything. I thought to myself... this new hobby is no sweat!
I started to realize that things were not right when the anemone started moving and it split in two and then they both curbed up and never came back out.... that wasn't supposed to happen.
Then all of the sudden... things went bad. Real bad. I didn't realize I was supposed to do weekly water changes. I don't think I did a water change the first month I had it. I knew it was bad, but I didn't know how to fix it. Weeds took over the tank and I finally went to the fish store for help. I never loved my fish (I didn't pick them)... I eventually wanted new fish and coral, but I knew I had to get my tank under control... and who knew how long that was going to be. I bought a peppermint shrimp to help clean and a star fish just for fun... but both died. This was bad... I got another shrimp, he also died.
The 3rd shrimp was the charm and also "a cleaning crew". They went to work and cleaned my tank after a while. I started doing weekly water changes and checking the water levels. It became like a science experiment at school that I really wanted to get an A on.
Then one day... it got better. So my cousin gave me coral to put in my tank. This was a great day. It was like graduating. I also decided to get another star fish. They gave me a different one... he was kind of creepy looking.
So I finally felt like I had this whole tank hobby under control. So I thought I would finally get new fish. Fish that I wanted. I talked to the people at the pet store and they told me they would let me trade them. I thought it would be easy to catch the fish. I have a net... how hard could it be? It was hard! The first try and emptied a lot of the water and was only able to catch the big fish. So I took the big fish in and traded him in for this awesome fish that I named Michael Jackson... because he is Black and White.
I thought taking away the big fish that there would be no more fish being picked on. WRONG! My yellow and pink dotty-back started picking on Michael Jackson... to the point where he stayed in a corner and wouldn't eat. He slowly withered away. Also got his back tail bitten off. My fish are bullies!!! I was so sad that Michael Jackson was dying... maybe I shouldn't have named him MJ. Anyway... I left for a while and when I came back I saw MJ dead at the bottom of the tank. Poor guy. It was time to scoop him out. Just as I was grabbing the net... I see the star fish arms coming out from behind a the rocks in the back. It reached out with two of it's arms and grabbed MJ and slowly dragged him back into the darkness of the rocks in the back of the tank. I couldn't believe I was watching this! It was like a fish tank horror movie! I was so sad. I didn't know what to do... so I left. Went to church. Came back 3 hours later and looked in the tank and saw just the skeleton of MJ in the overflow filter. I scooped that out and tossed it in the trash. Sorry MJ. That is when the star fish got his name.... Skeletor. The villain of the tank.
So now I'm down to 2 fish. I'm mad at both of them. I tried for a week to catch them without having to empty the water or taking out the rock which my cousin put up in such a cool way. However.. I couldn't. I ended up taking out all of the rock and most of the water to catch the last 2 fish. It was a traumatic experience for all of us. I got them... and I took them to the fish store and I finally got all fish that I wanted. I got another MJ. I also got a goby fish that hangs out on the ground. Haven't found a name for him yet... but I hope he watches out for Skeletor! I also got two baby clown fish that I will get to watch grow up. They both still need names. They are so cute.
I tried to set up the tank how it was before, but it is a little different. That is ok. Hopefully things go smoothly now, but who knows. What I have learned about my new hobby is that it is like playing "The Sims" computer game. You are creating your own little world. You pick the characters in the world and set up the world how you want it... you can try and control things beyond that, but you can't. You never know what is going to happen. Things will appear or disappear or who knows what.... but it's all part of the experience I guess. I just try and laugh at it all and enjoy the hobby. Totally different than taking care of Purple Rain (my beta fish). Guess we will see what happens next! For now... I'm living my new fish.
It started off hilarious when I just went and bought the fish tank used from some fish nerd that lived out in the middle of nowhere and didn't tell my cousin until later that night when I had no idea how to set it up and he told me my fish would die if I didn't set it up that night. So my cousin got on FaceTime and tried to guide me and my roommates on how to put it all together while using phrases like "find the heater, it looks like a popsicle with a cord coming out of it". It got traumatic when transferring the rock with a fish stuck on it and the rock broke and fell and we all screamed... but with the help of my cousin on FaceTime and the 3 of us girls putting it together... we did it and the fish lived.
A couple days later my cousin came and brought some extra rock... set it up so it looked awesome. After that... I didn't think I needed to do anything but feed the fish. It all look good and clean. I didn't do anything. I thought to myself... this new hobby is no sweat!
I started to realize that things were not right when the anemone started moving and it split in two and then they both curbed up and never came back out.... that wasn't supposed to happen.
Then all of the sudden... things went bad. Real bad. I didn't realize I was supposed to do weekly water changes. I don't think I did a water change the first month I had it. I knew it was bad, but I didn't know how to fix it. Weeds took over the tank and I finally went to the fish store for help. I never loved my fish (I didn't pick them)... I eventually wanted new fish and coral, but I knew I had to get my tank under control... and who knew how long that was going to be. I bought a peppermint shrimp to help clean and a star fish just for fun... but both died. This was bad... I got another shrimp, he also died.
The 3rd shrimp was the charm and also "a cleaning crew". They went to work and cleaned my tank after a while. I started doing weekly water changes and checking the water levels. It became like a science experiment at school that I really wanted to get an A on.
Then one day... it got better. So my cousin gave me coral to put in my tank. This was a great day. It was like graduating. I also decided to get another star fish. They gave me a different one... he was kind of creepy looking.
So I finally felt like I had this whole tank hobby under control. So I thought I would finally get new fish. Fish that I wanted. I talked to the people at the pet store and they told me they would let me trade them. I thought it would be easy to catch the fish. I have a net... how hard could it be? It was hard! The first try and emptied a lot of the water and was only able to catch the big fish. So I took the big fish in and traded him in for this awesome fish that I named Michael Jackson... because he is Black and White.
I thought taking away the big fish that there would be no more fish being picked on. WRONG! My yellow and pink dotty-back started picking on Michael Jackson... to the point where he stayed in a corner and wouldn't eat. He slowly withered away. Also got his back tail bitten off. My fish are bullies!!! I was so sad that Michael Jackson was dying... maybe I shouldn't have named him MJ. Anyway... I left for a while and when I came back I saw MJ dead at the bottom of the tank. Poor guy. It was time to scoop him out. Just as I was grabbing the net... I see the star fish arms coming out from behind a the rocks in the back. It reached out with two of it's arms and grabbed MJ and slowly dragged him back into the darkness of the rocks in the back of the tank. I couldn't believe I was watching this! It was like a fish tank horror movie! I was so sad. I didn't know what to do... so I left. Went to church. Came back 3 hours later and looked in the tank and saw just the skeleton of MJ in the overflow filter. I scooped that out and tossed it in the trash. Sorry MJ. That is when the star fish got his name.... Skeletor. The villain of the tank.
So now I'm down to 2 fish. I'm mad at both of them. I tried for a week to catch them without having to empty the water or taking out the rock which my cousin put up in such a cool way. However.. I couldn't. I ended up taking out all of the rock and most of the water to catch the last 2 fish. It was a traumatic experience for all of us. I got them... and I took them to the fish store and I finally got all fish that I wanted. I got another MJ. I also got a goby fish that hangs out on the ground. Haven't found a name for him yet... but I hope he watches out for Skeletor! I also got two baby clown fish that I will get to watch grow up. They both still need names. They are so cute.
I tried to set up the tank how it was before, but it is a little different. That is ok. Hopefully things go smoothly now, but who knows. What I have learned about my new hobby is that it is like playing "The Sims" computer game. You are creating your own little world. You pick the characters in the world and set up the world how you want it... you can try and control things beyond that, but you can't. You never know what is going to happen. Things will appear or disappear or who knows what.... but it's all part of the experience I guess. I just try and laugh at it all and enjoy the hobby. Totally different than taking care of Purple Rain (my beta fish). Guess we will see what happens next! For now... I'm living my new fish.
1 comment:
That was hilarious. I love that you named the scary starfish "Skeletor"- perfect. And by the way, I would be so traumatized by what happened to MJ and by everything that went wrong. I think I cried when I accidentally killed one of my fake people in The Sims. I'm not cut out for real death.
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