Fishing!

Fun things:
1) I got to run around all day with an Ugly Stick.
2) The Toronto Islands are absolutely deserted at this time of year so you can run around and do just about whatever you want including riding stationary bikes in the middle of a field – seriously.
3) Fillin’ up Fiji water bottles with tap water can trick you into thinking that you’re drinking glacier water even when it’s just plain old Toronto lake water.

Xwrap something purple shiny fun Lure

All we caught was this lovely milkbag, and I dutifully threw it in the trash, and what a fun day it was nonetheless!

2 New Fish

At the fish store yesterday, I bought 2 new Plecos.

The tank is now up to:

8 Blue Silvertip Tetras, 7 Black Phantom Tetras, 2 Longfin Albino Bushnose Plecos, 3 Flying Foxes, 1 Neon Tetra, and 4 Zebra Nerite snails. There are also a handful of invasive little… weird snails that came in on the plants. They aren’t quite eating the plants, and I’m almost planning on buying some sort of fish that might like to eat them, but I worry that whatever that fish is might bother my other fish. In all, we’re at twenty-one fish and 4 snails.

There is also a smattering of Java ferns (about 7) , 3 moss balls, and originally what was a single Marble Queen Sword sprouted babies at the end of long stalks, so I snipped them off, and now there are 3 of those plants around the tank.

These are the 2 newest Fish

Family Photo

Flying Fox and Neon Tetra - They both did a very good job of posing for this photo, despite having to be bribed with cookies.

Tetras

Neon Glowlight Tetras - they have gone back to school recently because it's September now... They like their new tank.

Tank Update

Nothing much is going on. The new fishtank is so big that in order to do “proper” water changes I actually took 3 giant buckets of water out of it yesterday, cleaned the filter’s housing, replaced the carbon, and then said ‘enough is enough’ and decided that today I would get around to replacing the water I took out of it. In the summer, spring and fall, I take water out of the tank and dump it into the gardens as all the nice poopy fish water is good for the plants. In the winter it’s going to be rather interesting hauling thirty gallons of water a week down the stairs into the basement to dump it into the toilet. I might see if I can get some sort of big tubing system going straight from the tank to the toilet so that I can avoid the buckets all together. It’s entirely possible since the tank is higher than the toilet and it’d just suction out. We shall see.

In other news directly related to the first news, I’ve found several small snails in the tank. I think they came in on the plants. I’ve always had 4 Zebra Nerite Snails, but these are little-bitty snails which -I suspect- could start breeding and, potentially start eating holes in the leaves on the plants. What a pain in the ass. There is some ‘medication’ I could put in the water to get rid of them, but that would also kill my lovely Nerites. I’m going to wait it out and see if these little snails actually get out of control or if they keep themselves in check. I don’t want to harm them, but I also don’t want them to take over my brand new giant tank, nor do I want them to eat nearly $60 worth of plants.

I can’t decide what sort of “bigger” fish to put in there. I was thinking about either Angels or Discus. It was pointed out to me that Angels are just too typical, and I agree, and while I really really like Discus, they are just too expensive at this point. Also, they are so damn slow that it worries me that when I eventually get another Pleco that he’ll start sucking on the sides of them if there is not enough algae for him to eat, or if he gets bored or a little mischievous.

Fishtanks are ALOT of work. And now I have to go put more water in the tank.

New Fish Tank

This is the newest -heaviest- addition to the kitchen.

We had a good run at it.

Whitey 'n Me

Today was Nice

Went all over the city, went out for lunch, went grocery shopping, and watched It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. (It took alot of convincing, but I’ve grown to quite like that show.) I talked to half of my family on the phone and did laundry. Lovely. Oh yeah! And the fish is still alive after three days of fish medication! (He still has worms though, but we’re taking it one day at a time.)

Whitey Gerard

My pet fish is sick. He is a little albino rubbernose Pleco, and I’ve had him for a long time now. I got him in the fall of 2006, and I really like the little guy. My sister named him Whitey Gerard on account of him being so pale, and I’m not quite sure where the french surname came from, but I think it had something to do with a favourite-band-of-the-week at the time.

A few weeks ago I noticed he (I decided this fish is a boy a few weeks after bringing him home– he may well be a girl, I really have no way of knowing) was severely constipated, and so I fed him green peas and put some Epsom Salts in the aquarium so that he would be okay. The poor fish’s stomach had been all bloated and all his scales had been puffed out. After a few days, he seemed to return to normal. I never actually saw him poop. Well– my fish has roundworms.

There are little red worm-like parasites that can be seen near the fish’s bum. They are internal parasites and it’s only in really advanced cases that they can be SEEN like this. It’s hard to say if the constipation was was the first sign of the parasite infection, or if the fish was constipated, and then when I gave the fish the green peas (just regular human food), the change in diet somehow introduced the worms into the tank…

UPDATE  March 11, 2009 : here’s a photo of the mr. Fish.

As of March 10th 2009, I put him in his own 10 gallon tank so he wouldn't be disturbed by any of the other fish coming over and bugging him while he's sick. Poor guy. But really, he's been sick for a month and he's actually still doing OK!!

Fish

fish