Day 93: A fishy story

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 93: A fishy story

A few days ago, I posted that one of our goldfish was near death. For 72 hours he lay on the bottom of the tank, ready to go to the big ocean in the sky. Then suddenly, he started eating, moving and attempted swimming. Today that fish is as good as new.

I never actually considered myself a fish person. Whenever I visited someone who had an aquarium, I thought it pretty and calming, but never thought of getting an aquarium myself. And then one day, things changed.

It started so innocently. We were in a pet store shopping for cat food, I happen to wander into the fish section and came across a giant tank full of tiny goldfish.

While the other fish tanks had between two to fifty fish in them and were beautifully decorated with gravel and plants, this tank held hundreds of fishes and had no decorations at all. 

When I asked the salesman about this, he said “These are feeding fish.”

Feeding fish? He explained that these fish were primarily used to feed the other fish. I wash shocked. Their only purpose was to die! Well, I couldn’t save them all, but I could save one. So I left the pet store with ten cans of cat food, one plastic fish tank, and one goldfish.

Back home the fish went into the tank and we named him Blub. People told me that Blub wouldn’t live long. Goldfish, by nature, don’t have a long life and since Blub was a feeding fish and very small he most probably wouldn’t last more than a few days.

Well, they were wrong. Not only did Blub live longer than a few days, over the next few months he outgrew his tank. So, we got a bigger tank, and when that one became too small, we got an even bigger one. We also got Blub a friend, a beautiful white and orange goldfish and named her Cinderella.

Blub and Cinderella lived happily for four years and then one day, Cinderella died. Two days later Blub died too. So now we had two big glass tanks, but no fish.

In the years that followed a variety of fish housed in those tanks. Goldfish, tropical fish, we even had a couple of mini lobsters. 

None of them lived very long. When we were tired of spending money on tropical fish, I went back to basics and got twelve feeding fish, six for each tank.

That was four years ago, and all the fish are doing fine, including the one who was near death for three days. My guess is, he wasn’t sick at all, those who attacked him injured him and he just needed time to heal.

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Day 91: Don’t be too quick to flush

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 91: Don’t be too quick to flush

Earlier this week we noticed that one of our goldfish wasn't doing well. We have six in a tank, four gold, and two white ones, and for some reason, three of the gold ones were attacking the fourth one.

For almost three years or so everything went fine and now suddenly they were ganging up on this fish. Maybe the gold ones were all males and she was the only golden female, maybe the gold ones were all female and he was the only male, maybe he/she had done something to upset the others, who know, either way, there was an upset in the tank.

We decided to separate them. Dieter got a pot, scooped some water out of the tank and then removed the unfortunate fish from the tank and deposited him in the pot. He lay on his side and it looked like the end was near. I didn’t think he would make it through the night.

Fishy proved me wrong. When I went to check on him the next morning, not only was he still alive but he moved a little bit. We decided to move him to another tank. We have a second tank in the kitchen with four goldfish in it.

After putting the fish in that tank, he promptly sank to the bottom. And there he lay, on his side, on the smooth white and blue glass stones. Poor thing, he looked so miserable. The other fish left him alone though, so it was decided to leave the fish there. Let him die among friends.

During the day I kept an eye on him and it didn’t look good. If he was to die, he put up one hell of a fight. At dinnertime I sprinkled some food in the tank, and would you believe it, the fish actually straightened up to eat a little.

The next morning I once again checked if he had given up the fight, but no, he was still alive. He lay in a corner behind some bushes, but he was still breathing.

“Shall I flush him? Put him out of his misery,” Dieter wondered.

“Of course not,” I said, “he’s alive. You can’t flush a live fish!”

And it’s a good thing we didn’t. Today, that fish is alive and well.

So, the next time one of your fish looks a bit off-color, don’t be so quick to flush him. A change of environment might be all that’s needed.

The fish and the Visa bill - Part II

It happened again. One of the goldfish jumped out of the tank. In all the years we’ve had exotic fish and goldfish we’ve never had any incidents with them, but now it seems we have an athlete in the family.

It happened last Friday night. I suddenly heard a plonk and noticed a goldfish on the floor. Since the tank is an upright on a stand, the poor thing had fallen about four feet (120 cm). 

At first I scooped up the fish with my hands, but slimy and slippery as he was, he wiggled himself free. So once again it was the Visa bill to the rescue.

Dieter thought he would die, after all after a fall of such a height he might have sustained an injury. I couldn’t argue with that, at the very least the fish might be concussed.

Still, I deposited him back in the water, where he sank like a stone and lay on the bottom of the tank. He was not dead though, I could see his mouth opening and closing, so if he was breathing he was alive.

While the fish recuperated I went online to find out why fish jump out of their tank. Some of the reasons were listed as:

• ·      The water being too warm
• ·      The water being too acidy
• ·      The water lacking oxygen

In this case the water was definitely not too warm, since the tank had just been cleaned the acid level was correct and since the other fish were swimming at mid-level and the bottom of the tank rather than the top, there seemed nothing wrong with the oxygen level.

There was another reason listed … fish tend to jump out of the tank because they are bored. If that is the reason, we’ve got problems. What am I supposed to do? Reposition the tank so the fish can watch TV?

Anyway, to prevent further accidents, Dieter covered the top of the tank with clear duct tape, leaving just enough space for fresh water to flow into the tank and for feeding.

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The fish and the Visa bill

I’ve never been particularly fond of fish. After all, they swim all day in a tank of water and there is no human interaction whatsoever. They most one can expect is that they come to the surface at feeding time.

Still, when Dieter came home with a goldfish and a blue plastic pot, we welcomed the fish into our home and called him Blub.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that Blub deserved better than some cheap pot and so we went to the pet store for a proper tank.

Not only did Blub have more room to swim, he had a castle and colorful vegetation around it. Still, roomy and beautiful as his surroundings were, something was missing … company. So we got Blub a few friends.

From there on, it sort of snowballed. Fish came and went and when a friend noticed our enthusiasm for fish, he donated a tank he no longer used. Now we had two tanks. One tank for goldfish and the other tank for tropical fish.

Everything went fine until last month all fish in the goldfish died. Within 24 hours the entire group was wiped out. Cause unknown.

The tank was drained, cleaned, filled again with water and left standing for five days. Yesterday new fish were bought and deposited in the tank. Seven goldfish. I remarked to Dieter that, in addition to the seven goldies, he should have bought one white fish. Then we could have called then … Snow white and the seven dwarfs.

Just hours after depositing the fish in the tank, we had a bit of drama. After spending some time on the balcony, I came inside and noticed Gabriel, Holly and Mickey clustered around something gold and shiny near the fish tank on the floor. I wondered if I had dropped a ring or a pendent.

Upon closer inspection the something gold and shiny was a goldfish. Immediately there was pandemonium.

“Dieter! Get in here!”

“What is that?”

“What does it look like, it’s a fish.”

“Is it dead?”

“I don’t know. Get me a piece of paper or something.”

“Why?”

“To pick it up.”

“Can’t you pick it up with your fingers?”

“No, a fish is slippery, I can’t get a grip on it. Get me some paper! And hurry!”

Why the big rush, that fish is dead, he’s not moving. Who knows how long he’s been there.”

The fish indeed just lay three. He must have jumped out of the tank and judging by the wet spots, flapped around to where he was now, laying perfectly still.

Not one to give up without a fight, I urged Dieter again to get some paper. After quick look around he grabbed Visa bill.

Without a fight the fish allowed himself to be scooped up.

“Shall I put him in the toilet?” Dieter asked.

“NO!” I said, “put him back in the tank.”

“But he’s dead.”

“You don’t know that. Put him in the water, if he sinks you can scoop him out and get rid of him but you have to give him a chance.”

The fish was deposited in the water with a plop and … happily swam away.

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