"I Love My Fishies"

I haven't posted pics of the girls in a while, so here you go. This one is Lucy in her throne-perch above the fish tank. We pulled a dining room chair in front of the tank so she could be eye level, and she does spend time there. But she's recently decided she likes being high to view her "subjects."

Click to enlarge This is Lucy's "Feels like Sushi" look.

Click to enlarge.And this is Olivia. She was sitting on the couch across the room, watching Lucy watch the fish. 

I do love my girls. And they love their fishies!

Fish Gangs

I fear my fish have fallen in with the wrong crowd.

Serpa Tetra's

Everything was fine at first. We started the tank with four serpa tetra and aside from my concerns that the little guy wasn't getting his fair share of the food, everything was going along--forgive me--swimmingly.

CorydoraThen last weekend we introduced two Corydora (cory) catfish into the tank. Corys are bottomdwellers and peaceful souls--the shy flower of the fish garden. There was little interaction between the tetras and the corys but everyone seemed to roam freely.

Being bottomdwellers, there are little wafers that may be dropped in the water that sink instantly to the bottom of the tank where the corys are likely to be found. We dropped a wafer yesterday with no complaints. But this evening when we dropped a wafer, turf wars broke out.

The tetra's started singing, "Gee, Officer Krupke!" as they took turns lunging for the wafer. One little guy actually yanked the wafer out of the mouth of the cory. He then darted away, confirming my suspicion that they're not hungry---this behavior is just a game.

"Hey," I said, tapping the glass. "We will have no gang activity in our hood."

"Our hood?" asked Blair.

"Tank. Whatever. I won't raise fish bullies."

We peered in at the fish. One cory was hiding in his standard spot amid the java grass, adopting the attitude of "If I can't see you, you can't see me." But the other cory wasn't backing down. He didn't fight the tetra. Instead, he circled back around to the wafer and nibbled until it was yanked from him again.

How does one discipline fish? I suppose I'll just chalk tonight up to foolish behavior.

But if I catch any of those guys humming, "Maria" or "I Feel Pretty," I'm going in.

Here Be Fish

Look at our new babies! Aren't they sweet? Yes, I have crossed over to the fish side. We brought our four Serpa Tetra home on Christmas Eve. Blair taped Christmas paper over the glass windows leading into the library so the cats wouldn't be able to see the fish before "Santa" brought them. We have great video of Olivia on Christmas morning staring at the tank, mesmerized.

We only have the four small fish for now. You have to start off with a few hardy fish to stabilize the tank. In about two weeks, we'll add a few more tetras and then a few weeks after that we'll get 1 or 2 larger fish--something along the lines of an Angelfish, perhaps. We'll also be adding more plants.

We are lovin' the fish! It's soothing to sit and just watch them dart about. And even with just the four of them, they tend to school around the tank, which is fun.  I am in charge of feeding them. The guy at the fish store said to give them "a pinch" of food daily. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Is his pinch the same as my pinch? So now I worry I'm either starving or overfeeding the fish, depending on which way my mood swings.

No fish smell yet, which is good. That could diminish the fish love fest I currently have going on. But so far, totally digging the fish.

Painter's Claw

I am mentally willing my right hand to unclench. It's locked in "painter's claw" as I have spent the better part of the week in the exercise room, painting trim. The original trim was this deep, dark orange (Don't ask. We're not the ones who did it). But it took primer and 3 coats of paint to cover it.  Some panels on the door actually took four coats. At that point I was just a madwoman, flinging white paint at anything that stood still.

Still...it's beautiful. Tonight we move the furniture back in and the room is ready for use.

It's been a good week. Wednesday night, Blair and I went to hear the Trans-Siberian orchestra with our good friends Pam and Michael. The concert started at 8 and we snuck out about 10:30, while they were still playing.

"You know you're getting old when you leave the concert early to beat the traffic," joked Blair.

"Hey, high-five on being first ones out of the parking lot! Whoo-hoo!" we chimed in.

The music was great but very LOUD. There's another sign of aging. The wish that they could tone it down, just a bit. That, and is it really necessary for us to be on our feet? Can't we all just sit down and enjoy the music? (You can see why I've never been much of a concert goer...)

It's a small world. Of the 1100 people at the concert, I bumped into my writer friend Maggie while standing in line in the ladies room. Of all the gin joints in all the world...

Today is a special day. We don't buy fish today but we ARE going into Greensboro and purchasing the tank, stand, gravel, and accruements in anticipation of setting up a happy little fish home. But shhh...it's a surprise. Don't tell the cats.