The homers, the glomers, and Babaloo

I haven't been blogging much about the garden because it's been so hot this summer that it raises a sweat just to think about it. I stopped all planting in late May this year because of the heat and drought (some years I go clear up to late June) and have barely done any of the trimming and weeding the garden so desperately needs because it was so hellish to work in the sun. So all incentive to take photos and report on what's in bloom has vanished behind a welcome wall of air conditioning.

Meanwhile, this was the summer of a renewed interest in aquariums. As a kid I wasn't allowed to have pets but nonetheless saved up for a fish tank and managed to convince my mother to let me set it up. I was about 10 and, predictably, in those pre-Internet days when I couldn't ask Google to guide me through life's complexities, I made all the mistakes every aquarium first-timer makes, from overpopulating the tank to bad feeding habits. What really turned me off from my experiment in fish keeping though was when my adults ate their children. One day I was rejoicing to see tiny babies darting around, and the next very confused to find they'd disappearing. All was revealed when I saw a tiny fish skeleton gently drift through the water. Later I read at the public library that adult fish will eat their fry if left together in the same tank.

Until then I had no idea that such cruelty as parents devouring children could exist in the world. I cannot even begin to explain just how profoundly shaken I was. I won't say I began looking suspiciously at my own parents after that, but my faith in the fundamental goodness of the world was shattered. Thus ended my romance with the fish tank: I couldn't bear to look after cannibals.

But a few months ago, while idly browsing eBay, I saw a tank that looked very cool: a wall-mounted variety which offers an easy and aesthetically pleasing way to keep fish. One of my subs had recently sent me an eBay gift certificate so I had some cash waiting to be frivolously spent.

The miracle that is Google helped me this time around. Over the past couple of months I've been reading up on all manner of fish-keeping details, from creating healthy and diverse biosystems, to habits and needs of various community tank fish (i.e., fish which can live harmoniously with others). I soon realized the tank I'd bought was never going to be a great environment for the three danios (known as "The Homers") and the dwarf shrimp I'd purchased. They needed more friends, more room, and more bio-diversity than my 2 1/2 gallon tank could possible provide. So for my birthday this year, I asked Jen for a second tank. This one's more utilitarian, a 20-gallon model that sits on a table. Armed with Googly-knowledge, I'm creating what I hope is a near-ideal environment for the fish I have, and the ones which will soon be added.

Right now the new tank has my three zebra striped danios (who, the pet store had assured me, would die within 2 weeks as the first tank cycled -- but who remain robust and frisky 2 months later), plus three dayglo danios (aka glofish, and we call them the Glomers, as they are genetic kin of the Homers). These dayglo relatives are the result of scientists injecting fluorescent DNA into the danio stew to produce an assortment of bright creatures that glow when the tank is lit (contrary to what one pet store worker told me, they do NOT glow in the dark). The old tank, meanwhile, has been cleaned out and completely re-designed as the pretty new home for a single betta (aka fighting fish), with long cobalt blue fins. After living here a day or two, he told me his name was Babaloo (pet owners know how that goes). He's really adorable (for a fish) and loves his environment, especially the heater which keeps water temperature just the way he likes it (on the warm side). Here's a pic I found on-line of someone who looks almost exactly like Babaloo. Handsome fellow, isn't he?

The assorted danios and a few dwarf cobalt-blue shrimp are enjoying (and breaking in) the second tank. Will and I had quite the little adventure trapping and transferring these tiny things into their new home but they look awfully happy now. They will soon be joined by a small school of neon tetras, another batch of dwarf shrimp, and a couple of cory cats (small bright catfish to eat gunk)...and, if I can find them again, some mini-freshwater clams. The impulse to add everything all at once is almost overwhelming but for the sake of fishie longevity, I've been trying to stick to the recommended schedule.

Needless to say, I've been as obsessed with aquaculture as I am with the garden. Plants currently in tanks include anacharis, water lettuce, bacopa, myria, ludwigia. Dwarf baby tears (hemianthus) and java moss are on order. As with my outdoor garden, I'm trying to do organic aquarium gardening -- don't want to add fertilizer unless I must. I've been learning a little about water plants. Most people use them as decor but I'm aiming for them to do the job they would do in nature, i.e., add nutrients, improve water quality, offer hidey-holes, provide shelter, shade and food.

The fish are actually the cheapest and easiest part. Getting the water properly balanced, creating biodiversity and selecting the right rocks, gravel, and plantings, and then adding stuff to improve quality of aquarium life for its residents is more complicated, time consuming, and waaaay more expensive. Example: wanting to be sure that Babaloo is as happy as a fighting fish can be, I typed "how to make a betta happy" into Google, and searched around eBay to see what breeders were selling for their specific needs. Discovered that bettas favor a certain kind of leaf in their water. Not only do they like to cozy up to said leaf, but the leaf also improves chemical levels in the water. Who knew? Only catch is they're rare and imported from Thailand. But is anything too good for my little blue Babaloo? Of course not.

The big tank is moving in another direction: heavy on plantings. I've got java moss on order now and plan to create a moss wall. I'm fighting the urge to get yet another aquarium meanwhile (it's madness I tell you, madness), and suppress my natural tendency to be a responsibility junkie.

Comments

[Nightheron2]

I used to have a fish tank when I was a kid, before it became too much for me. Like you, I didn't have enough information on how to keep the fish alive, so they died off. My favorites were the Gouramis. Very gentle fish, you can feed them by hand.

I've often though about getting another fish tank. I was at a pet shop, recently, and I saw these small, cheap goldfish called "feeders".

Apparently, they exist just to be fed to other fish and not to be kept as pets. I thought about getting a whole tank full of them. Give them a chance to live, for a change.