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feeling: accomplished
listening to: Whose Line is it Anyway - Donkey Hoedown
Well, I spent pretty much the entire day getting my fish tanks remodeled. For most of the year they've been living in plantless tanks with gravel and hidey-hole rocks that were completely covered in algae, but they now have brand new gravel, brand new hidey-holes, brand new java moss, brand new fluorescent lights to help the moss stay healthy for once, and not a speck of algae left. Between that and the return of frozen food to their menu after several months of nothing but dry pellets, they both appear remarkably happy and fit right now.
Honestly, the difference I've seen in Phoenix in just the past few hours, since I got him into his revamped digs, has amazed me. For the past few months he's been acting like a betta on his last legs (or fins >>)... very sluggish, spent the majority of his time resting... and worst of all, it seemed his swim bladder was starting to fail. Namely, he couldn't "hover" in the water - if he stopped while swimming and sat still, he'd immediately start to sink. That's exactly how old Sekiray acted in the last few months before he died. But after the efforts of today... at first old Phoenix looked like he was going to go right back to old habits of sleeping the evening away, but then he started to explore the new decor... then on top of that he got a bellyful of bloodworms... and the next time I looked at him, he was bopping all around the tank, dancing around wagging his fins and barking at me like the little hyper punk I brought home from Aquarium Adventure nearly 3 years ago. He showed more activity in the past few hours than he used to show over the course of an entire day. Most amazingly, at one point I looked over and saw him "hovering" in midwater... and not sinking. Incredible the difference just a few hours in algae-free crystal clean water with nice green oxygenating plants can make. Even as I speak, over an hour after his usual bedtime, the little punk is still wiggledancing his butt off at me.
Sorry, got a little too excited there. >> I spoil my fish... shut up.
As for the teensy little snails... as it turned out, four of the little buggers decided to hitch a ride home with me. They're still in the same bag the moss came in, but I put fresh water in it along with Pixel's old algae-covered rock so they'd have something to nibble on while I decide what to do with them. I figure if they're still alive after a week or so, I might put two in each tank. Not sure though... 3 of them I think are big enough to escape hungry fishie jaws, but little Tiny is petite enough to easily slide right into even my puny female Pixel's mouth. So not sure if I should put the poor little cutie in a tank at all. >> Suppose I should wait and see if they even survive the week first though...
Anyway, after spending all day on all this stuff and ending up with even better and quicker results than I'd expected, I was proud enough to take pictures. >> They're all pretty big, so I'll just link them here. Examine if you so desire.
Phoenix in his new digs - note the spiffy new duplex. :P
Pixel in her new digs - I really like her new rock for some reason. It's all cute. >>
Phoenix chilling - he really only sat still long enough for me to take this picture. Soon as he spotted the camera he went off again, and photographing became impossible. Little punk.
Pixel telling off the camera - is that not the most evil and "grrr"-y expression you've ever seen on a fish? :P
And now, I shall introduce the snails! *music* And since they're all new and cool and stuff, I'm not gonna bother linking. You're gonna look whether you want to or not. :D
Yes, that's a dime for size comparison. >> The little brown football-shaped blob next to it, obviously, is the snail; tail end is pointing straight down. This is one of the middle-sized ones.
And this, believe it or not, is the biggest of the bunch. I didn't realize at the time, but the smallest one, who I keep calling Tiny >>, was hitching a ride on this big guy's shell when I took the picture. Can't really see it well enough to notice though... so for the sake of reference, you can take my word for it that Tiny is literally no longer than the height of that dude's ear on the dime. o.o
And that is all for now, I think...
comment! (1)
dragged from Becky's stream of consciousness at 10/13/2005 01:45:00 AM
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