If You Love Something, Let It Go & Repopulation

It finally happened. I sold my beloved Zeus. It was very sudden, in fact, it happened while I was at school so I couldn't even see him off. Zeus, although a little creepy sometimes, was an extraordinary fish. Anyone that visited was amazed by his size. He was so peaceful and cleaned my tank so well. He helped me gain so much experience in aquarium keeping and I'll miss him SO MUCH! It would have been selfish for me to keep him. He would be uncomfortable and unhealthy. Well, as they say- if you love something, let it go. I love you Zeus!

Well, now that he's gone, I have A LOT more space in my tank, allowing me to get more fish! After facing extinction during the 'black plague' of my tank, the Pachuses are back! I now have a school of five Pachi. I also got 3 new guppies- (I named them using the ones you picked on the poll!) Claudius, Persephone, and Artemis. I'm über excited to have new fish (it's been awhile...)! I don't currently have good pictures of them individually, but here's the one I took while they were acclimating: (sorry you can't really see anything, I'll add good ones soon!)

Bright solid yellow- Artemis, Greek goddess of hunting ( I chose the yellow one because in Greek Mythology, Artemis is the twin of Apollo, who (in my tank) was very similar in appearance.)

Blue/Silver swordtail: Claudius, Roman emporer

Red, purple, multicolor- Persephone, Greek Goddess of

False Alarm

Well, I got a call last Tuesday. It was someone who was interested in buying Zeus. They said they'd be over in an hour to pick him up. My mother and I went to work, tearing apart the tank in an attempt to capture Zeus. He almost jumped out of the tank multiple times! Well, long story short, we eventually caught him (after my floor was soaked and my tank torn apart...). I said all my goodbyes and then waited for his new family to show up. After about a half an hour, I had to be somewhere and left my mom to take care of it. When I got home, I thought he was gone and went in to my room to put my tank back together and to my utter surprise, found Zeus in his usual spot! WHAT? Turns out after my mom waited for an hour and they still hadn't come, she called them back and they said they didn't want him anymore. So all that for nothing! But then we got another call today and somebody else wants him! We're still working on getting back to them, but hey! These may be my final days with Zeus.

Here's just a FRACTION of all the pictures I took while I waited:
 

What I saw when I came home

Life, Death, and Other Noteworthy Things

Well, I officially pronounced Socrates dead when I saw his operculum (see picture below) had fallen off... There's been a lot of death lately, and it's really bumming me out. Now I have just two guppies, one snail, a mixed fruit tetra, and a pleco.

I'll really miss Socrates, and I'm sure Hippocrates will too. As some of you may remember, Socrates came with my 20 gal. I remember being so happy when I first got him, watching him slide all around my tank. I knew he was old and it was his time to go, but nevertheless I'll miss him.

His shell had already begun to rot away by the time I could bury him. (Below is his final picture. I don't usually post the pictures I take of the corpses before I bury them, but this one isn't too graphic.)

(Sorry it's sideways... )

So, as some of you may know, I've been gone on a trip for the past few weeks to the Oregon coast. (Possibly why so many of my fish have been dying, though my neighbor has been feeding them,  I haven't been here to monitor them.) While I was there, I did many awesome things like going to the Aquarium and visiting the tide pools and beaches. One of the things I noticed by the seaside was the sea foam. You may be asking why sea foam was significant to me... let me tell you with this mini history lesson! It just so happens that in Greek Mythology, Aphrodite was born from the sea foam! Cool, huh?

At the aquarium

Some of the sea foam I saw in Oregon

Speaking of Aphrodite, once again she's nipping Athena's fins again! So she's back in confinement. :(

While I was on my trip, I had my neighbor, who also has a 20 gallon tank, feed them while I was gone. When I got back, I saw that the tank lights seemed to have burnt out. I was planning to replace them when I had the thought that she might not have known that my lights turn off automatically, so I manually turned them on and voila! They're up and running again! I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I got a laugh out of it.

It has also been one year since Poseidon died! It was actually one year on August 3rd, but I was still traveling then... We remember him as a fantastic fish who lived a long, happy life.

And speaking of a long happy life, Athena's one-year-in-my-tank birthday was on August 4th! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATHENA! I'll throw a birthday party asap for her...
She has some magic immunity to sickness and injury. She has survived the black plague, countless nippings from Aphrodite, and other hard times that no other fish (except for Zeus) has made it through! Which also makes her the only fish (except Zeus) who has lived a full year in my tank! Athena is a wonderful fish with the biggest, most beautiful tail around! (I hope I'm not jinxing it..)

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