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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