NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Athena, who I have always thought to be immortal, is dead. She has been the only guppy to live over a year in my tank. She survived through the Black Plague of my tank, and has been friends with guppies from Eiosepa to Claudius! (That's FIFTEEN GUPPIES! :O) She was always the familiar face to make me happy in hard times. Nothing ever brought her down. Even when Aphrodite continuously nipped her tail it would always grow back. Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War is a fitting name for her after the many battles she's fought and the long life she lived. I can easily say she has been one of the best fish I've ever had in my care and I'll miss her a lot! 

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War

One of the last pictures I took of her. (about 2 days before she died..)

(Here's an example of the algae I mentioned in my last post.)

:(

Well, Artemis died. She actually died on August 30th, but I have been lazy about posting to this blog as of late. She was a wonderful fish for the four days I had her. That morning was a terrible day for the Underwater Empire. I woke up in a hurry, late for school and found her dead. Not only that but somehow Messala had found a way into Aphrodite's confinement overnight..... locked in the monster's den. Messala ended up losing most of his tail from nipping, and has never been the same since, although his tail has grown back. In fact, him and Athena seem to be going on the downhill spiral and I'm quite sad. It rained at Artemis' funeral, which I found fitting. My tank has turned a goldish-brown with algae without Zeus' constant cleaning, which finally leads me to something positive..... I'm getting a new, small albino Pleco this weekend! He'll only grown to 4 in, so I will never have to sell him! I'll keep you posted as best I can.

Also, Artemis just happened to be the only one of my new fish that I didn't get a picture of..... :( ( I do, however have a not-graphic picture of her dead corpse if you want it, so leave an answer about if you do/don't want to see it in the comments..)

Claudius

Persephone

3/5 of the new Pachi!

Aphrodite is scared of Hippocrates..

Messala on the downhill spiral.

Messala on the downhill spiral...

Somehow she got out of confinement...

... and Hippocrates got in!

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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Nipping Nonsense - Aphrodite Up to Her Old Tricks

Well folks, Aphrodite is back into her old habits. Recently, she's been nipping the fins of Athena and Trajan. I put her in the seperater and she's already mad at me. How do I know? She won't eat her food. My plan is to keep her in there until the guppies' fins heal, but she may starve before then. If I let her out now, she'll probably keep nipping them, which will eventually cause my guppies' death (I know from experience...). Ahhhhh! What do I do?! Not only that, but I'm leaving on vacation next week, so I won't be able to moniter what's going on..... :-/

And thanks to those who voted on the weekly poll... keeps things interesting! I'm changing it tomorrow, so don't forget to vote next week?

  (oh yeah, sorry for the sucky picture..)

Highlights: New Photos!

Akhenaten

Aphrodite

Athena

Nefertiti

Messala

Tiberius

Tiberius again (I LOVE this one:)

So my sister finally did do a photo shoot of the fish, for which I am eternally grateful. These are some of my favorite portrait shots she did.

Dreadful news.... Again

It seems all I can give you these days is bad news :(. Yet another fish has passed--- our dear Hades. I hope he goes to heaven... Contrary to what his name suggests. He was a great fish and a great buddy to Athena. And now the worst news: the weather is so excessively snowy that the fish cemetery is buried under snow. So I have wrapped him up in tissues and am storing him in the freezer until spring. ( I know, I know, this is very gruesome indeed.) I just hope nobody opens that bag mistakenly while going through the freezer. I've decided to hold off on getting any fish until after New Years to give my tank time to stabilize. Rest in peace, Hades.

Hades

His "Coffin" (Sorry, I know it's upside-down)

The buried graveyard

Sound familiar?

It seems like all the news I've been giving you lately has been negative.... well here comes some more. One of our newest citizens, Hatchepsut, had gone missing. He disappeared a couple weeks ago, but I was in denial for awhile. He had always looked sickly, especially the night before he vanished. Some good news for your crying hearts-- Athena and Hades have bonded and continue to brighten my tank with their friendship, Aphrodite is over her nipping problem, Tiberious and Xerxes are still comrades, diligently keeping my tank spotless, Pachus is lonely with the recent loss of his companion, Pachus. Zeus continues to reign over the aquatic kingdom.

Lots of news!

A lot has been going on my my fish tank lately. For starters, I sold Caligula. I felt he was getting too big for my fish tank, and didn't really have a place anymore. I sold him to a fish keeper with a 250 gallon tank! I figure he'll be happier in his new home. After the recent disappearance of Eiosepa, Athena was looking awfully lonely, so I went to the pet store on Wednesday to get her a friend, but they were fresh out of guppies!!! They told me they would have more in by Friday, so I left with no guppy. I came back on Friday, and found that they only had female guppies! So they told me to come back on Saturday. I came back today and they still only had female guppies! I was determined to leave the store with a fish today, so I considered my options. I could buy a different fish, or I could just get a female guppy. I found an adorable Zebra Danio that I was almost about to buy, but then I thought of how lonely Athena was. I went back to the female guppies, and they were all pregnant! So yes, I did buy a pregnant female guppy. What an adventure this will be! I'm researching all about taking care of the fry, and I'm very nervous and excited. Her name is Apollo, she is mostly white, but her tail is yellow and looks like a sun. Meanwhile, my Sea Monkeys (Brine Shrimp) got some matching decorations of their own!

New Lights!!

My old hood

Old Lights

New hood!

New lights!

My best photo of Athena

Caligula

Probably the best picture I have of Xerxes

I got new lights! They are brighter, cooler and bluer. I never noticed just how dim, warm, and yellow my old ones were. I also got a new hood. After I cleaned the tank, I noticed more nips on Zeus, so Aphrodite was put back in jail... :(  To my great surprise, the next morning I found that she had escaped her cage! It was rather funny to see her happy smirk. It seems that she was so thin that she slipped through the tiny bars in the night! I felt a little guilty when I had to put her back in. Two or three days ago, I became increasingly worried aboiut Eiosepa. I can't find him anywhere! Sound familiar? Yep, the odds aren't looking good. I got better pictures of Athena last night! Enjoy the non-orangeness of them! Tiberius and Xerxes are becoming good friends. The coral has become a cute little home for them and they fit right in it! Tiberius is also becoming way more social, it's not uncommon to see him out and about anymore! And for some final sad news- I'm selling Caligula. I'm afraid he is getting to big, disruptive, and ugly. He doesn't have a place anymore. :( We'll miss him.

The good news and the bad news.....

Athena

The Orange Athena

In loving Memory of Tut

May he rest in Peace.

Best Friends Forever.

The Startling remains of My dear Posiden

Life in the ancient fish tank has been crazy since my last post. I have terrible terrible TERRIBLE news and some fantastic news. I suppose I'll go in chronological order. So I guess I'm starting with some good news. I finally named the new guy!!! I just started calling him Tiberious because it just felt right. He has been growing but is still much smaller than Xerxes. He adds so much to the tank. Next comes some dreadful and painful news. I have been avoiding posting for a whole week because my mind hasn't healed quite yet. There has been a death. I never thought it would happen...... Tutankhamen has passed. He has always been the everlasting life of the tank and now he is gone. I discovered him in the late hours of Sunday, July 29th and he was thereafter buried early the next morning. He will be missed deeply. My cousin and I had a beautiful funeral and burial service for him. Two days later I left for camp, leaving the maintenance/feeding to them for four days. I returned on Friday and everything was fine.... or so I thought. I noticed that Posiden was nowhere to be seen. I dismissed it, thinking he must have been hiding in a corner or something. Later that day, I noticed something floating around in the water. At first, it looked like a piece of algae or something. But as I looked closer I realized something very appalling. It was not algae, it was the remains of my dear Posiden. How could I tell? His bones were still visible. It was a truly horrid sight and with forever haunt my memory. I buried the small  chewed-up carcass next to his buddy, Tut. Over the next day, I noticed how lonely Eiosepa appeared without his chums. He kept trying to befriend the Pachus' and Ahmen-Ra, but he didn't really "fit in". This made me even more upset, so I brought him home a new friend! Introducing....... Athena: Goddess of wisdom and war! They were instant buddies! I was about to buy another one that was red, blue, orange, and yellow and then name it Hatchepsut, but I decided it was too soon. During all this time Aphrodite had been patiently waiting in her cage. I decided she had served enough "jail time" and let her free. She was very glad! Her "cell" was also filthy. Well, that's all I can fit in one post, so please enjoy my pictures! It was very stressful to photograph Athena. I finally got a perfect picute of her, but she turned orange!!! I just added most of my attempts (orange included).