Once again, I have been negligent to post to this blog even though stuff has happened. Claudius disappeared, and Messala died, just to keep things simple. My tank now has an emptiness that I hope to fix in the coming days/weeks. Messala's death was very drawn out and painful to watch. He started swimming on his side (see picture below) and seemed unable to swim right-side up. He looked like he was suffering a lot. I almost wanted him to die, so he'd be put out of his misery. He was like this about 3-4 days before he passed away. Messala was another one of those fish that spent a lot of time in my tank (8 months to be specific) and I am more attached to than others. He was a wonderful fish and I'll miss him a lot. Now there's just the 5 Pachi, Aphrodite, Persephone, and Socrates.

A chalk memorial to Messala

(No, he's not dead.) Messala swimming on his side.

Oh Claudius, where art thou!?

:(

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!

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.

The Black Plague and a Hopeful Revival

Nefertiti

Messala

Akhenaten

RIP

I have countless tragic deaths to report. My tank was stricken with an untreatable, deathly disease. Fish after fish, The Aquatic Kingdom nearly fell to ruin. It started out with the unnamed (let's call him Sparta) fish. He died the night after I got him, the next day, I noticed Constantine was acting very strange. His mouth seemed to be stuck open. He was hiding and staying close to the heater. That night, I found him floating around. He appeared to be dead, but as I got out my net, he twitched! He was alive! What could I do? He was paralyzed and beyond my ability to help. It was so very miserable and painful to watch him suffer. I later found him dead, discolored and still. Because I had gotten both the fish only two days before, I brought the corpses to Petco for a refund/exchange. I didn't leave with any new fish. The next week, I lost the two baby Pachuses. They exhibited similar symptoms, so I did some research and found out it was incurable  A couple days later, the last and oldest Pachus died, also showing the same symptoms. I was devastated. I couldn't bear to buy more fish. The ground was frozen solid so (like Hades) I froze the bodies. Just as I was beginning to recover, yet another died. This is probably the most tragic and heartbreaking death yet---- this morning I found our dear Xerxes dead. Unlike the others, he showed absolutely no symptoms. He was the favorite of many, with his adorable mustache and 'hair'. He was one of the original fish, and probably the most dear to my heart. We will miss him. Okay, so are you feeling really sad now? Because now I have some good news! I welcomed three new guppies today! Their names are Nefertiti, Akhenaten, and Messala (From Ben-Hur)  I am most hopeful that they will live long, happy lives in my tank.