An Awkward Discovery and a Burial at Last

The Fish Cemetery 

Sparta

Xerxes: A great grave for a great fish. (I don't pick favorites;) 

Constantine

The fat Tiberius

                       

As I went to take out the trash this afternoon, I noticed that the dirt around my fish cemetery was finally thawed. So, taking advantage of the opportunity, I grabbed the dead fish bodies from the freezer... (yes I know it's macabre, but don't they do it in real mortuaries?) So I finally buried the 3 Pachuses and Xerxes, and made a tombstone for Constantine and Sparta. The dirt was pretty much mud because of the melted ice but I could still dig deep enough, so at last they are laid to rest. As for some awkward discoveries (see title), I've found out that Tiberius is a GIRL. I know, I know, it's crazy. Well, I never bothered to try and figure out his- er- her gender because it's really hard to tell with corys. So how do I know? Well, I noticed that she had been getting really fat. I thought she had just been overeating, but just out of curiosity  I did some research. Turns out she's carrying eggs! Ahhhhh! But because there are no longer and males in my tank (*sniff sniff), it won't go any further than that. I also found out that Nefertiti and Akhenaten are married.... I think it must be more awkward for them than for me...... My tank is probably the happiest I've seen it since the summer with my new guppies! I've asked my sister if she can photograph them for me, because she has a professional camera. I want good pictures of them because they are so pretty, and the pictures that I took don't do them justice. So, expect some real nice, fancy pictures real soon!

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.

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.

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).

Introducing.....

Pachus 4

Just to give you an idea about his size...

Yes! The rumors are true! I bought two new fish this morning! After the recent disappearance of Pachus 2, Pachus 3 looked very lonely. So I bought him a friend: Pachus 4!! He is very long and skinny. The other fish is a gorgeous julii cory catfish, he is so small!!! Now Xerxes will have a friend! I have left the naming up to YOU (yes, YOU!) all you have to do is vote for your favorite name on the sidebar. I will at last give him a name in one week, so vote ASAP! If you are curious about what all of the names mean here's a "guide":

Homer:  An ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Lliad and the Odyssey, inspiring the invention of the Greek language

Romulus /Remis: Twin Brothers who are central characters in Rome's foundation myth. After being abandoned by their mother, a pack of wolves apparently found them and raised them. They wanted to found a city on Palantine hill. They fought over who would rule the city, which ended up with the death of Remis. Romulus then name the city after himself, Rome.

Achilles: A hero of the Trojan war

Hades: God of the underworld, brother of Zeus

Sparta: A city in Greece, famous for their military power

Pan: God of Shepards and Pastures

Apollo: God of the Sun

Athena: Goddess of War and Wisdom

Iris: Goddess of rainbows

Nike: Goddess of victory

My personal favorites for this fish in particular are Homer-Pan (Homer, Socrates, Romulus, Remis, Achilles, Hades, Sparta, and Pan) I also LOVE the name Tiberious for this fish in particular, but I thought of it after the poll was made. It just fits! If you like that name too, don't vote and I'll probably just name him Tiberious.

Just to Catch you Up....

Sorry I haven't been keeping you up to date lately. The summer has kept me really busy! Pachus has literally disappeared! He's nowhere to be found. I've cleaned the tank several times since he went missing, and still no sign of him. During all of this time,  Tut has been ill. It started with his fins rotting away, and a large yellow-orange spot growing on his fin. Then he was surface resting. I tried to help him up with the net, but he would immediately sink back to the bottom. I began to fear that he would die, so I did some research. I considered various diseases that fit his symptoms, and came to the conclusion that it was a parasite. I treated him for a couple weeks and, gladly, he is swimming again! I truly hope he makes a full recovery soon! I haven't noticed any new nips from Aphrodite, but Poseidon and Sepa's fins are not growing back! I have been treating them with different medicines, and still no improvement. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait. I've made two or three water changes since my last post. During one of these changes, I accidentally bumped into Zeus with my gravel vacuum, and boy did I startle him! He leaped an inch or two out of the tank before splashing back in. It scared me! A different time, I was putting the decorations back in. I was picked up some gravel to move, and instead grabbed Xerxes for a whole three seconds! It was a shocking, yet almost delightful experience, but it doesn't seem to me that he enjoyed the experience. He totally spazzed out! I must say, it was rather amusing to watch him recover for the next five minutes. Speaking of decorations, I got   a whole box of freshwater supplies from my uncle, who is starting a saltwater aquarium. I'm covered for the next five years! He even has a large filter and gravel if I ever can afford to upgrade tanks! One of my lightbulbs burned out, so my tank is only half lit... I was about to replace it, but I decided to leave it for a week or two. I kind of like it that way. I just hope they don't turn into vampire fish!! Well, I'm about to leave on a two week vacation, so we'll see how my fish do. Don't worry we'll hire somebody to feed them. I be sure to write about it when I get back.

Be sure to check out all new pictures of the fish in the "Fish Name Photo Gallery" tab!

Just to bring you up to date....

So, I decided to take Poseidon out of the separator. He started to surface rest and looked sickly. I knew that if he died, I didn't want him to die a sad death, I wanted him to be able to swim free. So, I let him out and... VOILA! All the sudden, he's acting like nothing ever happened. Maybe it was the possum treatment, maybe he was jealous that his friends were hanging out without him, maybe he was just stressed... I don't know. So, yeah. I'll need to clean the tank soon. It's getting dirty. The algae wafers are starting to be fought over between Zeus, Caligula, and Xerxes. Speaking of Caligula, he's becoming more social, I see him alot more often, mostly at night. He's still a little shy, though. Well, there's your update!

Victory!

At last! I have finally lured Caligula out from hiding... I just had to clean the tank! He even came out front and I go some great shots with him and Xerxes! He is super shy, though. So Zeus didn't eat him! Huzzah! It's so weird, Caligula is like a mix of Xerxes and Zeus... has the same color and pattern as Zeus, same size and has a similar attitude (except a little shyer). Not to mention that his mouth is almost a perfect mix! Oh, I'm SO happy! Zeus didn't eat him after all!! The two best shots are posted. Well, I'd might as well give you an update... as I said, I cleaned the fish tank. I even moved some stuff around and added a plant. Other than that, most hasn't changed... I used to be worried about Caligula... but it's OKAY! I also got some pH tester strips and treatment (thanks, mom!) I hope you enjoy the shots!

It all started.....

I never had a life long dream of having an aqaurium. It just happened. My dear fish came to me on October 31st, 2011. I sat for hours, watching them, until I could see which names fit their personality. The first fish were Zeus (Pleco), Xerxes (Albino Corydoras catfish), Tutankhamen (guppy), Napoleon (guppy), Hercules (glofish), Ahmen Ra (glofish), Sharkbait (glofish), and three neon tetras who are collectively known as Pachus. (they were really hard to tell apart.) by my birthday, I added many decorations which follow the mostly ancient theme (if you haven't noticed). Over the many months, I have lost, as well as gained new fish. Filters have broken, thermonmeters have cracked, but I'm still going. I have noticed all (well, almost all) the fish who have passed have been the ones without ancient names. I am now careful to name every new fish an ancient name, to prevent this curse from falling upon them. I suppose now is the best time to tell you who I have lost, and who is new. Pachus 1 was the first to die, then Napoleon, then Hercules, and then (last week) Sharkbait. I gained Posiden and Eiosepa (both guppies), and today I went out and welcomed two new (and quite exotic, for my tank) fish: Caligula and Aphrodite (lace catfish and mixed fruit tetra). They all make me soooooo happy and I want to give you more info ASAP, but I can't let it all out in one post! Notice the "photo gallary" tab above, if you want to put a face to the names.....