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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Lazy Me

Hello everyone! Recently, I have been putting off posting to this blog and cleaning my fish tank, but today is my catching up day. I got back from vacation and all was well in the Underwater Empire. Aphrodite is still in confinement, and just recently started eating her food (Finally!). I took some more pictures and got some pretty cool ones (I'll put them in the next post.). Anyways, my tank is really REALLY dirty right now, so I'll probably go and clean it right after I finish this post.... which means I'll probably post again after I finish....

Thank you to everyone who voted on last week's weekly poll, here are the results:

Looks like you guys chose the Disney theme! Cool!

Be sure to vote on this week's weekly poll, which is: How much longer should Aphrodite be in confinement?

(If for some reason the poll isn't working and you don't see your answer in the results, just comment your answer below...)

Happy Summer!

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..)

All is well

I just returned from my trip last night to find my fish tank just as I'd left it! (except for some evaporated water, of course) What a relief! It was a little bit dirtier, but nothing I can't fix, right? I'm also seriously considering purchasing another corydoras catfish, so please vote for your favorite name on the sidebar!!! Whichever name gets the most votes will be the name of the catfish!

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!