Monday, April 19, 2010

You say hello and I say goodbye

The fish tank is getting a new home today. We promised John's brother, Ben, that he could have it when we got a new one because we knew we'd be upgrading to saltwater.

This fish tank has sure put up with a lot from us, two moves while it was full, Sophi jumping on top to walk to her cat tree (cause walking on the ground is for common folk), the dogs jumping on the glass chasing the fish and many deaths and new comers of fish.

The fish we've had the longest is a Pictus Catfish

John bought him when we were down at Snow and had a 10 gallon tank, so he's been with us for 4 years and he's about 8 inches long.
I wont be missing him too much though. He's a hider (which the pet store people tell us that he shouldn't be) and vibrates/hums when he gets really pissed off. It really freaks me out!
When we moved him from John's 10 gallon to our 55 gallon we tried catching him in a plastic bag (you cant catch them in nets because they're spiny fins get stuck in the nets) he was humming up a storm. He poked his fins through the bag, drained all his water and had me screaming, "JOHN! JOHN! JOHN!!!!!" (even though John was standing in the room holding the bag) and jumping up and down like I just won Miss USA. John shoved the bag into my hands and I had to hold the humming/vibrating pissed off little guy while John grabbed some tupperware.
Getting him out of the bag was a challenge since he thrashed around getting himself more tangled and stress. John worked for a good few minutes getting him untrapped and into the tupperware and I really thought he wasn't going to last through the night.
The next time we moved we were smart and caught him with a glass jar. Less stress, less humming and no screaming.

One little fish I will be missing is our female Bristlenose Plecostomus

You may think she's ugly, but I think she's so ugly that she's cute.
My mom has always had a pleco in her fish tank and the common ones can get really big, some up to two feet! I think hers was always pushing 12 inches.
John thought they were hideous, but they're really good for the tank since they suck off the algae and are a good clean up crew.
I searched for this one special since I didn't want one that got too big so it meant going to a special fish store (petsmart only carries the common ones).
She's should only get up to 8 inches, but right now she's tiny, only about 3 inches. She must be a slow grower because we've had her for 2 1/2 years now. When I first got her I'd say she was less than an inch and I snuck her into the tank so John wouldn't know I bought one. :)

One guy I wont be missing at all is a new addition to the tank, a Banded Leporinus.

I bought two of them a few months ago on a whim, not knowing anything about them, just liking them for their adult size(12 inches) and coloring.
Supposedly they're peaceful and do well with community fish but one of them is a huge butthead. He's chewed up the two angels fins and chases the other tank mates. I told Ben he could keep him if he wants but I'd sell him back to the pet store ASAP!

Other tank mates that will be moving to their new home are:
Two angels (had 5 but 3 died from old age)
3 black skirt tetras
3 tiger barbs
5 hatchet fish

It'll be really weird having it gone and not hearing the quiet sound of running water and bubbles for the next few months. But John is eager to get it out so he can install the toe kick for the cabinets (he already has them all built, he's so excited :))and get the plumbing and electrical out of the way. I was way wrong when I thought this would be an over a year project!

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