IT'S A MOST SPARKLY SATURDAY MORNING. The DIY-buckets-&-mops shop across the road is gleaming. People promenade past in summery clothes not smoking cigarettes. The sky is a pale British azure (it rarely ever goes tropical dark blue in these northern climes ...) we've all been up since 5am in my house, at which time I went out to buy alcohol (oops! Honestly I forget that "normal" people don't drink white cyder for breakfast sometimes ...) at which point I bumped into my quiet housemate Elvis (who I've never had cause to write about really) and Matran the Ratman on the stairs. Matran scowled at me. I nodded and, if I had been wearing one, would have tipped my hat at a jaunty angle as I swept past. I do not speak to him at all. Not one word. Because when he last spoke to me he said "oi!" instead of my name... hey-ho...
I want tropical fishies. I want them now. That's what I did last time I went "clean" (on buprenorphine/Subutex) ... so I need them again if it's to happen all over ... Also I want cardinal tetras, a Borneo highland loach and one of those mad tropical frogs like I had last time. (Click the words for film clips.) My one fear has always been cockroaches: we had severe infestation at one point and I know from the side of the can that pyrethrum/permethrin does not mix with fish ... it says "highly dangerous to aquatic life" ... "cover fish bowls and tanks before use" ~ and because we still have straggly remnants of the roach invasion upon us, I wouldn't trust my landlord not to come in when I'm out and spray the tank down ~ even out of spite. I suppose if he did I could take water samples and get him "busted" by the RSPCA (anti-animal cruelty charity) ... but that is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted ... I don't know. Has anyone got some advice?
Films of the day: baby chinchillas
and
Dust bath chinchilla with white poodle
I've found that Borneo Suckers (I call them Hillstream Loaches) prefer a much different environment from more conventional tropical fish, i.e. cooler waters, higher current.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this site: Hillstream Loaches
I had some Hillstream Loaches, and I felt bad that I couldn't attain the environment they wanted. Got Panda Cory and Otos instead.
fishes must be very cool to watch, gives you serenity...would give you some peace...and they are quiet animals!!!no problems with the neighbours!!!
ReplyDeleteTake care dear, I'm always behind you in a small corner
grandma mousie
Hi Gleds! Thanks for dropping in - nice to hear from you! Get some fish, they're great. You do have to be careful with chemicals, but keep 'em covered and they'll be fine.
ReplyDeleteWe had coldwater fish, not tropical (worried about power cuts!) and they bred and bred. Kept getting bigger and bigger tanks but had to move 'em out into a large pond in the garden in the end. (Actually, ended up digging three successively bigger ponds; the final one made a very nice swimming pool before we put the fish in!) Sadly, they didn't move house with us, so really miss them now.
Evil: I kept my Hillstream Loach at about 75 degrees in a box-filtered tank (ie so she had a stream of airbubbles down one side). She slept upside down under a piece of slate at all times and used to swim vertically down the bubbles to the filter. They said in one shop she would eat catfish pellets; another shop said DON'T CLEAN ALL THE GLASS: THEY EAT ALGAE ONLY. I am not sure which was true. But the temperature seemed to be OK for her. It was 22C which is the lowest end of tropical
ReplyDeleteMousie: you're quite right there. Plus they never escape and cause trouble that way!!
ReplyDeleteGrumpy: I wouldn't worry about that: in a powercut the water takes ages to cool down. And they can definitely go 24 hours at cooler temperatures (water temperatures do vary in the tropics with rainfall/etc, after all) ... didn't you have filtration? What fish? Do you mean goldfish and carp?
ReplyDeleteHi Gleds, What a great idea! Working with tropical fish seems like a good example of going downstream with the current of well being (from that woo woo video on my blog)! I was just talking to a friend yesterday who has "gone down this road before" and he's doing it again much more easily and successfully because he knows what to expect and how to manage it. He said that this time he has been able to actually enjoy much of his efforts to not use because of that. We both agreed that there is much to be had in the trying if only for that reason.
ReplyDeleteThere's a site called fish.com which I cannot imagine you do not know about. But in case you don't, they sell fish supplies but also have an information tab with a bunch of articles and some links. There is also http://www.elmersaquarium.com/000tropfishcareguides.htm which has information about the care of tropical fish by species.
Somehow I don't think I am telling you anything you don't already know. (about quitting OR tropical fish info) But I am such a know-it-all so I try and use that poor character trait to be supportive. LOL
Best, WS