It has always been my childhood dream to have a fish tank with cool fish in it. If you would have asked me in 3rd grade what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have told you a marine biologist (or someone who works at Pizza Hut). Apparently it was Alan's dream too, because when we came across a fish tank at a garage sale last week Alan turned to me and said "we need to get that".
It was a pretty sweet deal. We basically got everything (filter, decorations, water treatment, etc) but the fish for $20. We took it home, cleaned it up, and rearranged a corner of the house. It didn't come with a stand and the ones we found online were pretty expensive, at least compared to what we paid for the actual tank. Alan, being the handy man he is, decided just to build a stand himself.
Here's Alan testing the strength of his design. The full fish tank would weigh around 350lbs, so we both got on it and jumped around a little to be sure it would hold it.
Installing it in a little corner behind the reading couch.
Elsie was very supportive of the whole fish tank idea. Before we got it set up we went to the pet store to talk to someone about setting up a fish tank and look at fish. She picked out her favorite fish that we desperately needed in the tank. After we got everything set up with the tank and let it run for the appropriate amount of time, we went back to the store and brought home three Black Mollies.
Sadly, two days after we brought the fish home, we found them all dead. The girls took the news surprisingly well. Elsie just said "it's okay if the fish are dead. We will just go to the pet store and get new ones." Alice walked around saying "oh no, fishy dead." Alan and Elsie took the fish back to the store yesterday and brought home three new Black Mollies. These fish are already looking and acting better than the last batch, so hopefully they'll stick around a little longer. If they survive, we will be adding more fish to the tank later this week.
7 comments:
When I was a teenager my Mom decided we needed a fish tank, and the one she got was just about the same size. We also had some black mollies and it was exciting when we suddenly had tiny baby fish swimming around! We also enjoyed the colorful little tetras. Looks like you got some amazing decor to go in your tank. Nice!!
I somehow ended up with the responsibility for the fish tank in the 6th grade classroom...let's just say that I've already set a "no pets but dogs" rule for our house :)
Glad your dreams have come true, however!
That is super exciting! I hope this batch lives!
Nice! That's weird that the first batch died. Hopefully these ones will be a little heartier. :)
THAT LOOKS GREAT!!
Good job, guys! What a great investment. What a great way to help them learn and love animals!
All the fishies dying tells me that they might have been cheap, sick fish.. or their environment might have caused them some stress. Many times you have to let the water adjust for a few days before you can stick the fish into it. There is a product you can buy (name escapes me, but pet stores should have it) that you drip into the water to help calm them.
This website has more help on how to recognize stress and whatnot. http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/healthy-aquariums/fish-stress.aspx
Good times. That looks really cool the way you set up the tank behind the sofa.
Good for you! My family growing up was never able to keep fish alive so I don't think I'd would try it!
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