Blue Thunder

So Brynde decided she wanted an aquarium. Strange I know... the same Brynde that hates all animals, is petrified of all house pets, and now wants an aquarium.

It all started when we decided we were going to buy Kaylee a fish for Christmas. Then sprung up the desire to have an aquarium of her own.

We took some Christmas bonus money from Brynde's work, and got us all the essentials, a tank, rocks, filter, air pump, artificial plants, etc. We were excited to get it home and start setting it all up.

Setting it up was fun, the water was extremely cold to start out with so arranging the scenery was almost unbearable. Once we got all the scenery arranged how Brynde likes it (so far) we were content to just sit and stare at an empty fishtank imagining all the wonderful possibilites.



It was hard to decide which air pump decoration we wanted. We liked the idea of having a volcano so we could do the whole Finding Nemo look. But Brynde liked a bridge, and two different houses with water wheels powered by air. I liked the one with palm trees in the back, it had a bigger waterwheel and everything. Eventually I was able to convince Brynde it was ok to put Palm Trees in her aquarium, we were putting tropical fish in there so why not tropical trees? It was going to be part of Brynde's Christmas, but we were too excited to wait so it went in the night we bought it.

Then came the day where we'd waited long enough, it was time to get our first fish. Off to Petsmart we went, we had been there almost everyday for a few days trying to let Brynde decide on fish. They know us pretty well there... We decided on a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami. We bought him and brought him home and introduced him to the tank. We were a little worried about him because all he did was sit in the corner and wasn't very active. After a while of hiding in the corner, T-bone came front and center and pooped for all to see. He was much more active from then on. Eventually he figured out his surroundings and had full reign over the whole aquarium. He's got much more personality then he had at the beginning. The name T-bone didn't seem to fit him at first, but it was the name that stuck with us. It seems to really fit his personality now.



Now we were in a dillema, we didn't know what to get next. Glowfish were on sale till Christmas Eve, but the selection at Petsmart wasn't the greatest at the time. We found out they got new fish in on Thursday so if we were to come in Christmas Eve after 1pm they should have the new shipment in to look at. We decided that if all else fails we can come back Christmas Eve and check out the selection and make our decisions from there.

Christmas Eve comes, the fish selection wasn't good enough, they didn't have 3 separate colors like there were the whole time we were shopping for aquarium parts. So we decided to get guppies, a Monarch Butterfly looking fancy guppy, and a Neon Tuxedo Fancy Guppy. The next problem we run into is that we are spending Christmas Eve 30 miles away from home and away from the fish. I come home Christmas Day after working a 10 hour shift to find the tuxedo fish wrapped around the filter post. The Monarch Butterfly guppy seemed to still be swimming around ok. I call Brynde and inform her of the bad news, after re-explaining that ONLY 1 fish died and the other two are ok especially T-bone, she calmed down.

I go to work the day after Christmas with a cough and a fever, they let me go home early because I was so braindead and useless, I come home to find the Monarch Butterfly guppy is missing. I can't find it at all. I search all over, outside the tank, in the house, no luck whatsoever. I prepare to call Brynde again with more bad news. She takes it much better this time although doesn't seem to believe me that I just can't find the other guppy.

We accept that it is "lost", and then a few days later the remains of the fish show up floating in the corner of the tank. Now I can't help but see a menacing look on T-bone's face everytime I see him.

Today we decide its time to introduce new fish to our aquarium again. We take the bag of dead fish back to Petsmart and explain the story. Together we decide to get a school of fish this time. We get 5 Rasbora fish. Petsmart recommended in order to get the 5 fish introduced to the tank in the best possible way, we need to take T-bone out of the tank for an hour while the other fish acclimate and find where the hiding spots are and how to stick together.

That's what we're doing right now. We've "grounded" T-bone from the aquarium for an hour while the Rasbora's enjoy their new home. It's fun to see them all swim around sticking together in the tank. T-bone on the other hand, isn't quite tickled pink by the idea of being all by himself in a pitcher of water. Infact, he is so excited that he's pooped twice in the first ten minutes. Here's to hoping he gets along with the new fish!