Piscine Politics
Feb. 16th, 2011 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootFer gawds sake.
So, no sooner have Rapido's offspring emerged, than we have new drama. Are aquariums really supposed to be like this? I mean, I thought they were just fish, calming, pretty to look at. Apparently not. Everything has personality. Lots of personality.
The most stunning fish in the aquarium is Rory Rumblefish aka Siamese Fighting Fish aka Betta Splendens. Afishonados* will tell you just never to keep these boys together cos they will kill each other, simple as that. Rory is magnificent and scarlet plus he built a bubblenest for eggs, which I destroyed before realising what it was - it just looked like dirty foam. Guilt forced me into buying two girlfriends for him. First he glowered hopelessly at them, now he ignores them. Maybe it was as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cyanidemigraine suggested and he felt emasculated by his lack of bachelor pad. The girls meantime, are meant to be less aggressive than the boys. Ha ha ha.
It is said their aggression is kept for each other. Ha ha ha.
That they will work out their pecking order and be sorted. And the jokes just keep coming...
If anyone out there watches America's Next Top Model, you know there's always one mean girl who stalks the house going crazy, bullying all the others yet somehow always making it to the next round? Well, we have our finned equivalent. She hovers over the corydoras stealing their food. This morning she raced off with an algae wafer the size of her head. And she has attacked Rapido twice, the second time giving the poor snail's tentacle such a nip, I fear part of it may have come off - I haven't seen any evidence of the wound. But poor Rapido hid for the rest of the night.
I phoned the fish shop, where an expert shed light...'What you have there is a very healthy betta. They are meant to be curious predators full of personality.' The voice was slightly tinged with disapproval, as if the word personality actually means psychopathic disorder, and everyone except me knows that.
'Will she calm down?' I asked.
'That's unlikely. She's discovered that the snail is alive and a possible snack. All healthy fish look for food. She will probably just keep going for the snail until she tears something vital off, or the snail gets a bad wound and dies of a secondary infection. I would move your snail if I were you.'
The voice seems to think that there is no such thing as a one-off aquarium keeper. I keep fish, therefore I inevitably have a tank condo in my front room for just such occasions as these.
I am not moving Rapido, she's peaceful and happy. But I hate to move the girls cos they are too; and both have to go cos they look very similar to each other, so I have no way of guessing which one belongs in Bates motel.
The trouble with living things is that they are inevitably horrible.
*See what I did there?
So, no sooner have Rapido's offspring emerged, than we have new drama. Are aquariums really supposed to be like this? I mean, I thought they were just fish, calming, pretty to look at. Apparently not. Everything has personality. Lots of personality.
The most stunning fish in the aquarium is Rory Rumblefish aka Siamese Fighting Fish aka Betta Splendens. Afishonados* will tell you just never to keep these boys together cos they will kill each other, simple as that. Rory is magnificent and scarlet plus he built a bubblenest for eggs, which I destroyed before realising what it was - it just looked like dirty foam. Guilt forced me into buying two girlfriends for him. First he glowered hopelessly at them, now he ignores them. Maybe it was as
cyanidemigraine suggested and he felt emasculated by his lack of bachelor pad. The girls meantime, are meant to be less aggressive than the boys. Ha ha ha.It is said their aggression is kept for each other. Ha ha ha.
That they will work out their pecking order and be sorted. And the jokes just keep coming...
If anyone out there watches America's Next Top Model, you know there's always one mean girl who stalks the house going crazy, bullying all the others yet somehow always making it to the next round? Well, we have our finned equivalent. She hovers over the corydoras stealing their food. This morning she raced off with an algae wafer the size of her head. And she has attacked Rapido twice, the second time giving the poor snail's tentacle such a nip, I fear part of it may have come off - I haven't seen any evidence of the wound. But poor Rapido hid for the rest of the night.
I phoned the fish shop, where an expert shed light...'What you have there is a very healthy betta. They are meant to be curious predators full of personality.' The voice was slightly tinged with disapproval, as if the word personality actually means psychopathic disorder, and everyone except me knows that.
'Will she calm down?' I asked.
'That's unlikely. She's discovered that the snail is alive and a possible snack. All healthy fish look for food. She will probably just keep going for the snail until she tears something vital off, or the snail gets a bad wound and dies of a secondary infection. I would move your snail if I were you.'
The voice seems to think that there is no such thing as a one-off aquarium keeper. I keep fish, therefore I inevitably have a tank condo in my front room for just such occasions as these.
I am not moving Rapido, she's peaceful and happy. But I hate to move the girls cos they are too; and both have to go cos they look very similar to each other, so I have no way of guessing which one belongs in Bates motel.
The trouble with living things is that they are inevitably horrible.
*See what I did there?
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 11:09 am (UTC)Far be it from me to suggest some kind of aquatic Berlin Wall (though you could have search lights and plastic frogmen, which would be cool), but perhaps some sad piscine DMZ may be the only answer...
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 01:13 pm (UTC)We returned them to the shop after they slaughtered about five other fish, all whilst swimming the right way up. Bastards.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 12:22 am (UTC)Fish are fiercer than dogs, less consistent than cats and hungrier than rats. Now I'm just waiting to discover they smell worse than weasels.
Swear to jehosaphat if I'd known I'd never have bought this house of icthyoid horror
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 08:38 am (UTC)Honestly, if you want a relaxing pet, keep alligators.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 09:36 pm (UTC)Things are always just that bit extra complicated aren't they? I wonder if fish are like rats in the minds of experts? You can't just have ONE cage's worth....
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 12:35 am (UTC)I love Rapido too:-)