Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Poor Lonely Li'l Fishy


You probably can't see the tiny molly in the nursery. He's in there for a reason. The four terrible tetras want to eat him up.

The tetras were the first to move into the new, spacious aquarium. They loved looking at their reflections in the glass walls and hanging out in the weeds and near the bubbling pump. It soon seemed like the aquarium could accommodate a few more fish, so my husband bought two mollies. 

When one of them became pregnant, we realized we had one of each. As soon as the babies were born, the tetras gobbled up all of them, except for one. The Founding Father Fish soon died of a broken heart, but not before impregnating the female once again.  This time, Phil was ready.  As soon as the second batch of babies was born, he sequestered them and their larger sibling in a plastic Dream Whip container, which he anchored precariously to the top of the aquarium. This was a temporary arrangement at best, as the container was always threatening to tip over. 

Then our older daughter saw an ad for a nifty baby-fish nursery--made of course, in China. Phil ordered it, assembled it, and anchored it securely (he thought) to the side of the aquarium, near the top.  Alas, he woke one morning to find the nursery at the bottom of the aquarium and the baby fish at large. What remained of the second batch, that is. About six of the twelve were left, plus Big Brother. 

He corrected his anchoring mistake and this time the nursery stayed put.  However, the near-death experience must have traumatized the babies, which began dying one by one.  The mother fish died too.  "I, alone of my kind, am here to tell the tale," says the survivor from the first batch, swimming about in his netted enclosure. 


10 comments:

  1. What a sad, sad story. Those devil tetras!

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  2. Well that sure is a sad story and no happily ever after. I'm wondering if tetras and mollies can live together. I've never had fish so I have no idea

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    1. I think they can live together once the little molly is fully grown. At least that's the plan.

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  3. That's a sad fish tale. I have an aquarium that has none angel fish and one algae eater. It was my husband's and I've been patiently waiting for the fish to die so I can get rid of it.

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  4. If we weren't living through a pandemic, you could probably give both the aquarium and fish away to an interested hobbyist. Before my husband got his larger aquarium, we were able to give away all the old equipment. Advertised on a community site and got lots of replies.

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  5. Yikes, those mollies just aren't safe, are they? Keeping fish would be too stressful for me.

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    1. As a seasoned substitute teacher who knows all the tricks, I bet you'd have a school of fish behaving in no time.

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  6. Aw, such a sad story. Nature is cruel at times.

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  7. That really is a shame. I hope the little molly gets big enough to kick some ass.

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  8. sorry to hear about your fall, hope you show up here soon. prayers for quick healing

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