I have a new animal member of my family, although she is aquatic. Flo is a feeder goldfish, and I really don't expect her to live that long (feeder fish aren't bred really to be kept like normal fishy pets) but she is all dark on top and silvery on the bottom, and she stood out in that big tank of orange and pearl. I had to have her.
Patrick thinks I have enough pets, so he objected but I smiled very cutely and bugged the hell out of him. I claimed that since Kobold was also his, he only counted as half a pet. And the frogs were so small, they only counted as half a pet each. That left me with two. He relented after several minutes.
Flo's in a tank all by herself, because I had a gut feeling that my fatty bullfrog Tim might try and eat her if I added a little more water to the frog tank and let her loose in there. She is, however, sitting next to the Frog tank and I feel that I made the right choice separating her. For the first fifteen or so minutes they were together, all three frogs sat along the side of the tank that she was near and watched. They stared with a ferocity I don't think I've ever seen in a frog. It was very fascinating.
Now she's become common place and they're more worried about the crickets I drop in for them.
Tim is a fatty, he really is. If I'm not careful when I feed the frogs, he will go around and eat all the other's crickets, too. I might just start getting big crickets for him at this rate, I know he can eat them. Hrairoo is still a bit small, and he's not as skillful and ninja-like as Tim; he sometimes misses his prey on the first try and knocks them into the water where they are likely to drown if I don't help them back up onto rocks. They won't eat dead insects, so I try not to waste them if I can help it.
Samson is still a master of disguise, though since I have recently re-arranged their tank, I know where all his hiding places are and can probably find him within ten minutes. Previously, about a third of the tank was built up with rocks and rubble I'd picked up from outside and washed off, so that they could be out of the water. But as that was hard to keep clean, I bought an aquarium decoration that is just a (plastic molded) rock-thing base with a few pillars and then a rock-thing roof. This serves a double purpose. It de-clutters the tank a bit, and provides them shade from the light if they so wish it. The base is mostly under water, and the top is out of it, so they can be at whatever moistness level they want. Then I filled in a bit more with some of the smaller, easier to clean rocks. They also have some aquatic fern-plants in there too, along with a low-lying fake one for sheltering in.
Flo is shy, and won't let me take her picture. You just have to imagine a slim, sleek fish about two inches long, with a shark-like iridescent tail and fins. She is a dark silvery-gray on top, fading suddenly to a lighter silver-gray on the bottom, with small black eyes and a bit of pink around the gills.
Patrick is playing a game for me, which is something I rarely ask him to do since it hurts my pride when I have such a hard time with something and he just breezes through it. But the final boss fight of .Hack//Infection seems to be impossible for me. I have tried this fight perhaps three dozen times and fifteen different ways, but I can never beat it. Patrick has already gone through the .Hack series, and can apparently handle himself. He's doing better than I ever have.
The wellness fair with my mom was fun, and one of her coworkers has contacted me on facebook so I can help her with her knitting, and she can keep me updated with her progress. The woman is very nice, and hails from Hong Kong. She told us that she used to have to bring knitting home as homework, and her mother would do it for her! My mom said that was cheating, and I told her it was so much easier than she thought, so she sat down and I taught.
I think I've earned my knitting proselytization badge.
Well, I'm going to go cheer Patrick on and watch as he accomplishes something I can not. I suppose this is what he feels like watching me knit while he tries to, as well.
If we gentles have offended
Think but this and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
Whilst these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme
No more yielding than a dream.
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend...
~Puck, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
2 comments:
We bought two feeder fish as birthday presents for our cats. the cats never dipped a paw in the water but enjoyed watching their pets. After several weeks, Appetizer and Snackie turned from black to orange. Flo may transform when she reaches maturity. Appetizer lived about five years. then he developed a death wish, and would swim up to nibble at the cat's tongues when they would drink out of the fishbowl. We came home one day to find a little Appetizer jerky dead and dried on the floor in front of the bowl. Snackie then began to grow and pretty much doubled in size over the next three months. Goldfish will grow as big as their tank will let them. Snackie lived in regal isolation for another three years.
I feel like Herman Melville. I've written a novel about the damn fish!
Once flo gets bigger, then she can nibble tim's toes and he'll leave her alone.
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