Bob

Years ago, I went out to an exotic animal fair and bought myself a pet scorpion. I know, you are thinking "hey you live in Arizona, just go get one from the backyard". No, this was an Emperor Scorpion, they are not from Arizona. My scorpion's name was Scully (as in X-Files), and she lived in a 20 gallon terrarium in my bedroom. She died on Mother's Day.

After Scully, I decided to change the terrarium into an aquarium and have fish. I thought a few black mollies would be a nice start. When some died off, I replaced them with white mollies. Eventually, they started reproducing and I had speckled mollies. Mollies and mollies and mollies. At some point I think they all ate each other. 

Since then, my aquarium had sat in the garage. Remnants of the old gravel still at the bottom, some sort of build up growing on the sides. That is until Bob came into our lives. Last year, right before Christmas, my friend called me up and asked me if she could buy G a Beta for Christmas. I thought it sounded like a great idea. The day came where we exchanged gifts, and G was happily surprised with a new fish, a starter tank, and plenty of new gravel. When we all asked her what she was going to name her new fish, she simply stated "Bob". 

Bob quickly adapted to his new home, and we decided that he needed a tank mate. What kind of fish can live happily with a Beta? A catfish! In fact, a catfish named Terry was the perfect tank mate for Bob. Of course, the little starter tank was too small for the two of them so they upgraded to the 20 gallon. I cleaned it all out, it looked brand new. Bought a new filter, some cool little tank stuff and voila a new home. However, there was now too much tank and not enough fish. Bob and Terry were then joined by an albino catfish (no name), a Columbian Red and Blue (a mistake purchase that we named Psycho), and a zebra danio (named Zebra). 

After a few months, Terry became lethargic and eventually died. This started a chain reaction in the tank that got algae everywhere! It got to be too much for the Albino to take and he keeled over too. It actually took him a few days and was a bit disturbing to watch, but I couldn't just flush him before he died. All pipes lead to the ocean, except for the ones in this house; they lead to the septic tank! We tried adding some giant moss ball. It's like a plant that is supposed to absorb the algae. Didn't work. Frick and Frack, a couple of algae-eaters were introduced to the gang.

In two weeks the entire tank was algae free. Although other people would say that you are not supposed to have such a variety of fish in one tank, they will never get along, blah blah blah, this is a very passive tank. Everyone gets along very well. I occasionally have to threaten Psycho not to chase Bob around, but other than that it is a calm environment. G enjoys watching Bob swim around with all his friends. Sometimes she helps me feed them, although that usually ends up with fish food everywhere. A happy little aquarium, and a happy little girl, all thanks to Bob.

Next time: Too much energy VS Not enough energy