Monday, July 6, 2009

Because We Don't Have Enough Fish Tanks

My husband has been eyeing a rather large fish tank at our local pet store for the past month or so. I was not convinced that we needed more fish in our home at this time. But then there was Father's Day and I said he could get the tank as his gift. The next time we went to the pet store, that particular tank was gone. Ever so accommodating, the store had other tanks to choose from. We decided to wait.

Late last night, I heard a noise down the hall so I went to investigate. As usual, Todd was working, which is the only time I hear strange noises. My oldest son was still awake because of the activity going on across the street. It seems that some older teens decided to pour some gasoline in the middle of the street and set in on fire. My son watched it all from his window (he has the top bunk). They were leaving by the time I looked out. We live in a quiet neighborhood, things like this don't usually happen. Calling the police would have been pointless because we think one of the kids was a neighbor's son and his father IS a cop. So we let it lie. The kids left and all was quiet. Then my son pointed his flashlight at his fish tank and said it was leaking. Sure enough, it was. Water was seeping slowly out from the bottom. Great. Why do these things happen at 11:30 pm, while Todd is away?! I put a towel around it and said we'd deal with it tomorrow. Just as I was closing Chad's door, I heard the front door open (always a startling sound late at night). ICU was closed (meaning no patients) and Todd had spent 5 hours working in the ER, then he was sent home to be on-call. By now, I was wide awake and figured it was useless to try to sleep. But I did, after everyone else went to sleep.

Next day, we decided now was a good time to get Todd's new fish tank. We have to put Chad's fish somewhere while Todd repairs Chad's tank. So, of course, it made sense to buy a 26 gal. tank to put in the living room (um, o.k.) It's big. Chad's enormous plecostomus(?) (a ground feeding fish) is dwarfed by the size of this tank. Tonight will be the first time I will sleep (alone) with this new noise (the filter, pump, etc.) just down the hall in the living room. I don't know if it will lull me to sleep or not - I hope so. When Chad's tank is repaired, we'll have to buy new fish for the new tank. I just hope I don't have nightmares about Chad's huge pleco jumping out of the tank and swishing down the hall - that thing scares me. A blog friend had fish jump out of her tank once, huge fish. (If you read this, you'll know who you are.)

The good news is that I refuse to accept responsibility for any maintenance of any of the fish tanks. All I do is feed Carmen's guppies. All the cleaning, etc., is left up to the guys. Chad and/or Todd maintain Carmen's tank. So, I suppose, if all I have to put up with is a little water noise, it's not so bad. Sounds kind of like a fountain in a pond. I can hear it from in here (where the computer is) but the house and neighborhood are pretty quiet right now. The tank looks nice in the living room, I must admit.

But where will it end? How much is enough when it comes to fish? Carmen has been talking about wanting a betta. Alec, who has a betta, wants to get a tank like Chad's. But first, Alec wants to build his own jelly fish tank. Todd is contemplating breeding his male and female bettas. Me? I just want a quiet life ...

4 comments:

Mama Self said...

One would think that life with fish WOULD be a quiet life, but, no, there's always something. :)

Glad the teens didn't get hurt while being...well, silly teens.

We heard a strange noise Sunday night. Another bear was in our dumpster. What a mess they leave!

Have a good week.

jugglingpaynes said...

Fish are quiet, aren't they? :o)
I remember when I was a kid, the only fish that wouldn't stay in the tank were Mollies. They were always jumping out. The pleco is probably very happy in his vast accommodations!

I think I would have called the fire dept. Had the gasoline started spreading toward the side of the street there could have been property damage. Hopefully they won't do that again.

Peace and Laughter,
Cristina

Leingang Family said...

Hey, thankfully fish are pretty quiet... :o)

Cat said...

Glass lids my dear. No fish tank should be without one. And watch those bottom feeding fish - ours grew to be absolutely enormous!