Oh, for crying out loud

Well, out of the original 13 baby fish, I can only find one. I've read that many, if not most, do not survive. They (he) are nearly 3 weeks old. I still had 11babies the day I introduced a new fish to the tank. I figured the babies were too big to be eaten now by the other fish, so it was safe. Apparently not. Now the reason I got another fish in the wake of all those babies is because of the remaining 2 adults. The male would not stop bothering the female. It was if he was harassing her. So I read up on fish sexing (believe it or not, they have websites devoted to such things) and it said the female platy was broader than the male. So I went to the pet store, found the broadest platy I could find and added her to my aquarium. She must have been female because the harassment of the mother stopped. The problem is, the new fish just kept on getting broader and broader until today when she had her babies. Well jeeze louise, what's with me and pregnant fish? I put the 5 newborns and the one older baby that I could find in this breeder tank. It's a little mini tank that holds about 2 cups of water and you put it right into the big tank with the lid on, and the little fish can survive with out being eaten. I just can't wait to watch them get bigger!

A post not about aquariums.

This weekend, I got a babysitter, and treated myself to a movie in the theater. One that is not made by Disney, nor is a cartoon. A real grown-up movie. I saw Madea Goes to Jail. If you are a fan of the Madea movies, you will love this. I belly laughed through the whole thing. My faovrite line...Uncle Joe to his son Brian "I'm so high right now you look like your real Daddy."

Fertility at the palace.

So I set up a 20 gallon tank. Last week I was finally able to get some fish into it. I decided to get 3 platies since they are hardy and recommended for beginners. One did die, I got a refund. But imagine my surprise Saturday morning to find about 8-10 baby fish floating around! The gestational period for a platy is about 1 month, so she came to me knocked up. One baby fish (fry) has died already, but according to everything I have read, many fry die early on. I'm guessing the other adult in the tank is a male, because ever since she delivered the fry (apparently platies are live-bearers) the other guy won't leave the mother alone. Isn't that typical? The mother is taking care of nine babies all day and her man thinks she has the energy for a little somethin'-somethin'. Even if a few fry live, I will save scads of money on buying new fish!

How sad

As of today all of the Wallyworld fish died. I guess I can get my money back, which is just a few dollars. The only one left is the one my mom won for a door prize. I don't know if goldfish are happy kept alone. So when I go to Petsmart today to get the water tested, I may buy one more. All of this over a fish that probably cost about $0.28.