Some (more) fish news (3/11/06)

Is anyone getting sick of fish stories? (yeah, I wouldn't know... NO ONE leaves any comments anymore. Apparently my life of fish and children has become boring to the few people who read this. Ho Hum. I WISH my life were as boring as it seems:)

HANYWAYS... Dave went to buy some filters and a new fish for Nora today (her speckled molly (potsie) died. It took her 3 days to realize he was missing). He brought home another goldish colored fish and three zebra striped something or others (they school, which is all I care about). He learned the following:

* Our tiger barbs (joani and chachi? Mr and Mrs. C?) are probably killing the other fish (fonzie, potsie, the two white tetras). The fish guy at PetSmart said that Tiger Barbs get kind of territorial and they start to pick at and chase the other fish until the other fish just wear out and die. So in other words... joani and chachi picked at fonzie and potsie until their little fish hearts gave out and they just died. What??? I totally believe this because we have seen joani OR chachi (they're hard to distinguish) chase one of the guppies around the tank for long periods of time - the one that we almost flushed - remember?

*The fish guy also said that you should buy tiger barbs in threes because they create a pecking order and pick on each other and leave the rest of the fish alone.

* The fish guy said that you need to add lots of schooling fish in with the tiger barbs because they'll get overwhelmed and stop the bullying.

* The fish guy said we'd better hope that we have two guppies of the same gender because they mate - A LOT (we do... PetCo only sells male guppies - I made sure I asked that question when I bought them).

* The fish guy said that the plecostomous (still don't know how to spell that) eats at night, which explains how our algae seemed to have cleared up basically over night.

So, we've learned a lot from our fish guy - most importantly, shop for fish at PetSmart, not PetCo because this guy has a clue.




P.S. Do you think the fish guy knows a dog guy that can explain why our dopey dog barks at air? Or who can tell us why he shakes when Dave is shaving or brushing his teeth? Or can give us a clue about why he's such a pansy?