Like all stories, I guess it's best if I start at the beginning. Those of you with a saltwater tank will feel my pain. Those without will probably never get one after I tell you my story. And those considering one will go for it if they have the balls that I do.
March 2010. I'd always wanted a fish tank and during an evaluation of my life and what I wanted but never got, I decided now was the time. I have no husband, no kids, I don't have time for a dog, and I certainly didn't want more cat hair in the house since the Beast basically equals 2 really big cats. I'm not trying to paint a bleak picture, just stating the facts.
I dragged a friend of mine with me to one of the best aquarium places around. About $1000 later I was hooked up like nobody's business. 55 gallon tank with all the goodies. One of the store workers was going to come over to hook it up in a couple days. I was ecstatic. My first two fish were green chromis. I had them for such a short period of time I didn't even get a picture. I don't think I named them, either.
I didn't know it at the time, but the first fish you put in a saltwater tank are sacrificing themselves to get the PH right in the water. It's all about bacteria, PH, ammonia, all kinds of stuff I had no idea about and am still learning 6 months later. Poor little guys. They huffed and puffed and gave it all they had until I found their little bodies lying stiff on the sand floor.
My next two were damsels. I got a zebra and a yellowtail. If they were going to die I figured it was only appropriate to give them dead names. Zed, and I honestly can't remember the name I gave the yellowtail. Probably because she didn't live long. Here's a little picture of them.
They were super cute until I saw Zed breathing his last breath in a plant and the blue one started getting spots all over it. My fish man at the time was kind of a dolt. He jerry rigged my UV sterilizer, put sand in the bottom of the tank, which I guess is a bad idea, put salt in not for a 55 gallon, but more like a 10 ... It was one thing after another with this fool, but at the time I had no one else so I felt kinda' stuck.
While the blue one was still alive I got another zebra and a domino damsel. I named them Zed 2 and Fats. Then, the blue one was removed and probably killed back at the store, so I added another damsel - a neon that I named Captain Quint. He had a vertical stripe down the middle of his body and Captain Quint got bit in half in Jaws, so what could be more perfect? Zed 2 didn't make it very long, so Fats and Quint became quick buddies. It looked like the tank death was over. At least for the cycling part of it.
I waited a few weeks before I got more fish, which my new fish guy would be particularly proud of. And I got them at a new store. A customer at the old one tipped me off to a place that was closer to my house and had better, cheaper fish. I picked up 2 clowns and a royal gramma and named them Mama Cass, Denny and Flo. (Remember, Mama Cass choked and died on a ham sandwich?) Denny was her boyfriend and Flo was named after my grandmom, a very cool lady. Here's a picture for you:
They were swimming around pretty well, not necessarily getting along with the damsels, but at least everyone was alive. When a couple weeks went by and still no one was dead, I went back to the store and got 3 pajama cardinals. Rizzo, Marty Maraschino, and Frenchie. They looked like this:
I couldn't believe nothing had happened yet.
Yet.
I went a step further. I ordered a flame angelfish, a puffer, a yellow tang and 7 chromis from a place on the internet. They came in the mail, just like pants, and I brought them to their new home. They did great. I acclimated them and despite being harassed by Fats, everyone seemed happy and healthy. I named them Norman Bates, Puff Daddy, Sophie Fatale and the 7 dwarves. Who could tell between 7 fish, seriously.
I should have known things were too good to be true when Sophie got a brown stripe down the middle of her yellow body...
To be continued.
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