Fun With Fish

Growing up my dad had started with a couple of tropical fish tanks. This grew into his become a full-fledge breeder. At his peak, he had over one hundred tanks. A task we could do to earn some spending money was to help clean the filters. At that time filter were packed with fiberglass and marble. All one hundred and four filters would need to be dismantled, cleaned and reassembled.
While dad was perfecting breeding, mom took a more artistic approach and started decorating tanks. Believe it or not, there are clubs for people who take their tropical fish seriously. I believe meetings were once a month, and occasionally I was allowed to go with my parents. And like with any serious hobby there were shows.
The shows had best in breed categories and categories for the most creative community tanks. Mom and Dad frequently bringing these trophies home.
My parents would rotate through which of the kids got to go along to the shows. I have vivid memories of one of the times I joined. I think I was in sixth grade. Setup and breakdown were a big production but there was significant downtime during the judging.
On this particular trip, I met the dreamiest boy imaginable. He and I spent every minute we could together. I wanted to say goodbye after the breakdown, but couldn’t find him anywhere. Mom and Dad asked me what he looked like – about my height, on the heavier side but not fat, gorgeous brown eyes. We finally found him, at which point my parents mentioned, if I had mentioned he was black the search would have been faster. I can honestly say I hadn’t noticed his skin color, just those magnificent eyes.
I still enjoy tropical fish. When we built the house in Annapolis, we started with one tank. After that marriage ended I got custody of the fish. After setting up the tank with new fish at our new place we noticed lots of babies in the tank. Realizing with the more aggressive fish in the tank they wouldn’t survive we opted for a second tank. Before long a third tank was added. We had one for the livebearers, one more the mean fish, and one for the tetras and neons.
The challenge with the mean tank was no one new could safely be introduced, the fish in that tank were super territorial. We ended up adding a fourth tank – lovingly called the retirement tank.
I haven’t figured out why it is but with the livebearer tank either the guppies do well or the mollies, platys, and swordtails. We tried reclassifying the retirement tank as a livebearer tank but ultimately in sprang a leak and had to be retired. Having downsized by one tank, I decided I wanted kitchen counter space back and when the tetras and neons died off that tank would be retired.
I thoroughly enjoy the legacy moments I feel continuing the tropical fish hobby my parents had started.