It's Fishy...

Our friend gave us her fish tank when she moved a couple months ago. There were three fish of the same breed in the tank when we brought them in. We had them for probably a week and a half when Hub noticed one was dead (RIP poor little fish). Hub *swears* that the fish's eyes were eaten out of the sockets, but can you really tell with a fish? Maybe they decompose fast, I don't know.

Anyway, we had two fish left: one small fish and one much larger fish. we quickly noticed that the big fish constantly picked on the small one, to the extent that the small fish would hide at the top near the filter, in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to end his own life. Day after day the little guy would swim to the top, hoping for death's sweet release from this watery prison in which he lives. Of course, we're good animal parents and wouldn't let that happen -- instead, we would knock on the glass and forcefully tell the large fish to leave the small one alone. I don't think she spoke english, though, because it kept happening.

Hub had an idea to just get another fish so that the large fish could split its time between two smaller ones. We find out at Petco that the fish we have, Dempsey fish, were a type of fish called a cichlid. They are known for their aggressive nature and are carnivorous, eating worms, insects AND OTHER FISH. I mean honestly. So now we have a tank with two savage fish who will only get along with other cichlids. And even if we got another cichlid for the tank, there would be no guarantee that our Dempsy wouldn't eat the new cichlid. And if it didn't eat the new one and both Dempsys died, we could ONLY fill it up with more cichlids, and the circle of violence just goes on and on.

Luckily, Petco offers a fish adoption program, so we took both Dempsys into the store so they could find a good home in someone's tank who likes watching fish fight. And they rode to the store in separate bags. The little Dempsy was so happy, I could have sworn I saw tears of joy streaming down his little face.

Now our tank has:

*not actual pictures of our fish. Our tank isn't nearly this nice.
- 5 neon fish
- one fish with a hidden mickey on the tail
- Two orange tetra

The orange tetras are husband and wife. We're hoping they procreate, although sometimes they eat their own young, so that will be sort of a bummer. All fish are as of right now, nameless.

We don't allow mean animals in our home and I'm sure our 4 nice cats and one nice dog would agree.