Fear the Crab

Looks like I will have custody of Meeth, one of Maile’s angelfish. Apparently he (or she, I can never tell) has taken to bullying Kylie around, so Maile had to separate them to prevent all-around miserableness. But while Kylie seems better, Meeth is not having the good times in the other tank, so Maile is experiencing pangs of guilt. She somehow got me to agree to take care of Meeth at my house, and I now have a 2.5 gallon tank sitting on my desk. So far there’s only water and gravel in there, and today I plan to go somewhere that sells live plants (must remember the broad leaved plants). I may also try to pick up some peppered otocinclus, maybe two, for the algae eating. I think I’ll need an air stone, too.

I was reading some articles online, and I never knew there was so much to be involved in having an aquarium. Granted, most of the articles concerned themselves with long-term care and breeding of various fish, but all write volumes about water balance and proper conditions and other little tidbits to take care of. It’s rather overwhelming to the beginner.

As far as the peppered otos go, it shouldn’t be too hard to take care of them (provided the stores around here have ’em). They eat algae, and will scrape it off the glass or the plants. If it seems like my tank is algae-free, I can put cooked veggies like zucchini or something for them to eat.

The angelfish can eat the flake food, with the occasional live morsels for variety.

The big question is whether or not I want to breed these fish, or just shell out the monies for new fish everytime one reaches the end of its aquatic life.