So... I went to the pet store yesterday to purchase some new fish. I had noticed that our little school of neon tetras was down to one. Well, schooling fish are not fond of being by their lonesomes, so I decided to pick up 6 new tetras to keep the "lonely only" company.
Well, that's where I made my first mistake. Sean usually picks out the new fish and buys them, but I was right next to the pet store, so I figured I could do it! Well, I bought some neon tetras, for sure, but, apparently I did NOT buy the correct ones: the "JUMBO neons." That was the second mistake. I'm not sure if it's a different fish altogether, or if the jumbos have just put on a bit more weight than their smaller, same-name buddies, but, it was definitely not the right fish.
How do I know!?!?
After acclimating my new little fishies to the water of our 55-gallon aquarium, I carefully scooped them up from their holding area and deposited them, one-by-one, in their new home. I threw a few fish flakes on the top of the water so the current residents -- along with their new friends -- would be distracted by a nice, tasty treat. (Maybe "tasty treat" is not the best choice of words at this point... knowing what I know now....)
At any rate, I came back about an hour later to see how the new fish were doing. I spotted the other 3 fish that I'd purchased that day, but after counting and recounting and searching and researching , I could only find 3 tetras....
There should be 7 in there!
One fish plus 6 fish equals 7. I'm sure of it!
Then I looked more closely at one of the smaller of the 3 tetras... who was struggling near the side of the tank. He didn't look so good.
SAD! What did I do to my new little fish friends?
I kept looking and looking and looking.... but I had no luck with finding any other neons.
It was at this point that I focused-in on our angelfish, Quarter. He was acting kind of weird -- like he was in some zombie-like state. I also focused in on his abnormally large stomach....
OH NO!
He didn't! Did he?
He couldn't! Could he!?!??!
Oh, yes, my friends.
He did.
Quarter devoured 4 of the new little fishies I brought home. And he probably injured the other one that was struggling. (Maybe he was just too full to gobble up that one, too.) And the other 2 surviving tetras, lucky for them, are just a bit too jumbo for Quarter to add to his horrendous meal.
Horrendous to me, anyway. I'm sure it was just delightful for Quarter. For as I sat there in shock, I looked up quickly on the Internet if angelfish would really eat tetras .... only to find one site describe neons as "the natural prey of angelfish."
SAD!!!!!
I am a horrible fish mommy!
2 comments:
I think at this point you should change Quarter's name to at least Half Dollar, what with him eating all those tetras. Well, at least NOW you know. Nature teaches us in some pretty brutal ways sometimes!
Oh sad!! But, he was just doing what God created him to do....yeesh.
Post a Comment