Dan and I worked really hard to get this tank going. I should say that he put most of the work into it! He had wanted a fish tank for so long and I wasn't all that excited about it. Once we got it, I fell in love and apologized to him. Yeah he makes his smart comments about the dog being our food storage and I joke about flushing the fish. Neither one of us would ever act on that, we just like to tease each other.
I never thought I'd be sad over the fish & froggies, but I was. The tank has been this amazing space of life in our family room for the last few years. It is so soothing to just sit and watch. An amazing conversation starter when friends are here...children love to just stand and stare and poke the glass pointing to the "froggies". We have watched life take place, new life start and some life pass. The most amazing event in the tank was the beta fish building bubble nests for their new eggs and then seeing them mate. Cool stuff. We've lost a few of our frogs, as they out smart us and get out through this tiny space at the top...then if you don't find them right away they sort of dehydrated and die. The cycle of life....
Two fire belly toads. Their bellies are bright orange/red.
This is one of our beta (male) he has had a very exciting life. His previous partner (female, red) died a few months ago. They were in love. We had bubble nests at least 2x a month. He would build a bubble nest, then she would lay eggs...they would both pick up the eggs with their mouths and deposit them in the bubble nest. Once all the eggs were safe, she would be on her way and his work would just begin. He would protect the nest, being a guardian 24/7. Most of the time, once he had his nest going for several days, the frogs would destroy it and the eggs would then become caviar to the fish below. Another cycle of life. On several occasions we would witness very tiny beta babies come out of the bubble nest and swim below, then daddy would scoop them back up in his mouth and deposit them back in the bubbles. That's about as far as life would go for them. Sad yes, but what in the world would we have done with hundreds of beta fish??? His new mate, well, he isn't taken by her and they don't seem much interested in mating. I guess he is fond of red heads (as Dan puts it) because the new female is blue like him.
A sight I will miss...they are like little alligators poking their heads up above the water.
Kyle's 'dojo' fish (I call them orange-sicles)
Poor Dan. I feel badly for him. Since he isn't traveling with me I cannot possibly take the tank on my own. So we decided to leave it here with some good neighbor friends who have several tanks or their own. They truly are fish lovers! We know our tank is in good hands now.
Next, the hamster, the birds (whom have a new home) and our desert tortoise, who NEEDS A HOME!
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