Dreams vs The Crushing Weight Of Reality

[furtech]

I owe my fascination with fauna and nature in general to a twenty gallon aquarium. My parents had a tropical fish tank that fascinated me as far back as I can remember. I even have hazy memories of toddling up to the tank (it was on a raised stand) and staring, mesmerized, at the neons and catfish and Kuli loaches.

Aquariums are empowering. They are miniature worlds and you are responsible for them. Little white spots? Ick! Run to the tropaquarium store and get that blue liquid and douse the tank. Floaters were traumatic. Weekend-feeders were lifesavers.

All of the motion of life. The picture was never the same. Discovering reef tanks took this fascination to a whole new level: this was like having a miniature tide-pool in your house! This wonder was not without a price, though-- both literally and figuratively. They are so fragile and complex that your life revolves around them. To the same degree that kids do I think.

I've recently starting to get the urgings to get some kind of a water hobby. I think it was seeing the aqua-scape club at the Pet Expo a few years ago that re-kindled this interest.

At long last, I finally decided to act:


...and once again the crushing weight of reality results in something that I can probably handle (and if not, it's only mushrooms and used coffee grounds).

Comments

[tori04.livejournal.com]

I hope they survive. I can cook something with those.

[fatkraken.livejournal.com]

http://www.sea-monkey.com/

[merrycalliope.livejournal.com]

Ooo! You should get a marimo! I have one. He fuzzy and cute and I love him and all he needs is clean water and some sunlight. Marimooooooo~! ^_^

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Have you heard of sea monkey racing? That sounds like a good hobby for you!

My dad had a saltwater tank in the 80s. Alas, now it is just salt-encrusted, dry and empty. :/ The fish kept dying and we weren't sure why. Very sad, but for a while it was very beautiful. I wish I had some photos of it.

[lironess.livejournal.com]

So happy to see that you are taking the welfare of the little creatures into consideration. They now sell betta vacation feeders...the plaster things.

And...I am availible for betta sitting if you need me...I am at the 405 and the 10 just bring the little guy over and I will set up the 5 gallon.

Or be happy with the mushrooms :)

[lironess.livejournal.com]

Salt water requires a LOT of work and even more luck. Very few people who don't own a fish store can keep the fish alive for long.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

Oh is that what those are? There's an old mill pond a few towns over that is full of them. They look so WEIRD when you're canoeing through shallows full of them.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oh, NOes! Teh pressure!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Sea Monkeys are surprisingly difficult to raise!

I've tried to raise Sea Monkeys at least three times: Fail.

Every attempt ended with a smelly bowl of salty, moldy water.

I -did- manage to hatch a couple on one try: they are about 1/10 the size of aquarium-store brine shrimp!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Mushrooms and border collies for now. But I will keep the offer in mind! Thanks!

[fatkraken.livejournal.com]

never done sea monkeys but my Triops got big and fat. Well, one did. Probably because he ate all of the others.

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Lex! Shoot for the stars :D

[vandringar.livejournal.com]

Man, I miss reefkeeping. And I've wanted to try raising nice mushrooms for a while, too! It'll be nice to perhaps be more settled down in the future.

[tcreynolds]

Haha hey, it's good to know your limits!

(psst but you know, not to be an enabler or anything, I have that small 12 gallon tank and it's real easy to maintain, just guppies and plastic plants for color and movement. Since you saw it I added an algae eating fish, and I don't even need to scrub anymore. It even eats algae off the crazy shapes of the plastic plants.)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=eclipse+fish+tank&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1024&bih=997&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=13913155550059587221&sa=X&ei=2orZTpHkOKHl0QG77N3JDQ&ved=0CHoQ8wIwAA

Related, I put up the christmas tree with all the lights, and the 4 guppies were staring at it through the glass, with total fascination.

[desertcoyote.livejournal.com]

LOL! Everyone has to start somewhere... :)
I'd love one of those saltwater tanks too, but I've heard how hard they are to maintain. Maybe someday I'll get some guppies or something. :) For now salamanders are close enough.

[zillabean.livejournal.com]

WHY IS THAT ADORABLE

[zillabean.livejournal.com]

I own a cactus. It's a donkey's tail variety, and I have had him since I was 7 years old, when I saw him in a pot the size of a shot glass at a flea market. He is the only thing I have managed to keep alive for any appreciable amount of time.

I wish you the best with your mushroom garden. You are a constant source of fun and interesting new ideas, and I never know what to expect from your next Big Thought.

OH YEAH A PUBIC HAIR COSTUME REMEMBER THAT DISCUSSION

YOU'RE WORKING ON IT RIGHT