The possibly missing fish problem grew slowly but inexorably in the old man’s mind. Each morning he surveyed the tank and conducted his icytheological inventory. Some months had passed and it was not unexpected that there might be the occasional casualty. How long are fish supposed to live ? Does it differ much amongst the species ? Is the span of a fish’s life more or less in a home aquarium than in open water ? Had the boy’s neglect thrown the schools into a downward spiral ?
He grew suspicious at first, but then certain by degrees that death by natural causes was sharing the tank with murder.
As the number of fish declined, the looks of apprehension on their fishy eyes grew palpable. The Angels looked implacable. Then, from careful observation of the diminutive Angel Fish, the old man thought he could see fear writ large even in her eyes.
The catfish were unperturbed and went about their gravelly perusals.
The old man noticed that the Gouramis – the next largest fish in this captives’ world – had started to command the better defensive positions in the Halong Bay style acrylic faux rock. What was this aqua-terror ?
In the morning, as the grey light of day spread itself over his preparations for another shift on Cannery Row, the old man went to feed the fish. The tank reminded him of Tombstone – where the streets are deserted because all the townsfolk know there is bloodshed afoot and they are staying out of sight indoors. The Angel Fish swam by, avoiding eye contact with the old man.
There was only ONE Angel Fish; the larger. The diminutive Angel Fish was nowhere to be seen.
The catfish went about their job of hoovering the bottom. They were saying nothing.
The old man began his forensic search for evidence – and there it was. Floating on its side, hidden amongst the plants, on the other side of the heater. The female Angel Fish; its eye grown cloudy.
The old man knew that was important to remove dead fish to stop disease spreading and fish have few qualms about eating each other alive, let alone dead. Dead is easier. Less chasing needed for a feed.
The old man stood in the kitchen and studied the dead Angel Fish in the palm of his hand. Was there a mark on its portside flank ? Was that the telltale mark of a fatal blow or just a mark ? The boy came into the kitchen and saw the old man ruefully staring at a handful of something. “Where are the Coco Pops ?” he asked, oblivious to the present carnage.
The old man slipped the dead Angel Fish into the kitchen tidy, closed the cupboard door and washed his hands in the sink. “Where would you expect to find them ?” he said. “In the laundry ?”
The old man began to feel a sadness he associated with the keeping of captive creatures and he grew tired of the ceaseless pressure to clean the tank, remove the chlorine from the fresh tap water first and then balance the pH and replace a good part of the water, week after week. It was a burdensome piece of chemistry and he was growing sick of making the effort for so little acknowledgement or interest from the boy.
The fish ate the plants. The old man preplaced them and sometimes bought plastic ones that offered some visual interest and protection for the dwindling numbers of small fish. By now the last of the Zebra Danios had disappeared. Not found floating under mysterious circumstances, just vanished. The Angel Fish maintained a stentorian aloofness. The catfish hoovered, avoiding making any comment.
Easter; the season had turned and the daylight saving ceased. There were only six fish left in the tank. After the death of an expensive (and apprehensive from the outset) Moonfish – purchased under coercion from the aquarium keeper and the old man’s First Mate, the old man decided that it was high noon for the Angel Fish.
In his boyhood, the old man had learnt that it was unkind to see any creature suffer and his fish keeping guide had said that the most efficient and “kindest” way to kill a fish was to drop it into a tin of boiling water. The boy was at his cousin’s house for the Easter break. Now was the time. The old man put a pot of water on the stove and lit the gas. He took out the small net and lifted the lid on the tank.
The doorbell rang. The old man placed the net on the top of the tank and paced down the hallway. There was an Indian girl wanting to discuss whether he might purchase a subscription to the Sydney Morning Herald. He had done so in the past, and his name was on their database, she said. It was a very good deal and in fact the old man thought about how inexpensive the offer was, but he still felt that the quality of the paper had fallen dramatically and that journalism had given way to trite opinion pieces from writers of doubtful knowledge and indeterminate ability.
The old man thanked the girl for her kind offer but declined, closing the door gently so as to not offend. He returned to the tank and picked up the net. The Angel Fish sailed off to the other end of the tank behind the Halong Bay replica rock. His patience wearing thin, the old man went into the laundry and took a plastic tub and brought it back to where the tank was placed on its stand in the family room. The old man removed the tank light and lid, took out the Halong Bay replica rock, removed all the plants and placed all these things into the plastic tub. He confronted the Angel Fish who, despite having no cover at all, was not giving up for anyone.
It was a lopsided contest. The fish struggled briefly and was poached quickly. The old man lifted the seat on the toilet in the laundry, deposited the dead Angel Fish and dispatched it into the South East Australian current, Nemo style.
The old man replaced the tank contents and the lid and light and contemplated the fates of the five surviving fish. He knew that the boy would not miss the Angel Fish.
The Bronze Catfish hoovered the bottom of the tank without looking up.
Herman Hupfield said:
A fish is just a fish.
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Emmjay said:
A fly is just a fly.
The fundamental things apply
In tanks gone by.
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Voice said:
A fish that is a child’s pet is never just a fish. Children’s pets are a serious business. Even ones the children have lost interest in, they still retain some responsibility for.
Were I the child’s parent, I would wait a few weeks and see if the angel fish issue kept cropping up or not. If not, no issue.
If so, I would find out whether the fish was of a species that usually cohabits well with the other fish. If not, either no fish or separate tank.
Then I would discuss with the child before purchase what their responsibilities were with respect to maintenance of the fish. Unless I was prepared to be permanently responsible for the maintenance of the fish.
If, as is likely despite all the child’s protestations at the time, the pet maintenance devolved onto me, I would discuss the options. Similarly if the fish turned out to be a killer. Top of the list would be to give the fish away to another child.
If I were not the child’s parent, I would discuss with the child’s parent what my role would be and proceed accordingly.
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Voice said:
And I wouldn’t give the fish to another child without first getting the OK from that child’s parent. Although I might be unprincipled and sneaky enough to let my child raise it with their child first. There is a limit to perfection even for me.
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Big M said:
I think our tads manage to stay out of the pump because the pump is encased in a big foam cube, so there’s no single point where there’s a huge flow. The previous incarnation of the pond wasn’t kept clear of leaf matter, so would stink!
Frogs are territorial, and seem to come and go, always returning to lay more spawn. Horny little buggers!
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Big M said:
Sorry this is out of order.
Mrs M can’t remember the genus of fish, either.
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Voice said:
That’s a good tip Big M. I used to keep a Murray River tortoise whose pond was a baby bath under a large bush so I know what you mean about stinking.
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Voice said:
There are some mildly disturbing aspects to this story. I wish the old man has some good news that makes him feel younger.
One of my big personal successes came from keeping fish. One of the littlies had a goldfish, and for some reason we had a spare tank at the time (probably another littlie had something die) and we decided to use it to grow weed for the tank. Anyway, the tank full of water and weed sat out there on a low brick wall, under the semi-shade of the Angophora, and the weed grew fabulously and began to develop its own little ecosystem, complete with insects and bubbles of air. One weekend we were down at the local park and the kids came back with a jar of tadpoles. In a moment of inspiration I decided to put them into the weed tank. Added a small branch for them to sit on when they turned into frogs (ha ha). Anyway, the tadpoles survived quite well, and some started to grow legs. Eventually we had a little group of frogs to release back into the pond at the park. I had never before grown tadpoles to frog stage.
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Emmjay said:
Hi Voice.
We raised frogs back at the old place. Lymnodynastes peroni also known as The Common Marsh Frog, the Pobblebonk and the Banjo frog because its call is like the plonk sound of a banjo.
I brought most of the tads over and started a new pond in the garden at the new place. It’s been going well for three years now.
We keep White Cloud Mountain Minnows in there as well to keep the mozzies down – and feed them and the tads ground fish food. Works well.
As you know, frogs eat live food – so the snails and other pests are kept at bay in the rainforest backyard – all up, very good !
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Big M said:
Hey Emmjay,
I’ve just been in the yard, trying to sneak up on our frogs (just to look at them, not attack them). I think they’re the same, as they make that ‘plonk’. They’ve produced another bunch of spawn this afternoon. We have native Australian fish, of unknown genus, who also eat mozzie larvae. We also have a ‘formal’ fountain in the front yard, which is also full of frogs.
I did notice some sort of fresh water snail in there today. He’s not there now! A mate wants me to through the catfish in there, reckons it would grow to a couple of Kgs.
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Voice said:
You did a pond? I am impressed. And inspired. I am going to start a pond next Spring. I will get native fish though. Have you ever tried them? I believe there are some that eat mosquito larvae and not tadpoles.
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Emmjay said:
White Cloud Mountain Minnows are Australian native fish – and were acquired specifically because they eat wrigglers and not tiny tads.
For the pond, we used one half of those plastic clamshell kids sandpit things, recycled by a neighbour, set it in the ground, surrounded it with bush rocks from the First mate’s parents’ place and planted ferns and other cover. When it rains for a few days we usually get a new spawn.
Frogs are I gather territorial – and they tend to come back to spawn to the place they were dropped.
We usually have two or three males (who do the calling) and you know roughly how many because they modulate their noises. First frog makes a sound and second will usually be one or two semitones up or down. Assumption is that some female will find one tone more appealing than another.
There you go.
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Voice said:
That is a cheat’s way of doing it. Brilliant. I wonder if the next door neighbours’ kids are about finished with their sandpit yet. The Mum often complains about storing their old things and then ends up putting them out to Council pickup.
I didn’t know that China was part of Australia. (No, that might crap him off.)http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/pests-diseases/freshwater-pests/species/wcm-minnow
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Emmjay said:
Jesus !
Fortunately no chance of our minnows crawling across the yard, down the driveway, across the road into the drain ! Nice to have few mozzies, but !
And the cats – lots of luck you aquatic pests !
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Voice said:
How do you get fish of unknown genus Big M? They don’t just walk in. I guess from a friend. I wish they were of a known genus because then I could ask you for a recommendation. On the other hand there is a native fish place next to one of my favourite nurseries and I guess they’ll know what to get. Is your pond fairly deep. I wonder whether catfish eat tadpoles and/or frog spawn.
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Emmjay said:
Our pond is only about 25 cm deep in the middle and about 15 cm at the edge – plus a sloping rock to help the frogs get in and out.
The Australian Museum in College St has a very good brochure on how to make your own frog pond – and how to manage it too.
Our fish came from an outdoor pond specialist up at Frenchs Forest. Bought some Louisiana iris and a sedge – both doing really well in submerged pots – in the goldfish pond – but that’s another story – well away from the frogs, in a courtyard.
Ribbit.
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Big M said:
Voice,
The genus is unknown to me, Mrs M may know. Think she bought them from a native nursery. They don’t eat frog spawn/tadpoles. They aren’t particularly pretty.
I don’t think that sucking catfish (like the ones in Emmjay’s photo) have the mouth parts for eating other fish/spawn/tadpoles, they can only eat algae (no offence to Algernon).
I have a water pump that sprays water from a spout, back into the pond, for aeration. Good luck.
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Emmjay said:
Ah Yes. Aeration. We don’t have a pump. We had difficulties keeping the tiny tads out of the inlet / filter. No aeration means that we have to clean out the leaf matter regularly otherwise it goes off anaerobically – black, rotten egg smell.
We top the pond up a lot and more rain helps keep it fresh.
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Big M said:
Mrs M is now embarrassed that there is so much internet talk about her pond!
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Emmjay said:
Is she a tad embarrassed ?
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Big M said:
Ha Ha Ha. I like it!
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H said:
I’d like to hear it from Mrs M herself,please invite her to join us Piglets here, we are not too embarassed about anything much, all little tadpoles in life’s big pond.
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Big M said:
I did invite Mrs M for a pink drink, but she graciously declined, saying this was more my scene.
She does recommend Croses ( Frog Feet), a variegated plant with leaves like frogs feet. They grow towards the water where they sprout roots from the stem. this can be snipped off and planted out.
We’ve just been at the pond and think that the current lot of tadpoles are baby fish. The native fish are exactly the same colour as tadpoles so it’s hard to tell when they’re tiny and hiding from humans.
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theseustoo said:
I knew it was the Angel fish all along; anything with a name like that has to be hiding something!
And all that guff about a bronze catfish was really a red herring!
😉
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Algernon said:
What are to carping on about T2.
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astyages said:
Listen Algae, if you carry on like that I’ll complain to the boss and Eel sort you out, no worries!
😉
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Algernon said:
More prawn than brains the asty. Cod is in the detail.
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Hung One On said:
Mikey, is there a yoyo fish? 🙂 🙂
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Big M said:
We can empathise. One lone bronze catfish has outlasted them all. He thrives on neglect, as we say. No food, no heat, doesn’t even get the aquarium cleaned. Still he swims on, dreaming his piscatorial dreams, his former, fishy friends having bought their tickets for the porcelain express!
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