That post title should be read with your best Dr. Frankenstein impression.  We have fish again. As you may remember, we had a mass ritual suicide in the aquarium back in the beginning of August. Now that Doug helped me by cleaning up the tank, we’re basically ready to jump back in the water, so to speak.

After church on Sunday, we did a run to a local PetSmart in the area, and picked up six new tropical community fish and tall/medium-sized plants.  I figure let me set this tank up right — plants to clean the water and provide shelter (less stressful fish), and fewer fish in the tank to keep it nice and roomy. Let’s see how it goes this time around.

The aquarium is a buzz with life again

I forgot to mention this earlier, but we are the proud owners of an aquarium filled with water and nothing else.  About two weeks ago, all of our fish mysteriously died.  Three died on a Saturday, and the three remaining fish died 24 hours later.  Sadly, and suprisingly, the death toll include Rufus the catfish.  The catfish was one of the original fish I received from my friend Doug, who had helped me set the aquarium up.  That catfish had proved most hardy, surviving every other fish we have gone through.

I’m not quite sure what to do now.  I had cleaned the tank recently, so I find it hard to believe water quality was an issue, but I won’t rule it out.  For now, the tank sits empty, and the water stagnating.  I’m going to wait a few more weeks, clean the tank out completely, and hopefully start again.

Looking back, it’s been about a year since we had the first major die off, and when we got the catfish.

This past Saturday, we left ab round 9:30am for Maryland.  Our friend Barb was to be a guest at her own supposed-to-be-a-surprise baby shower, but she found out somehow.  No matter.  The plan was for the girls to go the baby shower, and I would take Josh to the National Aquarium in  Baltimore. After driving through the rain on our way down south (again!), we made it down to the Maryland area.  Since we hadn’t had any time to pick up the baby shower gift, we ended up hitting a Babies “R” Us in the immediate area, buying and wrapping the gift in record time.

After I dropped off the girls, Josh and I got some quick lunch, and then we were off to Baltimore.  I haven’t been to Baltimore in many years, but I didn’t remember the harbor area being all that built up the last time.  There were so many restaurants and big box retailers in the area.  It appeared to be a pretty happening place now.

National Aquarium in Baltimore

First off, my goodness, the aquarium is very popular and very expensive.  It was 2:30 by the time we had parked the car, and made it to the ticket window area.  There was a long line to buy tickets, and it took some time to make it to the window.  Due to the crowds, they were staggering entrance, so even if we bought tickets, we couldn’t enter until 4:30pm.  Two hours! I was worried that after spending $40 on tickets, we’d make it 5 mins into the aquarium, the baby shower would be over, and we’d have to leave.  For some reason, the ticket window agent gave us a 2:30pm entrance time, and I didn’t ask questions as I bolted with Josh to the entrance before they figured it out.

We spent about 3 hours in the aquarium, taking in and absorbing all the different exhibits, and seeing all the marine wildlife.  It’s a pretty cool aquarium, I must say. You can learn a lot, as there is much to see.  There was no way we could hit everything, so we missed events like the puffin feeding time, and definitely no time for the dolphin show.  In the middle, I decided Josh and I could use an ice cream break, and we sat and watched the boats in the harbor.

Nums & Barb after the baby shower

We left around 5:30pm, and picked up the girls.  They had a good time at the baby shower, and Lily was her usual life of the party.  We hit a Waffle House on the way back for dinner, and got home around 11pm.

Truly, a spur-of-the-moment Maryland Adventure Day.  Photos are already posted, so enjoy.

The Gorton's Fisherman and I go way back

Seriously, even if the Gorton’s Fisherman was living with me, we couldn’t keep the aquarium fish alive. I might have better luck if I threw a bunch of fish sticks into the aquarium at this stage.  Thank goodness I opted to cut my proverbial teeth on freshwater fish.  When they die, it only costs me about $5 a fish.  Imagine if I had tried to manage a saltwater aquarium?  Those marine fish can cost over $50 each!

So what happened, you are wondering?   I’ve been periodically replacing one or more every other month.  A few months ago, I used to have 9 fish, but two died.  To replace them, I bought two Sunburst Platys.  That weekend, 5 of the fish died.  In the Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic II,  there are two female Twi’lek assassins called the Twin Suns.  I’ve now nicknamed these two Sunburst Platys the “Twin Suns” as I’m certain they assassinated the majority of the fish in my happy little aquarium.

I’ve been meaning to clean the tank and replace the filter recently, but I’ve missed the past two weekly water changes I normally do.  I’ve been bad about doing the water changes since March.  This morning, the two Plecos I purchased back on August 12th (huh, ironic Aug 12 blog post title in hindsight) were dead as…. fish sticks.  Argh.  How am I going to explain to Josh that Nemo and Dory died?

After dinner, I cleaned the tank out as best I could, and they look happier.  I have to do it again this weekend.  After I clean it, I intend to hit Petco or Petsmart, and buy some additional fish for my lonely aquarium, and some new live plants.  Add some spackle, and I should be all done.