alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

October 29, 2007

Life in a Ten Gallon Tank

by AltHippo @ 11:39 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

It’s been a long time since I’ve reported on an experiment I began over 2 years ago, raising tropical fish in a 10 gallon tank. I apologize for not saying something sooner. I’ve learned a good deal about how fish interact, in terms that are not so terribly different from the grand ten gallon tank we live in.

Most recently, I’ve learned one of the hardest lessons: that any ecosystem is delicately balanced. When, something foreign is introduced, everything may be brought to its knees. Somehow a parasite, a worm, got into the tank and killed all but two fish. I was watching the tank closely, and caught the worm in a net, and scooped it out. I keep the worm in a bucket with bilge water from the aquarium. I’ve nicknamed him: MC Rove.

Since this incident, an entirely new ecosystem has developed. I’m not sure if it’s in balance, exactly, but at least it’s functioning. The old balance included a few things that weren’t entirely appetizing, but clearly the fish thought it was just dandy.

The old balance: the lyre-tailed mollies in the aquarium ate the snails for protein. The un-named cichlids (that’s how I got them from the local fish store) ate the occasional children of the lyre-tailed mollies. The regular diet of the tank was tropical fish flakes with a weekly treat of brine shrimp.

There was no doubt in my mind that all the fish in the tank preferred the live kill over a prepared treat, no matter how delicious the non-live variety was. When either a new snail or molly was born the entire dynamic of the tank changed. It’s the difference between watching a Ken Burn’s documentary and “Kill Bill, Volume 1.”

The new balance: All of the lyre-tailed mollies are gone, killed by the parasite. It’s too bad, as they were the smart ones. They would teach other fish how to swim up to the top of the tank to grab the best parts of the tropical fish flakes. The remaining fish, the un-named cichilids are not too bright. My nickname for them is Douglas and Feith if that paints the picture. The snail population has grown huge. I’d estimate about 20 snails of various age are in the tank right now. Their voracious mating habits are not something I want to dwell on, but the big snail, and I hope the Clinton campaign forgives me for this, his nickname is “Bubba.”

Bookmark on del.icio.us

Leave a Reply

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image

« Your Candy Personality
We Are Marching To Wignuttia »

[powered by WordPress.]

hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

contact

TBA 2008

The Alternative Hypothesis

the elephants of anwr

issues and insight

capitolists

alt media

sounds

critical resources

flora and fauna

law & order

events

cinema

literati

propaganda

use with extreme caution

internal links:

categories:

search blog:

archives:

October 2007
M T W T F S S
« Sep   Nov »
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

other:

95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

comments

Recent Comments

HippoWire

  • Recent Trackbacks:

    • 27 queries. 0.752 seconds