Survivors…

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Sue Vincent

The pearl lace gouramis seem to think spring is in the air. While the female is looking fatter than usual, the male’s chest is brilliant orange and he keeps blowing bubbles. Gouramis build bubble nests on the surface of the aquarium, but, what the water movement in the tank, such a nest is unlikely to survive. He needs something to protect the fragile construction, and the best thing I could thing of would be a plant…something close to nature. So, off I went to the local aquarium place. Floating plants never survive in this tank, but I had seen some green and growing things attached to bits of coconut shell and sporting suction cups. I could grow one just below the waterline. The fronds would make a perfect protection for the bubble nest, should the fish actually decide to spawn, and would offer some hope of survival to the babies if it all happened behind my back. Perfect.

The plants proved to be less than half the price I expected, so two were chosen, fished from their tanks and unceremoniously dumped in a plastic bag by an assistant who was, quite obviously, on his first day in the job. Aquatic plants are usually sent home with at least a little bit of water.

Failing miserably to resist temptation, he also caught and bagged a baby ancistrus for me… a tiny white bristlenose with a tail almost as long as its body, and a body no bigger than a pea. Even I could justify that.

It took the cashier a while to ring everything through as he had yet to learn the ropes. Then there was a twenty minute drive back home, before emptying the car, greeting the dog and letting her out, and crucially, filling the kettle while I floated the little ancistrus in the tank to begin its acclimatisation.

It was only then that I started messing with the tank. The airlines needed sorting, which upset the poorly fish who has just come out of hiding. He fell ill at Christmas and has hidden in the plants ever since. With his immune system down, finrot set in and he lost his tail. Meanwhile I dosed him and his tankmates with anything that might help. I didn’t expect him to make it, but make it he has, growing back almost all the lost tail and finally emerged from hiding. He is so pale he is almost translucent, swims with a strange motion, his body has curved from the sleek lines of his species, but he is swimming, eating and starting to play again.

I managed to get the new plants positioned in the tank and immediately noticed something odd. All the little shoaling fish what would normally swim at the bottom of the tank, were now happily exploring the mid-level. Giving the aquarium a more natural feel, with plants both above and below, changed their behaviour straight away. They felt safer, I think, with the cover above them… more at home. The gouramis seemed to love the new decor, and I was pleased with it too; it looks far more natural, apart from the horrid blue gravel that really has to go.

It would be easy enough to just scoop it out and replace it with something more pleasing, but the stuff is full of all the bacteria that keep the tank healthy. Although I have worked out a way to do it safely, the fish are happy and that is what matters most. My own preferences are aesthetic… but while they are in my care, the needs of the fish come first.

I released the little fish into the tank and watched him explore for a while, then set about clearing up the bits of airline and plastic bags. It was only then that I noticed the corpse. In the bottom of the bag in which I had brought the plants home, with the couple of teaspoonfuls of water that had drained from their leaves, was a little eel-like loach. It lay there looking like a brightly coloured wet worm… and as I have a real phobia of wet worms, I was not best pleased.

I was none too pleased for the poor fish either. The inexperience of the shop assistant had cost it dearly. I picked up the bag gingerly, and was debating disposal methods when it wriggled…or maybe it was just the movement of the water? It could not possibly have survived for so long in so little moisture, and chilled from the journey. Either way, I nearly dropped the bag… that phobia is very real and is one reason I don’t have loaches. Another is the gravel… wholly unsuitable for a fish that loves sand. I really would have to change the blue gravel to have loaches. And they are sociable and need to be kept in groups.

Apparently, they are pretty hardy too, because it wriggled again… this time unmistakably. I put some aquarium water in the bag and floated it to warm it through. It swam around frantically…definitely more alive than dead. Fifteen minutes later, I watched it disappear into the undergrowth, perfectly happy… but about to be very lonely. I now have a loach.

It was at this point that disaster struck. The power went off. A quick call to the power company suggested it would be off for up to four hours. Aquarium fish rely on a balanced ecological system and healthy colonies of bacteria in order to survive. If the power goes off, the bacteria in the filter use up all the oxygen in the water and begin to die after just one hour. When the power comes back on… if the fish in the tank have survived falling temperatures, rising biological pollutants and lack of oxygenation, the dead bacteria and their toxins flood the tank and can cause health problems for days and weeks afterwards.

As soon as you begin to care for another species, you realise how interdependant everything is on every other part of nature. The enclosed world of an aquarium allows you to see this in action very clearly, from birth to death, from predation to territorial disputes. The unseen life that maintains the life of the fish must be tended, the plants and other organisms that clean the water and devour detritus are essential, as are the cycles of light and darkness, the warmth and the food.  Threaten just a single link in that chain and the whole collapses. The lives of the fish mirror our own more closely than we might care to think.

Fifty five minutes later, with me still dashing around gathering covers and pricing up battery operated oxygenators, the power was restored. Hopefully, everything will be fine and everyone will survive. I am more than pleased about that… between Mother’s Day and Easter gifts, all the lonely shoalers have become part of shoals again. Except… I now have a lonely loach who needs company. And sand. And I need a bigger tank…

About Sue Vincent

Sue Vincent was a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and a Director of The Silent Eye. She was immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintained a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lived in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She had a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. Sue  passed into spirit at the end of March 2021.
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62 Responses to Survivors…

  1. Marilyn Armstrong says:
    March 28, 2018 at 06:32

    I used to like the gouramis. They were friendly and would come up to get fed. You could even pet them sometimes.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Ritu says:
    March 28, 2018 at 06:37

    Oh the fun of aquarium life!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. Pingback: Survivors… – The Militant Negro™

  5. Victoria Zigler (@VictoriaZigler) says:
    March 28, 2018 at 08:10

    I’m glad the little loach survived so far, even if he is now lonely. I hope the power being off doesn’t cause any problems for any of your fishy charges.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  7. jenanita01 says:
    March 28, 2018 at 10:12

    I have always loved having an aquarium, even though they are a lot of work and constant worry.
    Even now, I am sorely tempted to get another one, but never sure how permanent this address is, so no can do. I will have to make do with a screensaver, if I can find one!

    Like

    Reply
  11. Jennie says:
    March 28, 2018 at 13:51

    And you thought an aquarium would be easy. How quickly we become a caregiver and attached to life. Lovely story, Sue.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Alethea Kehas says:
    March 28, 2018 at 14:22

    I particularly love the bit about the loach 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. Billy Ray Chitwood says:
    March 28, 2018 at 16:13

    Fascinating! Particularly for one who has never owned an aquarium… Good luck, Sue, hope the loach and other inhabitants in the tank survive for as long as they’re supposed to! ♥

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  14. willowdot21 says:
    March 28, 2018 at 18:57

    So interesting Sue and the photos are amazing 🌹💜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. Adele Marie says:
    March 28, 2018 at 19:25

    Oh, wow, I’m so glad the little loach survived. I’ve never seen them before, they are beautiful.xxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. Lyn Horner says:
    March 28, 2018 at 21:57

    You are a devoted fish mama! I’m not sure I like the loach. Worms of any kind give me the creeps.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  17. Erik says:
    March 28, 2018 at 22:37

    I really enjoyed this, Sue. I know many people who have aquariums, but who see it as a sort of on-the-whole aesthetic background object, rather than the intricate ecosystem it is. And I love that you know your fish and show real empathy for them.

    Few people know this, but as a teen deciding on a college major, my close-second choice was marine biology. And even after the decades between, I still have that sense of fascination about aquatic life and what goes on “down there.”

    And … I for one think the loach is a beautiful and lucky addition. He’s just doing what he does. He doesn’t know he looks like a worm, or that those who do look like worms should be considered inferior. (So don’t tell him.)

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    Reply
    • Sue Vincent says:
      March 28, 2018 at 23:27

      I have enormous respect for earthworms, Erik… without them the world would be a much poorer place. I just perefer them in earth, not water 😉

      All I need to do is remember that this is a fish, not a worm… and get to know it a little…and we’ll be fine. Epecially as Nick seems determined on giving him companions…

      I do love being able to see into this world and lose myself watching them many times each day. The tank is right beside my desk, so they watch me too…and let me know when it is feeding time.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  18. D. Wallace Peach says:
    March 29, 2018 at 00:48

    Your aquarium is beautiful. And now you have a loach. He is a wormy looking thing, but pretty in a poisonous snaky way. Ha ha. Maybe you’ll overcome your dislike of worms. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  19. Eliza Waters says:
    March 29, 2018 at 02:02

    Oh, my, so many trials. You amaze me what you tackle, Sue. And then, you rise and do it all over again!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  20. Widdershins says:
    March 29, 2018 at 07:24

    ‘…And I need a bigger tank…’ … Oh oh. Yer done fer now! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  21. patriciaruthsusan says:
    March 30, 2018 at 15:45

    That was a hectic time. I’m glad everything turned out well. 🙂 — Suzanne

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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