Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Keeping Pet Fish may not be fun

 This is another piece from mobile edited subsequently.
Even if you are not a novice keeping pet fish can be pain in the neck.
I keep fish as an accompaniment to nursing water plants of many species.
Some are like weeds and take over the territory by default making exotic varieties stunted.
Fish, the guppy I keep as the controller of mosquitoes.
I just had a nasty episode of guppy disease which luckily did not effect other species.
But my major problem is algae.
It never culminated in toxic algal bloom due to my vigilance, but nevertheless is a problem hard to overcome.
They take all the oxygen and make water cloudy with ugly green tinge.
I have to change the water frequently since global warming has taken effect even in the normally moderate cooler climate of the hill country.
I try to keep up with my challenges with the spirit of a basic scientist.
Today's message is different,

I met a father of a kid who had gone abroad leaving a exotic silver dish under his care.
He was asking the assistant of a fish vendor many questions.
I knew him over 20 years and when he was learning the trade.
He was a fast learner and I told him never to sell sick fish.
In those days vendor squeeses the belly of the fish so that the fish will die in 3 days of renal / kidney failure.
The vendor blames the poor customer!
This was a time very little was known about fish disease and I managed to diagnose fish tuberculosis in an ornamental fish imported form India.
I gave up fish keeping with that episode.
I overheard the entire conversation but resisted any intervention due to my close association with the vendor.
He ultimately decided to buy only the particular fish food which was almost ten rupee per gram and there was only 30 grams left in stock.
My bill was 600 hundred rupees but comparatively expensive gram per gram.
I do not buy fish food that are sold in super markets.

They are no good and some are contaminated with fish diseases.
 
I purchased them after him and both of us came out together making that little corridor of opportunity to lash out my wisdom thoughts uninhibited.

I told him keeping fish in our age is pain in the neck rather pain on my back after every water change.

I gave him two options.
1. Return the fish to the vendor at cut rate.

2. Do not change the tank for a bigger one.
The fish will never over grow the tank.

3. If he want to make money by selling it when gorgeously big go for an insurance cover, first.

The fish would die due to poor equality of water.

Either due to neglect or overzealous water changes.
It is all hard work.
 
I reminded him to let his son knows his plans before they is executed.

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