Fish Help Make Everything Better

Okay, so yeah.  I wasn't in the best place in my head a few days ago.  I think this happens to all of us at some point, some more strongly than others, and every once in a while, something will set me off and everything goes pretty dark.  They why is not important here so much as the fact that I got out of the dark place.

I talked to some of my nearest and dearest, heard what they had to say, really listened to their opinions on the matter.  Let them commiserate and understand.  Knowing I wasn't alone in my feelings helped.  Getting it all off my chest and out of my head helped.

I let myself be reminded that I am wonderful and even the all-knowing Rabbit of Truth agrees.  Just ask him.  *g*

And I got some fishes.

I've always loved having fish.  When I was young, we had a tank.  It was in the "TV hole" in our entertainment center, which always amused me (the TV was on another stand) and it was my father's thing.  I would sit and watch them swim for long chunks of time.  I don't remember all the fish we had in there, except for one Black Moor Gold Fish we named Midnight, but I remember how cool I thought it was that we had a tank.  Eventually, the fish died (as fish sometimes do) and the tank disappeared.

When I was in high school, I got the tank out of the attic, set it up, got all the necessary accoutrements, and started owning fish again.  It was touch and go there for a while.  Yeah, I killed some, because I didn't have all the right stuff and I was learning.  But for a few years I had two tetras, a blue one and a pink one, that my brother became in charge of when I went away to college (I couldn't take them with me).  When they died, he called me and I was on the phone as he said some kind words as he gave them a glorious burial at sea.  

Over the last 8 or 9 years, I've had fish on and off.  A couple of years ago, I got a much bigger tank and for a while I had two going.  But the old tank, the one that was first my father's, finally sprung a leak about a year ago, and when I moved my last fish, a leopard pleco, into the big tank I didn't acclimate him well enough because I didn't have a lot of time and he died, too.  I don't know why I didn't at that point do what I've always done: clean the tank up, get it cycling again, and get new fish.  But I didn't.  And the tank has sat empty for a long time.

It hit me this past weekend, that strong idea, the oranges all over again, to get new fish.  So I got it all set up again and got some new ones.  I've always had freshwater fish, because the tank is easier to maintain than saltwater.  Someday, my dream is to have a huge saltwater tank.  Someday I will.  (Yes, that's where Jared got it from)  But for now?  A big freshwater is enough.  I had no idea what I was going to get until I got to the store.  I had to see what was available, how they looked, what the prices were.

In the end, I came home with 4 male dwarf gourami, 3 bleeding heart tetras, and a
plecostomus, which are a particular favorite of mine.