Picking-up the pieces....

I tried to clock-off as early as possible today from work because i was planing to clean-up my fish tanks after a year long stand still since i've lost few of my fish from an unexpected event.... If you'are familiar with tropical fish, you know what this topic is about....


I have three fish tanks in my apartment for about three years now, two in the living room, and one in my bedroom by the foot of my bed so i can watch it before falling asleep....


Before i went on holiday back to pinas last year they were so bright with colorful tropical fish inside, but disaster happened and i can't quite figure out what went wrong....! I should've done some thinking before leaving that time.... Hindi sana sila namatay....

I'm a lover of big tropical fresh water fish particularly the lovely DISCUS FISH ever since.... This fish when fully grown can reach up to the size of a dessert plate or platito....! I bought my first tank in 2004 from a pet shop nearby, and it was a bit expensive that time, but i've managed to spare some cash for it kasi gustong-gusto ko nga, then i bought another one from a much cheaper store....


In 2005, i went to a pet-expo just out of curiosity, then i found out that there was a discus fish competition going on down stairs so i went down there and to my delight they were selling the tanks complete with all the accessories that was being used for displays for a very cheap price....!


I bought one big tank, but the expo people told me that i have to wait until the show is finish before i can pick it up, but it was worth the buy because it's a lot more cheaper than those tanks sold in the shops....! I should've bought two instead of just one that time....

At the moment, i have three tanks in total and still planning to add one more kung hindi lang sana ako nag-iipon for a more important thing that i'm currently trying to setup in pinas....

Keeping fish is really good, as they seems to brighten-up the house with a lot of good vibes....! I've noticed that when my fish died before, parang nawalan din ng kulay ang apartment ko like bad luck just suddenly happened here, there, and just from nowhere sometimes na talagang nahirapan akong salagin ang mga ito nun....! Or maybe it was just me dahil nabuwisit nga ako dun sa naabutan ko na scene....!


Anyways, let me tell you about my fish tanks.... I probably have the biggest pair of tropical Angel Fish you'll ever see in a home aquarium....! Normally they're as big as a 2 peso coin only in pet shops, but my angels are as big as an adult person's palm ha-ha....! I think it's my tank's temperature that did the tricks, i always keep that in a constant check specially in summer time when the temperature is topping the scales....


The tank's temperature should always stay 28 degrees Celsius (oC) or about 85 degrees Fahrenheit (oF) at all time, that's my opinion kasi they're from the tropics di ba so dapat medyo mainit ang tubig na nilalanguyan nila.... But then in summer time, i have to keep a freezer-full of ice cubes to cool them down by dropping ice cubes in the tanks whenever the water temperature rises a bit higher than the required level.... By the way, those fish in the photos are the DISCUS FISH.... Ang cute nila di ba....?! Those ones are really big....! The top one is the Red Melon, center one is the Ghost Strain, and the bottom one is the Royal Blue Strain....


I have 6 lovely pairs of Discus Fish which are really expensive in pinas, even more expensive than the Arowanas i think.... Discus fish are a fantastic fish to have in your aquariums, you can compare them to a slice of fruit because of their deliciously looking brightly colored, printed body and rounded shape....


Discus fish seems to have their own personalities too, i think they also have their individual unique signature patterns of dots and stripes on their bodies.... I'm just lucky kasi affordable sila dito sa australian standard, though medyo unreasonably expensive pa rin compared to the pinas price converted to dollars....


Anyways, what happened when i was on my holiday last year devastated me so much that i've decided not to keep anymore fish.... I didn't even clean the tanks for a year, but some of the remaining fish proved to be so hardy surviving my harshness until i came back from hibernation to pick-up those broken pieces once again.... It was a tough situation for them i reckon, living in darkness for a month....


Nakalimutan ko kasing i-turn off ang mga water filters before going holiday.... The water subsided because of evaporation and the filter pumped-out water like a waterfalls kasi mababa na nga ang tubig sa tank nun....! As a result, the weight of the output water hits the water surface and splash back to the lightings causing a short circuit until nasunog na ang cable nya na mabuti na lang pala ay nakasandal sa concrete wall dahil kung hindi ay baka nasunog na rin siguro pati ang unit ko.... So in short ay walang ilaw sa loob ng tank for the whole time that i was away and the fish went on a month starvation dahil sa dilim....!


My neighbors said that there was a black-out but only in our apartment units and the circuit breakers tripped-off....! I didn't told them about the burnt wires and things cause they might complain against my fish tanks if they find out about what really happened....! Now i've learned my lessons so i check my tanks regularly now for some possible repeats of that incident and i've started cleaning and rearranging them as well....


At the moment, i'm more nervous than my pair of expectant Angel Fish ha-ha....! Sooner these breeding pair will have some fry swimming around ( babies ) and i can't hardly wait for that moment to see them swimming alongside their proud mom and dad....! Astig....!