There is Something Fishy About this Article

by Michael Donahoe

Most of us have or had a pet or two in our lives. I can remember having a dog when I was young. In fact, my parents got the dog a few years before they had me, so I have pretty much always had some type of pet.

As time progressed, I had some rabbits, two of which had babies so I had more rabbits. Fortunately, I was able to give them away to good homes. It is not always pleasant to get up early in the winter to go out and break the ice from the water bowels and clean the pans under the cages.

I also at one point had a turtle, a hamster and a cat. And of course, all along I still had a dog. All these animals take time and work, but I was glad to do what was necessary to have healthy, clean pets.

At the age of around fourteen, a new neighbor moved next door to us and he had tropical fish. I was hooked as soon as I saw his aquarium. The funny thing was, I did not ask my parents for an aquarium, which I still do not understand. The good thing was that my mom picked up on my interest and come Christmas that year, there was a new ten gallon aquarium set under the tree.

Since that time, I have never been without an aquarium. It went from the ten gallon to a twenty gallon, a thirty gallon and finally a fifty-five gallon plus a combination of several. Obviously, I found that once you start with tropical fish, you always want something bigger. Even today I still browse the pet store for seventy-five and one hundred and twenty-five gallon aquariums.

Fish take work also, changing the water, cleaning the filters, checking water temperature and pH levels, watching for disease, buying food. And over the years, I have seen prices of fish and supplies rise, but it is all worth it to see a healthy, clean aquarium sitting in the house.

At one point I had a small salt water aquarium. Salt water is really unique with the colorful types of fish and sea creatures you can buy, but they take more work and usually cost a lot more than freshwater tropical fish. Needless to say, I did not keep the salt water tank going very long.

I have had a wide variety of fish over the years that have been fun to watch and very entertaining. I have noticed that some fish actually have their own personality and somewhat respond in unique and interesting ways to the human who takes care of them.

It is very relaxing at night to turn off all the lights and leave the aquarium light on. The fish glide around the aquarium in such a calm way. It can be a nice way to end the day.

At age sixty-nine, I am not sure how much longer I will keep taking care of an aquarium, but for the joy and satisfaction it brings, I will do my best to keep at it as long as possible. After some fifty-five years of tropical fish, it would be really ‘fishy’ not to have an aquarium in the house.

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