I'm not quite sure how this happened. It all started so innocently, but has spiraled out of control so badly that it's now become a major obsession. I won't even try to say I can stop anytime I want to, because frankly, I don't want to stop. And at this point, I can't.
The house is over-run with it; upstairs, downstairs---and there's even talk of doing it outside now. Let the neighbors talk. I don't care.
No, there's no need for an intervention, or to get the authorities involved. I've just been swept away by the raging fever of aquarium keeping:
That last one was an accidental tank--the hubby caught the fever too, and got some mollies, who promptly gave birth that first night to 15 fry, two of which survived. If you look reeeeeal close, you might be able to pick out the tiny guys.
But what fun it has been! I never knew how involved the whole fish thing could be. I thought just plopping them in a tank of filtered water and throwing some flake food in on top of them a couple of times a day would suffice. Oh what a fool I was. There's water testing, temperature levels, bio-filtration, compatibility with other fish, (which I found out the hard way. Bettas and tetras do NOT get along well, especially if your male betta is hyper-aggressive. Floaters greeted me the next day)
So now I'm obsessed. Just ask my kids. They are starting to roll their eyes when I call them over to look at the new trick the female betta learned in her new big tank, or when I talk baby-talk to my sweet little neon tetras. Yes I know they can't hear me, but at least they have an excuse. The three teenagers occupying space in my house don't live underwater, and make a bigger messes than my fish!!
And no, I'm not using them as an excuse to be glacier-slow on my current rewrite. I'm just, well, being difficult with myself. I was requested to take two of my most entertaining characters out of the book and replace them with ones that don't steal the spotlight from the main characters so very effectively, and it's been trying to kick my ass. I'm not real good at slowing down and re-thinking things, so it's been a real learning curve, but I think I'm in the home stretch now. There are a few more notes to take, and a couple of knots to untangle, but nothing too traumatic.
Right after I feed my fish.
The house is over-run with it; upstairs, downstairs---and there's even talk of doing it outside now. Let the neighbors talk. I don't care.
No, there's no need for an intervention, or to get the authorities involved. I've just been swept away by the raging fever of aquarium keeping:
That last one was an accidental tank--the hubby caught the fever too, and got some mollies, who promptly gave birth that first night to 15 fry, two of which survived. If you look reeeeeal close, you might be able to pick out the tiny guys.
But what fun it has been! I never knew how involved the whole fish thing could be. I thought just plopping them in a tank of filtered water and throwing some flake food in on top of them a couple of times a day would suffice. Oh what a fool I was. There's water testing, temperature levels, bio-filtration, compatibility with other fish, (which I found out the hard way. Bettas and tetras do NOT get along well, especially if your male betta is hyper-aggressive. Floaters greeted me the next day)
So now I'm obsessed. Just ask my kids. They are starting to roll their eyes when I call them over to look at the new trick the female betta learned in her new big tank, or when I talk baby-talk to my sweet little neon tetras. Yes I know they can't hear me, but at least they have an excuse. The three teenagers occupying space in my house don't live underwater, and make a bigger messes than my fish!!
And no, I'm not using them as an excuse to be glacier-slow on my current rewrite. I'm just, well, being difficult with myself. I was requested to take two of my most entertaining characters out of the book and replace them with ones that don't steal the spotlight from the main characters so very effectively, and it's been trying to kick my ass. I'm not real good at slowing down and re-thinking things, so it's been a real learning curve, but I think I'm in the home stretch now. There are a few more notes to take, and a couple of knots to untangle, but nothing too traumatic.
Right after I feed my fish.
