If Wishes Were Fishes
May 18, 2009
Filed under:The Number Nine
Hey all. It’s been so unbelievably long that I once again sort of feel like I need to issue forth a combination of apology and mass information catch-up. Yet, much like many, many other times, I’ll do neither.
Howzabout we talk about fish?
Because wife has so much fun with her guppies, making them make babies and such, she always has heaps lying around, so because I’ve got a big heart and an even bigger tank, I’d taken a few of the gimpy ones to see how they’d go in my lush and lovely tank. Well, they loved it. So much that they made babies there too.
THEN, my heart’s desire was met when I was able to get a couple of colourful platies to go in there along with a silver shark or three, and I thought I was all set. I’d let the guppy babies grow up and then I’d get rid of them at the fish store for a dollah a piece. Nup, my platies then started giving birth too.
Wife’s got an eye for it and was all "Oooo! She’s gonna drop!" and then POYP a baby’s out and swimming all around. Live-bearers really are quite interesting to watch, as she poyped out about 10 all up that we thought. A hugely planted community tank isn’t the best place for birthin’ babies, as there’s not only way too many places for them to hide thereby making them impossible to count accurately, but there’s also many things that would happily eat them (sometimes their mother included) necessitating all of those places to hide. Really quite an interesting view into the water world.
So I have li’l yellow babies now, from the Yellow Mickey Mouse Platy, and some blackish ones too (from the black platy? No idea yet) and a jillion grayish guppy babies all over the top of the tank.
I’ll freely admit, a part of me wants to approach this with a "GRRRRR, I never asked for this responsibility…" grumbling attitude, and yet another larger part is just proud to be someone that provides life and nurturing to creatures whose appearance and attitude both bring me pleasure.
So, here’s a shot of my tank, set up in the corner of the office, that has looked like this ever since I visited a friend/client’s aquatic plant farm (whole entire long story there, that is surely coming to a blog post near you).
If you squint just right, you can see the babies… Stop squinting, I’m kidding, there’s no way you can see them from that distance. Don’t be ridiculo… oh wait, there’s some up on the right by the top. Heh, how about that?
That’s just to show you how awesome it is to have this right next to your desk. Many nights my attention is completely enraptured with this giant box over the other enrapturing box in the room. Who needs television?
If you look at the leaf in the middle, you’ll see a li’l fishie. That’s a guppy baby, and the smudge of yellow just underneath him in the picture is a platy baby. Very similar creatures, I believe they’re cousins in the offshoot of the evolutionary chain known as "We’re Just Food For Other Bigger Things."
Another one of random fish, with a li’l yellow baby in there in the middle. I’ve got neons and white cloud mountain minnows too, the latter of which I’d never heard of but wish I had because of their awesomeness.
Another guppy baby has wandered into my shot, but the platy baby, one of the grayish-blackish-mottled mutts is in there nibbling on a leaf.
A great shot of a yellow Mickey Mouse Platy at about a week old.
Okay, read that last sentence back only use David Attenborough’s voice. Go on, do it. Isn’t that awesome? How much of a fish nerd am I turning into? Anytime you slap Sir Attenwhoozah’s voice on something, you’re either taking the piss in a major way or becoming a serious dork about it. Maybe even both, like in my case.
One of the potential new mommies, the black one there shimmers in the light like no platy I’ve ever seen. That red one is one I just got today in the hopes that maybe he and the other one’ll get together with some candlelight and Barry White and create some awesomely coloured babies, that I’ll naturally need an entirely new tank to grow.
Here’s the proud mum, still quite fat because I either A) feed her too much or 2) is just a fat fish. She’s cool though, because nature somehow found a way to put the ultimate logo on a living creature. If the Nike Swoosh shows up on some of wife’s guppies, we’re selling the parents to that Malaysian-3-year-old-employing-megaconglomerate and retiring.
So there you have it. A fish blog. Sweet Jeezus, what’s next? Am I going to put on tights and dance around with a sword or something else equally ridicul… what? Oh. Right.
Sometimes I actually come close to embarrassing myself at the fact that I do so many things that simply don’t embarrass me but probably should. HA, but I still don’t.
That said, some medieval nerding, from the 15th Century…
A St. George’s Day show we did at a place called the Elizabethan Village Tavern. It was quite awesome, but I’ve not the energy nor time for all of it right here, right now.
Me and Matty P gettin’ to it above. This "fight" was apparently over the fact that he felt I was to buy the next round because the quantity of pints I’d already bought was "an ungodly number".
Playing swords is awesome.
He’s about to absolutely hammer me if I remember correctly and the look of "Oh Shit" on my face is any indication. I broke my sword in this fight.
Did I mention playing swords is awesome?
All hand-made and authentic clothing, armour and accessories. The grass all over my back implies that, once again, I got my ass handed to me in a fight.
When you’ve got a minute, sit down, and I’ll tell you all about how playing swords is awesome.
There’s heaps more pics of me in other fights on the day, where everybody but me looks cool and tough and like they’re delivering mighty blows in a tough and mighty way, but in each and every one of them I’m either getting punched so hard my butt pokes out, grimacing like I’m doing a really painful poo, or both.
I’m not down for posting those pics just yet, but playing swords is still awesome.
And so are my fish.
I can’t believe I just nerded so hard on here. Good thing it’s MY blog.
Smooches and happy things, big and small and medium-sized.