Un Cachito

Cameron's Links

---

• CNN
• Fox News
• NY Times Headlines
• Deseret News
• The Economist
• The Funnies (via Dan)
• America First Credit Union WebAccess

Besides travel and Alias, I've had a number of other things taking up my time. One of those things is fishkeeping. A while back, a sister called announcing babies. Lots and lots of babies; 26 if I remember correctly. They weren't directly hers though. They were Dalmation Mollies. I took 5 of them and bought a 5-gallon aquarium starter kit and supplies and found a new way to spend money. I was wanting to add a little bit of color to the tank, so I added a very pretty Red-minor Tetra, though this Google image doesn't do justice.Anyway, the fish has never been accused of being too intelligent and is a little too passive. He also doesn't like the tropical fish food I put in the tank (the Mollies can't eat enough). So he's been starving himself and has some odd behavior. I bought some freeze-dried blood worms and it turns out the Tetra actually likes those and even gives the Mollies a run for their money when he feels up to it. But yesterday, he wasn't eating anything again, so I got the bright idea to put him in a Tupperware-like container yesterday, with lots of bloodworms. At first, he just stayed at the bottom and wouldn't eat the worms. I went and watched an episode of Alias and came back to see if he had eaten. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't in the container. I wasn't alarmed - I just figured my brother had put it back in the main tank and I asked him that. He replied in the negative, so I started to think. I looked down on the carpet and didn't see anything and then looked on the ledge where the tank and temporary container are. There I saw a small lifeless body of a Tetra. I didn't know what to think, but I quickly scooped him back into the container and after a second, he came to life. I stood there amazed for a while. He would have had to jump 3+ inches to get out and this guy doesn't even like to go near the surface. He's as acrobatic as a slug. I was dumbfounded.Anyway, deciding he didn't like that container, I dumped him back into the tank, and watched him. He would twitch and then sink a bit and so on and so forth. He seemed a little better today, but I'm giving him two days to live. Maybe he'll surprise me. Maybe he'll convince me to buy a bigger tank and bring some more Tetras over (not planning on it until my new house is ready in April). At any rate, don't underestimate the desperation of a fish.