Back in July, my husband and I were asked to "watch" a betta fish for a friend who was going out of town for an extended trip.  Welllll....we had only had him for 24 hours when we decided his little bowl, cute as it was, needed to be upgraded into a bigger 1.5 gallon tank with a heater and a filter.  The little guy seemed so appreciative that my friend decided we should keep him as a result.  This triggered my innate sense of impending doom...I knew that this was not going to end so simply!

Sure enough, not another month had gone by and we happened upon a 35 gallon tank for sale at a yard sale and my husband just *had* to buy it since it was such a good deal!  I inwardly groaned and detested the idea but there was no stopping him.  He assured me that if I still hated it after he cleaned it up, then he would find a good home for it.  Of course his cunning plan was to clean it up, stick some fish in and wait for my animal-loving sucker side to kick in.  This happened within 2 days of it being in our home! 

As a result, we now have 10 fish in addition to our birdies who feed on the porch and the 1 cat who is now truly overstimulated most of the time.  The betta still lives in the 1.5 gallon aquarium.  He briefly had a Chinese Algae Eater for a roomate. Due to the tight quarters, we relocated the algae eater to the big tank, much to the delight of them both.  In addition to the algae eater, we have 8 tetras.  I refer to them as the pirahnas since that is the appearance and demeanor they take on when they feed.  The betta we call Fishstick for reasons I would rather not explain and the algae eater is called The Fonz, but due to his peculiar characteristics, we now refer to him as Fonz Bin Laden.  So as not to be suspected as potential Al Qaeda members, I shall proffer the explanation that this is due to the fact that Fonz will hide in the cave and come out to terrorize the other inhabitants of the tank.  He is quite plucky! 

The fish tank has proved to be tons of fun for us, and quite relaxing too.  Now, if only we could find room for another tank so we could start a salt water tank...