Just keep swimming, just keep swimming! Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

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One of the gifts that Jethro added to his wishlist for his 5th birthday was some fish in a tank.  I thought that was quite cute and envisioned a tiny little aquarium standing on the table next to his bed, with maybe 3 or 4 little pretty fishies swimming around.

Next thing I know, we have a 2 meter aquarium standing in our lounge (as it is way too big for Jethro's room), with thirteen not-so-little Malawian Cichlids eyeing us out.  


 How did our little aquarium change to a big aquarium????  What happened???

One of Tony's friends was giving his fish away, as he was getting ready to go on honeymoon and was not going to have time to look after the fish.  Only problem was that he was only giving the fish away, and nothing else.  Not the tank, not the air filter, not any of the other McGadgets which any proud Aquarium owner would need.  Anyhoo, the friend said that we could use his fish tank and all the other things until we acquire our own.  So, there we go, we have a tank with thirteen beautiful, freshwater, tropical fish, all the way from Malawi (not really but their forefathers are!).

Jethro had fun setting everything up with Dad and was telling Grandie and Gran all about it over the phone.  They had special food and it was always a treat to feed them and watch how they gobbled up all the food.  Every now and then we would catch a fly and feed it to Bully (the biggest fish in the tank and so, aptly named by Jethro) and he would stalk and grab it with delight!  We also had cheeky Skye (beautiful sky blue colour), there was Big Blue, Yellow, Zebra, the Twins and the rest of the names forget me.  


  
I was amazed at the different character of each fish, after all, I thought fish were just that, FISH!  With three second memories but each one had it's own personality and it's a scary experience when you are staring at all the pretties and they are staring right back at you!  They loved Tony but always hid when I came trotting along.  I had to pretend that I was minding my own business to be able to interact with them, because as soon as I made eye contact with them, they would scatter!

After three months of trying to interact with them and Tony having to squeeze some more time out from some non-existent time warp-hole to clean and take care of all the inhabitants of the tank, we decided to say goodbye to our fishy friends.  It was a sad day in the Garner household when our little buddies were whisked off, again, into the sunset by some stranger, who said that he would love them unconditionally (not really but it just sounds right)!  Jethro and I hugged and shared a tear or two, and that was the end of the visit of our fish family.  We hope that they find peace and love and rest in their new home.

Skye, Bully, Zebra and Big Blue

Peekaboo, I see you Yellow!

 This blog is dedicated to our little Tiger, who died when a rock fell on him.  But his memory will live on in little Nemo who was our only little fry to survive the wrath of the bigger fish's mouths.

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