It all started with the fish tank...our first tank. It is a freshwater tank and contains some of my favorite "kiddos". We have a bumble bee gobie named Bubbles that has to be fed by hand. He will only eat brine shrimp and I have to direct feed him or his feelings get hurt and he won't eat. We also have a pleco that I have trained to sit and wait for me in the morning. He knows where I will feed him and when. Yesterday I overslept and Platy (the pleco) was sitting, rather impatiently, waiting to be fed. After receiving his sinking pellets he gobbled them up, gave me a dirty look and rushed into his cave where he spends most of his time. Overall, we have 21 kids in that tank.
Our next kid that we welcomed into our home is a hamster named Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn is a black dwarf hamster with white little feet. She loves sunflower seeds and when we walk into the room she climbs up her cage and waits for us to hand her some. She is also an escape artist. She is fine in her cage but once you put her in her rolling ball she can get out of that thing in no time flat. Jordan and I were once eating dinner when I suddenly saw Kaitlyn running underneath the table.
Then we got another tank. This time a much bigger tank. Jordan planned on using it to house large fresh water fish but I convinced him that marine fish are cooler. So, we started making plans for a large salt water aquarium. Then, one of my past students needed to get rid of her turtle. I couldn't say no... so speedy joined our family. She spent most of her time at school in a 40 gallon aquarium and then summer came and she had to come home. We had no choice but to fill the 100 gallon and plop her in there. She is as happy as a clam but will soon be moving back to her old home as we are planning on using the 100 gallon as a salt water aquarium once we move into the house.
Speedy, the turtle, currently has 8 goldfish friends that we can't seem to get rid of. They are like those neighborhood kids that just won't go home...no matter how many times you tell them that they should. They eat our food and let me clean up their messes. They have grown from smallish goldfish to rather large goldfish and are too big to even be afraid of the turtle. We gave up hoping she would eat them (as she has done in the past) and have resigned ourselves to having 8 pet goldfish.
The next kiddo is my favorite and the bane of Jordan's existence. Scat, the bunny. She looks up at me with those big brown eyes and I just can't tell her no. Jordan, only tolerates her because I like her so much. She loves to chew on walls and carpet but is trained to only "relieve" herself in one spot in her cage. I can let her roam free in the house without worrying about having to clean up a mess. Now if I could only teach her to clean out her own cage...
Last, but definitely not least, is our newest addition, our 34 gallon all-in-one Red Sea salt water aquarium. We got the aquarium for a steal from a guy who was selling his aquarium store. It was used, but only slightly. For a while all we had in there was live rock, sand and algae. Then we added Rupert our hermit crab and a snail that turned out to be on its last leg. Rupert loved having all of the space to himself but then last Saturday we added Shim Shim the yellow tailed damsel. Shim Shim has already proved herself to be rather entertaining as she likes to end up back where the protein skimmer belongs. After an hour long rescue mission she is back where she belongs. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go an incredibly discounted fish store and got AMAZING deals. We got 5 chromis (still waiting to be named), a Sri Lankan cleaner shrimp named Lanka the Shrimp, a Red Banded shrimp gobie, a Clown fish (like Nemo) named Rufus, a green flower pot coral, a mixed rock with some kickin' things growing on it (not sure of what they are called) and an bubble tipped anemone named Picky Peter.
With all of these kiddos it takes me longer to take care of them, than it does for me to do my hair and makeup in the morning. I love my kiddos and everyday when I get home from work the first thing I do is say hello to everyone. It is great and I am already planning our next addition. Can anyone say Great Dane named Oso? :)
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