Update on my Fish Inventory

I now have 15 tanks (or sort of "tanks").

2 betta tanks - 4 male betta

1 temp tank - 1 female betta

1 breeder tank - 1 pregnant guppy and 10 fry (not related)

1 hospital tank - 1 sucker fish and 1 guppy

1 tank - 8 guppies

2 temporary tanks - 2 blue lobsters, 2 red lobsters

1 temporary container - 1 shrimp that just moulted

1 small tank - 1 honey gourami, 3 sucker fishes (plecos)

1 small tank - 7 common goldfishes

1 small tank - 6 red-eye tetras

1 mature tank - 1 honey gourami, 1 dwarf red gourami, 2 blue colbalt gourami, 2 pearl gourami, about 18 developing guppies in a breeder unit

1 square tank - 5 glowlight tetras, 6 buenos aires tetra, 6 harlequin rasbora, 2 sucker fish (leaf type), 3 rock shrimps, countless glass shrimps

1 Dymax tank - 2 angelfish, 1 dwarf cichlid, 3 algae-eaters

I feel like I own a fish shop. My kids think it's never enough.

My Fish Inventory

This is what we now have in our fish tanks. Today's latest editions we had to put in the acrylic round tank (it's not really a fish tank, it was meant to be kitchenware!).

Big Tank = 22 fishes.

- 2 Silver Sharks, 1 Tin Foil, 2 Angel fish, 4 Sucker fish, 4 Longkang fish, 7 orange platy fish, 2 goldfish-like fish

Medium Tank = 27 fishes, 2 snails.

- 2 Pearl Gourami, 2 Thai Gourami, 5 Tetra (black and white), 18 Baby fry (16 guppies, 2 longkang), 2 Orange snails

Dymax Tank = 11 fishes.

- 6 Cherry Barbs, 5 Golden Algae-eaters

Acrylic Round Tank = 6 fishes, 8 snails.

- 4 Baby Angel Fish, 2 Sucker fish, 8 Bumble bee snails

What is 19-1-2+2?

I think I now have 18 baby fishes.

It was 19, then -1 (because I miscounted), and minus 2 (because I found that 2 had died when I cleaned the tank), and plus 2 (when I suddenly realised that our longkang fish gave birth).

It happened yesterday, when I was staring at the longkang fishes (they are in a separate container from the rest), and then I saw 2 small baby fishes! It was so sad that I found only 2, as I was certain that they should have given birth to quite a number. I thought my baby guppy fishes did a wonderful jump from their 'tank' to the longkang fish 'tank', but realised that these 2 baby fishes are really bigger in size than the baby guppy fishes, and they are a little orange in colour!

Still cannot believe it!

I have 19 babies......

Baby guppies, I mean.

I recently adopted a fishtank of 7 guppies (3 females, 4 males) from my colleague. He already 'delivered' and gave away 1 batch of baby guppies from the 1st pregnant female guppy, and seeing that there was probably another one coming, I segregated the 2nd pregnant guppy on Saturday, and praise God I chose the correct one! Because I came back to work on Monday, not knowing that the guppy had already given birth, and promptly fed the tank as usual...and went about doing my work, as usual.

Then my same colleague walked in to my room, and said that the guppy had already delivered! I was flabbergasted as I didn't see them and suppose it happened during the weekend.

Stay tuned for the guppies' development. I brought them home today. They are so small you can't probably see them if I take a picture.

Trip to Pasir Ris Kids' Kampong

Recently, Ethan had a chance to go to Pasir Ris Kids' Kampong again with his friends, Faith, Li-Yer and En-Yer and her friend. It was hard work for them to try and catch the fishes, and everyone was sweating it out, but Ethan enjoyed the company and the activity very much.

He especially enjoyed touching the carps and letting them 'kiss' his hand.

Aquarama 2009 and a new tank

Aquarama was in Singapore, and we brought the 3 kids to the 11th International Ornamental Fish and Accessories exhibition at Suntec Singapore. Adults need only to pay $8 each, and children below 12 years are FOC.

Ethan, Zack and Sophie were thrilled with the many types of fishes that they had never seen before in the usual neighbourhood aquarium shops. There were shrimps that cost from S$30 each, and pokka-dotted octopus which looked like they were taken straight out of a cartoon strip. You cannot imagine the variety of fishes that we saw all in one place. There were also rows and rows of fishes which had been submitted for competition the day before (trading days only), and who were the winners for each category of fish.

We came out from the exhibition with a new classy looking tank (5litres) from the brand called Mydymax, that had an LED lamp attached to it (really cool looking), which cost us S$65!! We also bought other stuff like fish food, and fish-safe liquid and filter. Didn't buy any fish - it is not exactly the place for you to buy fish....

A few new things I learnt today: I saw what Arowanas look like in their 1st 1-2 weeks from hatching, and 5-6 weeks later. Can you see that they are still attached to the egg pouch?

I realise that tanks can cost S$550+ or more like the one that the boys are looking at here!!! This one has LED lighting, so it apparently costs more due to this reason.

There were fishes large and small, there were tanks light and heavy...

But at the end of the day...it is not the size that matter.

And now we have many...

Not chicken pox. Fishes.

This is our new aquarium. Soon Guan bought the fish tank on 1 May afternoon, and surprised us with the purchase of 3 sucker fishes on the same day. He had previously bought a batch of fishes which were just orange and white ones (apparently, they are meant to be fish food for the larger fishes like arowanas) a few days ago, and left them in our 'round' tank. Now, they all have a new home.

We are now left with 1 sucker fish. Why? Well, it is a tricky feat to balance the water composition whenever we are changing water for the tank. The 2 sucker fishes died possibly due to insufficient de-chlorination when we changed the tank water.

Today, he bought 5 tiger barbs (Zack's request) and 5 angel fishes (Ethan's request), plus 2 plants. Now, our tank is so full, I had to put aside the 2nd plant that we bought, cos there is not enough space in the tank! Now, they are doing OK, and even though the water looks murky, we don't dare to change it just yet!

P/S. We saw the doc today, and he has certified that Ethan can go back to school tomorrow! Hooray! He didn't have any new chicken pox 'sprouting out' since Wednesday, so they are all dried up by now. All in all, his pox started since Tuesday, and Monday would be his 7th day. The teacher would be surprised to see him back.

And then there were none...

All the fishes died on Tuesday. None remained.

What I Did on My Birthday

For those of you who don't know, yes, I look like I am 3o years' old, and I feel younger than that actually. This is the cake that SG bought to celebrate my birthday - a Strawberry ice-cream cake from Swensen's.

After breakfast at Chinatown, we headed straight for Pasir Ris Kid's Kampong, which Ethan & Sophie had gone before as a field trip when they were both in Eager Beaver. We found our way there, and here are some pics to go. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and we brought back at least 30 fishes (Ethan had 16, Sophie had 10, and Zack had >10).

The good thing about this place is that after you catch the fish in a 'longkang'-type stream and it is designed in such a way that young kids can simply move around the stream. It is a tedious task catching the smart fish! Once you are done, you can bag them and bring your catch home! So, we had 3 bags - 1 for each child! Next, you get to feed the fishes with the fish food provided (in a separate feeding area), and if daring enough, you can let the fishes kiss you. Zack even touched a number of them.....they were so excitable fish! There were also some geese and rabbits in some enclosures in the area for kids to see. It was like a mini-farm.

The fishes are now temporarily housed in a transparent plastic container we found at home. Daddy bought a pump so that they can survive at least a few more days. It hasn't been 2 hours, and I can already smell the water! Eeeks...have to think of a solution - the kids love it so much. We couldn't change the water, because we didn't buy the de-cholrinating drops, so we can't possibly put them in freshwater!

Anyway, I must say for $10 each kid, and $4 for the pail and net set, it was a worthwhile investment to see the kids enjoy themselves so much. Check out the pictures.