Day in the Life of an Idiot

I haven't posted about the fish in a long time so I thought I should give y'all a quickie update.

We suddenly have "tetrum" again. Tetrum being my goofy plural version of tetra. I've been leaving the upstairs five-gallon tank alone since the horrific death of Dip, the powder-blue, dwarf gourami. One solitary tetra named "Pirhana" has been living there for several months with a ghost/glass shrimp named "Happy." Tetra aren't supposed to live alone, being schooling fish that like to be in groups of six or more. Pirhana seemed okay alone for a while, but lately he started staring at the reflection of himself in the glass (and I know fish do this, but, well, it seemed unusual for him.... not to mention kind of sad.)

When Mason and I were out at Adventure Peak Mason suggested we visit A World of Fish (which is nearby). I called Shawn and said, "should we get more tetra for Pirhana?" She said, "Heck ya! Pick up a half dozen!"

So we did.

We now have six new tetra, named: Pnumatic tube, violin, trumpt, kettle drum, hiding tetra, and eating tetra.

Everyone seems to be getting along swimmingly, and I was extremely pleased to see everyone school up the instant they were released. Their school is getting a little looser now, and I do worry about "hiding tetra" (who isn't the same as Pirhana) because the sick ones supposedly seperate themselves from the pack.

I changed their water today and will go back to a slightly more vigorous water changing schedule for them -- I'd been down to once a week for Pirhana because well, it was one tiny fish in five gallons. Now that there are seven total... well, I figure I should probably be more diligent.

Also, in the downstairs tank I've only seen one shrimp (Handel, the one who is "berried")... and there are supposed to be three.  I suspect they're in there, but I haven't spotted 'em in a while.