John wont let me have a pet. I wanted one of those cute little useless pocket dogs, but he said no, its like having another kid. What are you gonna do if we want to leave for the weekend. He said the same thing about a bird, and even an aquarium. And also he doesnt want to invest a bunch of money into a pet that might just die on us. so yesterday we were sitting in the back yard and I was thinking I could put goldfish in the fountain. They dont cost a whole lot, so if they do happen to pass away, it wouldnt break my heart too much.
So this morning I headed off to petsmart to look for a few fish. On the way there, i rememberd walmart had fish, and they were probably cheaper. So I turned left instead of right and went to walmart. There was a couple other things I wanted to look for anyway. I picked up the foot cream I wanted, looked at photo transfer paper, decided no, not this time and then headed to the pet department.
there was two sets of fish tanks, a cold water one and a warm water one. Goldfish are coldwater btw. There were ugly sucker fish in every tank, hanging on to the sides of the tanks, keeping them clean. I was gonna get one of those, but decided against it. i would never be able to see them in the dark oak barrels. They would keep the algie down, but no. not this time.
I decided to get ten tiney little feeder fish for ten cents each and three coy looking fish that were about three or four inches long. I also bought a fake hiding place for them to swim around in. oh, and food. I got them home, showed john and headed out to the back yard. I dumped the ten tiney fish in teh middle barrell and the three larger ones in the bottom barrell. I dont know why I seperated them, but I did. its kinda hard to see the fish with the fountain going, but knowing they are there makes me happy.
I am curious to see how long the little guys will survive. I am hoping they will live for a while. it would be fun to see how big they will get. I know they will get as big as the tank they live in will allow. I didnt get a whole lot cus I wanted to see if they would live first. If they live for a while, I will get some more and add to the barrells. it should be fun. if that is the only pet I can have, i will be happy with that.
Ok, so its sunday. the wind has finally stopped for now. its supposed to be about 95 today with a small breeze. we can live with that. There is such strange weather going on right now everywhere. some placces are having unusually hot weather, some are flooding, and some are dodging tornados. I wish it would jut settle down. I should be happy, it could be in the 100's.
well, thats it for today. remember, tomorrow is Ambers big birthday. send her a happy birthday wish.
Hope they go well for you. I have minnows in my pond - I bought 10 and today I was able to count - I've got seven alive which is pretty good. I figure that however long they live, it's good -because I saved them from being someones dinner. Good that you didn't get any catfish because they are tropical and probably wouldn't winter over.
ReplyDeleteAnd you could toss in some plants - Marestail or something similar - an underwater plant....it will give the fish another place to hide and if it gets really hot - it's kind of shade for them. Or float water lettuce on the surface - neither plant seems to be a problems for fountains....
You would either take the pocket dog along or kennel him/her for the weekend... That's not cheap - and it's why I have cats instead.
I think having the fish will be a nice pet for you and easy to care for. What do you do in the winter with them? Do they stay there or do you have to move them into a tank for the winter? Are you going to name them? I would. :D (It probably doesn't get too cold there, does it?)
ReplyDeleteIn the barrells, they have the shade from the barrell on teh next level up. I put a fake plant in there cus they didnt have any live ones. Im gonna haveto go to a real pet store to find a live plant. also, the grape vine hangs over the barrell. maybe i will have to find one of my old pics or take a new one. I wonder if my camera can catch the fish in the water. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeletemama, If they live to the winter, they will stay in the barrells. Im not moving them.
I used to have pirhannas. And I also used to take them out of their tank so I could clean it.
ReplyDeleteGoldfish are usually pretty easy to take care of, you should have success with them =O)
As long as the water doesn't freeze solid they will hibernate all winter - you just stop feeding them once it gets cold. You can get plants in the pet store or your nursery probably has a section of water plants as well - just look for those that can be in deep wayer.
ReplyDeleteWe buy goldfish for our pond every year too. They're cheap. Unfortunately they also die once the weather gets really hot. I think the pet store owner said they like temperatures lower than 80 and would prefer 50 degree water. Don't quote me though, I just know that if it gets too hot they become floaters.
ReplyDeleteI bought about 50 of the feeder goldfish for our ponds. We just seen the other day two large goldfish so they must be the winter survivors. We also caught about 3 of them before winter and put them in our small indoor tank. When we got home this spring we re-released them. We go down to water ever pond is close by and grab some floating green crap and put that on the surface for shade and looks.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends have Koi, they're beautiful..she has a few ponds and a sunken bathtub where she keeps the babies. She sells them too, and gets good $$ for them. I'm so glad you have your pets!!
ReplyDeleteHow cool..fishies in the fountain! Keep us posted on their growth, I have always wondered how big they could get. I never could get goldfish to live long..I have done much better wtih dogs. LOL
ReplyDeleteI worried about them all night. I think they are eating the algie in the barrells cus when i put food in the water, they didnt even respond. the little guys are all hiding int he fake plant thing I bouthg and ther big ones hide behind the filter.
ReplyDeleteOh boy you have fish! You can do us a video diary!
ReplyDeleteIs there any subject our EM doesn't know about?
For me..fish goes great with chips and thats about it! LOL!
Fish in a fountian..will they not keep getting sucked up through the pump...
ReplyDelete