We have an animal lover in the house. During nightly prayers, praying for all of the dogs and cats “in the world” isn’t uncommon. Beth and I thought that deer hunting might not be all that popular, as it turns out, we were wrong! When we were first home I wandered out the back door to see five deer near the apple tree. I booked it inside to grab Christopher. He was so excited to see the “white tail reindeer.” He was equally excited to ask “Dad! Can we [insert shotgun racking motion here, followed up by aiming deerward] KISHBOOM! the deer?!” No buddy… not yet. Well, I guess we have an animal lover alright, of both taste and touch.

We’ve been hyping up this fish tank for some time. We’re not going to be having any new four legged friends for a very long time, even if one or two of them wander heaven ward. While meandering through Pet Smart Toph lamented his desire to adopt all of the “big” cats there. He wasn’t all that happy with Charlie, our kitten. After prodding, turns out he just likes big animals. The corgis are nice and all, but they aren’t big black dogs that bring the ball back when it’s thrown.

Beth had to ask the question, how can Christopher have a new pet without causing us to be overrun with four legged fur babies. The answer was simple, a fish tank. Perfect! I had a fish tank as a kid and thought it was a great idea. Better yet, Lola had all of the fish tank stuff to get us going. All we really needed was some fresh food and the actual fish. It was game on and I went to get, what I expected to be a 10 gallon tank. Turned out to be bigger than I expected, but 20 gallons is still pretty manageable.

Toph and I built a custom background out of seat cushion foam and hydraulic concrete. Styrofoam would have been better but we didn’t have any on hand. I had to use a lighter to shape it because cutting it into shape was a nightmare. It turns out cushion foam gives when you put a knife to it, who’da thunk it? While not a great option for my lungs or for the environment, burning it into shape worked fantastic. Once we had it all stuck together we just painted the concrete onto it. I’m super happy with the result!

The videos I watched warned about pH levels being insane due to the concrete. They had stated it could take several weeks of water changes to get things straight. I’m not sure if it’s our water or if it’s the concrete but the pH never came down. We have a water treatment system and 3 out of the 5 tests came back perfect. Even after putting some water conditioner in to try to balance things out, that sucker is still super alkaline. After three weeks, I was ready for fish and so was Toph. I was worried that the water issues might kill the first round of fish, so instead of Christopher using the money he’s been saving for fish, dad and mom offered to buy the first round. Toph was super excited.

After a quick jaunt down to Pet Smart, we picked up four Neon Tetras and four Dalmatian Mollies. I had Dalmatian Mollies as a kid and they had mega babies. I thought it was cool, so a little piece of me hopes we have a fish explosion in our tank at some point. We’ll see, but either way, these were some easy starter fish. While the bags were floating in the tank Christopher was asking on the minute how many minutes were left until release. At one point I threatened to add five more minutes if he asked again.

It was finally time, the fish were free! It didn’t take long for the fish to start crapping everywhere. “The long string thing” was a great curiosity and Beth explained the fish were pooping. Unlike Christopher’s experience with poop, it wasn’t just falling out. “I just want to stick my hand in that and pull it off.” We assured Toph that the fish could handle their own business. While getting things situated I had to wrangle some of the fish around the tank and Christopher was quick to find a point in the lid he could stick his grubby little hands in. “Hold your hands up” I said. He did, and I asked “see those two hands?” “Yeah.” “Those two hands aren’t allowed to touch the fish tank water.” “Oh fine.” (“Oh fine” is the new response to everything. “Oh fine” is a massive upgrade from the exacerbated huff and whine we used to get. )

The viewing party was a solid 30 minutes before the disappointment started. “I really want to see them jump out of the water.” “Sorry buddy, the Pet Smart doesn’t sell fish that jump out of the water.” “Oh fine” and off to play with his military dudes he went.

He wanted to get in some solid toy time before bath and bed. I respect that, and I’m sure that we’ll be praying that the fish don’t die tonight during nightly prayers.

God bless!