Paul Ballard's Weblog

Posts Tagged ‘Violence’

One of the benefits of living in a place where you can afford to have a spare room without needing to rent it out to a family of five just to cover your council taxes (yes London, I’m talking about you) is that I have converted a bedroom into a private home office just for me.  I’ve managed to furnish the office with nice simulated hardwood furniture, a custom rug, and various other items entirely of MY choosing.  One of the things I’m most proud of is my awesome new aquarium.

When the aquarium guy came to set up the tank for me he dumped what looked to be about 14 random fish into the water.  They range in size from about 3 inches long to my big Split Tail Barb (The Boss) which is about 8 inches long and a Tiger Oscar (aka Big Oscar or The Bully) that is just a bit smaller.  My first thought was not to bother even naming them as they’d probably all die from being dropped into the tank the first day it was turned on.  But fate smiled on them and with only two exceptions all of the fish have survived okay so far.

However, all is not bubbles and mermaids in aquarium land tonight.  I came home and happened to notice that one of my smaller fish, a shy nerdy one who tends to keep to himself (I call him Mr. ButtUgly, because… well he’s butt ugly), has become the victim of mob violence.  The poor guy was laying in the sand at the bottom of the tank, looking like he was gasping for air (or water?).  To my horror (to say nothing of his), the other fish had EATEN HIS FINS!  His dorsal fin and tail fins are gone! 

At first I wasn’t sure what had happened.  I’ve never had an aquarium so I thought maybe he shed his fins or something.  And while his gasping looked worrisome I recently had another fish (Little Oscar) survive the same sort of thing for nearly 2 weeks after he got so excited about feeding time he leapt right out of the tank and flopped around on the carpet for a while.  So I turned the lights back off and went about my business.  But after just a few minutes I noticed the other fish were circling him menacingly and then biting at his tail while he laid there defenseless and gasping. 

You’ll be happy to know that I immediately intervened on his behalf and pulled him out of harm’s way.  He’s now resting quietly in a private bucket where I will keep a close eye on him for the next few days and see if he can manage to grow back his missing appendages.  I’m hoping I can nurse him back to health and then feed him such that he gets big and bulky so he can go back into the tank and get some well deserved scaly justice!  In the meantime, if you believe in a higher power (Jesus, Buddha, or L. Ron Hubbard – any one will do), pray for little ButtUgly as he tries to work through the trauma of life in… The Aquarium Of Doom!