Friday, July 28, 2017

A Tale As Old As Time

So. Once upon a time, I bought this giant fish tank. 
125 gallons to be exact. 
And upon buying said tank and filling it full of water,
I told my sister that she could pick a couple of fish to put in the tank. 
She chose to go with a couple of angelfish. 

To which I happily bought her a couple. 
And she named them Beauty and Beast.
Because she's rather obsessed with that story. lol. 

Unfortunately....Beast ended up dying. Y_Y 

So after a bit I got a second angelfish to keep Beauty happy.
Only she didn't like that angelfish.
So I went and bought a third angelfish to ensure that Beauty didn't just focus her dislike of other angels on just one angelfish. 

But neither of those replacement angels were the same coloration of the original Beast angelfish. 
-He was striped, while beauty was fully white. 

So when work finally got in some good angelfish, I went in.....
And came out with four more angelfish. 
Giving me a total of seven....
Because I can't decide lol. 

In any case.
I ended up getting two more striped Angelfish.
And the larger one we named Beast. 
Technically Beast II because the first one had died. 

And life was just dandy for my seven angelfish. 
Until I took in a new Angelfish bigger than everyone else. 
An angel we took to naming Gaston because he was so big lol. 

And with Gaston entering the fray...
Everything went topsy turvy. 
And suddenly all my angels were fighting with each other instead of it mostly being Beauty chasing everyone else around the tank. 
*exhales* 
Difficulties. Difficulties.
Thankfully there weren't any major injuries. But there was a lot of posturing, nipping at fins, and reestablishing the hierarchy. 

And unfortunately...one of the angels....ended up acting a bit depressed.
I dunno if she was rejected one too many times by the others she tired to pair up with, or had some other internal issue.

But in an effort to cheer up the sad Angelfish, we decided -Kikay and I- to go grab a couple more angels to see if they could help perk up the one sad one. 

That resulted in me totally rearranging my tank. XD lol. 
And unfortunately....sad angelfish...ended up not surviving the night. Y_Y *exhales* 

But since we'd decided to name everyone after beauty and the beast characters by that point, we couldn't let our "Mrs. Potts" leave the tank.
So back to work I went to grab another Mrs. Potts. 

So yes....I have ten angelfish in that tank when I originally meant to only get two. lol. 

In any case. 

Funnily enough. The two angelfish that we named Beauty and the Beast ended up pairing up. Especially when Gaston entered the tank.
The two of them joined forces to ensure that Gaston was put in his place. lol. 

And it's been rather interesting to watch the two of them defending 'their territory' from the others. Watching to see who they let near and who they don't.

Beauty and the Beast had taken to being on the left side of the tank where I put in a new large Pirate Ship decoration. They loved it over there...they kept kissing the top mast post for whatever reason. lol. *shakes head* 

But we did, since all but the newest three angelfish are basically full grown, sit down and try and figure out the genders of the angelfish. -Since when they're small it's rather hard to know. 

And we realized....that Beast....is actually a girl. :S lol oops. 
and Beauty....was still difficult to tell...but it looked like Beauty was a girl as well. 
Gaston though is definitely a boy. 

However.
Today.
I figured out for sure that Beauty is actually a boy. 

Why?

Because when I came home this afternoon, I'd noticed that Beauty and the Beast had moved away from their claimed territory on the left side of the tank, and had chased the other 8 angelfish away from the center of the tank where a tall green big leafed plant is. 

With Gaston, LeFou, Chip, Phillip, and Mrs. Potts on the right side of the tank, while Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Plumette on the left side of the tank. 

Curious about this sudden change in territory. 

I looked closer.

And discovered that there were EGGS on the leaf!!
Beast had laid eggs!!!

()_() 
I had no idea that my tank was set up in such a manner to encourage my angels to breed, but apparently I've set up the tank well enough for them to do just that!
But there were Beauty and Beast both defending their little colony of eggs from all the other fish. Chasing them away if they venture too close. ^^ 

Honestly, with around 80 fish in my 125....I hadn't actually expected my fish to be able to breed at all...I figured that the eggs/fry would be eaten or destroyed pretty quickly. Just with how many different varieties of fish I have....

But I've just been proven wrong haha. ^^ 
I'm rather excited.
Excited to see if Beauty and Beast can protect the eggs long enough for them to hatch (around 60hrs or so) and if they can protect the fry.

-As Angelfish make rather good parents and will protect their young.
I'm just curious to see how many of their children will make it. ^^ 
--- and if I was equipped I'd totally fish out the fry when they hatch and put them in a different tank....but I'm not allowed any more fish tanks in the house. heh. Sooo I'm just going to have to let nature take it's course.

It's rather fun.
The wondering.
The unknown.

The fact that two of my angels actually bred!! ^^ 

I can't wait to see how this all turns out. :D

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!!

-Sarnic Dirchi

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