"The Great American Backstory"

It started out a bummer, which is probably why I've been pessimistic.

When I inherited my aquarium from George, I was moving out of my rent-free 3-bedroom-house situation into his previous place in Houston's Third Ward. He was moving to D.C. to get married and attend G.M.U., and couldn't take it with him. After some confusions with the tranfer and the landlord and the keys, I moved in to find the aquarium had been sitting in the tiny duplex apartment for a week without electricity - in July - in Houston. That means mid-to-high-90's heat and no fitration, etc... The water was too low and dark, and most of the fish had died.

I'd wanted an aquarium for a pretty long time. I've always liked them (home and commercial), as well as public fountains. Something about large quantities of water, in motion or in a tank. George's was a pretty good sized tank (55 gallons), and he'd had good luck with the fish. Minus the time his jumbo Silver Arowana jumped out and broke its back while he was on vacation.

Fun fact (to break it up) - I just noticed I've been drastically overfeeding the White Clouds, so there are pockets of fish food accumulating in the gravel. Time to break out the gravel vac!

I did what I could, which wasn't much. I'm assuming the filter got messed up, because it would cut off unexpectedly at random times (it seemed to be on its last leg). I had no clue what I was doing, but some of the heartier fish hung on for awhile. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

In trying to figure out how to get started again, for some reason, I got lots of negative advice. "Don't use any household cleaners." Yeah, okay, but the pet stores I went to didn't have any Aquarium Cleansing Formula. "Make sure not to use a regular sponge." It took me a year to find the right kind of sponge... admittedly, I'm an idiot.

In addition to buried deposits of fish food, I also have a piece of African Root (lower right front - kind of yellow/brown) with a recurring fungus infection. And the tank is right in front of a large window, which is certain to cause an algae explosion at some point. I love a challenge!

So, in the meantime, I tried a little rinsing and soaking, pouring and sopping. But it was never really ready. And neither was I. I'd totally failed, and it was discouraging. It just kind of sat around empty, unless I was moving it to the next apartment... for three years. No, really.

We recently moved into a house, 3-bedrooms but not rent-free, and I really felt like I could (with some help) put this together.

I know this installation was kind of a drag, but it covers three years of wandering the desert. Or wasting the fish tank. Or something...

Since then, things have been a blast so far, and future chapters will reflect the trimphant return.

Here's a peaceful Arowana coda with no dying.