Nobody lives forever ..

One day she was here and the next day she was gone. Sadly, one of my guppies died or at least she has gone missing. "As I walk over to the tank I notice that one of my guppies is missing! My orange guppy is now left alone." Field notes 11/05/14. I've searched the tank by removing the objects inside of it and she's nowhere to be found. Is she a really good hider or was it time for her to leave? I asked my parents what they think happened to her and they believe that my Plecostomus ate her. My "sucker fish" doesn't look like he would eat any of them! Maybe she died and he ate the remains of her body?

According to "Lifespans of Aquarium Fish," Guppies live 3-5 years. Rummy Nose Tetra's and Red Eye Tetra's live 5+ years, however Plecostomus live 7-15 years (Sharpe). We've only had them for about 9 months, but who knows how long they've lived in the store. 3-5 years is a very short amount of time for fish to live, it depends on how much they eat and how they're cared for.  My "sucker fish" has the longest life span and is supposed to be the biggest fish in the tank. My guppies are the smallest in size and lifespans, that explains why they're always picked on. It didn't make sense until I thought about it.

My poor little orange Guppy seems to be out of it. He is laying in the plant that he usually sleeps on. I feel like he is in depression. I couldn't imagine what it feels like to be with someone for a long time and all of a sudden you are left alone. One of the 3 Guppies I had before my recent one died also layed on a plant when the other 2 died. We found it floating at the top of the water the next day. Maybe this will happen to him too? I hope not. He was the one fish that all my family liked because of how he looked. He looked like a mermaid swimming happily around the tank. I feel so bad that she's the only guppy left. We had so many and now we only have one left.

My lonely orange Guppy
11/05/14

Ever since I saw that he isolated himself from the other fish I started to wonder if that's how human beings react to a death. When I experienced the death of a couple of my family members I remember that my parents always wanted to be alone and they didn't want to do anything. It was a hard time for my family. The thing is I had family members there to support me, but my little guppy doesn't have anyone that's the same type of fish as him. Just thinking of this gives me chills. This made me realize that we need to love the things we have in our life before it gets taken away from us. We have to appreciate what we've been given and cherish it with all our love because nobody lives forever.

Works Cited

Sharpe, Shirlie. "Lifespans of Aquarium Fish." About Home. N.p. n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.

I have what?

All of my fish have nicknames. The blue fish, the orange fish, the red fish, the big fish, my sucker fish and the small fish. When I'm taking field notes I use their nicknames, not the name of the type of fish they are. I felt bad not knowing what type of fish they were. It relates to when people call me by something else besides my name. I couldn't imagine how I would react if they never knew what my name was or even bothered to ask me what it was. People have the ability to ask other people what their name is, but I, on the other hand, don't have the opportunity to ask my fish anything I'm wondering. 

I decided to find out what kind of fish I have. Thanks to the websites http://www.unclemikespetworld.ie/pages/fish.html and http://www.fattinostri.com/tanino/An%20introduction/fish.html I was able to find out the type of fish I have and a little about them. I now know that I have two Guppies (my orange and blue fish), one Rummy Nose Tetra (my small fish), four Red Eye Tetras (my big fish), one Serpae (my red fish), and finally a plecostomus (my sucker fish). 

My two Guppies come from Central America. The male guppies are "brighter" and have "longer fins" than females do. I always thought the female fish would be more pretty, but I guess I was wrong. Guppies can grow up to be between 3-6 centimeters long. In the fish world that's about average size. When we bought our guppies we had to even out the space because they each need their own amount of space. We also had to buy 5 of them because they say that they do better in groups of three or more. Sadly, 3 of them died. Although we've lost 3 guppies, the two I have left still manage to survive and be happy. My Rummy nose Tetra is also known as a Red-nose Tetra. They have a red nose which makes the name fit in. We were only able to buy 1 of these because we had already bought too much. These type of fish are "peaceful schooling fish." We actually saw that he was hovering in the water and was floating. It wouldn't move and we thought it was going to die. After a while he began to swim around again and is still living to this day. 

Next, my four Red Eye Tetras are known to be very "peaceful." In my tank they seem the most aggressive, but maybe they act different depending on where they are. They can grow up to be 7 centimeters big. I already thought they would be the biggest fish in the tank because they were bigger than the other fish when we first got them. I like to think of them as the "guard fish." Finally, my Serpae is a "very bright, shiny orange bodied fish." He used to be really aggressive and was always at the bottom all by itself. Whenever the other fish would go near his spot he would scare or chase them away. They are know to be "semi-aggressive" unless they are left alone for a while. Then they become "good community fish." We only have one of these because we didn't want this group to gang up on the other smaller fish and end up killing them. They can grow up to 5 centimeters, which again is about average size. 

Every single one of us, including animals, have a name. We are all unique in our very own beautiful way. We may not be called or seen and the same thing, but we are all important. If you truly don't know the name of someone or something you should take the time to find out. You might think that some people don't get bothered when you call them by something else besides their name, but really it makes it look like you don't care what who they are or how important they are. Fish might not be humans, but they live on this world and we should be able to identify them just like if it were a person walking down the street.

Works Cited

"How to Care for a Fish in a Bowl." Uncle Mikes Pet World. N.p. n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2014                  

"Fish Information." Photo Album of Our New Pets. Nino Puddu. n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2014