Something Fishy

We spent some time this afternoon taking pictures of our fish. On Monday we had to hold a funeral service for Princess and Mavis (the black molly and the white molly fish) because apparently they were ill from the start. We replaced them with a red eye tetra named Redeye and a black skirt tetra named Tiger. As a unit of study for this summer for the kids, we as a family will learn the genus and phylum of each of the fish. The learning never ends for a homeschooler and what better way to learn than to have hands on science! The kids have been testing the water daily as our tank levels out with the good and bad bacteria and have been charting it all on a chart. The water is still a bit cloudy but we are told that is because it is a new tank and once everything balances out, it will clear up. I catch myself sitting there staring at them for long periods just because they have so much personality. Bissell is very shy. He hides under the bridge mostly but when he thinks it is safe, he scoots out cautiously, checking his surroundings constantly and he doesn't move forward, he moves in reverse a lot. We have caught him sticking to the side of the tank a few times which is way cool! His underside is very visible when he does that. Dyson and Hoover remind us of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Alice in Wonderland...always together and always having a good time. Rambo is very fast and once his digestive track got accustomed to the food, he no longer had what the kids called "string poo" dangling from him. Spot swims straight up and down all over the tank. He is a diving torpedo. Redeye and Tiger are slower swimmers and constantly watch their reflections in the tank. The 6 Racing Stripes play tag a lot and like to annoy Bissell when he is hiding under the bridge by racing through his space. I know, you probably think we are nuts, but who ever knew a fish tank could provide so much entertainment!