Since moving into my office at the Church of The Messiah I have been fantasizing about getting a small aquarium for some goldfish. I think ideally my office should have lots of living things like plants and goldfish (alongside icons, books, and lots of candles, of course). I've been too busy to really invest any time in getting actual fish, but now I'm starting to think the time is right. Some goldfish would really be great.
So I was reading online about how to set up a basic, low-maintenance aquarium and was reminded of a fish that one of my sister's ex-boyfriends had: koi. Koi are Japanese carp specially bred to grow to large sizes and display bright colors and interesting patterns. Leave it to the Japanese to take this hobby to the highest level of refinement possible--prize-winning koi can sell for thousands of dollars. Of course, if I do get some koi for my aquarium they will the be the cheapies (only $10 or $12 per fish). What's cool about koi is that they can potentially live a very long time one famous fish, Hanako, lived to be 226 years old (an age verified by an analysis of her scales). They are also smart enough to recognize their feeders and to be taught some simple tricks.
Anyway, it's a thought I'm having. I've noticed that you can get inexpensive used aquariums on Craigslist. I'd have to learn a lot about maintaining it, but I can't think it's too bad. We'll see!
-t
5 comments:
Hi Tay,
I highly recommend not keeping koi in a fish tank. The reason is that you will have to change the water very frequently, and in doing so, you remove the hormone they secrete that regulates how much the grow. This results in very big koi that will eventually be too big for your tank. At one point we had a horsetank in our basement for the koi! You will also have to get a serious filter and flush it out regularly. Koi are a lot of fun but a heck of a lot of work! If you want them I recommend a pond - probably with a heater for your climate.
Meg
Yeah, I think you may be right. It's possible, but as you say a lot of work. Probably better to wait until Betsy and own a place and can create a proper Zen Garden as summer project one day. In the meantime I'll get some lower-maintenance fish. I also note that Craiglist has a lot of used aquariums at reasonable prices.
I hear kids can be fun too ;)
Yeah, but they generally don't like being constrained to aquariums.
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