What is the best pet? A fish!

Many people have a favorite pet for various reasons. Most people seem to favor dogs for their devote pack animal respect and affection. Still some people enjoy cats due to their cuddly nature and relatively low maintenance. I love fish mostly because they bring about a peace when I watch them swim and play in their liquid environment. Here are some pictures to give an idea.

Above is a salmon swimming next to a boat lock in the Washington Puget Sound area. It's grace and mystery exhibit the peace I find in larger fish. However, these fish are not easy to keep as pets.

So I found myself a nice smallish 30 gallon fish tank.

I started off with a red wag platy. She was pregnant but her and her one surviving baby became sick and died after several months. The other fish all did well.

I had neon tetra all named Ana Casannava after an Olympic contestant. They were all eaten by my Pictus Catfish named Rex. The sales person at the store said they would be fine together despite my skepticism. It turns out that my suspicions were correct. Several sites I visited said the pictus catfish is known to eat fish neon tetra size.

Here is a picture of Rex the pictus catfish (aka an antenna catfish).

I replaced the neon tetra with giant danios. These fish are constantly swimming and darting around the tank. The labels said my tank is an appropriate size for these fish, but I think smaller fish may have been a better bet. Even so they appear healthy and comfortable.

I had been adding live water plants to help the fish feel more comfortable.

There are several different species of plants. Most notable are the onion and water lilly.

There is one other fish I have and we affectionately refer to her as Dojo Loach.

Above is a picture of our weather loach (aka golden dojo). Thus our name Dojo Loach. It is said that when a storm is about to roll in these fish begin acting up as the atmospheric pressures change.