FISHY & DISHY

 FISHY & DISHY

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

13/IV/2023

 

As we were transiting from February to March, Suncity started getting warmer by the day. Maintaining the ideal temperature of our fish tank on the roof was going to be problematic. Plan ‘B’ had to be implemented.

 

To keep the mosquito larvae away, Guppies & Mollies were introduced in that tank. To adjust the thermostat of the scorching sun was not in our control but to keep the fish cool was definitely in our hands. After lots of brainstorming, a new smaller tank in the ground floor veranda was deployed.

 

Water lilies & other water plants were placed in pots in the roof tank and also needed protection from the fierce sun. Before Holi went by, their leaves started showing signs of ‘leaf burn’. Plant rescue operation had to be undertaken too. Water lily pods were transplanted to small water tubs and also moved down alongside the new fish tank. Other water plants were left in the mother tub.

 

Fish were relocated. New location, new water free from algae could create some annoyance and disturbance to the fish. It happens. A few fatal casualties were anticipated too. Fingers were kept crossed with a hope that they acclimatise quickly to the new environ.

 

To catch the fish, the main tub’s water was siphoned off to its rock bottom. Later, fresh water was refilled. Pots with common water plants were kept back inside. One could now see the bottom of this tank, which had once turned green with the passage of time.

 

 Two blackish dots which darted from one pot to the other and disappeared caught my attention. I thought they were snails. I stood at the edge to solve the mystery of the black dots.

 

‘Fishy’ and ‘Dishy’ (F&D) were new born fingerlings that had somehow managed to hoodwink my net and hid in one of the pots. Though there was hardly any water in them, these two characters survived. A miracle of sorts. Now they were the new bosses of this tank.

 

Were they feeling at home? Such questions kept churning in my mind. The way they were darting around in the tub convinced me that they are healthy and happy.

 

Should I leave them there or bring them down was another question bugging me. In the next three days we had lost five fish in the new tank because one night it rained and temperatures dropped as if it was winter again. Losing a fish is painful but F&D survived.

 

What amazed me was their rate of growth. Within two weeks those ‘two millimetre’ beings had grown to a centimetre. Let me proudly announce, today, it has been a month and a half plus and they are almost two inches now.

 

The other siblings of F&D have just crossed the one inch mark. They are healthy and growing in the new tank but their rate of growth is far slower. Are F&D happier in the big tank? I wonder!!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS