Marine Aquariums: 11/16/06

When I was growing up we had an aquarium in our home. It was a fresh water aquarium with a school of guppies. We even had a guppy nursery that hung off the side to keep all the babies. The aquarium sat near the entry way to the home so it was one of the first things anyone saw when coming to the house (the other thing was a cabinet phonograph which is still there). My job was to feed the fish but my mother took charge of the periodic cleaning and water changing.

Later we downsized to a single fish, a beta fish whom we called "Typhoid Mary." Actually she was more my brother's fish although we all shared in the feeding duties. Mom, though, was still the one who cared for the cleaning and water changing duties. I don't know (or don't remember) what happened to Typhoid Mary but it's been a few years since my parents had any fish.

At home I don't keep any fish. We're a one pet family, and that pet is Caligula. However, when I saw Marine Aquariums: A Complete Guide among the books that Whytraven gave me to register and release for her I had to read it. Back at the same time when we had the fish, we also did a lot of sailing as a family out on Mission Bay and every so often one of us would suggest (Dad, John or I) that we get a salt water aquarium since we lived so close to the beach. Mom, I'm pretty sure, was the one to put the kabosh on that idea. So I was curious, just how hard is a marine aquarium?

The answer seems to be, very hard. The book makes it sound like it's just a series of simple steps but knowing the chaos that is my family, I would be certain to get goof it up and kill my fish or break something and make a mess. I know from personal experience that like my mother, I would be the one taking care of the fish and frankly, I don't want to! Plus we have no where to put an aquarium and I'm sure Caligula would try to catch all the fish. No, I think I'll just stick with one cat at a time.

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