journal features

new fish

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2009.11.12

While I was ill, three more of the shrimp died. That left only four. I'm a bad shrimp keeper.

It turned out that I starved them to death. There wasn't enough algae in the aquarium to sustain them, and they simply weren't getting enough food. I figured they'd pick up whatever scraps the fish left behind, but it seems that they weren't leaving anything. In discussing this with the aquarium store fellow, he recommended better foods that I could feed the variety of fish, and even gave us something that can be fed to the shrimp.

The shrimp's food is a nasty-looking green lump like clay, a hard lumpy material. When you drop one in the tank it plummets to the bottom like so much stone.

But they seem to enjoy the stuff, I looked in on them at 22:00 and they were all over it.

Which is good, because I bought more of the little things. I figure with proper feeding they should make a lively counterpart to the fish in the aquarium. A new thing for me, but seemingly a staple of fish-keeping in Japan.

Also, I bought some cardinal tetras. By the end of their first day, they were milling about the place like they'd never lived anywhere else. They've added a real dash of color, of course, but also now occupy the formerly-empty upper level within the tank.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force