I don't know what kind of day you've been having...

[wolven7]

I don't know what kind of day you've been having, but if you're like me, it hasn't been all that great.

Thesis work. Long train rides. The need for silent walks, and crappy times at the store. All of these things, like a haze, a malaise, over the day.

And then, these seven words, waiting for me like the calming centre of a haiku, brought to focus all that was good and right, again:

'Bitch, Go Buy Me A Hot Dog.'

Again, you will thank Ectoplasmosis.

Comments

::boggle::

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

My day was TERRIBLE. I was just reduced to tears. My stupid fish tank is not working out at all the way I hoped. I have wanted a fish tank for 23 years. And I finally got one. And so far it is a disaster.

And I had hot dogs for dinner!

Now that's synchronicity.

(actually I had a "magic miracle sandwich," which is 2 hot dogs sliced lengthwise, 2 sweet pickle spears, a kraft single and a zig-zag of brown mustard, in between 12 grain bread)

Re: ::boggle::

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Sorry to butt in... but if it's a freshwater tank, I might be able to help. My husband has had a reasonably large fish tank for about 5 years. If you tell me what problems you're having, one of us might be able to come up with guesses or suggestions.

Re: ::boggle::

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

What went wrong last night is that the shelf I wanted to put it on is not at all strong enough to support it. It just made me blue because I wanted to run it overnight and get the first 3 or 4 fish today... I am fortunate because my husband is an architecht and has designed this freaky-efficient support system to reinfoce the shelves... so it will take another week but it will be ok. I just really had all my hopes pinned on it so I didn't take the setback very well.

Prior to that what went wrong is that one of the plants I bought for it is ugly and stupid and half dead.

But any advice you have would be appreciated. I've been doing lots of research and I want to get a green severum, 2 cory catfish, maybe a medium-small sized pleco (but probably not), 8 tiger barbs and 2 snails. I have also recently discovered upside-down catfish and think they're adorable but not sure if they would fit in very well. I think the tiger barbs might rip their fins off.

Even so, all the research in the world can't stack up to first-hand experience/advice.

:)

Re: ::boggle::

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Okie, here's all I can think of at the moment. I haven't had tiger barbs, and don't know much about them, so I don't know if this will be relevant or not.

My husband has mostly kept angelfish, but we've also both kept a couple of different kinds of gouramis (which I love) and a variety of plecos.

I've had a few kinds of catfish, mainly because my brother is into them and keeps giving the ones he doesn't have room for to me. As a result, I've kept an irridescent catfish (which I still have, and he's huge and named "Spaz"), a cory catfish, and several petricolas (see userpic). The cory catfish has passed on to the Great Aquarium In The Sky, but he was easy to care for.

The petricolas are probably my favorites. They supposedly need a very specific temperature or they'll die, but it's easy enough to get a heater for your tank, and the temperature they need is compatible with what works for a lot of other fish. They are playful and very cute. If you ever end up having any, I recommend that you get at least two, because they seem to enjoy interacting with each other. I also recommend that you get some kind of cavelike aquarium toy that they can hide in, because mine love this. Also, in my experience, they generate a lot of tank-sludge compared to other catfish, so you might want to have a pleco or use algae tablets in a tank that has them in it.

Oh, and I will give you the benefit of some things I have learned about plecos. Most of the "standard" plecos you can buy in a store will become HUGE over time if kept in a large tank with a lot of fish. Many non-"standard" plecos actually do NOT eat algae, despite the fact that people often refer to plecos as "algae eaters". I learned this the hard way when my brother gave me a different kind of pleco and I inadvertantly starved him to death. I still feel bad about this.

Oh, and also, I tried keeping snails in one tank. That lasted for about 2 hours, and then my irridescent catfish ate them. So be sure to research what fish are snail-safe! :D

Re: ::boggle::

[unknownbinaries.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I will give you the benefit of some things I have learned about plecos. Most of the "standard" plecos you can buy in a store will become HUGE over time if kept in a large tank with a lot of fish.

I almost had one the size of my forearm, after a friend needed to get rid of it as it had gotten large enough to piss off the gar he had. Then I moved, and moved again, to here. It was a really cool critter, very Lovecraftian and ancient-looking.

Re: ::boggle::

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Hehe, that's awesome. My husband, before we were married, had this ginormous pleco. He got it when he first set up his tank, and had it for 2 or 3 years before he had to give it away to a guy that worked at the fish store. It was huge.

Re: ::boggle::

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Still, technically, two hot dogs :)

Re: ::boggle::

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

that's true, any day with 2 hot dogs can't be all that bad :)

Re: ::boggle::

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Precisely. :)

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I guess my day wasn't that bad, but it was LONG and I've just been overworked in general for a really long time. I was wondering last night if it's normal for people to come home from their jobs and just want to sit in a corner and rock back and forth. (That's not normal, right?)

But I like "Bitch, Go Buy Me A Hot Dog."

[wolven.livejournal.com]

No, I'd have to say that most certainly was not normal.

But those songs are fun as hell :)

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't actually sit in a corner and rock back and forth. I just wanted to. Maybe I need to start meditating or something. ;-p

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I would say it's a damn fine idea. Meditation helps for the rearrangement of brain states, and long term calming effects. Similar to sleep and unconscious processing, but intentional and directed.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

So far, I've basically been too lazy to learn how. Perhaps I should remedy that.