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She is too ashamed to look at the camera directly since her face is a mess. Mommy needs to brush her, you see. She is, however, charming and adorable, even in her unkempt state. She is pictured on the futon in the sitting room. She seems to like that room a lot, but generally is found where Mommy is and will find something to chew on while she is there.
We are registered for a training class on Monday evenings beginning on July 14. She is enrolled in the puppy class even though technically she is too old for it. The trainer said that it is okay because she is small and because the time works better for us. Because she is very apprehensive of strange things, her socialization level is probably more at the level of the puppies she will train with, so that may be good for her.
In other news, a coworker gave me a 55 gallon aquarium and stand. I set it up last week and this is what it looked like as of this morning:
It is no longer empty. I have 4 very small Jack Dempsey cichlids in there and an algae eating fish. The Jack Dempseys can grow to 6-8 inches in captivity on average, so my little 1.5 inch fish will fill the tank quite well when they get bigger. They are considered aggressive and territorial fish, but nobody seems to have told my fish that. Perhaps it is just that they are still young, but so far they have schooled together whilst exploring their new home.
My other fish are doing well on the whole. I have some anti-parasitic treatment in the tank right now since I've seen a bit more "flashing" than I would like to. Flashing is, of course, what fish do to scratch. They will turn their body and quickly run across the gravel or decorations in the tank. I don't think any of them have bad issues with external parasites, so I may only treat one day instead of two since it requires removing the filter cartridge from the filter. I also added an air pump to the tank so that the water is aerated a little bit better. The number of fish that can be kept in a tank is often limited to the oxygen supply in the water, so I want to make sure that my fish can all breathe properly so I am not being a bad fish mommy.
My attempt to be a good fish mommy has gone as far as setting up a hospital tank. It is a 2.5 gallon tank with a heater and an air pump (no filter because it's next to impossible to find a charcoal-free filter - charcoal tends to neutralize medications added to the water, hence no cartridge in the filter in the 28 gallon tank right now). One of my fish is very bloated and I am attempting to treat it. My methods vary greatly, mostly because the best treatment is somewhat hard to find and I had to order it online. It hasn't gotten here yet, so anything that can help the fish at all I am trying. Epsom salt in limited measure can be added to the water to serve as a laxative. So far that hasn't seemed to do much. I put some of the same treatment I put in the other tank into the hospital tank as well because it is also supposed to treat internal parasites, which could be the cause of the problem. From what I have read, my best bet will be to use the medication I ordered, so I hope it comes quickly. I would love to get my fish back on it's fins and back into the tank with its friends. As it is, every day is precious. I do not know how much longer this fish can go on in it's condition. Considering that the algae eater in the larger tank is the only fish I have that cost more than $5, it's a lot of effort for a cheap pet, but since when has anyone in our family been one to just let animals suffer if we could help it? I have not yet given any of my fish CPR, nor found any stray fish to take to the vet, nor sprung for surgery for any of them, so I have not become any more excessive in some ways than those to whom I am related ;).
