angels to zebras

ANGELS AND ZEBRAS

I met a fellow in 1966 who was trying to breed a guppy with a red white and blue
tail for the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial. This was his effort toward riches; today
his son is trying to breed NEMO.
Guppies didnt interest me. They ate their young and given opportunity the female would hide from the endless prong & prod of the insatiable male.
In 1966 I walked into a pet store for fish supplies & the rotating rack of books about aquarium maintenance and tropical fish care and breeding were authored by George Axelrod.
I bought a lot of books by George Axelrod.
The available fish were freshwater in Indianapolis & ones who gave birth to live young, including guppies and swordtails. Next were egg laying fish. Of these, the stripped zebra, the colorful Jack Dempsy, the Kissing fish and the Angels were my favorites. I liked the idea of swimming where these fish naturally lived.
With my boyfriend we bred a relative of the Kissing Fish - the convict Cichlid. The convict led an elusive underwater life picking up tiny sand and gravel with his mouth and spitting them in a sheltered area to build a cave where he then protected the eggs.
This all in a controlled environment -- specific pH level and temperature.
We were successful with the zebra breeding too although we didnt realize it until we started to pour out the tank and saw microscopic zebras in the waterfall.
Then I went to Florida with my family for our family vacation to see the ocean for the first time, and to see my great-grandparents for the last time.
With my hands in the surf while standing on Miamis beach, pebbles deposited in the palms of my hands. I examined the little stones of glitter and color and would throw them back into the sea. One wave gave a little puffer fish among the sand and gravel. Amazed and excited, I ran to my paper cup, filled it with the ocean and took Miss Very Strange home to the Midwest. Then I began reading about salt water aquariums. Miss Very Strange needed a proper habitat.
Miss Very Strange first lived in a giant brandy snifter with its own small pump. Salt corrodes metal so she couldnt go into a regular tank made with metal. I fed her brine shrimp.
I was enchanted by the pictures of marine fishes in Axelrods books & Wished to explore the Sargasm Sea, live where these creatures lived, swim with beauty.
I watched these fish in my first 20 gallon tank for many relaxing hours. No fresh water aquarium is complete without a Plecostemus the algae eater a working fish who looks like a tank with his giant mouth sucking the algae off the glass. I had a turtle raft on the side of the tank and one of those little turtles many kids had in the 50s. The Plecostemus and the turtle both became big for the drama they played out everyday. The turtle would swim down and nip the Plecostemus, who would then turn around and latch onto the Turtles back holding him down. The turtle would struggle and make it to the top. They would be back in their
own corners until the turtle did it again. Imagine my delight: 35 years later I would be swimming/cooling off in the Rivers of northern Sao Paulo State in Brazil where the Plecostemus is native and every child attempts to catch them.
One of the things Axelrod mentioned in his books were letters, including letters
from human convicts. These guys wrote about their experiments -- how little food fish could live on and how tiny a space.
I have felt like a watched fish. An experiment. My mind. needs stimulation, my body needs motivation. as well as nutrition and sunny days. somehow I will segue this. for better not worse. love mama mia