A Tale of Two Catfish

As if I didn't see enough fish at work, I'm crazy enough to have two fish tanks at home.  I have a saltwater tank, which currently only has some estuarine inverts in it (need to re-stock), and a freshwater tank, which I've almost finished re-vamping and re-stocking.

I started with just a handful of fish in the freshwater.  I've had this tank for years, so it's already cycled, but I didn't want to throw in too many fish at once!  (That doesn't typically work out very well!)  For a few weeks, I've had 3 sunset platys and an albino corydoras catfish.  They've all been happily swimming around the tank, and today I added a handful of zebra danios and a green corydoras.

My freshwater tank

I had read that corydoras like to hang out with conspecific buddies, but these two have been inseparable since I added the green cory to the tank!  It's so funny to watch - it's as if they're long-lost friends!  They follow one another around - left, right, up down.

It's funny.  I work with fish all day, but watching them swimming around the aquarium at home is so peaceful.  Don't get me wrong - fishkeeping is a LOT of work.  Be prepared for water changes, filter cleaning, water quality testing, etc.  It's not cheap either!  The end result of a nice, peaceful aquarium to watch is worth the work in my opinion.

I'm looking forward to re-stocking my saltwater tank.  Both of my aquariums needed some work, and I just haven't had the time lately.  I'm ready to get this going again though!  Even though I don't currently have fish in my saltwater tank, I do have some invertebrate friends.  I hear my huge snapping shrimp (that I've had for over 3 years now!) every so often, various gastropods make their rounds, the sea stars cling to the side, and my red hermit sifts through the substrate.

My hermit crab chillaxin on the sand

Like any other critter, you have to look into what kinds of sea critters are compatible with each other!  In a saltwater tank, for example, you don't want to have fish who think invertebrates are a tasty snack if you want to keep your inverts around!  And sometimes, fish want to have buddies...like my now-inseparable corydoras catfish.

Maybe the piece of seagrass that formed a perfect number "2" on my leg at work today was a sign.

Ah, the mysteries of the sea.