Surprise fishie!
So yesterday I needed filter sponges and I was out of a couple different kinds of pellets that my goldies like. So after work Mom and I went shopping, ran a few errands, found a lamp I'd been looking for all summer, and stopped for fish supplies. I went into one of the two nice, locally-owned fish stores, the one where I got my bettas and Benny. They had the usual swarm of adorable baby fantails, a few comets leftover from pond season, and some small bubble-eyes. In one of the other tanks, high on the wall, they had three large Moors (rather bronze underneath, not too black, really) one redcap oranda with some torn fins :\ and an adorable white fantail. The fantail was about 3 1/2 inches long, and all white except for a tiny splotch of red/orange on one side of her "forehead." She had really gorgeous, long fins, and light blue eyes.
:love I was immediately enamored by her, but didn't dare look too close. No more fishies right now! No, no no!
You all know where this is heading, don't you? >_<
All day at work today I kept thinking about her, trying to think about where I'd put her. I was ready to put Benny back with Sammy, hoping Benny's outgrown his fin-nipping habit. :p That would leave a vacant, cycled 10-gallon for quarantine... Hmm... And Benny's small enough that he and that pretty white fish could both live with Sammy in the 37-gallon without being overstocked... And, although I really hate to think about it, I know Addy's not going to live forever in that harness. It's been like six months already, and although she seems to be doing okay, I know her lifespan will be significantly shortened. I decided awhile ago that when Mellie is "widowed," I'd put her and Sammy together. They have simliar sizes, ages and temperments, and I think they'd do really well together. So for now Sammy, Benny and that white fish could share a tank, leaving Mellie and Addy in their tank, unchanged... Then about the time Benny and the new fish are getting their full size, Addy may no longer be with me, so Sammy could retire to the other tank with Mellie, leaving Benny and the new fish with a tank to themselves! Sounds like a workable scenario, right?
Yep, you definitely know where this is leading.
After work I went back for the fish that had been calling to me all day. And look at her! Isn't she gorgeous? :D
Meet Fergie!
I named her Fergie because she seemed so regal, with her long, white fins, that she deserved a royal name. And it can be a unisex name if the need arises (Ferguson), although there are definitely no tubercules on "her" that I can see. She's also quite a bit mellower than Benny; not lethargic by any means, but just a little more dignified.) ;)
The clerk was a young guy who was friendly enough but wasn't a fish expert. I said something about bubble-eyes and he thought I meant the Moors. o_0 He bagged Fergie for me and mumbled, "There ya go, carp." LOL!!! I'm always calling my goldies "carp" as a sort of nickname, but it was so funny to hear him call one that! (Except I keep slipping up and calling my betta a carp, and he gets very miffed with me!) ;D
The only sign on the tank read, "Large Orandas, $25.00." Nothing about the Moors or my fantail. So the clerk called the owner on the phone and asked what to charge for her. Apparently the owner convinced the kid that Fergie was an Oranda, just "not a very pretty one." Grr! So he knocked three bucks off the price.
Does this look like an oranda to you??? :p
I told the clerk she couldn't be an oranda because orandas have headgrowth, and her head is perfectly smooth. He said that she was an oranda, but her headgrowth wasn't developed. "See that orange spot there?"
Um, YEAH, but an orange-red spot on the head doesn't make an oranda. A wen does! I explained that orandas have bumpy heads, and any fish this size would already have a wen if it were going to grow one, like the recap oranda also in the tank. Same size fish, one with a wen and one without. And the Moors in the tank obviously didn't qualify as orandas, either!
No getting through to him, though. >_<
So I probably got overcharged, but I didn't care. I just wanted that beautiful white fish, and if he wanted to call her a poor quality oranda, I wasn't going to argue any more. Tsk.
What was that guy talking about? Look at my smooth head! I'm pretty! Harumph!
So, Princess Fergie is now hanging out in her private 10-gallon quarantine tank, discovering the joys of spirulina, Medi-Gold, bubbles and lots of TLC. :)
♥ ♥
♥ ♥
^_^
:love I was immediately enamored by her, but didn't dare look too close. No more fishies right now! No, no no!
You all know where this is heading, don't you? >_<
All day at work today I kept thinking about her, trying to think about where I'd put her. I was ready to put Benny back with Sammy, hoping Benny's outgrown his fin-nipping habit. :p That would leave a vacant, cycled 10-gallon for quarantine... Hmm... And Benny's small enough that he and that pretty white fish could both live with Sammy in the 37-gallon without being overstocked... And, although I really hate to think about it, I know Addy's not going to live forever in that harness. It's been like six months already, and although she seems to be doing okay, I know her lifespan will be significantly shortened. I decided awhile ago that when Mellie is "widowed," I'd put her and Sammy together. They have simliar sizes, ages and temperments, and I think they'd do really well together. So for now Sammy, Benny and that white fish could share a tank, leaving Mellie and Addy in their tank, unchanged... Then about the time Benny and the new fish are getting their full size, Addy may no longer be with me, so Sammy could retire to the other tank with Mellie, leaving Benny and the new fish with a tank to themselves! Sounds like a workable scenario, right?
Yep, you definitely know where this is leading.
After work I went back for the fish that had been calling to me all day. And look at her! Isn't she gorgeous? :D
Meet Fergie!
I named her Fergie because she seemed so regal, with her long, white fins, that she deserved a royal name. And it can be a unisex name if the need arises (Ferguson), although there are definitely no tubercules on "her" that I can see. She's also quite a bit mellower than Benny; not lethargic by any means, but just a little more dignified.) ;)
The clerk was a young guy who was friendly enough but wasn't a fish expert. I said something about bubble-eyes and he thought I meant the Moors. o_0 He bagged Fergie for me and mumbled, "There ya go, carp." LOL!!! I'm always calling my goldies "carp" as a sort of nickname, but it was so funny to hear him call one that! (Except I keep slipping up and calling my betta a carp, and he gets very miffed with me!) ;D
The only sign on the tank read, "Large Orandas, $25.00." Nothing about the Moors or my fantail. So the clerk called the owner on the phone and asked what to charge for her. Apparently the owner convinced the kid that Fergie was an Oranda, just "not a very pretty one." Grr! So he knocked three bucks off the price.
Does this look like an oranda to you??? :p
I told the clerk she couldn't be an oranda because orandas have headgrowth, and her head is perfectly smooth. He said that she was an oranda, but her headgrowth wasn't developed. "See that orange spot there?"
Um, YEAH, but an orange-red spot on the head doesn't make an oranda. A wen does! I explained that orandas have bumpy heads, and any fish this size would already have a wen if it were going to grow one, like the recap oranda also in the tank. Same size fish, one with a wen and one without. And the Moors in the tank obviously didn't qualify as orandas, either!
No getting through to him, though. >_<
So I probably got overcharged, but I didn't care. I just wanted that beautiful white fish, and if he wanted to call her a poor quality oranda, I wasn't going to argue any more. Tsk.
What was that guy talking about? Look at my smooth head! I'm pretty! Harumph!
So, Princess Fergie is now hanging out in her private 10-gallon quarantine tank, discovering the joys of spirulina, Medi-Gold, bubbles and lots of TLC. :)
♥ ♥
♥ ♥
^_^