Talking about raising kids, it could always be a fun and long collection
of stories, theories. Actually, to me, raising a 25 gallon saltwater tank,
with about 30 live stocks, is not too far off, and could be as
interesting. Saltwater tank is advance, compared to fresh water. And
saltwater tank actually is more about ocean fish. It is a mini
eco-system. The fun thing about raising a saltwater tank is that you
can actually learn a lot about chemistry, biology and how to keep
the eco-system in "good and balance" condition


This pretty saltwater tank became the fixture of our playroom and it
brought so much joy to my life. When kids are playing by themselves,
I would read newspapers, magazine or just gaze at the tank, see how
much life our fish show us.
 

Instead of a puppy which mommy and Ethan really wanted, we went
for project "Ethan's water tank"., for his three years old birthday.
Now, the ownership would be passed on to Amelia. Ever since
there were two new damsels introduced to our home, Amelia has
been seriously taking on the responsibility of feeding the fish.


Ethan has been a great tank keeper. He helped to feed fish and coral
everyday, and even felt fish was part of his family. He put Nemo fish
on his family "Thank-You" tree for his Thanksgiving project. He made
an art work about Nemo and four other tropical fishes. The tank
survive one big major accidents, one within live stocks themselves

 Clownfish attacked: Ethan's Saltwater Tank(2) and another one by our
two little kids.


One day, those two little cuties ran off their room during the nap time,
and before we noticed, they dumped the whole can of fish food into
the tank. Unfortunately, I missed the golden time to rescue the
livestocks. Instead of trying to fix the problem, I should have
taken all the live stocks back to the shop, and recycle the tank. After
one whole day of rescue work, only those tough hermit crabs, and
one coral survived. In theory, you should always keep a fish
shelter/nursery especially when you have a tank, especially with a
bigger tank since there will always be unexpected situation, like
power outage, human attack, etc. The shelter should be in the similar
condition as the main tank, and running on independent power/battery
system.


After that accident, we recycle the water, re-introduced the live stocks,
with two clown fishes, of course, plus our Jennifer fish. Earlier this
year, one night when I felt a little bit bored, I went to the Petco store
down the hill, picked two damsels, one spotty, one stripy for Amelia.
Amelia started to feel that was her tank also. Gradually, feeding fish
and corals becomes what she likes to do. And, interestingly, the light
of tank now would be turned on before I got home. It is actually a
mistery to me since even mommy does not know who actually turns
on the light. Five fishes in the tank are supposed to be over crowded,
but they seem to do well together, maybe because my special
partitioning helps the each fish to find their own "happy place".


For the past year, I have learned how to feed the fish with appropriate
amount of food. However, for the water condition and corals, I just
follow the instruction to feed different solution either in the
semi-weekly base, or weekly base. I had no idea what each solution
is for. I have a couple conditioning chemicals, ph-buffer and one
conditioning solution, that I would apply to the tank when I change the
water every two weeks. To me, since I had limited time, I just follow
the routine. For the rest, I believed as long as I am making random
measurement on the water condition, mainly for ph and calcium levels,
for reasonable period, the tank should do fine, at least according to the
nano-tank expert Stephan. It did work out great. Those livestocks
are doing great, and look great. Those clown fishes are more beautiful
than anything you could see, from the movie, or discovery channel,
and they are moving live, in front of us.


I finally ran out of my solutions. It is time for me to switch to my
second round of supply. I went back to the shop, just asked Stephan,
give me the same set. Stephan asked me which series I has been
using? Huh, am I supposed to remember those names? Ok, since I
have a little bit time, let me do my research. (to be continue...)