15 little ones

As I begin this "blog", I am the proud owner of one adorable kitten (Pepper) and a 5-gallon freshwater aquarium (1 Albino Buenos Aires Tetra, 3 Black-Skirt Tetras, 2 Corydoras Julii Catfish, and 8 Neon Tetras) with aspirations of starting a 30-gallon, planted freshwater aquarium.

My reasons for writing this journal include tracking problems and solutions I iterate through during the care of these animals, but also to record their comings and goings in order to reflect fondly upon them in the (not-so) distant future.

While I always wanted to get an aquarium, I must admit, the main impetus behind this 5-gallon beauty was a nagging feeling of guilt that Pepper was bored all day while I was at work. So I figured instead of getting a tape full of recorded birds and fish so she could be a couch-potato, why not kill two birds with one stone and get us both an aquarium?

I definitely thought out the decision to get an aquarium, but I don't think I adequately researched my first one. If I had to do it again, I probably would have gotten a bigger tank in order to give myself some flexibility about what I could add, as well as make it harder to screw up the water quality. I certainly wouldn't have mixed the overly aggressive solo Buenos Aires with his tamer tankmates. At the end of the day, though, it's made me work harder, pay more attention, and learn more, hopefully leaving me better prepared to tackle this new 30-gallon tank in my mind.