Fish Tanks, Tofu, and More Fish

Today was a domestic day. Kitti and I cleaned the fishtank (2/3 water change) and set up a new filter. The previous filter was getting pretty old and having some trouble. It was also getting really noisy. I could have just bought a new motor for it, but it was pretty dirty. So the tank was vacuumed, the walls were wiped, and the new filter was set up. The (plastic) plants were replanted. My Betta’s “hammock” is now attached to the side of the tank (he’s already used it). The tank looks great now.

The good thing about the tank was even though there was a fine layer of fish poo in the corners, algae on the plants, and a lot of crud on the lid (old food, recrystalized salt and chemical buildup) the tank was actually pretty clean. It smelled like a clean creek — a little bit green, a little bit earthy. The water was a nice temperature and all the fish are bright and active. Cleaning doesn’t seem to have disrupted the balance, either. Nothing was WASHED — just rinsed off a little. The plants still have some algae on them. There’s still gross stuff under the gravel. But it’s all as it should be. The natural, healthy bacteria and all that.

I’d kind of like to get some live plants. Maybe. And some more gravel just to make it interesting in there.

Before we started on the tank Mim and I had a brief discussion about things to do today. A Burlington’s Coat Factory opened up nearby and we were thinking about checking it out, but the weather was iffy and neither of us were really thinking about going anywhere. So after the tank was clean, my day was free.

We (Kitti and I) ended up going to Whole Foods for “junk food”. Kitti bought vegan cheese and vegan lunch meats and vegan pizza and made a salad that contains roasted tofu and tofu-egg salad and edamame. My salad is mostly beans (kidney, garbanzo, and great northern) and cheese (gorgonzola, feta, cheddar, mozzarella) and some lettuce. There’s some other things in there, but it’s really just about the beans and cheese with me.

In addition to everything else, I’ve been knitting cute little fishes. Pictures eventually.