RIP Belly
It has been so long since we moved into our current house that I think Alexis has forgotten Life Before. Life Before had her in a tiny townhouse. All of her toys had to fit in a bookshelf and one toybox because TINY townhouse. There just wasn't space to have her junk all over.
It was such a small place that we did something a little weird -- we put a saltwater fish tank in Alexis' room. She was only a baby at the time. There were plenty of reasons the tank shouldn't have been in her room, but whatever. It was. We wanted a salt tank. There was no other place to keep it. It all worked out.
I mean, it sort of worked out.
There was always drama with that tank. ALWAYS. If you've been around these parts since the beginning, you may remember The Flood of Horror, for example. More likely, you may remember Belly and the B*tch.
There are a bunch of posts in my archives about those two, but the cheaters' version of their tale is that we purchased a maroon clownfish for the salt take. It's name was Belly. Then we bought another maroon clownfish for the tank because I am an idiot and didn't research first. That one was named The B*tch because there really is no other name I could think of for such a mean fish. The B*tch spent a bunch of time trying to murder Belly (who was smaller), but then something weird happened and out of nowhere, Belly murdered The B*tch instead.
It was truly a David and Goliath tale.
Belly went on to become a dominant little jerk who wouldn't share space with any other fish. Over the course of several years, she single-handedly murdered probably $300 worth of fish. All of them were ones that research indicated would be fine with her, but APPARENTLY NOT.
It wasn't until about three months ago that I finally came across a fish that Belly was willing to tolerate. It's a Dottyback and also mean as hell, but apparently two mean fish can get along if they learn to respect each other.
And they did. Past tense. Because Belly died yesterday. She was at least eight years old, which isn't too shabby as far as maroon clownfish go.
Which brings us back to the beginning of this post. Alexis apparently doesn't remember Life Before and all of the drama that has been had with this tank. She's begging for a new fish and to keep the tank in her room.
She's not going to get her way on moving the tank to her room, but I'm sure she will still enjoy the show as we learn that the Ghost of Belly is ready to haunt us forever.
(Belly is on the right.)
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Reader Comments (2)
This made me laugh and reminded me of Laura's fish tank territory "issues" with Napoleon, Deb, and Pedro.
rest in peace, belly the fish