on fish and plant
Mar. 2nd, 2003 06:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdonark"We are beginning to know our house plants--more important still, they are beginning to know us".--Xena Field
"For those who are contemplating the keeping of tropical aquarium fishes, the platies are excellent choices for a number of reasons.
Not only are they quite hardy, but they readily breed, a big plus for the novice"--Donald Mix
In my mind, a twenty gallon aquarium filled with wild guppies at play is gently lit with fluorescent bulbs in our home. It's well planted with both natural and artificial plants, and the fish cavort in the tank, enrapt in pure joy. The tank is flawlessly clean, though it has a mild, green hue, as if algae, while gone, is not quite forgotten. I imagine myself sitting in an easy chair I don't now own, quietly meditating about things that reflective people think about, between gentle feedings of high protein TetraMin Color Flake food and perhaps the occassional treat of brine shrimp (which I never call Sea Monkeys in this context), dried tubifex worms and a plethora of alternative flake foods.
In fact, my last tank was donated to the neighbor girl in California, to whom I also donated my guppies when we moved. It was only ten gallons in size, though it did house hundreds of happy wild ("feeder") guppies, who dined on a wide variety of foods, and multiplied at will. I had no easy chair, and the tank perpetually looked like an advertisement for a new program on the Discovery Channel called "Discovery: Thick, Green Algae".
In my mind, my indoor garden would be like the small cactus greenhouse at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden--ten feet long, six feet high, and filled with cacti from Andean and Sonoran climes. I'd step inside my greenhouse to a world of painstaking care, and the cacti would frequently bloom. Indeed, when we lived in California, my cacti bloomed all the time, making me feel so gifted in my giftlessness. In my current reality, though my small collection of one dollar pots of cacti and succulent plants does well, but not extravagantly so, while my sansiviera (snake plant) thrives, and my pony palm seems quite jaunty.
My theory is that love is but one element of a successful relationship, and thus feasibility must also enter into the equation. Thus, while I love plants, I am wise enough to raise only the hardiest succulents and dark-loving tropicals. Once in a long while, I will set up a terrarium, proud of myself for knowing where to find good charcoal and the origin of the original term, Wardian Case. Although I love tropical fish, I know to confine myself to the easiest livebearers, which can thrive under even the enthusiastic yet imperfect conditions I manage to create.
I went to an orchid sale a few weeks ago. Orchids, once seen as a demanding plant grown only in detective novels by men like Nero Wolfe, now are known as an "everyplant", accessible to anyone willing to invest ample time in their care. But I must confess that I prefer a rebutia cactus to an exotic orchid every time. I've nothing against the orchid--I just prefer to see myself as a force for light and life, not as a plant killer.
Although on some level I'm sure I should feel diminished that my skills in such matters are limited to raising easy things well, I posit that it's all too easy to forget what a miracle it can be to have a plant or fish at all. I think that in life, not everything need be an extreme or hair-raising experience. Sometimes it's okay to have a tank of easy, shimmering guppies, even though it requires no special skill to keep them alive. I think it's okay to have a thriving snake plant, even if almost the only way to kill a snake plant is to pay very much attention to it.
I used to buy cactus seeds from the Theodore Payne Foundation, this wonderful native plant resource in an old home amid the Verdugo Hills in Sun Valley, California, and then sell the seeds to buyers from across the country on ebay. As with many ebay sales I do, money was a secondary consideration. I'd offer a dozen of this or that curious succulent plant seeds. At auction close, I'd have the seller mail me a stamped envelope (along with the dollar or two of auction funds), and then return two dozen or so of the seeds in a sandwich bag placed inside the envelope. Cactus seeds are not as easy to grown as cacti themselves, but the buyers always seemed thrilled to get unique cacti in the mail this way. I wonder if those seeds sprouted? Do they sit on plant ledges facing sunny windows even now?
We've had a lot of news stories lately about the problem is succulent plant expropriation in the west Texas desert. Apparently, the laudable Arizona xerigraphic plant movement, focused on putting Tuscon and Phoenix back on the straight and narrow path of growing desert plants in desert climes, have spawned a host of homeowners who now pay top dollar for ocotillo and cacti of a certain size. The result is that cacti and other succulents are being uprooted from their former estate in the Chihuahuan desert in Texas and artificially transplanted to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. There's some sad lesson there--homeowners and landscapers could not simply wait to grow slow-growing plants to create native plant displays--they had to import them from wild locales elsewhere. Even in our greenest moments, the consumerism and instant gratification is inescapable. Meanwhile, a new brand of desperado--the cactus rustler--roams west Texas. Where is Roy Rogers when you need him? He'd have a song like "Little Needle Friends of the Cowboy", with lines like "it may seem like a burr in the saddle/but podner it's the cactus plant I love".
In the tropical fish hobby, meanwhile, aquarium hobbyists imported the snakehead fish, a voracious carnivore from Asia and Africa, into the aquarium hobby. The snakehead, which, in a burst of true advertising, has a head that looks a bit like a snake, now has gotten loose into the waterways of seven states, wreaking havoc on native fish stocks. Prior to the snakehead problem, literally hundreds of species of freshwater fish were available for the aquarium trade, and posed no threat to local wildlife. But collectors seem unwilling to be content with what works well in aquariums, but instead must always go for the exotic or dangerous import.
But for me, I wonder what happened to my tank full of guppies?
Did the girl to whom I gave them keep the tank going, or did she tire of it and move to more exotic fish? I don't believe it is worth the trouble to track down the answer to that question. Maybe it is time to start figuring out the most inexpensive place to get a new tank, and if any pet stores in this area have "feeder guppies".
"For those who are contemplating the keeping of tropical aquarium fishes, the platies are excellent choices for a number of reasons.
Not only are they quite hardy, but they readily breed, a big plus for the novice"--Donald Mix
In my mind, a twenty gallon aquarium filled with wild guppies at play is gently lit with fluorescent bulbs in our home. It's well planted with both natural and artificial plants, and the fish cavort in the tank, enrapt in pure joy. The tank is flawlessly clean, though it has a mild, green hue, as if algae, while gone, is not quite forgotten. I imagine myself sitting in an easy chair I don't now own, quietly meditating about things that reflective people think about, between gentle feedings of high protein TetraMin Color Flake food and perhaps the occassional treat of brine shrimp (which I never call Sea Monkeys in this context), dried tubifex worms and a plethora of alternative flake foods.
In fact, my last tank was donated to the neighbor girl in California, to whom I also donated my guppies when we moved. It was only ten gallons in size, though it did house hundreds of happy wild ("feeder") guppies, who dined on a wide variety of foods, and multiplied at will. I had no easy chair, and the tank perpetually looked like an advertisement for a new program on the Discovery Channel called "Discovery: Thick, Green Algae".
In my mind, my indoor garden would be like the small cactus greenhouse at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden--ten feet long, six feet high, and filled with cacti from Andean and Sonoran climes. I'd step inside my greenhouse to a world of painstaking care, and the cacti would frequently bloom. Indeed, when we lived in California, my cacti bloomed all the time, making me feel so gifted in my giftlessness. In my current reality, though my small collection of one dollar pots of cacti and succulent plants does well, but not extravagantly so, while my sansiviera (snake plant) thrives, and my pony palm seems quite jaunty.
My theory is that love is but one element of a successful relationship, and thus feasibility must also enter into the equation. Thus, while I love plants, I am wise enough to raise only the hardiest succulents and dark-loving tropicals. Once in a long while, I will set up a terrarium, proud of myself for knowing where to find good charcoal and the origin of the original term, Wardian Case. Although I love tropical fish, I know to confine myself to the easiest livebearers, which can thrive under even the enthusiastic yet imperfect conditions I manage to create.
I went to an orchid sale a few weeks ago. Orchids, once seen as a demanding plant grown only in detective novels by men like Nero Wolfe, now are known as an "everyplant", accessible to anyone willing to invest ample time in their care. But I must confess that I prefer a rebutia cactus to an exotic orchid every time. I've nothing against the orchid--I just prefer to see myself as a force for light and life, not as a plant killer.
Although on some level I'm sure I should feel diminished that my skills in such matters are limited to raising easy things well, I posit that it's all too easy to forget what a miracle it can be to have a plant or fish at all. I think that in life, not everything need be an extreme or hair-raising experience. Sometimes it's okay to have a tank of easy, shimmering guppies, even though it requires no special skill to keep them alive. I think it's okay to have a thriving snake plant, even if almost the only way to kill a snake plant is to pay very much attention to it.
I used to buy cactus seeds from the Theodore Payne Foundation, this wonderful native plant resource in an old home amid the Verdugo Hills in Sun Valley, California, and then sell the seeds to buyers from across the country on ebay. As with many ebay sales I do, money was a secondary consideration. I'd offer a dozen of this or that curious succulent plant seeds. At auction close, I'd have the seller mail me a stamped envelope (along with the dollar or two of auction funds), and then return two dozen or so of the seeds in a sandwich bag placed inside the envelope. Cactus seeds are not as easy to grown as cacti themselves, but the buyers always seemed thrilled to get unique cacti in the mail this way. I wonder if those seeds sprouted? Do they sit on plant ledges facing sunny windows even now?
We've had a lot of news stories lately about the problem is succulent plant expropriation in the west Texas desert. Apparently, the laudable Arizona xerigraphic plant movement, focused on putting Tuscon and Phoenix back on the straight and narrow path of growing desert plants in desert climes, have spawned a host of homeowners who now pay top dollar for ocotillo and cacti of a certain size. The result is that cacti and other succulents are being uprooted from their former estate in the Chihuahuan desert in Texas and artificially transplanted to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. There's some sad lesson there--homeowners and landscapers could not simply wait to grow slow-growing plants to create native plant displays--they had to import them from wild locales elsewhere. Even in our greenest moments, the consumerism and instant gratification is inescapable. Meanwhile, a new brand of desperado--the cactus rustler--roams west Texas. Where is Roy Rogers when you need him? He'd have a song like "Little Needle Friends of the Cowboy", with lines like "it may seem like a burr in the saddle/but podner it's the cactus plant I love".
In the tropical fish hobby, meanwhile, aquarium hobbyists imported the snakehead fish, a voracious carnivore from Asia and Africa, into the aquarium hobby. The snakehead, which, in a burst of true advertising, has a head that looks a bit like a snake, now has gotten loose into the waterways of seven states, wreaking havoc on native fish stocks. Prior to the snakehead problem, literally hundreds of species of freshwater fish were available for the aquarium trade, and posed no threat to local wildlife. But collectors seem unwilling to be content with what works well in aquariums, but instead must always go for the exotic or dangerous import.
But for me, I wonder what happened to my tank full of guppies?
Did the girl to whom I gave them keep the tank going, or did she tire of it and move to more exotic fish? I don't believe it is worth the trouble to track down the answer to that question. Maybe it is time to start figuring out the most inexpensive place to get a new tank, and if any pet stores in this area have "feeder guppies".
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 05:21 am (UTC)My pediatrician had eight or ten tanks built into the walls of his office, all filled with guppies. When I went for acheck up, he would give me some for the small tank I kept at home. He also had a monkey. (I did not tanke one of those home)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 08:51 am (UTC)I don't know why a "spunky, fightin' barb" appeals to me, but it does, perhaps against my more civilized instincts.
Second, I should spring to the defense of the plecostomus, this almost prehistoric catfish that scavenges without complaint, lives in the worst conditions, and grows to frightening sizes over time.
If the worst offense you face in life is looking at this noble scavenger, then your life is free of woe and travail.
Finally, I should say that when the barbs and the gourami go the way of all fish, then head to a pet store, find one of those places with feeder guppies at 12 or so for a dollar, you know, guppies intended to be fed to other fish, and buy twenty four. When you first put them in your tank, they will look like people starved in prison, and will have almost no color. Feed them a rich mix of several different high protein flake foods, and in six weeks you'll have major color, by ten weeks, you'll have fry. By six months, the tank will be an explosion, and your neighbors will bring their kids to see it. The tank will become a living symbol of the vitality of marriage, family and feeder guppies and your happiness will be entirely assured.
I'm glad you picked the guppies over the monkey.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 08:56 am (UTC)I read an article in this month's co=op mag for our local utility about how rye grass is out-competing the wildflowers, which was a bit sad.
I'd love to take a bus tour of jonquils in Rhode Island! What fun! Your African violet story reminds me of the kind woman at the dry cleaners who gave me masses of African violets, all in this little self-watering plastic pots. Before the gift, I used to go to that steamy room to see them blooming, all joyful. In my home, they did not do as well, but I was always so touched by the gift.
I'd love to start African violets and the related species again!
I know there's not a yellow violet, but isn't there one of those cousin-kinda plants that will yellow? Of course, it may be easier to just plant a jonquil, because they love it here :)!
no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 09:27 am (UTC)Click on Gold Fever with the name Pittman next to it. I'm looking to buy a yellow like this. Pittman also has Texas Gold on the same page. He must be from the Texas area.
Another nice thing about African Violets is they bloom year round. I installed fluorescent lighting so the violets would get enough light with our low light winters. This last Valentine's Day I bought Wendy an African violet similar to Susie's Sunshine on the same page as the Gold Fever link.
Did I tell you awhile back my Mom mentioned that when she was younger she loved the Agarita berries in Texas. My Mom loved the bluebonnets too. We have the bluebonnets in MA and New Hampshire too. There's a certain time of year when we can see loads of bluebonnets in New Hampshire.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 09:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 02:37 pm (UTC)That's really a tempting way to get back into fish, it really is. A tank planted heavily with plants, a few bubbles to increase the surface area and give the fish something to play in, and then after it stabilizes chemically, drop in some colorful guppies...
Of course I have no idea where I'd put the tank right now... :(
no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-02 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-03 05:12 am (UTC)I fed once or twice a day.
Re:
Date: 2003-03-03 10:28 am (UTC)