Absurd Singularity

4 Gold Cloud Mountain Minnows
These really slender fish differ from the more standard white version by just being a bit more yellow (gold) in color. Their really deep red dorsal fin and tail really stand out from the gold of their body. They tend to stick to the top quarter of the tank near the surface, drifting about lazily. Have relatively small mouths that don't seem suited to taking chunks out of bigger flakes so usually need to make sure I crunch the flakes into smaller pieces for them.

4 Espe's Rasboras
These cute little fellas aren't as well known as the harlequin rasboras but look quite similar. They've got the trademark black T-like shape on their sides, although in this case it looks more like an L instead of a T and the skin around the shape can be a rather nice, brilliant red. Erin chose these over the harlequins cause the store was selling them for a buck cheaper each. ;-p They meander around the top half of the tank and seem to like to swim against flowing water cause I've watched one swim almost vertically at the spot where the water coming down from the filter hits the tank for practically the entire day.

5 Bronze Cories
Ahh... cories. We've had these guys since our first 3-gallon tank and I think they should be in every tank. Although they seem to exhibit different behavior depending on the size of tank they're in. When we had a couple in our small tank, they were relatively active, wiggling all around the tank and unafraid when we were watching them. But after moving them to the big tank, they seem to have become way more skittish, bolting to the back of the tank whenever we come near. They're doing it a little less now and since there's five of them, watching them all jumpstart into action during feeding time is pretty fun as they follow each other around. Except for the biggest one which keeps a bit more to itself. Which is ok cause he's older and darker and not as cute. ;-p They seem to do less hyperactive swimming these days too, instead spending more time rooting around the entire tank for food. Maybe we're not feeding them enough? One of them seems to like to hang out every now and then inside the big crack in the driftwood that the shrimp hide in. There's barely enough room for 'im but he wedges himself (or herself) in amongst the shrimp. Seems like these guys really don't seem to notice anything else besides themselves. Originally we wanted to have six of these guys but whenever we hit that number, one dies on us. So I guess we'll be having only five.

6 Cherry Barbs
I had originally bought these cause I had read they made great beginner's fish. Which they do. But unfortunately we seem to have a lopsided male/female ratio for these guys coming in at 1:5. Great for the male I guess. =p The coloring of this fish isn't as appealing as others but they make up for it by having a pretty nice pattern. The females have a more prominent horizontal stripe running the length of the body that their eye blends into which is kinda neat. They're very streamlined and symmetrical for the most part. When we originally introduced these six to the tank, they usually stayed along the bottom, hiding behind or below anything available. They don't seem to school as much as other fish and the bigger female that we have tends to be a bit more territorial than we're used to. After a few weeks, two of these barbs would hang out with the Espe's and minnows up top. And now, the majority of them seem to be bolder as they'll wander up towards the mid and top levels of the tank. They still tend to favor the bottom though. Was thinking of trading in one of the females for another male though. Just gotta see if any of our local fish stores will be willing to do that.

2 Pristella Tetras & 2 Gold Pristella Tetras
We originally had bought what we thought were four gold pristellas but upon closer inspection at home, one turned out to be a regular pristella. And after one of the golds died of some bizarre illness that I still don't know what it was, I decided to get another regular one just to even things out. Their skin isn't that transparent so their "x-ray" moniker might be a bit of a misnomer. The only major difference between the two species is that the black/yellow dorsal and red tail coloring on the golds look more faded. On the regulars, the different colors really stand out. These are probably the biggest fish in our tank and they spend their time usually in the middle of the tank. Which makes for interesting feedings. With flakes floating on the surface, they'll zip up from halfway down in an attempt to get a bite. But they do it so quickly that I'm not even sure if they're successful or not most of the time. The four will school loosely together with the two regulars pairing off more often and the same with the two golds.

3 Otocinclus
These little guys I purchased to deal with any algae that might show up in our tank since we're trying to raise live plants. They'll stick to just about anything and seem to have taken an affinity to cleaning SpongeBob. We had originally bought two and I got another one later. Turns out the two we originally bought were of a different type. Still oto's but different skin patterns. And the original two were either much shier or more light sensitive. They would not cling to the aquarium walls until the lights were down. The new one spends more of its time on the walls. Because of their ability to stick to any surface and in any orientation, it's often a pain trying to track these guys down. But it's fun to watch them working their way along the aquarium walls looking for stuff to eat. Just can't make any sudden moves cause that'll spook them and cause them to head off elsewhere.

4 Gold Barbs
These are probably the most well-rounded fish that you can find for a freshwater tank. They have great coloring (especially the males), are not too shy, and will swim anywhere and everywhere, especially if food is involved. These are the pigs of the tank. Quite aggressive when it comes to feeding time and they'll eat everything. We have these sinking food tablets for the cories that seem to be the most well-received food type in the tank cause practically everyone (the minnows being the exception) will eat it. The tetras and rasboras will take chunks out of it on the way to the bottom and once it hits bottom, the barbs, cories and shrimp all go after 'em. I once saw a shrimp snag a piece and try to retreat into a seashell that we now have in the tank. The gold barb poked at the piece enough to scare the shrimp away and then proceeded to eat the piece. Of course each time he took a bite he pushed the piece deeper into the shell so at one point he was pretty much all the way in and had a tough time figuring out how to get out. It's amazing how much they can eat.

4 Japonica Shrimp
These are Erin's babies. She's wanted to own shrimp ever since she saw 'em at the store. At first she wanted to own crabs but then the store owner told her that they would probably try to eat any smaller fish that they could catch so that was a no no. So shrimp it was. They're actually pretty fun to watch as it seems like they're perpetually in action. They are cannibalistic however as we've seen them snack on each other a couple of times already. Not entirely sure if they kill each other or if one just dies for some reason or another and is eaten. They don't seem to bother the fish though so at least that's good. They seem to like hanging out in the big crevice in the driftwood that we have in the center of the tank. Not sure if this crevice was there before or not or if it was hollowed out by the shrimp. For a day they all moved inside the pipe decoration to the right of the driftwood but when I looked the next day they were all back on the driftwood and there was a bunch of cories in the pipe so they probably got kicked out by the bigger cories. =) During feeding time they'll venture out from the wood and fight over the sinking tablets with the fish. Occassionally if I remember to keep the barbs busy with surface food they'll be successful in snagging an entire piece which they'll clutch to their bodies and then try to retreat to a private spot to gorge on it.

Overall we have a very busy tank. The minnows, razzies, barbs and tetras will school together every now and then or at least they have no problems swimming around with so many others in the same tank. The otos are mostly inactive till the lights go out and the cories spend most of their time hiding or searching for food. And the shrimp mostly hide out in their log until feeding time. Always something going on. =)

I recently gave our 3-gallon tank to my mom and we went and picked up two pairs of fancy guppies, two bronze cories, and two Japonica shrimp for her. She seems to enjoy them alot. Always much more enjoyable when fish aren't dying on you. ;-p We're hoping the guppies will breed but I've read that the male fancy guppies drastically lose their sex drive the older they get so hopefully we didn't get ones that were already too old. =p