PART 5: AN AQUARIUM COMES HOME!

A few weeks before Pinto met its unfortunate end, I got engulfed by an intense desire to start a fresh-water aquarium, again. I could not just wait till we visited an aquarium shop. On one fine morning, we (my daughter, wife and I) happened to arrive at the aquarium shop even before it opened and started its business on that day! Fortunately, I met an employee (a very young fellow) of that shop and came to know that the owner of the shop was going to arrive in half an hour. I wanted to utilize that time talking to that employee of the shop. It was really interesting. I asked questions about the varieties of fishes they sold, types of aquariums, fish food, prices, fish care. The guy answered all my questions very politely and in a professional manner. After a short while, the owner of the aquarium showed up. He was a young, calm and polite person. He opened the shop and in less than ten minutes, he welcomed us to the inside of his shop. It was just brilliant. The shop was not huge. But, it was clean and well decorated with various types of aquariums and fishes. My daughter and wife were thrilled to see so many beautiful fishes around. After spending some time there, I learnt that a fifteen-liter glass bowl was my only and the best choice. This was because, I wanted an aquarium on my study table and no other type did match the requirement specifications (size and weight)! I really did not realize, then, that a fishbowl was not a good home for fishes. However, I was warned by the employee of the shop. But, I hardly had another choice.

We got done with choosing our fishbowl, gravel and other accessories. Finally, it was the time for selecting our fishes. Usually, childhood memories do influence adulthood decision-making! The first aquarium I got a chance to take a closer look at, in my life, belonged to Nayan Chaachaa, one of my father's friends. He had, in his aquarium, a few Black Mollies, Red Mollies and few other varieties. Then, so many years back, I really liked the Black Mollies in his aquarium. Back at the aquarium shop, I wanted to buy a couple of of Black Mollies. Then, I checked with my wife about her choice of fish. And, of course, she wanted a couple of Goldfishes in our fishbowl. You know, pictures of fishbowls housing Goldfishes are so common! So, her choice did not surprise me. We ended up buying four Black Mollies and two Goldfishes. Later, much later, I realized that the fish population I bought was really huge for my 15 Liter fishbowl! We reached home as quickly as possible. I installed the fishbowl, cleaned the gravel, did the electric (lighting) connections. Once the fishbowl was ready, filled with untreated tap water, I released the fishes into it. Here is a word of caution. Never ever use untreated tap water in your aquarium. I did not realize the potential danger then. However, many aquarium and fish-keeping books have warned about using untreated tap water. However, I was keen on experimenting with tap water. My bad! No damage was done and life went on. May be, I was just lucky! I tried my best to provide the best quality (clean, at least) of water and food to my fishes. Goldfishes are usually messy. They eat a lot and polluted the water so quickly. I realized that it was a bad decision to house Mollies with Goldfishes. I got into the routine of changing 75% of water on every alternative day. However, something unfortunate was going to happen NEXT!

PART 5: AN AQUARIUM COMES HOME! by Debi Prasad Mahapatra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

PART 4: PINTO MUST NOT DIE!

Tirelessly, I tried to feed Pinto. I had absolutely no idea what exactly Pinto would eat. It was much like the way a new employee is trained in an organization about various aspects of the organization. It was the training-time for Pinto. I tried so many types and compositions of fish food. But, Pinto failed to recognize those as food! I had placed Pinto's jar on my study table. It was in front of my eyes over so many hours every day. I kept trying new foods and kept changing the water to keep Pinto's home clean. After about two days, there was success awaiting me. I noticed that a small piece of food that was placed in Pinto's jar had disappeared. I was so happy to know that. I shared the news with my wife and she felt so relieved to learn that the poor fish finally started eating! I trained Pinto with that exact food composition. And, over the next few days, Pinto was absolutely comfortable with its new home and food. I had removed the glass marbles from the jar. Those had become a barrier between Pinto and the food particles that had fallen through the gaps to the bottom of the jar. With the glass marbles removed, Pinto could easily reach every bit of food available anywhere in its jar.

The scenario felt somehow like this: A person joined an organization. The new employee went through some trainings in the new organization. The new employee took some time to get adjusted and feel comfortable in that organization. And, eventually the new employee no more remained a NEW-employee, but, became just an employee! The case was not much different in the context of Pinto, our new wild river-fish at home. Since the jar that housed Pinto was on my study-table, Pinto probably was an important witness of the effort I had to put into my Executive MBA studies. I am sure, it was not able to understand what was exactly going on around it. But, it, somehow, demonstrated signs that indicated it responded to and acknowledged always my presence around its jar-home. And, that was not unnatural. I used to take a break from my books and watch Pinto. I always felt, it was probably trying to say something. It usually had it's face towards me. I tried my best to get Pinto the best food available and some exercise. Since, it was a wild fish straight from a river, it was not built genetically to live in captivity. However, Pinto seemed happy and did not, usually, demonstrate prominent signs of discomfort. Life went on. I prepared hard for my Executive MBA exams. And, Pinto was a great source of refreshment on my desk. I used to feel recharged and fresh everytime I watched Pinto for a while. It, kind of, became my companion and communication between us was not based on any specific language. With Pinto on my desk, a feel-good factor got added to my study and exam-preparation routine.

To my delight, Pinto continued to stay healthy and strong. My daughter gradually learnt that the name of that fish was Pinto. Sometimes, she called it Pinti! That was funny. After more than a month after I brought Pinto home, I eventually got done with all my Executive MBA exams. And, all those really went well. What a relief it was! That day, I was back at home after my last exam. I fed pinto. I had some good time with my family and had my dinner. I was tired and fell asleep. Since I was done with the last one of my MBA exams, I was not required to study over that evening. I got up very early and, as a practice, came straight over to Pinto's jar. I could not believe my eyes. Pinto was not in its jar and had fallen dead on the floor! I was really shocked. I examined Pinto and realized that it had jumped out of its jar many hours back and had suffered a painful death. It had been more than a month and Pinto had never shown any sign of a slightest possibility of its jumping out of the jar. I could never understand why Pinto chose to commit suicide! I always felt that Pinto was doing reasonably good in its new home. I did not know what went wrong that night. I could not understand what was different that night. But, much later, during that day, it flashed in my mind. I, finally understood what was so different that night. It was the very last exam of my Executive MBA Program. Beyond that night, I was not required any more to struggle with my management-subject books. It was exactly an end of that difficult phase of my life. The day next was going to be a completely different day for me. I was not going to spend hours at my desk again! May be, Pinto came home to add that feel-good factor to my life during that difficult phase. And, it, probably, wanted to go away after that phase was over. I sincerely thank Pinto for the role it played (or the role I felt it played). This was what happened NEXT!

PART 4: PINTO MUST NOT DIE! by Debi Prasad Mahapatra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

PART 3: PINTO COMES HOME!

Thrilled, excited, energized and a bit worried, I made a quick move to the nearest market in search of a glass jar. The first shop I visited was not that interesting. The jars I saw there were not big enough. I quickly went over to the other shop indicated by the fish-vendor. Then, I bought the biggest (Not really big!) glass-jar available in that shop. I was told that it was the biggest available in that market. It had a capacity of around 4 liters! There was no aquarium | pet shop in that locality. So, it was the quickest choice for me to use a locally available resource (glass jar) to get started with fish-keeping. I rushed home to set the jar up for the fish. I cleaned that up and filled that with untreated tap water. I considered the fact that those fishes were from the river that received so much of untreated tap water everyday along with other harmful chemicals. So, I believed that the tap water would not really result in any discomfort to the fish. After setting up the jar, I rushed to the fish-market. I was under pressure. I had skipped the fish-procurement (the original goal of my fish-market visit) in the process and I had lost precious study-time. There were exams ahead! After arriving at the fish market again, I realized that I was too late. That fish-vendor (with  a bunch of live tiny fishes) was done with his day's business and had left for home! I was so disappointed. Without loosing heart, I bought my regular fish (for our meals) and came back home after deciding to give that a try over the day after. The boy in me was really restless.

I got busy with my studies and work, till the very next evening. However,I had a really hard time waiting for my next fish-market visit. Over that evening, I rushed to the local fish market with high hopes. Like 5 fingers are not alike, each day is not similar. That evening, I was not so lucky. I did not see any fish vendor selling the variety of live fish (in water-filled containers) that I wanted to buy. I was so disappointed. However, I noticed a pile of dead fish of that variety with one vendor. I curiously went closer to that vendor. The vendor spontaneously explained that those were very fresh and those would taste really great. I expressed my intention and asked him whether he was going to bring a live lot of that variety to market over the next evening. He could not guarantee that. During our discussion, however, I noticed a slight movement in that pile of dead fishes. At a closer look, I realized that a few of those fishes were still alive. I just handed over some money to that vendor and asked whether I could hand-pick a few of those. He said that I could pick as many as I wanted. I had taken a double-layer polythene bag, partially filled with untreated tap water, along. The idea was to transport the fish in that bag to my home from the fish market. I got into action and picked a fish that was apparently alive and placed that in the water inside my polythene bag. After placing the fish in the bag, I investigated into its health and condition. I continued (repeated) this process over around 8 fishes. I took the fish out of the bag and placed that back in the vendor's fish basket in case I did not like the health or condition of that fish. At the end of the process, I had three fishes in my bag. I thanked the vendor and headed home. I was so excited. It was so important an event and crucial a moment. Fish Keeping was just about to get started at my home, again, after so many years. It was so wonderful a feeling!

I reached home with those 3 fishes. Those were Stoliczkae's Barbs (Puntius Stoliczkanus). After a few minutes, I placed those fishes in that 4-Liter glass jar already set for them. I had decorated the jar with a substrate of around 200 glass marbles. That was the quickest substrate to arrange from the local market. Those fishes were really not in a great condition and were absolutely restless in their new home!  I was worried and so was my wife. She asked me, with absolute concern, whether I really knew how to care for those innocent fishes so that they could survive! And, I thought, my past Fish Keeping experience would come handy in that case as well. But, that was a thought far from the fact. The first challenge was to feed them. We had absolutely no idea about what they lived on while they were in the river. I tried so many kinds of foods within the next few hours. Those fishes never identified any of those as food! My attempt to feed them continued till late in the evening. My efforts did not produce any positive results. I could not concentrate on my studies. Tired, I fell asleep. I got up very early. Still it was dark. I switched the light on and took a quick look at the fish jar. Two of them were dead! It was so sad to see that. I took the dead fishes out of the jar and changed the water immediately.

We thought, since the fishes did not eat anything, they died. But, there was probably something different in case of the one that was still alive. On a lighter note, I told my wife, it could be a late lunch that the fish had, that gave it a few extra hours of life! And, that one too might also die eventually, I thought! I said, "when all three of these fishes meet each other in heaven, the fish that dies last will say this to the other two: Hey buddies, you always made fun of me as I always got up late, had late lunches and late dinners. But you know what, my last late lunch got me one more day of life back there. And, you guys were not that lucky!". Jokes apart, I was really concerned about how to feed the fish that was alive. We named that fish, without any idea about its gender, Pinto! This was what happened NEXT!

PART 3: PINTO COMES HOME! by Debi Prasad Mahapatra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

PART 2: THE DECISION WAS MADE, FINALLY!

It was just another visit to the nearby fish market. I usually visited that a couple of times every week. Fish has been a substantial and an important part of my and my family's diet. That day was not any special. It was really cloudy, though, that evening. It was in June-2010. And, I was half way through with the series of my Executive MBA exams. And, my mind and thoughts were overshadowed by the excitement and apprehensions related to those exams (that I had already written and the forthcoming ones). Well, a bit absentminded, I took a quick look at the fish market. I saw the regular fish vendors and routine fish verities. What attracted my attention was the bunch of live tiny fishes in a big flat open water-filled container. That was not, either, a strange and extraordinary sight. There was a river at about just 200 meters from the fish-market. Some of the vendors regularly sold verities of live fishes procured fresh from that river.

During those days, I was quite busy with my life - my studies, work, family. Standing in the midst of the fish market, I started thinking about life, priorities, ambitions, aspirations. Actually, at the fish market, I was away from my books, family and office. So, I was at the right place to relax, think, introspect and reflect, while I was really supposed to just buy some fish for our routine consumption. During my childhood, I had a great passion for Fish Keeping and aquariums (vividly described in PART 1). Over the last many years, life kept me so busy with the mundane stuff. I could not really get started again with Fish Keeping and aquariums. However, the desire and passion were always alive within me. Any time, any where I saw an aquarium, I used to take a pause and stare at that for a while. I always felt a strong urge to bring home an aquarium and get started with that interesting hobby again. However, in tangible and realistic terms, I did not stay (and have not been staying) in "my" home over the past many years! I am a Lean Living Practitioner and I have been staying in rented accommodations. Also, I usually go on a long vacation every year. At least, I did that over the last 10 years. And, my job made me move from one place to another. So, every time, my thought of bringing home an aquarium got dampened by the following questions. What happens if I have to move to a different city | state | country? What happens if I have to move to another house in short order? Who feeds my fish when I go on vacation? How does the required regular water-change happens when I am away? Those questions were strong enough to find me weak at forming a decision to get started with an aquarium again. Life went on and no aquarium came home!

Standing in the midst of the fish market and subconsciously focusing on a bunch of live tiny fishes in a big flat open water-filled container, I kept thinking. I thought, "there are possibly more uncertainties than certainties in life! And, life is shorter than it appears. There are more things I want to do than I have capacity to do. Is it really wise to keep postponing something (Fish Keeping) that I love so much? Is it wise to be logical and judgmental than doing outright what I want to do when I have the very capacity to do it, right here and right now? Should I keep thinking about doing it or I should just do it?" Then, I thought, "I did not really know what awaits me tomorrow, let's do it today". Without thinking further, I just moved ahead over to the fish-vendor who had a bunch of live tiny fishes in a big flat open water-filled container. After taking a quick look at me, he said "these are alive, so the freshest and those taste really good". Then I expressed my intention to buy a few of those to start Fish Keeping. However, there was a concern. I did not have a container to transport the fish to my home. Nor, did I have a container to keep the fish in at home. In a hurry, I asked the fish-vendor whether and where I could purchase a big glass jar for the fish. He was kind enough to point me to the nearest market and he also indicated the probable shops where I could get a jar. So, I finally formed my decision to really start Fish Keeping, again! And, that was the turning point. This was what happened NEXT!

PART 2: THE DECISION WAS MADE, FINALLY! by Debi Prasad Mahapatra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

PART 1: I FELL IN LOVE!

My first fish: 
          I discovered and developed a great interest in Fish-keeping during my early childhood. As far as I can remember, I kept my first fish in a glass jar when I was at the age of 8, I think! I knew absolutely nothing about the basics of fish-keeping. Now, let me tell you how I got my very first fish. I lived in a tiny coastal town named Puri in the state of Odisha, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. At Dutta Totaa, the area in Puri I lived in, the roads used to get temporarily flooded during the monsoon. That situation resulted in a temporary connectivity between the water-bodies, a couple of natural ponds, in that area. Like the student-exchange programs, there used to happen spontaneous and natural fish-exchange programs among the water bodies. Those fishes in question used to travel on the flooded roads in our area.

A bit of background: 
          The street my home was situated on accommodated around 20 families with kids - about 25 of them - slightly junior and senior to me. It was a team of 20+ energetic kids with a leader who was around 3 years elder to me. That team, under the guidance of the leader, used to get into action just after a heavy shower of rain when the roads were flooded enough to work as an infrastructure for commute for the fishes. There were natural and man-made landscapes in that area to contain water for a long time after the flooding on the roads were gone. Those landscapes used to get some fishes left isolated. So, the flooded roads and the temporary monsoon water-holes were the team's ground for fishing. 

The instruments used for fishing ranged over, and not limited to, bare hands, handkerchiefs, bath towels, small storage containers, mosquito nets, and fishing rods for kids with advanced skills and level of patience, and probably less sympathy for the fish! Fishing using towels and mosquito nets involved a team-effort; as, it required at least two pair of hands to manage and manoeuvre the instrument. When I write this, it feels as if I have gone back to those wonderful days of my childhood.

The art of fishing: 
          My skills were absolutely of the lowest standards when it came to fishing - catching live fish while inflicting, apparently, no pain and causing no harm. Most of the kids of my age were not good at fishing, as well. However, we helped our leader and other senior members in the act of fishing, to hone our art of fishing. And, they shared their catch with us. That day, I was given one beautiful fish. I was so happy as it looked much better than the relatively 'not so good' looking fishes that made the major portion of the daily catch during the season. That one was a Dwarf Gourami, one of my favourites even today, when I am in my early 30s! 

So, that was my first fish at home. I fed it, or at least tried to do so, with boiled rice. I was not sure if there were any Fish (Aquarium) shops in our town to buy some fish-food from, then. That fish was, however, reluctant to accept the food I tried to feed it with. None of the kids who participated in the 'group fishing' did use their catch as food, of course ;-). Like I was, all of them were apparently interested in fish-keeping or starting a home-aquarium at that tender age.

My secret fishing adventures: 
          Over the next couple of years, I developed my fishing skills. I visited many places and did fishing in rivers, ponds and canals. Many of those were my secret adventures that my parents never came to know about, well, until I shared those with them many years later ;-). However, those adventure-experiences are still fresh in my mind to inspire me to do more of those at this age! I am seriously considering going out on a series of fishing expeditions during my 2011 annual vacation. I am already in talks with a couple of my friends.

My first aquarium: 
          At the age of 13, I put across my official request, for an aquarium, to my parents. The request was considered and I got my brand-new first freshwater aquarium. I stocked my aquarium, a 24", 18", 12" - Aluminium and Glass one, with 2 Mollies, 2 Guppies, 2 Goldfishes, a Black Skirt Tetra, 2 Barbs and a Plecostomus. I got my second aquarium as a gift from one of my father's friends almost 1 year after we bought our first aquarium. It was a Steel and Glass (30", 24", 18") aquarium and I used bright sea-sand as the substrate. During those days, glass aquariums with metal frames (reinforcements) were so common. I had some local freshwater fishes and a tiny turtle that made this second aquarium their second home. 

I wish, I had a few pictures of my aquariums. However, neither did I have a camera, nor, did Facebook exist then. Well, the sweet memories of those aquariums are still fresh in my mind. I maintained those two aquariums over a span of around 7 years. It was quite a wonderful experience. I used to use the fresh water straight from our tube-well, located near our home-garden, to fill my aquariums. That was easy. Neither was I worried about the water parameters, nor did my fishes ever demonstrated any sign of discomfort with that water.

An apparent end: 
          Eventually, I had to move to another city for my higher education. I gifted both of my aquariums to a young fish enthusiast of my locality. That was the end of my aquarium story. But my love never died. What happened next more than a decade after is described in the next post!