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.