We have pets. About thirty-six of them. Thankfully they don’t shed, don’t disturb the neighbors, or get into your garbage. So far nobody has been allergic to them. They have been proven to lower blood pressure. And, with an automatic feeder, you can leave them alone for a couple of weeks. But the very best thing of all is that you can stare at them while your wife watches a chick flick.

I have had fish as pets since I was about seven, and at one point I actually had 7 fish tanks. Geeky? Maybe, but what was a 14 year old to do when the only video game out there is Pong? Well, besides reading comic books that is..

Anyway, I really enjoy my wet pets, and Ellie likes the “ish” too. They are quite relaxing to watch as they swim around. Even the variety and beauty of fish that God created amazes me.

I keep my fish in a 35 gallon tank I received as a teenager. The rule of thumb is one inch of fish for every gallon of water. We have:

12 Neon Tetras (the small bright blue and red ones)
7 Fancy Guppies (the rabbits of the seas. Will breed like crazy if you let them)
4 Cherry Barbs
2 Rosy Barbs (the cows)
2 Angel Fish (1 black and 1 white. With a black background you usually only see one)
2 Tri-colour Sharks (large silvery fish, biggest cowards of the tank.)
2 Black Tetras (these guys were among the first I bought when we moved here. They are 5 years old!)
2 Gold Barbs
1 Plecostomus (sucker fish – biggest and weirdest looking one in the tank)
1 Skunk Loach (named Freedie by B-rad. Hardly ever see him as he is always hiding. Eats snails)

So.. that is a total of 35 fish.. probably about 54 total inches of fish.. way over the limit. Hope the Games Warden doesn’t come by..

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