Kinda Sweet

When we set up our tank, we bought eight fish to put in it. We bought four neons, three platys (they look a little like gold fish) and one gourami. We still have all four neons, but we are down to just one platy. The gourami and one of the platys died during the middle of the night two weeks ago. I figured they were just sick to begin with. Now that another platy has died (during the night last night), I'm thinking the problem lies with me and the care of the tank. Petland sold me some solution that I am supposed to add to the tank daily. The solution will help speed up some nitrogen cycle so the tank becomes safe to add more fish to it. I'm thinking that the solution was too much for these little guys to deal with.

Last night, as I was sitting in the living room and reading, I noticed the two platys were swimming in perfect sync. They were swimming across the front of the tank and when the one fish would dip down to the bottom, the other followed. When the one fish would shoot up to the top of the tank, the other followed. When the one would turn around to swim back to the other side, the other followed. I watched this for about five minutes and thought, "This is really cool!". I put my book down and pulled up the ottoman in front of the tank to get a closer look. That's when I realized that one of the platys was sick. His stomach was white and distended. He kept getting caught in the current of the filter and was being swept around the tank. He would suddenly dart off in a random direction and would crash into the plants. If I didn't have such a heart for animals, I would have found it amusing. But, I am a softy and even at the age of twenty eight, I still cry when fish die. But I didn't cry right away last night. Because throughout all of this crashing and flailing around and throughout the unpredictable turns and bumps, the second healthy platy was sticking right next to the sick platy. And I could not believe what I was seeing. Every time the sick platy dropped to the bottom and sort of lay on the rocks, the healthy platy dropped right with him and, I kid you not, would give him a push with his nose to get him back up again. When it was time to feed the fish, the healthy platy nudged the sick one closer to the top of the tank to where the food was floating. I tell you, I would not have been surprised if the healthy platy whipped out a tiny little heart defibrilator, shrieked "Clear!" and started chest compressions on the sick one. And finally I did begin to cry...laugh all you want, but there was something really special in what I was watching. Fish are generally thought of as cold and unfeeling. But I had the opportunity to watch compassion unfolding between two little orange fish. And I think that's pretty neat.