Deuce Bigalow, Female Jiggle-O

Now that I've stopped laughing at the title I came up with, I can finally see straight enough to type. This afternoon when I did my daily fish count, I noticed two neons were not accounted for. I found one little guy lying upside down in a small gulley, gasping. The other neon was stuck in one of the small plants, held fast by the force of the current created by the filter. He, too, was gasping heavily. The pet lover in me flew into action and Deuce Bigalow would have been proud. I grabbed the beta's previous fish bowl (which, luckily for my laziness, was still sitting on the kitchen counter and had yet to be carried downstairs) and filled it with tap water and the right amount of water conditioner. I scooped the two neons out of the large tank and placed them in the small tank. And then I realized they need oxygen being pumped into their tank. I had a small electric pump that I had bought for the big tank, but didn't need. Again, I was thankful for my own laziness in not returning it promptly. But I was missing a much-needed tube to connect to the pump in order to feed oxygen into the water. That's when the MacGyver in me took over. I grabbed a handful of straws from the kitchen and connected six of them together. When I plugged in the pump, presto! The quarantine tank now had oxygen!

Sadly, one of the neons never recovered. But the other little dude is hanging in there. I will keep you updated on whether or not I need to resort to mouth-to-gill to keep the little guy alive.