This is the third of the trilogy on my passion with pets when I was a small boy.
When I cycled around Ipoh town, I loved to stop over at the pet shops selling birds and aquarium fishes and the market where there is a small corner selling fishes and sometimes puppies, birds and pigeons.
Once I kept Siamese fighting fish in a jar. I used to challenge my friends to a duel. By putting the two jars next to each other, the Siamese fighting fish would spread out the colouful fins to display their aggressive posturing.
I had always wanted an aquarium but had no money to buy one. Years ago, my father and sister kept gold fishes. My father used cement to build a large aquarium with a piece of glass in front. I was still very young then.
Saving my pocket money, I bought five pieces of thick glass, cut to my specifications. What a way to start an aquarium. I persuaded my mother to hold the glass while I tried to use scotch tapes and putty to hold the glass together. It was of course, a stupid way of building an aquarium when the whole thing collapsed. Luckily I did not break the glass.
Sometime later, I approached a friend of my father, who used metal angle iron to make window frames, to weld the aquarium. He agreed, for the princely sum of $20. I got hold of my trishaw rider friend, Salleh, to transport the glass to the shop in Old Town and to later carry the completed aquarium home.
It was an exciting day when I got the aquarium home. Using putty I bought from the hardware shop, I started to mount the glass after painting the metal frame with aluminum paint. With haste and impatience, I managed to get all these done within a few days and left the aquarium to stand for another few days. Home from school every afternoon, I would fuss over the aquarium.
Finally, the acid test - to fill with water. Running the hose in, I turned on the tap. After several inches of water, lo and behold, the darn thing leaked like a sieve! I immediately used putty to patch the leaks until the whole aquarium looked so grotesque. The putty needed time to set and I was so impatient. This went on for a week or so until I finally got all the leaks plugged. Unfortunately the aquarium looked terrible with patches here and there.
It was another happy day when I put sand in the aquarium with stones and rock to create an underwater scene. I managed to get some aquatic plants and even some snails to dress the aquarium. Looking at it, I was very pleased with the result.
Time to introduce the inhabitants - fishes. With limited funds, I visited the pet shop and had some difficulties trying to decide what fish to buy. They were all so beautiful. I finally settled for the triangle fish which goes with the Latin name of Rasbora Heteromopha! A colourful fish, pinkish with a blue triangle on both sides. After I introduced them into the aquarium, I spent hours sitting in front of the aquarium admiring them. Ah! such joy.
As time went on, I saved up enough pocket money to buy more fishes. I bought the swordfish and Mollies. They are live breeders i.e. they do not lay eggs but give live birth to tiny fry. They almost immediately started to breed, and I was astonished one day, when I saw tiny fry swimming among the water Hyacinth. I was as excited as the proud parents.
Later, I had enough money to buy some angel fish, both the white ones and the black ones. They were so beautiful and serene as they glided around the aquarium. They were also very tame and I would hand feed them with worms. They would come up to me to eat off my fingers.
I was plaqued with the problem of algea. Because the aquarium was in my backyard facing the sun, algea grew so fast I could not clean it in time. Every few days, I had to use cotton wool to clean so that I could see the interior. I could not afford the pumps and filter. It got so bad that I could only see the fishes when they came close to the glass. I persevered and changed the water frequently. The algea later became almum, which is dark brown in colour.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the aquarium and spent many hours sitting in front and admiring the underwater antics of the fishes. When I left home to join the Air Force, I gave the aquarium and the fishes to my neighbour.
Till then....
Monday, July 30, 2007
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