Remember Neville?... Now meet Lucky!

Neville rarely stops moving long enough for photos... He's always too busy searching for food.

You all may remember my daughters turtle 'Neville' from last weeks blog... At the time, I neglected to mention the rather absurd anomoly that we named 'Lucky'... Let me explain why this particular fish has been bestowed the monacher of 'Lucky'.

The first time we purchased feeder fish for Neville we noticed a fish in the batch that had an entirely different body shape and color than the others... Neville finished off (ate) all of the other fish within the first few hours of their arrival in the tank but it appeared he was saving the 'odd-ball' fish for later... Funny thing is, later never came!

We ultimately named this particular fish 'Lucky' because every time we'd purchase a new batch of feeders 'Lucky' never became part of the meal. I don't know if he and 'Neville' reached some kind of agreement ("You get outta my way and I won't eat ya.") or if 'Lucky' is just the sort of fish that 'Neville' has very little interest in taste wise... Maybe 'Lucky' can bite back?

When we do come home with a batch of 20 or so feeders and release them into 'Neville's' tank... 'Lucky' goes into vanishing mode... As in he tries to make himself as little noticed as possible. I'm not sure if the carnage he lays witness to each time new fish are added is in some way harmful to his little fish psyche but if so there's not much we can do... We never intended for him to become another pet or anything... He was of course, meant to be doomed from the moment his little fins hit 'Neville's' tank water.

Anyway... Here's a NEW twist in the entire 'Neville' - 'Lucky' saga... This morning we found out the 'Lucky' isn't a little 'GUY' at all... In fact 'Lucky' is a 'GIRL'... How do we know? Suddenly there are teeny, tiny little fish swimming all around 'Neville's' tank!... Fish we DIDN'T purchase!!! I mean, we noticed that 'Lucky' had been taking on some girth but we figured that was probably due to all of the stress eating he's been doing... I think I mentioned that since our 'fish for food' campaign has taken hold 'Neville's' tank has never been cleaner... I surmised it was because of 'Lucky' and his excellent skills as a fishie garbage disposal... Ah, apparently not so... 'Lucky' was carrying a litter!??? Do they call baby fish that? And hey, I thought fish layed eggs? Maybe this one did we just never noticed... All I know is these little baby fish didn't have much of a chance at the very start... 'Neville' has made a meal (Okay, more like a very small snack) out of the few we've seen swimming around... And it seems 'Lucky' isn't exactly the maternal sort as we've observed she too, chases them around the tank and it doesn't appear to me that she's herding them to safety... I get the distinct impression that she just assumes they're another form of tank flotsam that needs to be swallowed because of all that stress she's under.

If there's one conclusion I've come to from this whole experience, it's this... Life sucks if you're a fish!

Unless you're 'Lucky'!