My wife told me that I ought to get out and enjoy the nice day today.
She neglected to tell me that I should *not* take a net and a jar
along. I ended up at one of the drainage ponds in the neighborhood.
Despite its general rank stench and stagnant water, this pond hosts all
kinds of things... frogs, turtles, snakes, muskrats, an occasional
heron or egret, and yes, fish. And therein lies my error.

I swept my net along the murkey bottom several times. Every time, I
came up with two or three fish. Soon, I had a dozen in my one gallon
jar, and I brought them home. Shortly thereafter, I realized that this
maybe wasn't such a swell idea, but I decided it might be interesting,
and I wasn't too busy.

I had a spare 30 gallon tank sitting empty, as well as assorted
filters, heaters, gravel, rocks and driftwood. So, I got that set up in
a spare corner of my office/living room tonight, and I'm carefully
acclimating the fish to the new water conditions (temperature is easy,
but their 'natural' pH and hardness are each a point or two higher than
my tap water). I've got three established tanks, so material to kick
start the ammonia cycle shouldn't be a problem. For that matter, I've
got some Bio-Spira that might still be viable.

I don't know what kind of fish they actually are. Like I mentioned, the
pond is a drainage area for the neighborhood, and it's only been there
about five years. These may be a native species that got carried in by
natural means, or they might have been put there by someone. Once I've
got them in the new tank and they've settled in enough to resume their
usual colors, I hope to figure out what they are.

Ah well, I've always wanted a 'local color' sort of tank.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com