a life aquatic & friends

Some of you may remember that when I moved to uni back in September 2011, I got a fish to be my companion, and his name was Ned. At the time, he was teeny tiny and he stayed that way for a while, but he gradually got bigger and bigger, outgrowing two smaller tanks, and had to be given away to terrorise other fish in a pond. When he was still small, he ate two guppies, and I got him a larger friend, this lovely orange one you see below, Angelica. However, when I gave Ned away she seemed very lonely and wasn't as active as she had been.

I waited to see if she would get better but she didn't seem to. So I got her a little friend...well, two. The tank is quite small for them all, because I didn't realise quite how big Angelica had got, but I have ordered a big new fish tank for them all, I'm not sure how many litres it is, but it's giant, and it's on its way as we speak..

Angelica started off as small as the two you see the background, and was sold to me as a "common goldfish"... however, from looking at a few pictures online, she looks more like an Oranda.. The lumpy bit on top of her head (which googling tells me is a 'wen') has recently started to grow, which made me wonder. Then the other night I came across this photo on tumblr which made me wonder if this is what she'll grow into..? Intriguing, at least. She's fairly camera shy but she will 'kiss' my fingers if I dip them in the tank and she's my favourite, without a doubt. 

But, let me introduce you to my new friends..

This is Jeff. I'm not sure what kind of fish he is, really. They were in a tank marked oranda/ryukin, but I don't think he looks like one (yet). I don't know what he'll end up looking like when he's grown a bit, but I really loved how beautifully silver he is, with a purplish-pink undertone. I feed them orange food though, so I wonder if that will change. He looks a lot like Ned did when he was a baby, so I wonder if he'll turn out like that (sort of shubunkin-y). He's the most active I would say, and keeps zipping about the tank, very excitable. I fed them some cucumber earlier, and he was obsessed with it, which made me very happy.

And finally the most beautiful from the lot, Klaus. I'm not sure if they're boys or girls, because even though I've tried to work it out, it's so hard.. so I just call them whatever I like. My last four fish have been named after The Life Aquatic characters or actors (Ned Zissou, Angelica Houston, Jeff Goldblum and Klaus Daimler).. losery, I know. 

He's such a beautiful orange and black, much lighter in colour than angelica ever was, so I'm hoping he stays this sort of golden-orange. Klaus is a bit quiter than Jeff, but not as slow as Angelica, he likes to swim in the bubbles and flow near the filter and swim in the plant, which I think is good. He's also the only one that I've managed to hand-feed which makes me very happy because I only just found out you could do that with goldfish.. he also likes to swim between my fingers which again, pleases me a lot..

Like I said, I have a new tank for them on the way, so when it's all set up and running I'll share some photos with you, the new tank has a light and everything, so hopefully I'll get better photos of them.