Two gouramis and a pair of catfish

 It's not often that I gather the energy to tackle the task of cleaning our fish tank.  As that would indicate, it has been at least 6 months since I took on the task.  Now the aquarium is not one of my priorities...  it is Ron who has always so enjoyed having his aquarium.  He used to have live greenery dispersed around the 30 gallon tank, but a couple years back it was determined that the source of all the snails, that can become quite invasive... meaning we could never seem to stay ahead of them, was the greenery.  Once the greenery and the pebbles at the bottom were removed... replacing with new stones, the snails have ceased to be a problem.  

We are down to just 4 fish in this big tank.  Because it is difficult for Ron to tackle such a task anymore, he had thought it best to not replace fish as they expired.  These last 4 seem to thrive quite well with the awesome castle as their safe zone.  Every aquarium should have such a castle, but because of its size, anything less than a 30 gallon tank could not accommodate its height.  What makes the castle awesome is its many escape routes (and entries) which also provides great hiding places.

Tuesday was the day I set aside this week to take on the task required to bring the tank back to a bright and cheery backdrop.  Now there is always ongoing upkeep, but the deep cleaning is a labor intensive process when there is only one person tackling the chore.  I have to admit that I do enjoy sitting and watching their activity most of the time... it's the upkeep that sometimes diminishes its beauty.

Pomegranates

 I'm pretty new to pomegranates... that is growing them.  To the best of my knowledge there is never a time when a ripe fruit is not red inside, or at least pink.  My tree was planted by me maybe 4 or 5 years ago.  The last couple of years it has had a plethora of blossoms, and only a few of them have turned into fruit.  Last year there might have been 6 pomegranates, but none of them ever got to an edible state... never beyond the fruit that is pictured here.  Now there were maybe a dozen this year, but I am having the same issue.  They grew to be what I presume is a good size, and I have left them on the tree to ripen.  They have been at this stage for more than a month, maybe even a couple months.  Based on what I read, these pomegranates are showing signs that tell you they are ripe and should be ready... but there is no difference than when I cut one a month ago.  

I know there has to be so much more to getting a fruit tree to produce than I even have a clue about.  I don't have space to plant multiples that would allow cross pollination, and the soil here is not the best.  I don't like to use chemical fertilizers, but in desperation I have used some fertizlizer spikes... still to no avail.  It is so hard to learn how to water plants here in South Texas.  If you water every day it's too much, if you water once a week it's not enough.  I've tried everything in between, and still not getting better results.  

The blossoms were abundant, but even the few fruit that it did produce never seemed to ripen.  I will leave what fruit is left on the tree there, but I don't expect any of them to get to the "ripened" stage.  

Should I give up on ever getting any fruit and just enjoy a pretty tree?  Fruit trees can be quite beautiful, especially when they are in blossom, but I'm thinking I'm not cut out to be a fruit grower.