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.