I used to have a bigger tank, it was 35 gallons and sat on it's own stand in my breakfast room taking up lots of space but it didn't seem to require as much effort on my part. Maybe I just have "good old days syndrome" and am not remembering correctly. But it seemed like I hardly ever did anything to that tank. Perhaps it is because of the fish I had in it. There were a few little guys in there that I think may have helped to maintain the tank. In this one, I only have the two fish because I don't want them to outgrow the tank. You see, when I moved from the 35 gallon tank to the 20 gallon tank, it was in an effort to downsize. Now I am able to keep the tank on the credenza that holds my TV components instead of on an individual aquarium stand that does nothing but take up space.
I have had fish that out grew a tank before, in fact that is how I wound up with the 35 gallon monstrosity. This whole thing started 11 years ago when Jingle was a young only kitten. I've probably mentioned before that Jingle is a pure breed Burmese cat. I bought him from a breeder in Rowlett. Before I got him, I went to visit the breeder multiple times before and after he was born. I had to make sure that the Burmese personality was one that I could deal with. Also, Burmese come in 4 colors, Sable, Blue, Champagne and Platinum so I had to decide which color that I wanted. I always knew that I wanted Sable, but the breeder insisted that it was something I should think about. After a litter was born that had a Sable in it, she called and I went over to her house and met the kitten that was to become mine. I named him Bernie. Now, you might be saying, "Who the hell is Bernie? She doesn't have any cats named Bernie!" You would be correct.
The day that I was supposed to pick Bernie up, I went to Rowlett prepared to come home with my new kitten and when I arrived at the breeders house she told me that Bernie wasn't "thriving" and she didn't think it would be safe for him to leave but that she had another kitten, Jingle, who was a little spitfire that she had planned on keeping for breeding purposes who she could let me take in his place. I wasn't too sure about this. After all, I had held Bernie's mother in my lap before he was born and felt him moving in her belly! But I met Jingle who was busy playing with his half sister, Belle at the time. She was a Blue Burmese born in the litter two weeks after Jingle's and they both had the same father but different mothers. She was the cutest little bluish gray ball of fur you have ever seen.
With one look at Jingle, I was in love with him. He was taller and much healthier looking than Bernie. I held them both and knew that the breeder was correct, that Bernie was in no shape to be taken from his mother and Jingle was a ball of energy. So, I decided on Jingle. All along the breeder had told me that Burmese cats are very social and required a lot of attention and that if I worked, he would need companionship. I had my eye on Belle and asked about her. I was told that she had not been sold yet. But I just couldn't make myself spend another $500 that day on a second kitten. So, Jingle and I left. As you might assume based on Jingle's name, it was a week before Christmas in 2000 when I brought him home to live with me. That week I took off from work and Jingle and I went to my parents house for the holiday.
By the time, I was supposed to go back to work, I knew that Jingle did indeed need companionship, so I called the breeder and asked her if Belle was still available. She was and a week later, Jingle and I went to pick her up. They both had so much fun together. They played constantly and who couldn't love cats named Jingle and Belle??!?!!? Then they both got sick. At first they acted like they had colds. Then they stopped eating. So, I took them both to the vet and that is when we discovered that they both had Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Belle, was much sicker than Jingle, but both were clearly sick. For several weeks I had to wrap them in towels several times a day and feed them mushed up cat food through a syringe. This meant that I was coming home from work a couple of times daily to feed kittens. Belle wound up with major organ failure and only lived a few more weeks. But Jingle began to thrive shortly after she died. When he began meeting me at the door and meowing the entire time I put the food in his syringe and practically sucking it out of the syringe, the vet and I decided that he was ready to begin eating solid food again.
Once Jingle began to recover, the vet started telling me that since the disease effects the white blood cells making the cat incapable of fighting infection I would need to be very careful with him. He had to be neutered using a local anesthetic (yikes!) because she was concerned about knocking him all the way out and he was never de-clawed which I am now happy about. I always thought that was mean anyway. Once he understood the point behind scratching posts, it became a non-issue. The vet also cautioned me that he still might be able to transmit the virus to other cats so that I should always keep him away from other cats. So, I did. That meant that I couldn't get him another cat to be his brother or sister. So for years, he was an only cat and I tried everything to keep him entertained including getting a small 5 gallon fish tank so that he could watch the fish while I was at work.
I originally put 3 fish in it. I got the tank and fish the week following 9/11 so the fish were named George, Condileeza and Colin. George and Colin were strong, tough fish and George continued to grow and grow and grow. Eventually, I went to Dallas North Aquarium and asked exactly how big they would become. Colin had reached his full size which was only 3 inches long but George was a Plecco. When I got him he was about 1-1/2 inches long. By this time he was 10 inches long. The guy at the aquarium shop told me he would still double in size reaching about 20 inches total. That was the day I came home with the 35 gallon tank. When George finally died he was about 17 inches long. I wasn't sure if I should filet him or just dispose of him. I decided to just dispose of his body. A few weeks later, I moved Colin, the lone surviving fish from that original 5 gallon tank out of the 35 gallon tank and into the smaller 20 gallon tank and got two Blood Red Parrot fish to put in there with him. The Parrot fish are still in there today. They have both gotten pretty big. Colin died about a year ago. The 35 gallon tank is still out in the garage. I am hoping to sell it this year if the HOA lets us have a garage sale.
Jingle still sits in the evenings and watches the fish swim batting at them through the glass on occasion just to keep them moving. Almost four years ago, I found Shiner and although I was afraid to bring him home due to the FIP that Jingle might still carry, everyone who was in Shiner, Tx. the weekend we had found him decided that it was a risk that had to be taken since Shiner would not have survived much longer on the "mean streets" of Shiner. After all of this time, Shiner is the healthiest cat you could ever hope to see. Jingle is doing better than ever since he finally got a little brother and all is well. Jingle was always a scrawny undersized cat who never could put weight on because he never kept much food down. My carpets are proof of that. In the last three years, Jingle has come off of prescription cat food and now eats and keeps down anything that doesn't get out of his way. He actually had to be put on a diet this year because he was getting fat! I truly believe now that all of the stomach problems he has had for years stemmed from being lonely.
I started this long involved story simply because I was looking at my fish tank this morning which will require cleaning today. I hate cleaning the fish tank. I don't think Shiner has ever even noticed the fish tank. But as long as Jingle is even slightly entertained by it, I guess I will continue the never ending battle of keeping it semi-clean. Have a great Monday.
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