I am sincerely hoping that another one of my friends is reading this at this very moment. I gave them the address to my blog and told them that this is soul-baring ground. So, if you are here...welcome and receive a bearhug from me.

Now, on to better things.

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I don't know how many of you have aquariums at home, but if you do, AVOID flourescent bulbs like the plague. Maybe it's my own ignorance, or lack of ability, but I bought those things at walmart. $5 apiece, along with a promise of 'intensifying fish colors'. Yeah, that wasn't the only thing that was intensified. You see, my fish were plagued with an outbreak of algae that ended up eventually killing even Fred, my catfish who was 6 years old. I found two fish remaining out of like 10, put them in a tupperware bowl as I exiled them from their home, and proceeded to completely siphon dry the aquarium. I scrubbed, boiled, scrubbed, wiped, sprayed and eliminated all traces of that crap, which eventually had formed sheets on the walls. I then bought new gravel, conditioned 10 more gallons of water, and put them back in their home, coupled with a pair of new catfishes and a couple of more tetras to add to the original school of 10 which had become 2.

Up until now they seem happy...a little weirded out but content.

Such are the trials of owning an aquarium. :p