The Austin Fish Loft: The First Aquarium

I should reiterate that I just wanted a nice aquarium to serve as an interesting way to separate my loft's sleeping area from the more public -- after all, you can watch the fish from either side. I never planned to fill the place with aquariums. I never anticipated learning so much about fish and their care. And I certainly never expected to spend so much time knee-deep in local creeks. But obsessions, as such, are rarely planned.

I should also say that before getting this loft, I've had very little experience with fishkeeping. Growing up, it seemed we always had a 10-gallon going, but never anything bigger. I know we had tetras, a cory, and angelfish -- but probably at different times. In college I had a 10-gallon for awhile. I remember getting a clown knife that died within a couple days, and then getting a blue gourami that lasted a bit longer. But I never caught the aquarium-bug back then -- I guess I was always consumed by other interests and pursuits.

So here I am in this new loft apartment with my king bed. I'm checking out CraigsList for a good deal on an aquarium. I've decided to get two bookshelves and arrange them back-to-back. This will allow one to be accessible from the bed and the other from the living area. I'm still not sure what size tank to get. But then a great post goes up: It's a 55-gallon for $100. It includes the filtration system (Biowheel 350), lights, and wooden stand. And best of all: It comes with two mature fish! There's a pleco and an oscar, both about 5-years old.

We drive out to Lago Vista on Lake Travis to check it out. The fish are huge -- about 12-inches each -- and the tank is filthy. The pump and hood is covered with calcium, the glass covered with algae, and the water full of fish crap. We'll take it. Let's get these fish in buckets, get home quick, and get this cleaned up and set up.

When we get back, we're scrubbing rock and scraping glass all night. We're starting to worry about these huge fish that were suddenly removed from their 5-year home. Now they're not moving much in the buckets. Finally it's all ready to go. We arrange the river rocks, fill the water, and add the necessary conditioner.

We get the fish in there quickly -- with probably too little regard for acclimation. But they both seem fine, just a little shocked. They calmly checked out their new surrounding and everything was fine for about three hours. Then the pleco died. Just like that. He wasn't flailing about or gasping for air. He just silently stopped moving and, well, everything else. It was disappointing to have our first fish die the first day we got it. We rushed and rushed to get the tank set up to hopefully prevent this from happening . I figure the move was just too much -- or the tank too clean.

The next day it was back to work. I painted the stand and trim on the filled aquarium. We had to get it set up quick to save the fish, so I had to paint it right here in the loft. I covered the top and glass with newspaper in order to spray paint the trim with plastic-fusing paint. (I did the hood and light covers outside.) Then I managed to shove cardboard wedges around the bottom to protect the carpet as I brush painted the stand. Painting in a small loft apartment actually worked out well. Keeping an old, bitter fish, moved from his only home and losing his only tank-mate, did not work out well. Read on.