it's a fish-eat-fish world

If I want to see how the world operates in reality, I don't have to go to Wall Street or to the seat of national government or to the slums. All I need to do is sit down in front of our aquarium.

I was told by many that keeping an aquarium is good for the health. Mental, emotional, and physical health, I believe. The aquarium is claimed to calm the senses. The movement of the fish refreshes the eyes and the pattern of the moving water relaxes the mind.

But what about the day I arrived from work when the girls were excited with the news that a crayfish was eaten alive by the herd? Where did the bonds of tank-hood go wrong?

My own definition of an aquarium is goldfishes floating peacefully with their beady eyes. That's the kind I grew up with! But Nika and Gela, typical of them as they won't be making the purchase and won't be maintaining the tank, were wanting the Japanese koi. Trust them to be always one model upgrade from me.

Ultimately though, Mike filled it with ten tiger barbs, ten platys with Mickey Mouse logos in their tails, and six red cross tetras. We were okay with that.

Then we got these two crayfishes. Jacques and Madeline. Somehow the red slow-walking crayfish resonates French to me. So I named it Jacques. And as it hobbles around with its crimson claws, trying to get near to the other fast-swimming fish, Jacques was a pleasure to watch. It was very clear that Jacques has become my favorite.

Zooming past him are the active tiger barbs, and we had an agreement to give them the names of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Ra, Re, Mut, Nut, Isis, Osiris. The biggest one is Anubis, not for anything else but just because we love the name. They move a lot anyway that we cannot match the name with which fish. But we knew the barbs were deities in that tank, with their playful demeanor of jumping and sliding on the pair of wedding glasses (yep, the very ones used in our ceremonial sharing of the wine) arranged on the white sand to give the tank that Titanic feel.

It was just late that I discovered that "barb" actually means barbarians!

We found out that they have bitten off parts of two of the tetras. And to think that tetras are the friendlier relatives of piranhas. For days, a tetra went around sans fins and another one without a tail.

And then the barbs turned to the crayfishes. At the beginning, we feared that Jacques and Madeline will eat the other fish. But the opposite happened and Jacques was actually the casualty. The crayfish experienced molting, and lost its bright red shell. Its new shell was very soft and it needed time to harden. And it didn't stand a chance with the barbs.

Jacques was vulnerable and the tiger barbs had a feast of the little lobster. They ate him slowly - one tiny part at a time! It all happened in a day and all I got was the story when I got home.

I think Jacques was not a pet but I cried for him a lot that the whole family must have been surprised. I was devastated because it was not a fair fight. And that red crayfish made me smile when I'd see him try to navigate the obstructions in the aquarium and climb the driftwood.

Crying for Jacques even surprised myself too. I really never thought I'd care for a snippet bought from the local pet store. But I realize that we all are Jacques in our own ways, working hard at that little piece of rock, slowly going through our matters of consequence. And we don't need a team of tiger barbs to hit us during our weakest moment.

Then again, looking back on it now, any other Jacques or crayfish could be bigger. And faster. And a smaller fish could catch its attention. And be the one to end up in its claws. It's barbaric. But some say it's the way nature works. So I acquiesce.

Tiger barb photo credit: Tropical Freshwater Aquarium Fish