Spring cleaning

Here’s an unedited scene showing the latest arrival cleaning my aquarium.

Here’s what his other side looks like:

The tank sits in front of a window that looks south and for some time I have been tired of scraping off the algae with a utility knife blade. At a local pet store the other day, an employee talked me into buying a large (8 inch) plecostomus. Previous to the plec, there were only two fish in the tank: a female Jack Dempsey whose mate tried to kill her after they had babies and ate them, and her companion, a large Arulius barb who had been making trouble in the original community tank he had outgrown.

Once introduced to Miss Havisham‘s tank (yes, I do call the jilted female Jack Dempsey that), Marcus the Arulius and she got along famously.

But there was no controlling the algae and I decided that the two decadent aristocrats needed a maid/butler. So far, the plec is doing double duty, and the disappearance of algae is nothing short of amazing. And there are no quarrels.

When you’re dealing with large fish, finding compatible tankmates is a tricky business, but the latest arrival is definitely working out.

He’s now cleaning the exterior of Miss Havisham’s algae-covered palace.