At Christmas we welcomed a guppy named Butterfly into our home. This marks our first foray into pet ownership since Ian and I moved back to Washington, and Benji’s first pet ever. Fish don’t exactly fulfill the “snuggly buddy to play with” role that a mammal might, but they do have the benefit of demanding very little. And over time it does appear that Butterfly might, slowly, be associating the food container with food.
Anyway, Butterfly has survived in our care for three weeks, so we decided to introduce some additional fish into the tank. One guppy occupying an entire 20-gallon tank made people ask, “Is there anything in there?” After a little research, and at the recommendation of the pet store, we purchased a dozen neon tetras. (Now, reading the recommendations, we should’ve gotten 15 neon tetras. Oh well, I trust they won’t feel too stressed.)