"I have a tropical fish!"

"I have a tropical fish!"

The excitement and pleasure of this thought made me feel buoyant for days.

As soon as I awoke each morning I would spring out of bed and race to the kitchen to check the tank, always fearful I would find a floating fish carcass. Alby would swim to the top of the water, glassy eyes meeting mine, mouth opening and closing. It was a move I interpreted as both a greeting and an expression of hunger.

I would say "Good morning", turn on the tank's light and drop a pinch of supermarket fish flakes near Alby's head. Over morning coffee, I watched Alby eat and tootle around the tank, pearl white scales glowing under the fluorescent light, semi-translucent fins and tail twitching and flowing. It was a serene way to start the day.

Arriving home at night I would perform the same routine. Check fish is still alive, greet fish, turn on light, feed fish, watch fish.

I figured that my constant fear of finding Alby dead arose from the fact that I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I knew nothing about caring for tropical fish; maybe I was doing something, with good intentions, that could actually harm the fish. I didn't even know what type of fish Alby was.

I tapped "white tropical fish" into Google and quickly found an image of an identical fish. Alby was a Molly.

I read articles and discussion threads, trying not to feel overwhelmed by all of the new information and varying opinions. Water quality, it seemed, was the first thing to get right. I tried not to fret about harming Alby with dodgy water before the weekend came, when I could get to my local aquarium.

Michelle at Rayonne Aquarium was very thorough in her explanation of how to manage water quality. She offered me a full aquarium test kit then gently steered me away from it, telling me it was quite expensive and included tests that I probably didn't need to worry about if all I had was one Molly in a 90 litre (24 gallon) tank.

Michelle grabbed an ammonia test kit from the shelf behind the cramped counter and told me that the main thing to worry about was ammonia. Even if all your other water parameters are ok, if there's ammonia in the water, even a tiny amount, it might kill the fish. I took the ammonia test kit (I may as well have two) and, remembering some of the things I had read online, I picked up a PH test from the sale table.

The talk turned to food and I told Michelle about the frozen brine shrimp with spirulina I'd bought from a pet shop in the city. She recommended adding fresh veggies, like pumpkin, zucchini, lettuce and peas to Alby's diet.

While we talked, my eyes drifted to tanks stacked three-high around the outer wall and through the centre of the ground floor of the shop. Tetras, Plecos, Oscars, Silver Dollars and Goldfish swam prettily into view, prompting me to ask Michelle what types of fish could live with Alby the Molly?

"Nah-uh" she said, "You're going home to test your water first. Don't even think about putting anything else in the tank until you know that the water is good."

If I did discover ammonia in the water I was to do 30% water change today and again in a few days time. I left with my test kits and a bag of water conditioner, feeling well-armed to embrace this new hobby.

The first water test was fine - no ammonia and PH within the best range for a Molly. I did a 30% water change anyway just for the practice, then tested the water again. It was still good.

Over the next week I tested the water twice each day, in the morning and at night, building it into the routine; greet, turn on light, test water, feed, watch fish. Even with the addition of the test, it got old pretty quickly.

I wondered would this fish-keeping thing would be more interesting if I had two fish?

#tanktales