After a few days of not having Oscar anymore and just his tank buddies, I felt it was time to go out and get some new fish. Going back to the goldfish.

Scott: "Oh god! Please tell me you bought NORMAL goldfish this time."

Ellen: "Define NORMAL."

Scott: "Ones that don't swim upside down for 3 years. That was not normal."

Ellen: "Yes it was, they just had character."

Scott: "Character is a funny set of spots, or swimming through a hoop. Character is not playing 'who can imitate an empty beer can?' the longest."

So I bought goldfish anyway. Ones that will develop "character". I mean, the cool kind, not the dead beer can kind. I hope.

I settled on 2 small lionhead orandas, and 2 veiltail orandas. Cute, spunky, small to start, and with all the fishy personality you could want. Which is to say they wiggle and swim like, well, other fish. Only weirder.

Then I saw him. My new nasty. My Weather Loach. I knew instantly I had to have this eel-like bad boy. My mother was cringing in the car because she had to have the fish on her lap for the trip back from the shop.

Mom: "UUUGGHH!!! It keeps jumping up in the bag! It wants out!" ("uugh... it keeps jumpin in tha bayag... it wants owt!"-- Scott)

Me: "Ma, you know it looks like a snake right? Well more like an eel."

Mom: "WHY did you get this thing!?"

Me: "I needed a bottom feeder?" *eViL GrIn*

Needless to say, my tank is well established and everyone's settled well into their new home. The oscar feeder fish are happy they have a colony they can call their own, instead of a godzilla fish that just happened to be too old to turn them into lunch. Plus, I have an active loach that does not want to hide under a rock, but explore his new tank.

Now all we have to do is keep Ajax from stalking the tank. Last time we had small fish he knocked the tank seams loose!