Why fish ?

Why the interest in fish ? Personally, it stems out from the interests in keeping pets. Frogs/ little chicks/ hamsters/ kittens/ birds/ spiders etc were kept at one point in time or another during childhood years...although ranging from a few hours to a few weeks before mum discovered and released some , sent a few off to my primary school science garden, or beared with them due to dad voting for me. Eventually the "longer lasting" hamsters' offended mum with the slightest stench, which led to them being placed outside the house and ended up getting stolen !! -- the lure of the adorable ones had the thieves cutting the chain that linked up the hamster cage to the water pipe just outside my bedroom window just to have the hamsters for themselves!!

THE CUTe FAMILY OF 8 !

A few initial attempts when 1st trying to keep fish almost had me give up on them...what's the idea with having a few fishes swimming around in an enclosed fish tank, not being able to be taken out and petted, doesn't give out an endearing "meow" of a little kitten nor able to take a piece of carrot out of my hand, holding it in its two front paws and looking as cute as a hamster can get ? The lack of interest led to my 1st few fishes either being ignored, or overfed yet i didn't bother to change the dirty water that they were swimming in, excreting in and drinking ! Dad was definitely struggling to help me keep the fishes alive but the toll of 2 jobs usually left him too tired to keep up with my messing up of the over-populated fish tank. Needless to say, I still was attracted to the then seemingly "exotic" creatures like fighting spiders and even baby house lizards !


Then came primary 3, and science was my favourite subject. Growing bean sprouts out of green beans, learning more about animals and the food chain and how important their natural habitats keep them alive made me appreciate, respect and regret the lives lost during my "exotic pet collection" days.... Think i forgot to mention the tens to a hundred lives that i ended when i brought them home and away from the natural habitats that sustained them... I then started to view aquariums as a duplicate of a whole enclosed natural ecosystem for the fishes within rather than a container just to keep them alive in....