Aquarium, you make my heart sing!

I could spend 6 of the 7 days of the week at an aquarium! 

I have a deep need to connect with water creatures -- the habit is supported by two fish tanks at home.  Not sure where the need came from, (and boats make me sea sick) but I don't argue... I just go with it! 

We went to The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT... and had a blast! 

Not your typical aquarium exhibit.. but they had Meercats!!  We quickly found out that early morning and mid-week.... all the animals were still so sleepy. 

Imagine if you sleep like this.  Bet you would need a good stretch after!

They had a whole room full of frogs.  Big ones, little ones.  The poisonous kind.  The loud ones.  Some that were brightly colored. 

This guy stole the show for me!!

They have some gigantic tanks! 

This one towered over my head and went all the way to the ground.  As the sharks swam around it felt a bit like they would come right over and shake my hand.  Errr... um... ask me what's for lunch!

I can never get enough jellyfish either.  They had a dark room with a cylinder tank all light up which really made the jellyfish look like they were dancing! 

I can't get over how delicate and detailed they are. 

One of my other favorite are the clown fish.  It was probably the movie "Finding Nemo" that ignited that love affair. 

Bright and beautiful... I could watch these clowns all day too.  Wonder how often they hear that!?!

I think all the bubbling water relaxes me!  Tomorrow I will show you those silly harbor seals!!

Fish watching the tube

Fish are a funny thing.  They are so different from us air breathers.  And at the same time I get such a huge sense of happiness feeding them, cleaning them, and most days I could just spend hours watching them!!

I think I originally introduced you to my fish here in March last year.

And then later I gave you another glimpse of how cute Titan is here after a much needed tank scrubbing.

Well, the darling fish have gotten an upgrade.  A bigger tank that is.  And Titan (the biggest black moor) has gotten two new friends who need an introduction. 

So, Titan is the biggest one.  The smallest black moor I named Twinkle, much to the dismay of Mr. Happy.  You see originally I was naming my fish after American Gladiators... but I went a bit more girly this time.  The gold fish is named Star. 

(You name your fish, right?  So, this isn't too weird... right?)

Like I was saying earlier, I spend a lot of time watching these guys swim around, play in the water fall from the filter, chase bubbles, look at the rocks, and interact with each other.  The other day I noticed something.... let me show you what I mean.

They seem to be up to something, don't you think?  Why are they all looking in the same direction?  What are they looking at? 

I think. Don't make fun of me... but I think, they are watching TV with me.  Look.  Looks like they are, doesn't it?

They stayed like that for pretty much the full hour of the show House.  I wonder what the show looks like from underwater?  Do you think they can hear it like we can, or does it all get translated it to water ripples?

Seeing fish enjoy the same TV show as me = happiness!

Even more so.... giving my fish silly personalities and names and trying to guess how big they will get = happiness!

Cleaned that fish

I cleaned that fish! (finally)

Man that feels good to get that done.

Making that goldfish wiggle with happiness again ... really makes me happy too!

Your welcome Titan! Glad to see you aren't green any more!

Big Mouth Bass

Catching a whopper = happiness!

We haven't fished as much as we would have liked to this summer, but we did make it out last weekend and caught a whopper. Well... to be more specific Mr. Happy caught this whopper... a big mouth bass! I hooked one, reeled it in, and then didn't grab him fast enough which allowed him to jump off back into the water --sigh, next time!

The pair of them would have made for some "good eat-en!"

Big Fish

Getting up close and personal with fish that are bigger than your head = happiness!

Keeping with the aquatic theme today... here are some gigantic fish I met; and man were they ever BIG! Even more amazing was the size of their tank. How can you resist smiling at the sight of big fishie lips?

Clown Fish

Seeing a clown fish up close and personal (it's Nemo!) = happiness!

Since it's raining today we will do all sorts of water creatures starting with this cute little clown fish. I snapped him at the aquarium in Mystic, CT. They had a whole incredible tank full of them! My favorite line from Finding Nemo, the movie that made clown fish so popular, is: "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..."

Perfect quote to start another work day.

Lion Fish

Realizing their are some very incredible, delicate, and dangerous things that we share the world with = happiness!

Check out the fins on this guy! Looking at this guy in in his gigantic aquarium fluttering effortlessly in front of me... it made me wonder how a fish gets so incredible! And did you know these guys are venomous? So cool!

gold fish...

Attentive big-eyed goldfish (black moors) = happiness!

The fishy tank is on our kitchen counter... so you always have a cooking buddy! Titan is the big one and his friend is Giant.