As discussed earlier, reef aquariums don’t always have fish in them.  But for me, fish are a must.  I like the look of the live corals and other invertebrates, but I like to have fish as well.  After all, part of the point is to have fish as pets, to feed daily, and to take care of.  It also helps to keep the kids interested in the hobby.

Ren and Stimpy

When we originally went to the fish store, we were planning on purchasing one fish.  I was actually leaning towards a Yellow Tang myself.  But, my son choose a black striped Clown Fish.  When we had selected the perfect Clown Fish, and were checking out, the store owner asked, “are you just getting one?”  He insisted that Clown Fish are very social, and that they would do much better if there were two or more of them.  They would eat better, be more active, and generally just make better pets.  Of course, my son saw this as an opportunity to pick out a different colored Clown Fish, but they have to be the same breed.

I wasn’t sure at the time if this speech about Clown Fish being social was genuine, or if it was just a ploy to get me to spend more money.  But when I got them home, acclimatized to the new aquarium, and started watching them in their new home, it does seem to be true.  They very rarely separate.  They will occasionally shoot across the aquarium apart from each other, but they will soon be back together.  The all black Clown Fish appears to be the dominant of the two, and will occasionally nip at the other just to show who’s boss, but they never hurt each other.

Since these are pets, they have to have names, right?  As we were driving home, my son and I decided they should be called Eeny and Meeny. However, when we arrived at home and another son asked what their names were, Mrs Salty Geek immediately yelled out “Ren and Stimpy!” Since I’ve been a big fan of The Ren & Stimpy Show forever, I answered back, “Ummm… yah, they’re Ren and Stimpy!”  I had to convince my other son later, of course, but the names have stuck so far.

We feed the Clown Fish once per day.  They dine exclusively on frozen Brine Shrimp.  We put the frozen block into a small Tupperware container along with a few teaspoons full of salt water from the aquarium.  Then, when it’s thawed, we suck out a few Brine Shrimp at a time with a medicine dropper, and squirt it in the fish tank.  The idea is to watch the fish, and see if they are still eating.  You really don’t want to introduce a lot of extra food to decompose.  I was originally alternating between frozen Brine Shrimp and a flake food, but an employee at the fish store suggested that the flake food would tend to get sucked up in the filter and decompose there.