My own prison...

Although I don't have any furry pets, I do have an undying devotion to aquariums. Since I was small and my parents took me to the Baltimore aquarium I wanted to be a marine biologist. I even took a tour of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute after I graduated high school. Somewhere my career goals changed, but I never lost my love of diving, the ocean, and marine life in general. That is why I must always have an aquarium in my house. Wherever I live. It's a necessity. I've been keeping a tank for about 10 years now and up until three years ago it had always been freshwater. When I moved to Delaware I decided that I was going to change it to a saltwater coral environment. In my opinion saltwater (marine) fish are more responsive and WAY more colorful than your average goldfish. I also found out they're 100 times more work to maintain and more expensive to buy. So every Saturday for about an hour and a half it is my duty to service the tank which includes cleaning off the glass, changing filters, emptying liquid waste (fish urine) out of the separator tank and cleaning the sand. After all that's done I check each of the fish by watching them, checking for spots, injuries, weird actions, and such. And that doesn't even include feeding them. The majority of them eat marine flakes, however Nemo and Marlin (hmm... wonder where I got those original names from?) eat frozen brine shrimp. But when it's all said and done, the stress is wiped clean just by watching them....