Fish problems

 

I am very sad and disturbed as some of my fishes started mysteriously fading away and dying.

I have aquarium for over a year now and can recognise the dreadful symptoms when the fish suddenly starts to hide behind the heater, this is usually a first sign that something is wrong and poor baby will soon die. I can't put in the words how much this saddens and stresses me out because my aquarium is the centre of my living room and it is here to make me happy, excited and delighted - these fishes are my babies, I selected them with a purpose and named each one of them so I can tell them apart. 

I was told that its not unusual that fishes occasionally die (it happens) but what bothers me is that at this point none of my first fishes (bought a year ago) are still alive - except two Cory catfish who are bottom feeders and I always called them "Twins" because they are difficult to tell apart. Why is it that the shop-bought fishes have such a short life span? A year and that's it. Look at this beautiful photo: these 3 babies were my very first fishes and none of them is alive anymore (as I am writing this, the black one, Sasha, is dying at the bottom of aquarium and I gently nudge him every now and than just to make sure he is still alive). A friend who has experience with aquariums suggested that it might be the fact they are probably imported and genetically weakened - he says that I should look for a local breeder with stronger fishes. 

I am heartbroken and upset, naturally wondering what did I do wrong and am I perhaps fussing too much around them - I change 20% of their water regularly, test the water, bring new fresh live plants, feed them just once (sometimes twice) a day in small doses ... now, I did some research on the net and everybody talks about overfeeding killing fishes - I give my fishes small doses and sometimes even steam green peas for them (that I peel, since fish can't eat the skin) just to make sure they have good, varied food and not only dry food - to be honest, this is probably the only one explanation I can think of, since during my vacation last year a friend came to feed them twice per week and they were perfectly fine without me fussing around. When changing the water, I always add a little bit of recommended chemicals that help against chlorine in our kitchen water - but since I lost 3 fishes in two days (and seeing another one hiding behind the heater) I am alarmed enough to change the water again, just to make sure everything is fine for them - this makes me so worried and unhappy. I decided to move away from this zoo shop and search for alternative, perhaps its not really about me but about poor weakened fishes who simply don't have long life span. I am so sorry, my poor dear Sasha. The three babies on this photo are Sasha, Ray and Peter. 

This was Sasha when I first brought him home, he was actually a very beautiful light blue boy with dalmatian-like spots and I always loved him very much, with time he grew up and changed into dark, almost black fish. 

Exhibition: "Manahahtáanung or New Amsterdam? - The Native Story Behind New York"

 

One thing that I always loved about living in Amsterdam is the sheer variety of museums. At any time of the mont, there are countless wonderful museums and exhibitions around town and I use my annual membership to visit anything that strikes me as interesting. This particular exhibition is showing in a place that is a bit strange - previously used as a retirement home, it became "Hermitage Amsterdam" at certain point and for years it exhibited the art from the original Hermitage in St.Petersburg, until the start of war in Ukraine made this collaboration unwelcome. So the magnificent palace on Amstel became space where two wings are currently used by two different museums: one is called H'ART Museum and another Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel - the second one being a temporary storage for The Amsterdam Museum that is being renovated. Neither of these solutions is very successful, as the space often feels empty and I just wish that things go back to normal. 

While the original The Amsterdam Museum in Kalverstraat 92 is closed for renovation, some selected items are on display under the name Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel. It is literary just a tiny bit of their wast collection and now on one added floor there is a new exhibition that under normal circumstances would probably be displayed in a proper space in Kalverstraat. I always feel a bit frustrated with all these perpetual changes because it feels like a disruption of the original idea. And the word "temporary" is at this point stretching into years.

Well, the new exhibition itself is actually quite gripping. Its all about the native inhabitants of what is today known as Manhattan and was once called by the natives Manahahtáanung. The exhibition follows some drawings, maps and original artifacts from the times when Dutch colonists first came here to establish a new colony and the city New Amsterdam that would eventually become New York. This all happened exactly 400 years ago so it makes this exhibition timely. As interesting as it is, it also makes you feel sorry for duped original Lenape people who really had no chance against the intruders and are unceremoniously pushed aside. 

"The Art of the English Murder" by Lucy Worsley (2013)

 

I love Lucy Worsley - I have watched countless of her excellent documentaries, read few of her books and at least once a week I am listening her podcast "Lady Killers" so this book was really a no brainer for me, I knew it would be something that I will enjoy. Perhaps her particular charm works the best on TV because she is such a joy to watch visually - but at this point I could easily just read her writing and imagine to listen to her voice. 

Originally printed in 2013 as "A Very British Murder: The Story of a National Obsession" the book examines the origins of a typical British thirst for good, old fashioned murder and ponders when and why did it became accepted for a wide audience to enjoy this sort of grisly fiction. As expected, she is light & breezy (in spite of dark subject) and knows her history - after all, Worsley is historian - and the book is basically a walk trough the centuries of crime fiction. Everything is more or less as expected, except that I was fascinated with a completely off-centre information about puppet theatre:

"The peepshow, or its close companion the puppet show, did not yet have its modern-day connotations of light comedic entertainment for children. Many puppet shows were staged with all the weight and seriousness of tragedy. In fact, this was the medium by which people living in rural England were able to experience the best plays to be seen on the London stage, and the serious, adult-orientated puppet show was a vastly popular form of entertainment.

Puppet performances continued throughout the nineteenth century, until finally brought to a halt by improvements to public transport – once people could travel to their nearest town with ease, they became less interested in having the travelling theatre come to them – as well as the growth of the cinema. The First World War proved the death blow to the old puppet show families. With the young men removed, there was no one to carve the puppets, perform the shows, or drive the van. When puppetry was revived after the war, it returned as much more of an entertainment for children."