We have nine fish! No, make that 29!

Last Sunday, the husband, Kavin and my parents went to the market to buy basic supplies like veggies and fruits.

I had the whole house to myself, so I was basking in the quiet( with occasional squeals from Naitik) and enjoying some 'me' time with recorded episodes of Masterchef Australia. Little did I know what was in store for me in the next hour.

An excited family returned, armed with all the items for assembling a fish tank!

All I could do was open and close my mouth like a gold fish! Clearly,I felt ambushed. I stared at my parents, who shrugged the 'don't-ask-us-we-had-nothing-to-do-with-it' shrug.
But when you have a charged toddler bobbing up and down and a grinning husband setting up the tank, all you can do is accept that you have been beaten and join them.

So the swimming inhabitants were four tangerine fish, a couple of black mollies, a pair of dollar fish and a sucker fish.
"All peaceful and relatively clean fish", said my better half, clearly very excited.
The non swimming entities- two plastic plants, a pump, gravel and a bubble blowing toy crocodile( named Crockea) And the tank was ready!





After calming down a very wound up toddler, we settled down for the night and I had fishy dreams (not of the marinated ones on a plate!)

The next morning, as I went to say hello to the fish, I noticed some tiny black specks swimming around in the tank- dirt? I wondered.





Turned out, the female Black Molly was preggers and she chose our tank to deliver. Knew there was a nanny around, I suppose. So we had twenty tiny little baby black mollies swimming away, with their little tails and fins beating with fervency! The new mother that I am myself, I immediately felt like nurturing the fry. Given a choice, I would've probably distributed mithai- but I knew I would be called mental, so I contained myself.

Feeling protective towards the new babies, I googled all I could about baby mollies. Found out that their parents eat them! Immediately considered buying a breeding net, but realised the Molly couple were sweet, caring parents and preferred fish food to cannibalism. The other fish don't bother them as well.





So all you people who suddenly find Molly babies in your fish tank, feed then powdered fish food often, see if they're getting troubled, if they are, buy a breeding tank and let them be there for a week or so before you change the water.

I now feed my baby mollies thrice a day and keep counting them to ensure none are being eaten. My kids are feeling a bit ignored.They're growing at a phenomenal rate and the week is almost up. What next? More growth. I can feel it in my gills.