THE LONELY LOACH

 POST # 588

What a life.  In my post from last week, I forgot to include the other pet that lives here. If you look closely you can make out the orange coloured tail fins of a fish called a loach, or as my friends describe it, "the ugly blue botia loach."

This critter spends its entire life on its own in this tank, and it's always in this position under the rock-like structure.  There had been other fish in the tank in years gone by, but this loach is the only remaining one.  I've never seen it swimming around, even once, but I know that it is alive, as every now and again, those orange tail fins flap up and down.

Each night, I feed it two of the little pellets that can be seen in the photo below.  I put a dime next to them to show just how small they really are. By the next morning the pellets are nowhere to be seen, but the loach is still in the same position as it was the day before.  That's its life.  

Perhaps the loach is trying to teach me a lesson, in letting me know just how blessed I am to have a multitude of activities to keep me occupied each and every day.  It, on the other hand, is stuck in that tank, with the only thing to look forward to are the two pellets that come floating down each evening.  If I ever find that I am feeling sorry for myself, from now on, all I have to do is think of the lonely loach, and that should set me right.

Soon I will be moving on to my next house sit, but the  lonely loach will continue on its existence, settled under a rock, at the bottom of a tank.  What a life.  What a lonely loach.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer