#fish tank

Some more photos of the dead L260s and hillstream fish jars. I really need a shelf space to display these. Probably check on the older jars too, to see if they are okay. I’m still surprised this mixture of water and alcohol lasts this long.

A few of my dead fish collection. I have more jars but these were in the box I was going through.

The first one was a group of L260 I had. The heater overheated the tank while I was not home. Lost $300 of fish that day. The other jar is a mix of hillstream fish. These were the dead when I got columnaris from fish I quarantined four months before putting into the tank. Lost most of my hillstream loaches, gobies, and almost quit. My $100 loach is somewhere in there.

I like collecting the dead. Fish are in a solution of rubbing alcohol and water (mostly alcohol). It’s been almost three years for the L260s and seven for the hillstream. Still keeping their “color” and skin. I’m amazed they lasted this long in the solution. I want to display the jars but I don’t have room for a shelf so the jars are in boxes until I get a bigger room.

The hillstream tank before a water change and cleaning. A lot of najas grass with plenty of hair algae attached. Grows crazy but I love and hate it.

Small sewellia spotted juvenile. A few have started popping out again after I sold a lot of the other offspring during fall.

Stiphodon male.

Around ten days old, I think. Some started wondering out so I decided to put all in a breeder container until they get a bit larger then they will be moved into a regular grow out tank.

The darker colored one, at the bottom, is the cull which I am not too sure if I should just cull “it” now or wait. The stomach area, did not form correctly and I don’t want it to suffer. Rest look to be good. Started eating the Repashy I fed tonight.

A little stressed out from being removed from the cave. You can also compare how tiny the baby is to him.

Counted 15 fry but one looks a bit off so it will most likely be culled as I don’t want it to suffer growing up. It is shorter and the stomach area does not look fully formed. Fry were going to be put into a small grow tank but I decided I am going to keep them in the container that is in the same tank as their parents until they get a bit older. This will help the fry in finding food and not starving in a larger tank.

Some of my hillstream fish eating Repashy. Don’t remember if it was Bottom Scratcher or Grub Pie. Adult and baby sewellia sp., sinogastromyzon, gastromyzon, stiphodon, panda garra, to name a few fish shown.

“I’m not doing anything, Mom.”

40 gallon

Starring Michael Fassbender, Katie Jarvis, and Kierston Wareing

Directed by Andrea Arnold

Fifteen-year-old Mia Williams (Jarvis) lives a crummy life in London public housing. She’s lost all her friends and has been kicked out of school. Mia’s only escape from her abusive mother (Wareing) and the handful of social workers is through dance. Her life is changed when her mother’s new boyfriend, Conor (Fassbender), comes to live with the family while he sorts out family issues. Mia begins to fall for Conor as he encourages her to pursue dance and becomes a supportive friend. However, when Conor makes a sexual advance at Mia, the nature of their relationship changes, and Conor’s truth is inevitably revealed.

Mia’s low income, urban environment traps and tortures her. Any attempt she makes at freedom ends in injury. When she tries to release a horse chained to the ground, she gets assaulted and robbed by the horse’s owners. When Mia ventures into the river to catch a fish with Conor, the only audio is of her mother and sister shouting insults at her, and she cuts her foot. When Conor explains that if he could be any animal, he’d choose to free like an eagle, Mia and her family retort that this is stupid, since he would likely get shot. Unlike Conor, who comes from a middle class suburb, the girls understand that the vulnerability of liberty will only hurt them. Because of this, Mia is afraid of making herself emotionally vulnerably, especially to Conor. The slum they live in also corrupts innocence. Mia’s sister, Tyler, is a prime example of this. She’s only a young child, but throughout the film we see her curse, smoke, and dress scantily; her mother even hints that she will soon be kicked out of school. However, when characters like Conor actually treat her like the child see is, she acts accordingly, so her loss of innocence is purely external. Various establishing shots of the housing development convey a similar message. In one scene, a shot of small boys playing innocently cuts to a shot of older boys acting like thugs. The only solidarity we see between Mia and her mother is when they both dance to Nas rapping “life’s a bitch and then you die.” Its as if the only think the two relate on is how unfair their situation is.

The opening shot is just audio of Mia panting in exhaustion, illustrating how tired she is with her life. She then proceeds to call her friend, Kailey, and beg for forgiveness. Mia is intrinsically obstinate, so she must really be desperately lonely to reach out like that. She has no friends or family that care. Her mother is abusive and negligent, going as far as to tell Mia that she wanted to have her aborted. Also, Mia’s father is nowhere in sight. Because she is so lonely on all fronts, her attention from Conor seems to fill all of these boxes. She wants him romantically, sexually, as a friend, and as a father. Mia’s confused feeling for him are only muddled further by his mixed signals. Only moments before his sexual advance, he holds her as though she’s his child or friend. Her convoluted love for him makes her an easy target to his manipulation.

Mia sees the horse as a symbol for herself. Neither of them belong in such a harsh, restrictive environment. Just as the horse is bolted to the ground, Mia feels trapped in her situation. This also relates to the title of the film, since she feels stuck in her circumstances like a fish is in a tank. Mia is completely powerless but wishes to escape. We see her watching television shows about wealthy Londoners, envisioning a better life for herself. This is why she feels so compelled to free the horse; she is vicariously freeing herself. The horse is also white, symbolizing Mia’s innocence. Similar color imagery is used throughout the film. For instance, Mia says she wishes to become a white tiger. Also, during her sexual encounter, Mia is wearing white, and Conor is wearing black. Throughout the remainder of the film, she wears nothing but black. When the horse’s owner tells her they had to shoot her because she was old and sick, Mia breaks down in tears. This reaction is her realization that her hope and purity are dead as well.

There is a tie between dancing and sexuality. All of the other female characters use dancing as a way to express sexuality; Mia’s mother, Kailey and her new friends, and the women at the audition all dance erotically. Mia, on the other, is far less sexual. She dresses in loose clothing and has a far less voluptuous build. Her dancing doesn’t evoke sexuality; it is her mode of escape not eroticism. However, Mia feels she must become sexual in order to be loved. When she sees her mother grinding on Conor, Mia goes to put on more makeup. She also tries wearing her hair down once she’s told it makes her look more feminine.

I love this movie. Arnold (dir) has an interesting technique that promotes fantastic acting. She only sends the actors the script of the scene they’re about to perform, so the later twists and turns are kept a secret. This makes mini-method situations, creating authentic performances and preserving plot twists. The element of realism evoked both by the acting and the camera work really impressed me.

19/20