Thursday, March 04, 2004

o-fish-ally munged

We've got the ARAZPA (don't ask me - something with Australasian, Zoo and Aquarium in the title) conference starting next week so the aquarium is a little crazy at the moment. I'm spending the next 2 days cleaning every tank in my section, making sure all are fully stocked and every single fish is a worthy specimen, cleaning the behind-the-scenes areas (for inspection by overseas fish gurus) till they fucking shine, and generally making everything look better than it's ever looked before.

We have a few niggling problems though...

We appear to have the worlds shyest octopus. Max IV is just not playing ball. Or in fact playing with anything, not even the tasty, crunchy crabs we put in there for him to snack on. Bring back Max II. Even Max III was better, despite the rather hacked-up look of having lost several arms. He does have one 'endearing' habit though - that of sticking his siphon out of the tank and jetting water over everything in the night. Wanker.

Our fish-catcher. A perennial problem, it has to be said - with a survival rate of around 20% from his 'tender ministrations' we'd be better off getting stock from a fish & chip shop... Though he's bringing in some stuff tonight, so if they're up to scratch I'll let him off this once. Just no more fucking marblefish, ok?

Christ, I don't want to think about this anymore, I'm supposed to be trying to relax so that I might experience this strange state they call "sleep"... Needless to say, I'm a little dubious about its existence.

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