Endangered
Continuing Fish Week
These are from only 2 lakes in West Guinea, Indonesia. At one point their biggest threat was being collected to be used in aquarium trade. Now, the main problems for them are invasive species and birds hunting them. They are captive bred, but there seems to be a physical deformity becoming more common in the captive ones. I worry that it will lead to the wild ones being captured again. The males are about 4 inches long. The females are smaller and not as brightly coloured. They can change the intensity of their colouring. Most of what I saw when researching them was advertisements for buying them, or talking about keeping them in aquariums. One of the pages showed a before and after picture. The before was right after someone had gotten a fish from a pet store. It was a light almost sickly greenish brown colour, and the after was the fish looking beautiful, obviously happier and healthier now it had been living in a quality aquarium for some time. They are sociable fish and prefer to live with others.
Today is the birthday of my best friend from childhood. We always get take-out from the restaurant I took her to for her birthday shortly before she died. It was the last time I got to see her. I like to spend the time remembering the many years we were best friends, all the fun we had, and just what a wonderful person she was. There literally was not enough space for everyone who came to her memorial. We had to set up chairs in the hallways outside of the sanctuary. There were people standing along the edges. She wasn't famous, but she was the sort of person that made people happy, made others feel loved. She was kind, and I was so lucky to have been her first and longest best friend. It was one of those things where you have to resign yourself to sharing your best friend, but you secretly think "neener neener neener, I knew her first so I'm the REAL best friend" sort of thing. We met when we were about 3 1/2 and were best friends from then on, never having an argument. She died of Idiopathic Pulmonary Hypertension, and though it has been a few years now, I still miss her dearly. Be thankful for your friends, the people who choose to love you. They can be every bit as much your family as those you are related to by blood. She certainly was a sister to me.
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