My algae eater stopped cleaning the fish tank!
I have a 20 gallon fish tank, filled with tropical fish. I always loved my algae eater. It would clean everything, all the time. He (I decided to give a pronoun to my algae eater) would either be on the bottom of the tank getting rid of the waste from the other fish, on the sides furiously scraping away to keep them spotless, cleaning the live plants, or on occasion, and what I think was his personal favorite, eating the remains of a fish I didn’t find in time.
I always wanted him to expand from the tank and clean my house. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see this fish in various parts of my home scrubbing away and keeping it clean?!
Nonetheless, he grew in proportion to the tank, and I’ve been fortunate to see a small fish transform to a pretty large impressive looking fish.
He is also my oldest fish, about 10 years old.
All in all I’ve been very happy with him.
Until he stopped cleaning the tank.
I can’t put an exact date on this. I think I first noticed the tank being dirty. Okay, I still clean it every four to six weeks. So was probably due for cleaning. But after I cleaned it I noticed a day or two later it was pretty dirty again. Maybe I didn’t do a thorough cleaning, so I cleaned certain parts again. But it got dirty very quickly.
This is when I noticed – the algae eater was just sitting there.
At first I thought he was dead and I was a little sad.
But then I noticed him breathing and he would move every so often. But instead of cleaning he was hanging out, lying around different parts of the tank.
Now I’m not happy with him.
I suppose he’s had enough. He’s had his share of being around the tank. He’s seen it all. He’s grown as large as he desires.
He’s content.
Can I blame him?
Maybe I’m envious. How often do I continue to do something even when I’ve had enough? How often do I do things out of routine, because I’m in a rut, because I can’t bother changing, or I have fear of change?
My fish knew when it was time to stop. It seems to be quite happy living the new life. No guilt, no agonizing about the decision.
When I stop something, whether it’s a job or something I’ve done for years, or something which keeps playing over and over in my mind:
• I allow myself to feel the uncertainty of change.
• I open myself up to something new.
• I’m content – for the moment.
I believe I need to get another algae eater for my tank. Of course, I’ll make sure this won’t affect the longevity of my retired algae eater.
But I’m content my 10 year old fish won’t be cleaning any more.