Rescuing Darna

I noticed yesterday that Darna, our pet arowana, had two red spots by the sides of her head. I'm not really sure what they were. Were they bruises or were they just really part of the Australian Arowana's scale coloration? I tried to remember if she already had them when we bought her last weekend from Cartimar. I couldn't recall.

And Darna just stayed in one corner. Not as lively as before when she would swim all around the aquarium.

In a moment of near panic, I called on my brother who knows more about fish health than I do. And he checked on Darna. He put rock salt into the aquarium and advised me to observe Darna's behavior. Replace 25% of the aquarium water and repeat the treatment of putting rock salt into the water. Darna may not have fully adjusted yet to her new environment, he says, thus stressing her out.

And so I checked on Darna from time to time. And I was appalled by what I observed. Some of the guppies we bought to be Darna's food were sometimes attacking Darna. They bit Darna by the side of her head.

So that's what has been causing the redness.

Like a father impulsively protecting his child, I grabbed the fish net catcher. I have identified Darna's attackers and ferociously hunted them down inside the aquarium. No, you cannot do that to my Darna. You bastards.

After catching them, I transferred them to an unused fishbowl I have. But before releasing them into the fishbowl, I thought of things I could do to get back at them for what they did to Darna. I could have easily killed them by not releasing them into the water. That would be like drowning them, not being able to breathe. Or I could get a needle and prick them by the side of their heads to let them feel what they have been doing to my pet. Or I could put them in a cooking pot filled with water and heat it up in the gas burner. That would be a taste of aquarium hell for them.

Hmmm... but those would be considered cruelty to animals. These tiny fish also have life. I cannot torture them like that.

So I decided that I would just leave them in the fishbowl. Let them stay there. Lucky if they get to survive. And once Darna is already grown up in a few months, I shall bring back these guppies back into Darna's aquarium and let her feast on them. That would be the perfect revenge.

Just like in any superhero story, Darna must take a beating from her enemies first. But in the end, the hero always wins.