The Chis and the Haze

When we are at work and school, we always leave a gap at the balcony door, so that the cats can enjoy a little sunlight and fresh air. Mochi particularly likes the balcony.

Unfortunately, the haze has robbed us (and them) of the privilege. I read about outdoor community cats suffering from respiratory ailments but thought that our Chis should be ok. They are afterall indoor cats and spent all their time indoor, until we heard Mochi wheezing. 

Mochi does that occasionally. We can’t tell if he is trying to expel hairballs. Nana said that his wheezing is actually quite frequent recently. That’s it. The balcony door is now closed when we are not home and still closed when we are home but bad PSI. We do leave the service yard door open to let in some fresh air. 

Digressing, Mochi almost died 2x recently. A few weeks ago, the part time cleaner forgot to close the common toilet door after washing. I always tell all the cleaners to do so before they start their cleaning. Nana was home that day. The cleaner told Nana that “meow meow is outside”. Yes, Mochi has climbed out of the toilet window, out of the house and standing on the narrow aircon ledge. Nana and I went into Mochi-rescue operation mode and grabbed and dragged him back into the house. 

On another day, Daddy Lim fed the cats supplement and left the balance on the kitchen top. I found a chewed through top half of the remaining supplement. It was probably Mochi who chewed through the package. For the rest of the day, I found puddles of puke at different parts of the house. The last one was a big one with regurgitation of the supplement packaging that cannot be digested. At least he vomited it out.

Anyhow, the Cha are still alive. Today’s PSI index was good and when I opened the balcony door, Mochi rushed out to bake and snooze in the open. 

So cute! Pls stay healthy. 

Mummy Lim

Goodbye Oreo

Oreo was the last surviving fish from our QianHu Longkang haul in early March. It even survived the 2 other batches of new fishes that we got to keep it company. The new fishes slowly died whenever we changed water; we must have done something wrong and tried to rectify. Instead of changing the entire tank of water, we now use the dropper to tediously suck up the poo and then changed part of the water, like what we read from the internet. But it still didn't work. More fishes died. Sob. 

Every morning, I will go to the tank to see if Oreo was still alive. I was secretly happy to see Oreo still swimming in the tank.

A few days ago, we found Oreo shimmy. It is like wiggling in the same spot. It can't be for fun. We googled and found that Oreo was in stress probably bcos the water condition wasn't optimum. I know that, but don't know how to rectify. Daddy Lim said that we have to slowly change 10% of the water everyday for a few days. We did just that but I guessed it was too late...

This morning, Oreo finally gave up. Maybe bcos it wasn't so much a novelty anymore, the kids are not as upset. Daddy Lim said that we will not have another fish pet for a long time. 

Thank you Oreo, you have given us good times.  Goodbye. 

Mummy Lim

New Fishy Friends

It was meant to be an afternoon at the beach but it was drizzling on and off; it was too much risk to head to the beach. Bcos we had spent too many weekends mushrooming at home, we decided to bring the kids to do something fun and we headed to QianHu instead. That basically means new fishy friends. Mummy is so nice; I must be crazy. Haha.

Our last fish - Oreo, from our last QianHu longkang fishing expenditure is still alive. It had been more than 4 months! Good job. It even survived some of the new friends that we tried to introduce to it.

We again found Oreo some new friends. The kids were each given $8 budget for whatever fish that they wanted to buy. They were happily shopping but were considerate enough to look for fishes small enough to not overcrowd our little tank and those that are not going to be aggressive towards Oreo.

Lil Shauna eventually got 5 mini guppies and another molly while Zaky got 6 duno what schooling fishes. Daddy Lim chose a new plant. I wanted to get one of those sucker fish bcos they are like super hardy fish in my perspective only to realise that those are expensive. Never mind. Hoho. They survived the car journey home very well, even better than Lil Shauna who got car sick on the way home.

We took time to ensure Oreo gets accustomed to the new water and also took the chance to wash the tank thoroughly. It had a layer of algae on the tank's surface... Eeeeeeewwwwkkk...

Oreo looks like it is adjusting to his new friends. This morning, I checked and all of them are still alive. Then I realised that we forgot to feed them last night. Oopsy. Now, the challenge is now to figure out how much to feed the fishes.

Let's hope they all live well and good.

Mummy Lim

More Fishy Business

It all started with a Kdrama that I just completed watching. Long story short, the drama was set in a hospice setting where people died like throughout the drama.  The point is - life can be short and vulnerable and we should live life to the fullest and happily. So, the kids had been bugging to add on their fishy friends and kdrama helped them this time. Yay!

We were told that somewhere in Clementi neighbourhood, there is a whole row of fish shops with good selection. The kids were told that they could each select 1 fish. Lil Shauna was super keen on a puffer fish. Surprisingly, puffer fish could survive in fresh water but we were told that it has teeth and would attack the other fishes. Zaky wanted shrimps but those require super clean water... errrr... we confirm have sub-standard water.

In the end, Zaky ended up with 2 male guppies bcos 1 is too lonely. Lil Shauna got 3 dont know what fishes that need at least 3 for companion. What strange fishes. Then Daddy Lim brought a plant to calm the fishes. The fishes have such good life.

The kids excitedly do the needful to acclimatize the fishes before they are finally added to their new home.

We now have a total of 12 fishes and had killed 9 from the longkang fishing. Let's hope the rest survive.

Mummy Lim

Fishy Business

Our kids, like most kids yearn for pets. Their dream pet is of course some 4-legged fluffy, furry thing but they are desperate enough to settle for anything else including house lizards and spiders. No!

They once had fishes that surprisingly lasted a couple of months. While the kids, particularly Zaky was very responsible in caring for the fishes, the cleaning tasks fall more and more on Popo towards the end. Don't look at me. I cannot stand fishes or plants. They fall in the same yucky zone for me.

The kids branded us as the evilest parents when my brother got a puppy for the 3Fs. I stood my ground; I am not going for a "3rd kid" that never grow up. I continued to dangle my carrots for the kids to work hard for their SAs before we talked about any 4-legged pets.

Last Sunday, we finally relented and allowed the kids to go longkang fishing with the Fs. We have officially re-secured the best parents title again. Hoho.

Like the last time, the kids were allowed to pick and choose 5 of the most prized fishes to bring home after they had fun torturing and hauling the poor fishes. Zaky was upset that he accidentally released one that he wanted to bring home. Lil Shauna took such a long time that I gave up and she ended up bringing 11 of them home. We got a bigger tank, new food and air pump for the fishes. Hopefully they live longer.

The fishes survived the journey home alright. Only one didn't make it. Daddy Lim and the kids then happily set up the new home for the kids. The kids dug out the old ornaments that we brought for the last batch and were mega happy.

Tadah!

The water turned murky overnight such that the kids were insistent to change the water last night. The kids orchestrated the whole water changing mission. I was eye-powering and giving instructions at the side. Ya, I do not like fishes or their smelly water. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

The Boy who "Cried Fish"

Bcos of the JB holidays, the little fishes also took a break at Nainia's place. We went to collect them on the Sunday that we came back. The last they took a holiday, 3 of them died and we topped up with 2 beautiful guppies from QianHu.

Only Zaky came along to collect the fish. We were told that all of the fishes died except for "Sandwich", one of the pioneer fishes. However, to make sure that the kids were not tremendously upset, Nainai topped up with another 4 guppies that she bought from the market before we went to collect them. Zzzzzz. I was actually harboring the secret hope that we could soon end this fishy business. Lol. At least it would be less traumatised for the kids to know that the fishes died without seeing their actual death. Bcos there were still "many fishes" that came home, the kids were alright with the death.

The fishes were fine in the week that I was in BKK. Zaky had wanted to change the water yday but we had my bro's family over and Popo convinced him to do so today.

Unfortunately, this morning, we woke up to 4 dead fishes! Again, only Sandwich remain standing.. I mean swimming. The water was super murky and there seems to be mysterious patches of what looked like oil stain floating on the water.

Zaky was devastated and sobbing away. Lil Shauna has always been more detatch from the fishes and calmly scooped away the dead fishes. Zaky has afterall, always been the main caregiver, feeding the changing the water. Poor boy.

Daddy Lim then took over and made a quick change of water before we left the house. We dont know if Sandwich would survive given that the new water isnt left for cholrine to evaporate or we had no time to climatise Sandwich to the new water. Sandwich looked traumatised in the new water and was swimming into the tank wall and not feeding. Fighting Sandwich!

While we promised the kids that they could each top up a fish, they were asked to consider their option. They had again been asking for hamster and would be allowed if they achieved the targeted SA2 scores and there could only be 1 kind of pet at home at one time.. kids are not considered. Haha. After seeing how the kids had been taking care of the fishes, I am somewhat convinced. Zaky said that he rather go for the hamster and stick with just Sandwich. Lil Shauna asked to top up the fishes. I bet she is already doubtful of meeting the targets. Hahaha.

I am still torn about the hamster actually. While I think the kids would be diligent with taking care of the hamster, I am worried about sick pet and the attachment with its death. A colleague has advised that the bigger the pet, the higher the attachment. Zzzzzz.

Let's see how it goes.

Mummy Lim