New Family Members

I bought 4 more fishes, 3 Kois (well, mini-Kois) and another veiltail.
But that's not it! We also got a second dog. We thought it would be good for Nala to have a friend. Cristian wanted another American Stafford, but I didn't really want to have another dog with that strength and that stubborn character. Nala can be very friendly, but she can also be a real bitch. She doesn't really like strangers coming to our apartment. I guess, it is natural for a guard dog, but it makes receiving visitors a bit difficult. Plus she is also scared of a lot of things and when she pulls on the leage or growls at somebody, she is just enforcing the bad reputation that fight dogs already have.
That is why I wanted to have a dog that's very intelligent and a big people-lover. And the first dog that came to my mind was a Labrador. I am not a big fan of the yellow ones, but would love to have a brown one. However, we have an apartment which is not exactly huge and therefore a labrador didn't seem to be the best idea.
Cristian wanted to have an English Bull Terrier, but I was completely against that. They are fairly aggressive, ugly and incredibly expensive.
But then I saw an ad on the internet where they were selling a 2-months old Pocket Beagle. It's a small Beagle and he was so cute!!! So, we went to see it and bought it!
Nala has always been very friendly with other dogs. But when we brought the little Beagle, she was a bit angry. She doesn't like new living beings in her house. But within minutes she realized that this could be a new friend and she became all excited. So excited that we were afraid that she would hurt the little one while playing. But she also understood that she has to be more careful with the little one. I know, it's hard to believe that a supposedly so mean breed of dog (like an America Stafford) can be so lovely with such a little creature.
By that time we still didn't really have a name for our small Beagle. At first we wanted to call him Frodo because he is small and Hobbits are also small. But then Cristian's sister said: "He is like a stuffed animal with batteries." Because he is so cute and has so much energy. From that moment one we only called him Peluche (which is the Spanish word for "stuffed toy animal").
So far Peluche has tried to chew and eat everything, is continuously playing with Nala and peeing in the house. For housebreaking him I will need lots of patience because Beagle are said to be stubborn! (Didn't I mention I don't want another stubborn breed? Well....)

And here come the pictures:

Peluche:

Nala and Peluche saying Good Night to each other:Nala and Peluche very tired after having played all day:
Peluche and Peter (the 11-months old Golden Retriever of Melissa, Cristian's sister):

Piccolini (a 2 cm "big" veiltail):Pocahontas (the red Koi) and Bambi (the yellow Koi):

Shiva (also a Koi; all my Kois are only about 4 cm long):

No luck...

And another fish died. This time our bala shark Bagira. Why? Well, I blame it on the petshops. Everytime we buy a new fish we always ask if it can live in a small aquarium and if there is something special this kind needs. We are just beginners and don't know a lot of aquariums.
The petshop told us that the bala shark (Bagira) and the shark catfish (Chispa) will grow to about 20 cm, but that it will take about 20 years. The petshop didn't say anything about other special conditions. Well, in the future we were planning on getting a bigger aquarium anyway, so we were fine with the fact that the fishes will grow more.
However, 5 or 6 days ago, Bagira started to spend lots of time hiding in a corner and not moving much. He also didn't eat. Sometimes he would start floating, but with the head down and tail up. I once took him out of the aquarium and put him into a bowl and fed him seperately. After that he seemed to be better, swam more again, but would still float in that weird position. That was when I started reading about his kind. It turns out that this fish needs an aquarium of about 1,5 m (even when they are small), a lot of oxygen, sand on the ground and that they do not want to live alone. Well, our aquarium is a very small one, we have stones on the ground (like the petshops as well who sell those sharks), we have our oxygen pump on low and there are often electricity blackouts and we only bought one of his kind. So, did he die because he didn't get enough oxygen during one of the blackouts or did he swim so fast that he hit the wall and hurt himself? I don't know, but sure is that we definitely didn't have the right place for him.
Yesterday, I looked at the aquarium and saw all the veitails in one corner...attacking Bagira. I chased them away, but Bagira couldn't turn around anymore; he was swimming with the belly up now. And the other fishes continued attacking him. So, I took him out and he was barely breathing. After 5 minutes, he had died.
So, now we have 3 veiltails and 1 shark catfish left over. And here a little story about our shark catfish. The petshop told us he would grow to a size of 20 cm and that he is a very peaceful fish. In reality, he will grow to up 1 m and when he is big enough he will probably start eating the smaller fishes. I guess, we will have to sell him than. For now I want to keep him; at the moment he is only 4 cm long.

And here the pictures and little explanations (but I am not so sure about some of the English names):
Chispa is an albino shark catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus var. Albino). As mentioned above: Right now only 4 cm long, but will grow A LOT!
Nakoma is an orange veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Red Comet). She is the biggest. Around 6 cm long and very fat; she eats a lot! (Brida was as big as her.)
Balu is an calico veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Calico). He is the smallest with only 2,5 cm. He only has one eye, but is doing just fine.
And Sophie is a (normal) veiltail (Carassius auratus). She is a bit smaller than Nakoma, around 4,5 cm. But she also likes to eat.
Nakoma, Balu and Sophie belong to the group of goldfishes and are easy to take care of, but they will all grow more. Chispa belongs to the group that is supposedly the hardest to take care of, probably because of the size.
But they are all oriental fishes.

Sophie:

Balu:
Balu and Nakoma:

Nakoma and Chispa (Bagira is hiding in the corner):

Nakoma and Bagira:

Bagira:

Balu, Chispa and Sophie:

Chispa, Bagira, Balu, Sophie and Nakoma:

Brida and Co.

Cristian's sister has an aquarium and since we are living in the same house, we thought we could just buy a fish and put it in there.
So, off we went to a pet store. Cristian and I have no knowledge about fishes. That is why when we chose our fish, we chose the prettiest one (a silver-ornage veiltail) without knowing which kind it was. When we told the owner of the pet store that this fish will live together with a bunch of tropical fish, he came up with a little "ohoh". The fish we wanted to buy was an oriental fish and you should try to keep only tropical or only oriental fish, but not mix them. But the pet shop owner insured us that our fish will be fine since she was fairly big (about 5 cm long). On our way to the car we went by another pet shop and went in to check out the fishes there. And the person who worked there was much more negative about our oriental fish living with tropical fish. He told us that a very tiny tropical fish could kill our new pet.
While we went home, we decided to call our fish Brida. Then we put her into the aquarium and only 10 minutes later the first fishes started to follow and attack her although she was much bigger. It got so bad that we took her out of the aquarium, into a flower vase and drove to the next pet shop to get our own aquarium. While we bought that, we also bought a few more fishes (friends for Brida): Balu (a tiny orange, dark, red and silver veiltail with only one eye which we found out when we had him at home), Nakoma (a big orange veiltail) and Sophie (a small silver and orange veiltail). This time when we put all the fish together, they seemed to get along just fine; like a big family!
A few days later we saw another pet shop and this one had sweetwater sharks. So, we got two tiny ones and called them Bagira and Chispa.
However, a few days ago, Brida and Nakoma started to act weird. Brida was laying with her belly on the bottom of the aquarium and not moving much. From time to time Nakoma would do the same. The next day when I checked the fishes, Brida was already dead and the other fishes were attacking her. So, I took her out and ever since Nakoma is nearly continuously laying at the bottom of the aquarium as well. I am not so sure if she will make it! Let's keep our fingers crossed.
We don't really know what is the reason for our two biggest fishes getting sick. Did we overfeed them? Is the aquarium too small? Is something wrong with the water? But if yes, why are the small fishes all healthy and active?
However, we were really sad when Brida died because she was our favorite because we had her first and she was very beautiful! Unfortunately, she died so soon that we didn't even have time to take a picture of her. That's why I stole one from the internet. Let's hope that there is something like a heaven for fishes!

Once all our fishes are well off again, I will also post some pictures of our aquarium.