Feynman
Aquarium Advice Activist
There's one in every family. One bad apple. One who just isn't satisfied within the confines of normalcy. John was one of those bad apples. The young snail had been around plenty of LFS's in his day. Sold, returned, sold, returned... the classic revolving door policy. He just couldn't get his life together on the "outside." Our story begins one fall afternoon as a young man enters a well known fish store. After purchasing an African Butterfly Fish the apple snails sharing the butterfly's tank catch his eye, and on a whim he purchases 3 snails. Young John is among the three taken.
Adjusting to life in the new aquarium is no problem. John has never had a hard time making friends in the past. He's used to meeting strange new friends. It's not that he's unhappy, its just one of those things you can't explain. After spending his life in the system, this particular snail needed a new start on life. He needed to get away.
And so the journey began. He set out across the center driftwood piece, up the side of the glass aquarium, onto the heater, up through the one opening in the tank. John was no ameatur to adventures and although this one was different in the life altering sense of things, he knew he would find the path to his exodus through the gap in the lid where the hang on back filter nested.
With an unknown future before him, John took one last look back at the tank, his new home... his friends. He didn't care. He'd had enough. He wasn't going back to the store no matter what. Slowly, carefully, he eased himself down the outside of the tank, perhaps looking for a new pond, he'd always dreamed he'd live in a pond... why not now?
Suddenly, he slipped. Not the kind of slip where its quick and you fall before being aware you're falling. This was the kind of slip where you teter on the edge of regaining balance... you know there's a fighting chance, but you also know there's no way to save it. John had a few moments to think about his life and what he had become. A run away bum of a snail. He wasn't about to go out like that. Finally, his foot came loose and he fell. If it were you or I the fall would have seemed like 240ft. John tucked himself in his curved shell, hoping to outlast the fall in what had always been his safety net, back-up protection.
Fortune was on his side as he landed on carpet and was not smashed open, although he was bruised badly and had a hard time breathing. Fighting death, John the snail curled up in his shell saving what little moisture he could while the young man searched the aquarium for his missing snail.
Now, he was all but forgotten. Assumed dead. The African Knife fish was tried and punished by his peers as the killer despite a "fair" trial. Then, two and a half weeks after the spill he was found. The fish keep found him on the carpet below the tank. Salvation was not quite at hand however as the fish keeper was under the false impression that the snail was dead. As dead it looked. John had lost so much moisture that he had almost completely lost form and size inside the snail's shell. Turning towards the trash, the aquarium owner prepared to send the snail to his landfill burial site. John must do something, and fast! Using his telepathy skills inherited from a blue lobster he met in Maine, John sent a message to the man to put him in the tank, "I'm still alive!"
For no apparent reason the man turned back towards the tank "what could it hurt to see if this guy might be alive" he wondered... "I've heard of snails doing crazy things." He went and dropped John the snail back in the tank. Within a few hours he was back enjoying the confines of the tank. Never wanting to leave again.
Adjusting to life in the new aquarium is no problem. John has never had a hard time making friends in the past. He's used to meeting strange new friends. It's not that he's unhappy, its just one of those things you can't explain. After spending his life in the system, this particular snail needed a new start on life. He needed to get away.
And so the journey began. He set out across the center driftwood piece, up the side of the glass aquarium, onto the heater, up through the one opening in the tank. John was no ameatur to adventures and although this one was different in the life altering sense of things, he knew he would find the path to his exodus through the gap in the lid where the hang on back filter nested.
With an unknown future before him, John took one last look back at the tank, his new home... his friends. He didn't care. He'd had enough. He wasn't going back to the store no matter what. Slowly, carefully, he eased himself down the outside of the tank, perhaps looking for a new pond, he'd always dreamed he'd live in a pond... why not now?
Suddenly, he slipped. Not the kind of slip where its quick and you fall before being aware you're falling. This was the kind of slip where you teter on the edge of regaining balance... you know there's a fighting chance, but you also know there's no way to save it. John had a few moments to think about his life and what he had become. A run away bum of a snail. He wasn't about to go out like that. Finally, his foot came loose and he fell. If it were you or I the fall would have seemed like 240ft. John tucked himself in his curved shell, hoping to outlast the fall in what had always been his safety net, back-up protection.
Fortune was on his side as he landed on carpet and was not smashed open, although he was bruised badly and had a hard time breathing. Fighting death, John the snail curled up in his shell saving what little moisture he could while the young man searched the aquarium for his missing snail.
Now, he was all but forgotten. Assumed dead. The African Knife fish was tried and punished by his peers as the killer despite a "fair" trial. Then, two and a half weeks after the spill he was found. The fish keep found him on the carpet below the tank. Salvation was not quite at hand however as the fish keeper was under the false impression that the snail was dead. As dead it looked. John had lost so much moisture that he had almost completely lost form and size inside the snail's shell. Turning towards the trash, the aquarium owner prepared to send the snail to his landfill burial site. John must do something, and fast! Using his telepathy skills inherited from a blue lobster he met in Maine, John sent a message to the man to put him in the tank, "I'm still alive!"
For no apparent reason the man turned back towards the tank "what could it hurt to see if this guy might be alive" he wondered... "I've heard of snails doing crazy things." He went and dropped John the snail back in the tank. Within a few hours he was back enjoying the confines of the tank. Never wanting to leave again.
