Mind over matter - science makes us fear. Fishy stuff!

My daughter's fish tank, which she stocks SCIENTIFICALLY, is a disaster to my mind. Her fish keep on dying. Do you know that if you want to buy more fish on this alien planet you have to take in a sample of your tank water?! I find that most offensive. Surely if you wanted to serve roast guppy for supper, you should be able to? But, on this alien planet, legislation intrudes everywhere!

On the previous planet to this, in the old days, we used to chuck everything into our fish tanks. Sand - let it settle - plants - rinse first - rocks - soaked well overnight and rinsed - and fish - after floating them in their plastic bags in which they were purchased from the pet shop. It all worked! Fancy that! No science involved.

I have checked with my children in case my memory has failed because of my old age, but it is true - we used to give black mollies, neons and guppies away to all our friends and sundry people because our tank was overpopulated. And snails. Tons of snails.

Our Siamese fighting fish had so many babies (that is a fascinating procedure to watch) that we were constantly on the hunt to get rid of the males (who attack each other) and keep the females who were in a constant ragged state due to male attention.

Oh, remembering our fish tanks make me feel so uplifted! Those were the days when we simply expected richness, fertility and success. We believed!

That's what is wrong with my daughters fish tank now - she expects failure - science has been no help. It's only induced fear!