We got an aquarium!

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on April 7, 2008 | Comments

Warren introduced me to this cool Opera widget, SimAquarium, and got me hooked last week.

Then, out of the blue this weekend, he decided to bring me to Cartimar to see if we could take the Aquarium fever to the next level and if it would do us some good on a hot, bristling Saturday.

Cartimar is located in Pasay and it is by far the biggest animal shop I have seen. It is a one stop superstore with endless shops that sell freshwater and saltwater fish, dogs of different breeds, cats – Siamese and Persians alike, a few exotic animals, birds and yeah, even shoes.

After scouring the shops, we finally decided to set up an aquarium, well of course we already knew what kind of aquarium we wanted to own. Warren once saw this type of aquarium with round edges and he thought, although far more expensive than average aquariums, that type is safer and looks better. We also thought we wanted about 10 guppies swimming in the aquarium. With those in mind, we started our hunt.

Here are some of our finds at Cartimar:

These are all saltwater fishes.

We chanced upon this shop that sells top of the line aquatic plants and although mixing plants with the guppies wasn’t originally our idea, we were so taken with the look of the aquarium they have on display. Bonnie, the owner of the shop, was also kind enough to introduce us to the idea of planting. He gave us tips and recommendations and after a bit of thinking, Warren and I agreed we also want some plants.

I still can’t believe we are getting an aquarium when all I really want to have is a dog!

After what seemed to be an endless day of touring the whole of the Cartimar area, we finally made our purchases. We got just about everything we needed. Of course, we got the aquarium we wanted for P700.00, the plants (prices vary depending on whether imported or local), 2 bags of sand, filter, a driftwood (which we might not need in the future if we want to take planting seriously), guppies (we got 15!), fish food and Bonnie gave us 3 scoops of fertilizer to mix with the sand to help the plants thrive. With all these things in hand, Warren and I went home excitedly.