Meet Calypso, Argent, and Madame Mirabelle:
Calypso and Argent are the red and silver platy fish, respectively, and Mme Mirabelle is the albino African clawed frog. She’s a baby now, but someday she’ll be about the size of a hand. In the above picture, she’s in the middle of a meal. 
Yesterday, I did two things. First, I cleaned the fish tank, and then I added two snails that Tom bought me earlier that day. ( 
!) This all was brought about by the ridiculous amount of algae in the tank, due to it being in direct sunlight:
The first task, cleaning the tank, involves taking the fishies and the froggy out, so that they won’t get stressed out by the water change. So I netted the fish and put them in a bowl for a few minutes, and caught the frog and put her in a little cup with airholes for breathing. Changed the water, put the fish back in, and all was well, until I was about to put Madame Mirabelle back in the tank.
At which point she jumped out of my hand. And somehow landed in one of the slots in my radiator:
She was INSIDE the radiator. So I started freaking out, obviously. I was near tears, panicky, as anyone would be if their pet were trapped inside a radiator. Clearly a common problem. 
I thought she was lost forever, but then Tom, with the brute strength of a hero, pulled the metal front off the radiator, and Mme was sitting there inside, looking pretty scared. So then she jumped out onto the floor, under my bed, then she started running around, got stuck for a second between two sneakers, and I caught her and got her back in the water. 
She appears to be fine now, and has been pretty active, though she did spend an hour or so hiding under a plant when she first got back into the tank…
It was quite the adventure.
After that, I felt okay bringing the snails into the equation. When I was buying my snails, the shop owner said, jokingly of course:
“Just add a little ginger and soy sauce to these guys, and you’ve got a meal!”
So my snails are named Ginger and Soy Sauce, because one of them is golden and one of them is dark brown, so it ended up working pretty well. 
Ginger and Soy Sauce are surprisingly entertaining. They move around pretty quickly, breaking barriers for stereotyped snails everywhere, and they have really cool mouths with tiny little tongues. Also Ginger climbed on Soy Sauce’s back/shell within minutes of their arrival in the tank:
Snail sex? A distinct possibility. 
Below, a short video of The Menagerie in action:
A pretty view of Columbia is in the background. 
I love your menagerie! Especially the dragon with moving wings. It looks like you’ve made a nice home for everyone.
Love the names too, and Mme Mirabelle is so cool-looking!
Awww I love your underwater family! Quite a grand escape but Mms too, I’m glad you managed to crack the radiator open!
Woahhh that looks really impressive! I’ve seen tanks before and all … but I never saw one with a frog in it
thanks for sharing that video, that was really cool to watch!
Gulp so Madame got in the radiator? I’m glad you were able to get her out again. But woah … I think I would have totally freaked out… Ok I must admit looking at Madame … I can handle that, but taking care of her and your fish :O wow respect to you! I think I wouldn’t be able to handle that *gulp*
This post made my week.
(:
I can’t believe the radiator fiasco, haha, I would have been freaking out also. >.<
and!
ginger and soy sauce?!
I love it!
HAHA Oh noes! The radiator story is so funny – yay she is saved
best line EVER! “…breaking barriers for stereotyped snails everywhere…”. that made my morning. thank you.
Haha, thanks! Any time.
Nice fishtank, I like the thing that flies up and blows bubbles. Poor froggie! I had a couple of those frogs before, they’re so cool to watch. Mine died though but now I have gold fish.
Woah, I probably would have been in tears, too! Glad she’s okay though and has been safely returned to the tank.
Ginger and Soy Sauce?! That’s so friggin’ cute! Also, if that were to happen to one of my pets, I’d go into hysterics to the point where I’d be unable to save them. I’m a spaz! I don’t have any pets right now.
I had to leave my cats at my mom’s house when I moved out three years ago because my apartment didn’t allow it. But my friends and I are looking to move into an apartment next year and one of them is bringing his golden retriever puppy along. So I’ll be taking my kitties too!
Madame Mirabelle is such a cool name. And Ginger and Soy Sauce are equally hilarious! XD
It’s cool that you have a frog. I’ve never seen a aquarium with a frog. I think they’re much cooler than fish.
You are adorable– even your strange pets are adorable. I love the names Ginger and Soy Sauce…haha…that’s very cute and clever!
I’m glad that Madame Mirabelle is okay and back to safety. I’ve never seen a frog like that before…kinda creeps me out a little bit. But! Sort of cute at the same time.
Love the names, love the tank!
-M.
If you met Mme Mirabelle, you wouldn’t be creeped out by her. She is a-do-ra-ble.
Also, I’m glad you (and everyone!!) like their names.
Maybe you should invest in a catfish to eat the algae, it shouldn’t bother the fish, just cling to the side and clean up the algae. If you have a filter then you won’t need to clean the tank.
I’ve considered it… But I think my tank is kinda happy with the number of occupants it currently has.