The Circle of Life: Who's at the Top of the Food Chain?

Fish Update:

1. The guppies (Bond and Vesper) have given birth to 5 children. Vesper ate one. Fish death 65.

2. We put three in a small container to let them grow. Three weeks later we found one surviving in the large tank. Melissa felt he deserved to live, so we named him Frodo since he survived certain death for a long time. We returned the other three to the tank, naming them Samwise, Merry and Pip.

3. A day after returning them to the tank, Vesper gave birth to another 15 children. Our tank cannot handle that load, so we held a family teaching moment.
- I turned on "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King Soundtrack.
- We captured the 15 newborns in a small net and placed them in a container.
- We then enjoyed the following conversation:
"Kids, what becomes dirt?"
*confusion*
"Dead stuff."
"What eats dirt?"
"Worms!"
"What eats worms?"
"Birds"
"What eats birds?"
"Big Birds!"
"What eats big birds?
"Coyotes!"
"Okay, what eats Coyotes?"
"Foxes!"
"Not so sure about that, let's just say Coyotes die from disease and starvation. When their bodies die and become dirt, what eats dirt?"
"Babies!"
"No. Well, not usually. What eats fish?"
"Bigger fish!"
"What eats bigger fish?"
"Sharks!"
"What eats sharks?"
"Foxes!"
"Yes, I mean, wait, what??? Tim, when was the last time you saw a fox eat a shark?"
"It could happen."
"Okay, we'll just go with that."
"It is time to watch this pattern, it is called the circle of life. Do you see these guppies?"
"Yes."
"Do you see Oscar el demonio blanco, el matador de los pescados (sweetest fish name ever for our Japanese fighting fish in a separate bowl)?"
"Yes."
"He's the bigger fish."
I then poured the guppy fry into the bowl with Oscar.


Maggie broke down into laughing tears.
Tim: "Cool!"
Ami: "They get to share now!"
Susanna: "Meeeee!"

After the feast, Maggie decided to express her feelings in a poem:

This morning Oscar ate four newborn fry.
At first I was excited,
but then I started to cry,
As I watched them die.

4. We bought 3 ottocynclids to help with the tank, two died. Plus the guppies. Death total up to 82. Staying alive: 11 fish, one snail, two shrimp, 4 children.

Oh, and by the way, foxes are at the top of the food chain.