How a School of Silver Dollar Fish Took Over My Home

Don’t Let Their Shiny Exteriors Fool You

Cautiously, I approached my office door. It was left open. Sunlight filtered into the room through the shades. Good. They should be able to see me easily enough. To scare them was always an unnerving experience. I shuffled my feet and cleared my throat, signaling my approach. I entered at half of my normal pace. Probably slower. A moment of silence. Suddenly, that all too familiar sound of scattering gravel exploded from the bottom of the aquarium. The sound of fish bodies striking the aquarium walls. One or two of them darted across the tank as they began to settle down. I’ve seen this before. It’s how they were.

I have maintained a 55-gallon freshwater fish tank for over 20 years. I had seen Silver Dollar Fish at the aquarium store. I liked the way they looked. There’s no better name for them because they are as bright as newly minted silver dollars. I asked about them. The folks at the fish store said that if I had a planted tank, they might eat all the plants. They said if I didn’t have a planted tank, they tend to “redecorate.” I don’t remember the part about them taking over my home.

My tank was ready for them. I went home with 6 Silver Dollars. Not much of a problem at first. In the 1976 thriller, The Omen, when Gregory Peck and Lee Remick brought home their new baby Damien, son of the devil, even they had a good day or two before all the fun started. But at least they had an adequate warning.

These fish were incurably skittish. No matter how I tried, I could not placate them. I bought more artificial plants to give them cover, removed stuff that could hurt them, kept the room darker, changed the water more frequently, bought four more of their sort to enlarge the school, moved the tank to an area where they could better see us approaching, and even trained my family how to approach the tank, nothing worked.

For two years, we tiptoed around them. They expired from old age. It could have ended differently. They were the luckiest fish that ever were. They took over my home. Don't let their shiny exteriors fool you.