our crustacean overlord

1 week ago by @cphaurckker

Liner Notes

about ten years ago, I added a few amano shrimp to my freshwater fish tank. They're neat little algae eaters, and I kind of love them, even if they don't live very long.

I haven't added a shrimp to the tank since then. I've moved to a new house with it. I've had generations of fish grow old and pass on over the last decade.

However, every few months, this shrimp appears out of a clump of java moss. That happened yesterday morning. I'm convinced he'll live forever, and is destined to rule us all.

This is clearly a loud, heavy gothic metal song, as is appropriate for this bad-ass crustacean.

Lyrics

in a plastic baggie filled with water
his lordship followed me home
transparent exoskeleton gleaming
in the filter outflow foam

the signage at the pet store
proclaimed him an amano shrimp
despite these beginnings humble
we are all subject to his whims

Caridina multidentata
live three years at most
however here a decade later
still he reigns, reasons unbeknownst!

Bow. Before.
The Immortal Overlord!
The shrimp who will live forever!
He will survive us all
it doesn't matter that he's small
we exist, solely at his pleasure!

He has ruled from his throne
of taxiphyllum Barbieri
grazing on the algae
to which he's privy

He disappears for months
reappears on his own schedule
when I'm convinced that he's expired
he appears, graceful and regal

I suspect he was mislabeled
a different longer-lived species
probably really a dwarf fan shrimp
but I still want to believe

Bow. Before.
The Immortal Overlord!
The shrimp who will live forever!
He will survive us all
it doesn't matter that he's small
we exist, solely at his pleasure!

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