Brothers enjoying dueling aquariums at the office - Yahoo News

Apr. 10—Home aquariums have come a long way since the days of a goldfish in a bowl, and brothers Claud and Mike Day of ADM Industries Inc. both enjoy the peace and tranquility that comes from the modern aquariums in their offices.

Claud Day, president of ADM Industries, decided to step up to a 75-gallon freshwater tank about a year-and-a-half ago after 40 years of enjoying fish tanks off and on in his home.

"I have always had small tanks, 20-gallon tanks, but this is the biggest one I have ever had," he said.

The tank is filled with live plants in various shades of green, a piece of Malaysian driftwood and about seven or eight varieties of colorful fish.

"It is quite a bit of work if you did it yourself," he said. "My son owns an exotic pet store in Bowling Green, and he is the one who built this for me."

Claud Day points to an angelfish in the tank, saying his name is Bob. The fish was raised by Day and his wife, and the couple have had him for about eight or nine years. After spending most of his life in a 20-gallon tank, Bob is enjoying his current home, but he can be a bit cantankerous at times.

Day points to some brightly-colored neon tetras and said the senior angelfish is not always a big fan of his tank mates.

"I would love to have more, those are schooling fish, like 20-30 of them, but if I get very many Bob eats them," he said. "He will put up with five or six of them."

Claud Day said that the aquarium is a relaxing feature to have in the office.

"At times it has been pretty stressful with COVID-19, and I used to go over there and stand and look out the window if I had a stressful phone call or something," he said, "and now if I need a break I will come over and watch the fish."

Located just across the hall in the ADM offices, Mike Day is enjoying a new saltwater aquarium that he has had for about six months. The tank was also built by his nephew Austin Day, who operates Pet Central in Bowling Green.

While keeping an aquarium is old hat for his brother, this is Mike's first aquarium.

"I kept getting up and going over there to relax and look at the fish tank," Mike Day said. "Having a nephew that was in the business, I talked to Austin and asked what it would take to do a saltwater tank."

Mike Day said that while a saltwater tank is more complicated to maintain than a freshwater tank, he thought it would be nice to have something different from his brother's aquarium across the hall.

"I am doing it with training wheels, he said. "They come every two weeks and service stuff. I am learning, and I am doing some of the stuff myself."

Mike Day joked that at 108 gallons, he ended up with a larger aquarium than his brother.

"He accused me of getting a bigger tank than he had," he said with a laugh. "I had nothing to do with it, his son did it."

"I find it relaxing, I sit in here and watch them for a while when I am kind of stressed, and other people in the building come in and look at his or look at mine."

Claud Day said they are considering installing a third aquarium in the company break room for everyone to enjoy.