A few days ago, my daughter spotted a couple of tiny snails slowly making their way up the sides of the aquarium while the little fish darted hither and thither. The snails must have come with some of the water plants we had bought.

Soon the aquarium was teeming with snails and there were snail eggs on every water plant: among the leaves and roots and also all amongst the stones on the base of the tank.

My daughter decided that the only way to deal with this population explosion, was to start again. She and her brother decanted the fish temporarily into a large pot and went about cleaning out the aquarium.

All those pretty plants which had swayed gently in the water and provided interest and hiding places for the fish, were removed along with the pebbles. Back went the bright green plastic plants the tank had originally come with when they had found it online. When I next went into the kitchen, I was amazed to see the aquarium floor was now carpeted in bright pink fake gravel. It was a veritable Barbieworld for fish. And just in case you are wondering what happened to the original naturalistic environment: well, it is still in a bucket in the garden….

Notes:
Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written with Noah Baumbach, was available to watch in cinemas from 21st July