[pearl_aqg]

Man...I was so torn. I ended up having to ask a lot of people here to weigh in on it, and then there were lots of ties created...so this was not easy!! But after much anguish, we settled on a top 3.

So without further ado:

1st place goes to Catfishbum, for his exceedingly romantic engagement story. Ouch. Hope she said yes anyway

2nd place goes to Jim Leyland's shocking tale of fish tank electrocution. Extreme.

3rd place goes to BigToys for ruining his roommate's computer. Bringing others into your fishkeeping mistakes is a plus...

So, congratulations to the winners - I will pm you the gift certificates and will soon be posting your stories in the resources section of our site for others to marvel at and learn from! There are a number of runner-up stories that we absolutely loved and would like to use as well, so I'll be in touch with everyone

Thanks for making this one entertaining contest, and a wild success! Your openness and candor were inspiring and - I hope - a source of comfort to all who entered, and all who related.