Let me preface this post by saying: I am not a fish lover. Yes I had an aquarium as a child (didn't we all?) I raised tetras, guppies, algae eaters, etc. When you are little and there is not much to do, why not take care of fish? I am no longer little, and I now have SO much to do. This is why I am not a fish lover. Sarah, on the other hand, is in her words "a friend of nature". She is just like I was as a kid. She loves cats, dogs, birds, and yes, fish. So on her fifth birthday, she sweetly asked her father for some fish. He agreed...without consulting me. Needless to say, I was not happy. This is because he was travelling overseas and across the country as much as he was home. We all know how trustworthy a five year old can be with a living thing. So who do you think got to take care of the fish? Yes, you guessed it, ME.
The first fish were of the 39 cent variety and lived in an inexpensive fish bowl. This bowl became unbelievably dirty every three or four days or so because a five year old was feeding the fish and she thought they looked "hungry" many times per day. Chris became tired of cleaning the tank, so he went and bought a tank that had an aerator. He couldn't find the water conditioner the day he moved them to their new home, so he placed them in the untreated water where they immediately began swimming VERTICALLY (I was not home at this time, and could have shown them exactly where the conditioner was). The next morning, Chris is off on his latest business trip, and I walk in Sarah's room to wake her for school. She is lying in bed sobbing hysterically because her two fish (Cleo and Nemo) are dead. She thinks the air bubble cord "shocked them" to death. :(
I am mortified because we have never dealt with the death of a pet yet and I am to do this alone. So I do what most parents do, I promise to take her to the store for more fish (against my better judgement).
We head to the store the next evening, and Sarah is directed to the cold water fish. Our choices are BIG goldfish, and little goldfish. Sarah, being convinced that the little goldfish cannot live in this new world that contains cords and air bubbles, opted for the BIG goldfish. The $5 goldfish. Because I was alone, and weak, I said "yes" and she was so happy! She let out a giggle that I had never before heard that even made the Wal Mart man chuckle as she chose her fish. She chose a medium sized one and then she chose Goliath! As he scooped this fish out of the water, it flipped like a giant bass on a fishing pole. She was elated and I was not. When we got the two fish home, I quickly realized that the SECOND tank would be way too small for the biggest fish. Could we take him back? No. Why you ask? Because he became the house favorite. What a personality this fish had! He loved to eat, and he would scoop up the gravels in the tank and suck off any excess food spitting them out like he was putting on a show. Sarah's heaping helpings of food made him squirm in delight, which, in turn, made her squeal in delight. Leah loved the new fish because she could see them so much better (due to their large size). She would find the fish food and walk in the room saying "fish". My heart melted. I myself even grew to like the big guy. The two are pictured here below.
I decided it just wasn't right to keep this fish so contained. So I went to the store and bought a third (yes a third) tank that was a three gallon with aeration. It lit up and changed colors and Sarah thought it was so cool! We kept them in this for a couple of weeks, but with Chris gone virtually the whole month and me busy with my UK job and single parenting, the tank got dirtier and dirtier. By the time Chris returned, it was way past time to change the water. One morning when Sarah woke up, the big fish was gone and the little fish was very sick. We quickly took the little one out of the new tank, and placed him back in the old one. 24 hours later, the little one was gone as well.
Two months and $60 dollars later, our great fish experiment was a HUGE failure. Sarah was sad, Leah was walking around with the fish food looking for her friends and even I was depressed. I hate to lose any life on my watch. I guess this is just not the time for fish ownership. On the bright side, we have three tanks for any eventuality of another fish coming our way. That is, unless any of you are looking to buy a tank. Any takers? :0)
