Well, our betta fish lasted almost two months. That's not too bad, right?
Joshua Fish was acting pretty piqued Tuesday, and when I got up Wednesday he was, well, unresponsive. He wasn't floating upside down, but when we shook the bowl gently, he didn't swim; he just sort of...bobbed. And his lovely red color was pretty darn faded.
"Oh, yeah," The Engineer assured me. "He's dead."
While I didn't exactly have a deep emotional closeness to Joshua, I have to say I was disappointed. It didn't help that I think I may have inadvertently killed him, or at least sped up his demise (as he may have already been sick), when I switched out his water. Too many water conditioning drops? Too much time sitting in a tiny little cup of old water while the new water got to the right temperature? Or was it just his time?
And then there was just the "ew" factor--I really didn't want to deal with a dead fish. So The Engineer agreed to conduct the burial (well, the flushing.)
When Chickie got up, I knelt next to her. "Chickie," I said gently, "Joshua fish is dead."
She asked questions, which I answered, and then I asked her, "Are you sad?"
"No," she answered in a cheerful, matter-of fact voice.
All righty, then. I'm glad she wasn't upset. And while it didn't ruin my day (or even my morning), I gotta say--I kind of miss the little guy.
5 comments:
Sorry to hear about Joshua's passing. Diva had 3 fish for a year, and they all died in the past two weeks. It was more traumatic for me than it was for her though. Now she wants more, and I am just not ready.
I have a hint. Goldfish. Well...some goldfish. We had 2 that lasted at least a year each...but they were both the bubble-eyed variety. One of them I got because he was being picked on by the other fish....he only had one eye. He lived to be almost 2...and more than tripled in size (which still wasn't big...but was a lot bigger than when we got him!)...they don't require a heater and are resilient as all get out. ;-D That of course is if you even want another one lol.
I'll agree with Kristen that goldfish seem to be tough little fishies. I won one at a carnival, dragged it around for 3 hours in a plastic bag before he even made it home. Where I would forget to feed him for days on end, making up for it with mammoth meals. I only bothered cleaning his water when I couldn't see if there was even a fish still in there. Still, he lasted at least a year.
Sorry about Joshua but it's cool that Chickie handled it well.
Hilarious about Chickie's response! That's a kick in the pants! I am glad she is not sad. I love your post. It's funny in a sad way! Sorry for your loss :)
We got a betta fish as a parting gift for my godson's 2nd birthday (he turned 7 last month)and "Our Fish" died in January of this year. I miss him. All the other bettas died within 2 months.
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