Who the hell ever said fish were good pets? My dad, an avid fish lover, was visiting a few weeks ago and decided it would be a generous gift to give the kids a fish tank and some guppies. Since my hubbie is a former pet store employee (although that was over 15 years ago), I agreed thinking he would know how to care for the small and personality-less creatures. We got the tank all set up and put our four new family members in the living room.
Things were looking good at first. Before my dad even left to return home, the guppies had 8 little teeny-tiny cutie babies. They were so cute with big bulging eyes. Like this:
Aww! We were all optimistic about our future fish-filled lives. But then things started to decline. After a night away, less than 24 hours mind you, we return to a tank with no babies. Where did they go? Nina asks. Uh, maybe they're hiding in the plants. No, the fuckers ate the babies. How do I explain this to my small children? Strangely enough, they don't ask again.A few days later, the grim reaper strikes again. One fish, "Sarah" croaks. Nina takes this especially hard, crying inconsolably. A few days later, another, then another, floating upside down in the small tank. Nina shrieks in horror. Niko cries too, but only because his TV show was turned off at the same time the death was discovered. I'm not crying because of the fish; I wanted to finish my show!! So much for the sensitive male.
Now only one fish remains and I truly believe Nina is going to need therapy. The other night at four in the morning, she was down by the fish tank shouting I can't see Mac! I don't see Mac! I race downstairs to make sure the child isn't sleep-walking. She is not, she's just having a panic attack over dead fish. I couldn't sleep. I was just lying awake worrying about the fish. Sigh. So far we still have this last remaining fish and every morning (and all day long actually) Nina runs to the tank to inspect for floating fish carcass. I almost wish it would die so we could move on with our lives. I know it sounds mean, but do you actually expect me to care about a creature who would eat their own babies??
3 comments:
cassie, cassie, our lives continue along similar wierd veins. i should call you. rich and i are totally stressed out about the guineas. we just spent almost 600 bucks on their vet bills for mites,still have 2 more expensive treatments, and now everyone is telling rich the mites will most likely come back later. plus the little one is still obviously itching and sometimes hurting. rich wants to put them to sleep. my rational brain agrees. but when i look in their little brown eyes....it sucks. i'm starting to think pets are a bad idea.
this is a subject near and dear to my heart, and i laughed way out loud when i read this.
1) i killed a fish in college by taking its picture! seriously, it was looking at the flash and it was blinded and never ate again. so i wouldn't be just taking those photos willy nilly (except when they're already dead, of course).
2) when our betta fish, bluey, died a couple months ago, the boys sobbed like it was the freaking wailing wall. they had not looked at this fish in at least 2 months, mind you, because after about 1 month they might as well be dead for all the kids care about them. the boys wouldn't use the toilet we flushed them in for months (baxter still won't).
so you can see, i feel your pain on the fish thing.
It's Narasu, over at Natalie's house. That post so sad and so funny (sorry Nina, it's not funny at all.) We miss you much. xo-N
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