I glanced around nervously as I drove this morning. I had wrapped the cold, stiff body in plastic and loaded it into my car. As I drove to drop it off, I was hoping I wouldn't get stopped or have to answer any questions.
I had already spent a sleepless night and our family had suffered enough--I just wanted to dispose of the body discretely so we wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Ryan was traumatized and none of us had gotten any sleep--we weren't used to this kind of thing.
Maybe this is a punchline for some people--I know I've thought it was funny, and it seems to be a prevalent theme. Ryan's goldfish, Goldie, whom we had only had for one day, suddenly passed away in the night.
We bought it for him as a reward for excellent behavior in school--the 6 weeks period just ended and he had only been corrected a couple of times--a big improvement over the previous period. He loves animals and has a beautiful heart--he was so upset when we found Goldie dead that it was just heartbreaking to see how hard he was taking it. He picked her out because she had a great personality and was lots of fun. He didn't like the Beta's because they were "too bug-eyed."
We did everything that the pet store people told us--treated the water for chlorine, let the temperature equilibrate, waited the presecribed amount of time, etc. When I returned poor Goldie's body, "the guy" somberly and philosophically said, "Well, sometimes it just happens..."
We're trying again, but I would like to spare my 6-year-old unnecessary trauma, so I'm open to suggestions.
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5 comments:
I suggest getting a bunch of feeder fish for a dime a piece. If you get a buck worth, you might have one or two fighters left over. Don't let him get attached to any of these little fish, though, as that can be way more traumatic. Tell him that they are dying to save the lives of others rather than being fed to larger fish. That's how my dad explained it to me all those years ago.
Hi Michelle:
Turns out the guy at the fish store sold us a hybrid fish that would have done much better with an air pump--we put him in a bowl.
They promised us that Betta's are "bulletproof", so we tried to pick one out that didn't have the "buggy eyes" that Ryan doesn't like--Ryan named our new guy "Marlin". So far, Marlin has made it through one night--keep ya posted.
Thanks!
Mike
Hiya Mike, condolences! Poor Ryan. As the owner of many, many fish, axolotls, etc, and with a mother who works in a Fisheries, I would suggest the following for future reference:
1. Prepare your tank a few days, preferably a week before, with some oxygenating weed (like Canadian pond weed). Don't treat the water for chlorine, let it vanish over time.
2. Fish, not being the brightest of creatures, get traumatised easily, so hold the bag as steady as possible on the journey, keep it inside another bag so that there aren't moving things all around it, then when you get it home, leave it in the bag floating in the tank for at least half an hour so that the temperatures can equalise.
I know this is a bit late now, but it's always worked for us so far! Good luck with the new fish!
Hello Stormfilled! And thank you for the kind advice. Since we know nothing about pets at all (another blog for another day), I really should have gotten advice.
Of course,we greedily wanted instant pet gratification, so that's why we treated the water--and we should have used an oxygenating system of some kind with the fish we got.
Also, Ryan, being a great host, was probably holding poor Goldie (may he RIP) against the window and introducing him to the neighborhood at 50 MPH.
Modifying the epitaph I mentioned on my blog a few days ago:
The fond remembrance of our poor fish
Fades with him down the porcelain dish...
:)
Mike
Hehe, nice one! As a point of interest, goldfish make fantastic fertiliser for roses if any future disasters occur... ;)
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