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January 22, 2004
Goldfish Trauma
A plastic tank, a small net, a can of flakes, little pebbles, a small wax plant, and two small goldfish. Sounds like a recipe for a college student's perfect pet, right?
My roommate and I bought goldfish as a kind of "spur-of-the-moment" thing at Wal*Mart on Monday. Our fish were named Bubby and Patch. Bubby for a little joke we have, and Patch because he had one eye that was totally black while the other was normal (white with the small pin-sized black pupil).
Our adventure began when we had to take them into the cold from their native Wal*Mart climate, which is nearly tropical at times. We tried to keep the little things warm in the car until we arrived back at SHU. Setting up the little tank was a breeze, and so our newest additions to our "family" were settled.
Tuesday afternoon Melissa came back to the room right before I did, and informed me once I had arrived that she had just given Bubby his fishy funeral with a flush of the toilet. *sigh* Our rationalization was that it had only cost us twenty-eight cents...
Yesterday I changed Patch's water since it had gotten a little cloudy. I let the clean water sit in cups in our room so that it'd be room temperature when I did the switch. And the cleaning went off without a hitch. No problem.
I woke this morning and meandered in my morning reverie to gaze at our remaining pet. Not seeing him swimming about worried me, so I rubbed my eyes and stared through the plastic to find his little fishy corpse sunken to the bottom of the tank. This time it was my job to flush the little guy, and with tears in my eyes I sent him on his way...
How discomforting it is to know that two goldfish have died in my care within a matter of days. It may be seen as too dramatic, but it makes me consider what kind of person I really am. I'm reconsidering whether or not I want to have children when I get married thanks to the death of these aquatic friends...
We didn't mistreat the fish, and we certainly fed them. Melissa and I did our best to make them comfortable in our humble abode, and they go and die! The nerve... *deep breath*
I guess you could say I'm bitter about it. *shrug* Oh well. We'll buy a beta fish next time. Maybe this week.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at January 22, 2004 11:00 PM
Comments
GOLDFISH TRAUMA IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!! :(
We loved those little guys...I don't understand what we did wrong...
Shall we look for a beta fish....tomorrow? hehe...
Love ya roomie!
Melly Mel
Posted by: Melly Mel at January 22, 2004 11:29 PM
I am sorry to hear about the deceased golden swimmers. You had such high hopes for the little guys too...
But don't get down. I know that you will find another friend soon, and if not, you will always have me.
Posted by: Amanda at January 22, 2004 11:50 PM
If it makes you feel any better, I bought a beta from the Bio Club when they were selling them and within a matter of three days the poor thing died. I attributed his death to my exboyfriend who named the thing and then broke up with me within the next week...Stupid Boys.
Tiffany
Posted by: Tiffany at January 23, 2004 2:09 PM
Hey Karissa,
i also bought a goldfish on tuesday also from walmart, his name was "whiskers" and my roommate nicknamed it "shark bait". I let it get accustomed to the room temperature and after 45 minutes I placed it in the water bowl. At first it swam sporadically and I thought wow this fish is excited about its new home and then it would rest on the bottom. It appeared that he was heaving almost breathing "asthmatically". Whiskers would do this routine sometimes it appears that he would ricochet inside the glass bowl. It was interesting watching it, six hours later when I woke up...
Posted by: Michael Diezmos at January 25, 2004 3:39 AM
That's really odd, Mike... Is your fish still alive? (I have to ask because I remember my fish was acting strange like that for awhile, too.)
Posted by: Karissa at January 25, 2004 3:43 PM