I had been home for about five minutes and Goobs came up to me and said..."Tom is dead, Daddy." He then pointed to the small aquarium that houses two (now one) goldfish. Tom and Jerry had been around for two months. A store named "Petland" opened up in the shopping center right near our place. We took Goobs and the Bun there and got them fish. J and I figured(okay...to be totally honest, this was J that did the figuring. I was along for the ride) it was time to get them a pet, but something low key that wouldn't leave fur or hair all over. Fish were the perfect solution, so we tromped over to Petland, bought some fish and an aquarium, put it together, and voilla (Okay...I'm not French, so If my French spelling sucks...I'm okay with it), we had Goldfish..."Just Add Water..." and boom, we were pet owners. We originally had four fish, but lost two via a tank cleaning accident by J and Goobs. We were down to two until today.
I got a plastic picnic cup, scooped him out and took him to the bathroom. I suggested a viking funeral to J. The goldfish viking funeral would entail us making a paper boat, putting Tom in it, setting it on fire, and then flushing it. I thought it was a perfect way for Tom to enter goldfish Valhalla. J poo pooed my idea of the viking funeral, so we had to go with the simple, generic goldfish funeral in the bathroom.
I let Goobs take the casket (the plastic cup) with Tom in it into the bathroom. He did feed Tom every day and talked to him too, so it was only appropriate that Goobs was the lone pallbearer. He solemnly walked into the bathroom and dumped Tom into the bowl. I asked him if he wanted to say a few words before Tom was flushed. Goobs shook his head up and down and then said..."Bye Buddy" and then flushed him down. He then skipped out of the bathroom to watch Curious George. That was the extent of his mourning.
When the other goldfish, Jerry, expires, we'll do it again. I think we'll wait for a while before we get a kitten or a puppy.
7 comments:
Oh dear. I flushed, er. . . buried a fish once. His name was Mr. Fishy and he was my attempt at a low maintenance pet.
I'm glad that your son wasn't too upset over his dearly departed.
lol Yes...no worries there ...bye buddy lol
farewell friend . . .
*FYI: goldfish are NOT hardy fish, butt those Siamese fighting fish are practically indestructible!
We too have shopped at the new Petland.
Now, I have kept fish for many years! (Background), and not that long ago #3 of 5 got an aquarium for his birthday, and although we have had a couple of starter fish to kick start the Nitrogen Cycle, we never really "stocked" the aquarium.
So, we went to the new Petland, and stocked the Aquarium with a school of five Neon Tetras, an albino corydora, and the two Chinese Algae eaters (original to the tank). We lost 4 of the five neons over the first two days, so I took the fish (and a water sample) back to Petland. Our water was found to be perfect (maybe just a little bit too "hard", but it was the same "hardness" as the store's tanks), so they gave us a credit voucher for 4 replacement Neons. (They were out of stock).
With the holidays, we have been so busy that we have not had the time to stop by Petland again, but will do so sometime in the next week or so.
Beloved-I think our attempts at low maintenance pets is going the way yours did...Well at least we are trying.
Mel-Yes, the thing really was that funny...It's something I'll laugh about for a long time.
Angie-I have to get some different fish. I'll follow your suggestion...besides I think those Siamese fighting fish are far better looking than goldfish.
Dad O'5- yeah Petland is really convenient. We live right behind the store, so we can actually walk there. I suppose if Jerry croaks, we'll be walking over there to get a baggie o' fish.
Poor little fish! My babysitter killed my betta - she was trying to "help" by putting the fish on the windowsill - the sun fried the fish.
Yeah... I'm not so sure about fish being low-maintenance. The few that I tried having died almost immediately. A beta (or whatever it was) I once gave to an old boyfriend died almost immediately... really, and you can filet the thing and have sushi or anything. (Okay, DON'T tell Goobs I said that last part!)
Deepest condolensces... and a Mama Nabi hug for the brave sweet Goobs...
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