Thursday, March 8, 2012

a tale of two fishies

My mom was kind enough to buy two little goldfishes for my son yesterday. Dylan has asked us for a pet, one of them being a fish. I know it would be a great way to teach him responsibility, but in the back of my mind I always think that I'll be the one who ends up feeding and taking care of a pet.


So, the fishies were there. In their little bowl. In our home.


I told him that he needed to feed them in the morning and at night and that it would be his job. After he went to bed last night, I said to my boyfriend, "I don't mind the fishies, but having goldfish makes me nervous. Every time I had one as a kid, they never lived for very long..." I probably had 5 goldfish before I decided that I shouldn't own them anymore.


This morning as I was getting ready for work, I noticed one of the fishies at the bottom of the bowl. I checked and sure enough, it was dead. I didn't have the heart to throw it out just yet. Dylan wasn't awake yet and we didn't know what to tell him.


Do we throw it out and tell him it actually died? Or do we replace it with another one?


He woke up a few minutes later and the first thing he did was run up to the fish bowl to say "Good morning fishies!!" I felt sad for him because he had no idea.


We came home this evening and I was prepared to tell him that one of his fishies had died. To my surprise, I looked inside the bowl and found BOTH fishies floating in the water. He ran up to the bowl and said, "Mommy, the fishies are dead!" We told him it would be okay and that we'd get him some new fishies. I said, "Okay, let's say goodbye and flush them down the toilet!" What did he say? 


"Ooh, I wanna do it!!!"



So long fishies, you will be missed!



14 comments:

  1. So sad to hear about the death of the goldfish..But i think i will advice you to try and buy the ones that lives long, so that he will enjoy and watch his fishes grow...

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    1. Thanks, May! We'll have to ditch the goldfish idea from now on. haha.

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  2. goldfish are hard to take care of, but it's fun while they're around. :)
    have a great wknd!
    xoxo
    jasmine

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  4. Goldfish are super hard to take care of, I'm a aquarium hobbyist, and goldfish require huge tanks with a few filters because they create so much waste. They will always die in a bowl.

    But the good news is a betta fish would be perfect for your son.
    You can only keep one since they are aggressive to each other, but they are so much prettier than goldfish, and they have tons of personality! They will chase your finger when you touch the bowl :)
    They like warm water around 80 degrees and at least a gallon bowl.
    Great fish I promise I have 2 of them in separate tanks. If you change the water once a week they can live up to 5 years!

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    1. Thanks, Viki! We are thinking of getting him a beta fish. I had one and it lasted waayyy longer than the goldfish.

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  5. I'm glad he was excited about flushing them down the toilet. I'm sure it eased the pain.

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    1. HAHA! As soon as we told him he'd get some new fish, he was definitely ok!

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  6. You know I love your blog so when I was tagged in "blog tag" I thought of you immediately. Lol, sorry but you're it now! check out the details and rules of the game at www.beautyandthegreen.blogspot.com.

    I can identify with this post so much. My son had gold fish and guinea pigs and they all have short life spans. he didn't take it as well as your son. You must be so proud of your little man, he already knows that death is a natural part of life...lol, at least for gold fish.

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    1. Tell me about it! LOL. I already knew it was a bad idea when I saw the goldfish.

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  7. Well I'm glad he didn't take it too hard! We just got a hamster for my daughter, and I sure hope it doesn't die. I think she'd be pretty darn upset, we probably should have got her some fish instead huh!

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    1. I'm sure the hamster will last longer than the fish. Hope she's enjoying her new pet! :)

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  8. Poor fish. It sounds like he took it really well. Whenever I think of goldfish my mind goes to the movie Amalie. Her fish plopped out of the bowl and she wouldn't stop screaming. Her mom had a break down. There's more, but that's most of it.

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    1. He took is surprisingly well! I haven't seen that movie yet. I should watch it! :)

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