DD's beta fish Dorothy has passed on. She lived a good full life. A little passed the normal life span of a beta fish of 2-3 years. We got Dorothy at Christmas time 2004. The normal fish in the store is already 6 months old and then we had it three years and three months. That means this fish might have been four years. That would be like adding on 20-30 years to a humans life.
Not only did Dorothy live a long life, she lived a hard one, she was a survivor. The things we did to this fish should have killed it at least four times over. Innie's fish didn't survive the things we did to it but Dorothy did.
There was the time that we had both fish in one of those bowls that just had a divider and we left off the lid once. She actually jumped over the divider to get at Innie's fish. We found them who knows how long later both at the bottom of the bowl obviously very tired and their fins were missing quite a lot of big chunks.
Then their was the time that we left both fish in their respective jars, a la Gil in What About Bob?, as we were moving from VA to TN. We might have accidentally left them in the jars in the trailer in May as we went on vacation to Williamsburg. Dan had to go back to the post one day to out-process and he tried to get to the trailer but it was in the storage lot and to get into you had to check out the key and it wasn't the proper hours. They wouldn't give him the key no matter how Dan explained that children's pets were at stake. One week later we went to the trailer to see what became of the fish and then begin the move to TN. There were two nasty jars and one floater. Innie was a little upset. Especially since DD's fish survived and his didn't.
There was another time I left Dorothy in a jar on our book shelf for a week just two months later. We were going to my sister's house and a friend's house for the week and I put her on the shelf right by the front door so I wouldn't forget to bring her along. I did leave it right where I put it. A week later we had a fish just fine.
We have put this fish through the mill and she just kept kicking. The last few days though I knew it was coming she been swimming real slow and she has been there just sideways in the water. The day finally comes and I try to think of how to tell DD. I hide it for awhile and then finally call her to tell her. I tell her, "I'm sorry DD but your fish died." She instantly goes to see the corpse. And then she comes back to me and says real close to me, "I kind of forgot I had a fish. Are we going to get a new one?" Well, no DD we are not going to get a new one. All we have now is one big-mouth frog and once that one goes we will be a pet free home.
As I was placing Dorothy into her porcelain coffin ready for her grand burial at sea, I thought of taking a picture of it for this post but then thought maybe nobody would really want to see that so with one flick of my wrist, Dorothy was gone.
Rest in Peace.
5 comments:
Oh my goodness! I will have to post my fish in the toilet story - hysterical!
I once had a beautiful Beta, who was the class pet die a tragic death. I put a prehistoric little organism in with it, thinking if anything was going to die it would be the 1/2" long horseshoe crab thingy that my biology teacher bro. fished out of a mud puddle. Nope, we came back Monday morning and found a tail attatched to a completely skinned spine and a skull. Wild!
Guess I should have consulted my bro before I combined two species in one bowl.
I love stories like that! Jessica came home with a goldfish for Karolins birthday one year. I was not happy! Karolin said "thanks, but you can keep it!" She did. That thing was dropped on the floor once while changing the water, not fed once for two weeks and still the darn thing lived. I'm not sure how long goldfish survive in bowls that only hold a quart of water but "Gil" lived for a year and 3 months. Weird!
Now we are pet free except for the deer of course. And there is enough poop in the yard to start a fertilizer farm! Anyone want some?
I could start an album if I took a picture of a fish in the toilet at our house. Mike being a fish guy and all-it is no suprise that fish will die and when they do, they go in the toilet. I've gotten so used to it that Mike forgets to flush sometimes and you just do your duty on top of them. No biggie. I guess I don't get attached to fish anymore.
That's disgusting, Ang! lol
I have had bad luck with fish as well. I once changed the water for our fish. I tested it room temperature wise and it felt fine -- neglecting that I should have kept that water out for some time to adjust properly. Well, I didn't. In wen the fish, right away it swam very fast then began to swim more in it's side. Less than 30 seconds later, it had stopped moving. I guess any hotter and we would have had boiled fish..
The other fish I had won as a Sales prize while working for Qwest. I put it in it's tank and had a nice companion for 3-4 days who helped me upsell when all you wanted to do was ask a simple question on your bill -- anyway, I digress. I went home over the weekend and came back to a floaty. Fun part about this one is that 1/3rd of the fishes side was out of the water and had plenty of time to dry up and get white and moldy-looking.
What a survivor! HAHA thanks for not posting a picture of it though...
It made me laugh when I read what DD said. Funny little girl!
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