It’s alive! May 16, 2008
About a year ago, 9 year old E announced that he really wanted an aquarium. I told him no. We already had too many pets, and I knew he wouldn’t take care of it.
But then some guy at his day camp program just gave him a fish to bring home one day (sounds fishy, doesn’t it?), and well, I’ll bet you can tell where this story is heading.
Pushover that I am, I relented and bought him a tiny aquarium - 3 gallons - to set up in his room.
Fast forward 6-8 months. The fish have all died. The aquarium sits, still plugged in and buzzing in a corner of his room, half full of brackish water. So the other day, I took a deep breath and approached the aquarium, intending to begin the process of dismantling it.
Lo and bhold…there’s a living creature in there! A fish! The same ugly brown fish his camp counselor gave him. And it’s grown! It’s quite a bit larger, even though I am sure no one has fed it for literally months (because we thought the aquarium was devoid of all life forms except algae growing on the side).
So now I guess I have to get E to help me clean the damn thing and make sure Mr. Fish is more comfortable in there. And feed him. There’s that.
the clean tank will probably kill him:)
We had a fish like that. It survived everything. My nephew destroyed the tank once when he was three (he dumped Sprite, broke an alcohol thermometer in it, and dumped numerous items, including a digital camera and stack of cds in it). The water didn’t clear for weeks, even though we treated it, so we didn’t put food or anything in it. Lo and behold, one little fish survived! Fish are tougher than they get credit for.
Do you remember when my mom accidently boiled my sister’s fish? I think she turned up the tank heater too much or maybe it malfunctioned. Anyway, the end result was fish stew. Poor fishy…
Um, maybe if he’s grown in dirty water and hasn;t been fed, he’d be conmfortable like that. At least it;s less work. You might clean it and the celan water and different food might kill it… at least, that’s how it would be with my luck…
I think you should gradually clean the water. Change out a quarter of it at a time. And, of course, give the poor thing some food.
Believe it or not, fish are sentient creatures and suffer as other animals (and humans) do. Please do the right thing and create a comfortable environment for the only fish you have left.
I find it incredibly sad and unfortunate that parenting responsibilities seem to drop off when it comes to overseeing the way children treat their pets.
But I thought the fish was dead! I didn’t mean to neglect it; I didn’t know there was fish in there.