If you've ever been to our house, you may, or may not, have noticed our small (2 gallon?) fish tank with one fish. The fish that will not die. It's tucked away in the corner of our kitchen, so you many people don't notice it. I only pay attention to it once a day to feed it (if I remember).
The story starts my sophomore year in college. My friends bought me a fish tank and two goldfish for my birthday. Such a great gift! Fish are my favorite animal, which you would never guess from looking at our upstairs hall bathroom. I faithfully took care of the goldfish until they both eventually died (sometime that year I think). Then a friend of mine gave me some guppies from her larger tank (she probably had 50 or so fish in her tank). From the start of those 5 or so fish, I have had fish in the tank for about 10 years now. They would breed, then die off...breed, then die. They even survived a week in Keith's custody when I was on vacation (well, almost all survived). I finally got down to one fish, who has had the tank all to himself for well over a year now.
I thought for sure that he would be long gone by now. As soon as I got pregnant I thought it would be fitting if the fish died right before LBA was born - the whole cycle of life thing. But no, he hung through even though I'm sure there were days where he didn't get fed while we were busy with the baby. He hasn't even shown any jealousy towards Owen. Just swims around like nothing is new. I also have let whole months (yes, plural) go by without cleaning the tank. I finally cleaned the tank about two weeks ago figuring if I went through all that effort he would make sure to die the next day. But no, he's still around.
I finally searched the Internet today to see how long goldfish are supposed to live. 10-30 years????!!!!! Oh, wait, that's goldfish. I have a guppy. New search: 2-3 years IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM. Ha!! I must have the most resilient guppy in the world.
Now the question is what will I do once we run out of fish food. Good thing there is still 1/3 of a container left. He can't possibly last long enough to use that up.
Or can he??
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3 comments:
1.75 gallons I think.
And where's the picture? I know we have a camera or two laying around the place.
Picture, yes, there needs to be a picture. And, you must reveal the name. Surely, you can't have an unnamed fish. Even if the name is "Fish", there has to be a name.
Ok, ok, here's a picture. Happy? It turns out to not be so easy to take a picture of a moving fish in a tank.
Oh, and the name is "Ultimo".
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