Day 13 of having the fish named blue. I just fed her and I watched her as she watched back at me. I wonder if she knows how easy it would be for me to destroy her. I could but this is no ordinary beta fish. The last two died but not this one. She has a will to live. I see it in her soul. She made me cry in the fish bowl. Just a couple drops to prove she could.
The first fish we bought was a goldfish. We picked out the fastest and most lively goldfish at walmart. We took our time picking it out because we waited for 20 minutes for someone to help us. Some walmart worker who asked which one we wanted. She scooped him out of his home and dumped him in an over sized ziplock bag. Then she hooked the bag up to a machine that either sucked the air out or put some in. My wife found our old fish bowl and had it laying out ready for the new fish. He looked so alive darting back and forth in his bag until I dumped him in the bowl. My daughter named him yellow because of his color. She pointed at him and screamed 'yellow'. He died 20 minutes later. The guys at work said the water was probably different temperatures.
The second fish we bought was a goldfish. We picked him out at petmart. When we got home we placed the bag in the water of the tank for 20 minutes and then removed the bag. The guy at work told me if I did this then the fish would live. He was wrong and the fish died an hour later. We took a sample of water in to be tested and the guy at petmart said it had too much chlorine.. That's why the fish have been dieing. It wasn't my fault. It was the fucking city water. He said our bowl was too small for a goldfish and he talked us in to buying the beta fish.
I wonder if this blue beta fish knows I'm about to dump her in a bowl that over 5 fish have died in before. I can see her looking at me through the bag. We bought special food, water, and didn't miss a step. This fish won't die. Her color is amazing. She's all blue and greenish purple....and.. gawd I need to snap out of it. I'm in control here. If this fish screws up once she's going down the toilet.
My wife and daughter love the new fish. She is now part of the family. My daughter is sitting two inches away from the bowl with a pencil in one hand and a cracker in the other. She is drawing a picture of the fish. My wife comes home every day and worries that blue might be floating upside down. She tells me that blue spits her food out because she doesn't like the taste. I didn't even know fish could taste anything. I dropped a pebble in and watched her eat it. Sure enough she spit it out and then swallowed it again. She was softening up her food I think. Maybe she was doing the same with all of us. She already got my daughter drawing pictures of her. The cat drinks from her bowl. Blue will swim right up to the cat's tongue. Mercury had a rough upbringing and she can handle herself. She was raised in a trailer with two dogs. Why is she not eating this fish?
Blue gets something new every week. She got a house for her tank and pebbles to line the bottom. Her water bills are getting expensive. My wife read that we should change the water every 3 days. Blue only swims in the expensive water. We don't buy the cheap stuff. We don't want to accidentally kill her like the other two fishes.
It's amazing how something so small can change our lives. This little $3 fish is now something to worry about, take care of, and blog about.
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