a goldfish

So yesterday, Evan received a goldfish in Sunday school. I thought it kind of odd that they'd give toddlers a fish at church but whatever, it was kinda cute too. At first I thought that when the nice lady working the nursery kept saying that Evan had goldfish that she was referring to an actual Goldfish cracker. Another dad picking up his daughter thought the same thing and when we realized it was actually a real live goldfish, we laughed.

When we got home I just put the white Styrofoam cup holding the goldfish on the kitchen counter not sure what to do with him next. I was a bit peeved that we even had it as I didn't really want a fish and now that we had one, I had no clue what to do with him however I know that I didn't want him to die. So as the afternoon wore on, I decided that there was no life for a fish inside a small cup that it couldn't see through so I transferred him to a small clear bowl. He seemed pretty happy in there, swimming around and whatnot. Feeding him crossed my mind but I didn't have any kind of food that would feed a fish so I briefly thought of heading to the pet store the next day to pick some up.

When I woke up this morning, I went to check on mr. goldfish, kinda fearing that he may have passed during the night (I was starting to warm up to the little guy!) and to my surprise he was still with us, swimming away. I was happy.

My hubby stayed home from work today so we laid low for most of the day and then decided to head out to IKEA to purchase some replacement couch cushion covers. While we were out, we stopped at Petco to buy some fish food and a small tank that our newest 'family member' could live in. I was starting to really like the idea of having a little fishy and I thought it would be something fun for Evan to have and look at in his room. As we were driving home, I started to get a bit anxious that we had starved our little fish and I feared that he may have died while we were out, I couldn't wait to get home and give him some food.

We got home and I rushed into the kitchen and with sadness noticed that our goldfish was laying on it's side and not moving. Then I noticed that he was still breathing. Phew! But I wanted to save him if he was indeed going to die. So I opened up the fish food container and plopped some food on the top of the water. He didn't respond to it. Then my husband tried poking some of the food under the water to see if when it reached him at the bottom of the bowl, he'd eat it right up. Nope. I was really sad. I felt as though I killed him because he hadn't had any food all day, it was around 7pm at this time. But then my hubby looked up online how long a fish can survive without food and it can be up to one week. So him not eating most likely had nothing to do with the condition he was currently in. That made me feel a little bit better but I was still sad that he was sick.

Throughout the evening, I checked on mr. goldfish and he was still there, breathing and occasionally moving but I could tell he looked more and more weak. Then around 10pm, I was washing my face and my hubby came into the bathroom. I mentioned how I was sad about the fish and asked him to check on him again. He didn't return right away and when he did he told me that he was still breathing and that he actually went ahead and changed out the water and the bowl because the water seemed a bit dirty with all the food still floating in it among other things. To our surprise, mr. goldfish seemed to be doing better. He was swimming around a lot more and he was no longer laying on his side. Yay! We put only one piece of food on the top of the water and decided just to see what happens. So right now, he's just sitting on the kitchen counter in his freshly changed bowl and water and I'm hoping he turns around. I was looking forward to setting up his little fish tank and showing Evan. It would be nice if we could still do that.

It's funny though...at first I didn't want him at all and now all I can hope for is that he survives and stays with us for a long long time! Maybe you could say a little prayer for our little fishy? He's really really cute! hehe!