Now, I am certain that some of you see the error in Gabbie and her friend's plan. There was no bowl included in the two would-be pet owners purchase. Well, I paraded the two girls back into the store and spoke with the pet store attendant, who told me how she explained to the girls that they needed other supplies. Well, the two 59 cent fish ended up costing me $25.
So, the girls told me, and Gabbie in particular, that this would be a good test of her ability to take "responsibility" for a live animal. I didn't remind her that she used the same excuse to get me to get our cat, Boots. So, we bring the two fish home, she and her friend do all the work of filling up the bowl (with the chlorine drops), tempering the water, and putting the fish in and feeding them. It was great to watch them work so hard.
A few weeks and water changes later, Gabbie had misplaced the chlorine drops, and the water desperately needed to be changed, since there was about 2 inches of water in the bowl. She decides to change the water without the drops. Well, everything went okay for a day, but the next day one of the two fish was dead. I figured the other would follow soon after, and we could put an end to this experiment.
To my surprise the second fish survived. Other things happened to this guy. Once, again with the water level very low, Boots pushed the bowl off of the desk. I heard it just before falling asleep and was able to rescue the little guy. There's been more issues, usually with too much time spent between water changes.
Well, it's now been over a year, and this guy is still kicking (or swimming).
I thought this would be a short-lived (pardon the pun) experiment, but Goldy has proved that not to be the case. She is truly a survivor, and Gabbie and I both are amazed he's still around (knock on wood). Perhaps, next year, I'll be giving you another update that the guy has continued to beat the odds. If so, he'll be a true survivor.
