Rest in Peace, Tony da Fish

Last Friday was the kids last day of school.  Because of our fantastically confusing final exam schedule, I didn't have any exams to give, so I took the day off to drive the kids around and participate in the end of the year festivities (meaning clean out the lost and found at school and hang the last round of used uniforms in preparation for the fall sale.  And have breakfast with my friend, T...the most important festivity!)

I woke up at my normal time, so there wouldn't be a backlog on the shower and came downstairs to find Tony doing the backstroke.  D'oh.  After checking his vitals about ten times, I came to the conclusion that Tony da Fish was no longer among the living.  (D'oh!).  Um, now...what does one do with a five inch long, inch wide goldfish?  I fished him out of the tank (pun intended) and put him in a Tide Washer Cleaner box lined with paper towel, thinking I'd bury him in the backyard.  Then I remembered the bear.  Um, yeah, there was a bear in our neighborhood yesterday.  Hmm.. burying things in the backyard doesn't sound like a good idea right now.  So I woke up Mr. Ranch (sorry, Dude) and we decided, that since it is trash day, Tony would be leaving our house in a special (large green) container.

Good-bye, Tony...you were a good fish, even though you killed every other living thing we put in your tank.

At least now I won't have to get a fish sitter when we go to Michigan, right?  And, no, Mom, they do not get a dog to replace the fish...the children already have two dogs.

Tony strikes again

Tony's tank had been looking a little murky and the snail (was this one George?) didn't seem to be moving much.  You may remember from this blog entry that we moved the snail to another tank, then eventually decided that maybe he (she?) wasn't dying, so we put him (her?) back into the big tank.  I kept finding the snail half buried in the rocks or half under the plants, but when poked, s/he would move a little, and seemed to move occasionally during the day when we weren't home, so, maybe he was hibernating.  Snails hibernate, right? Right? Well, maybe not...eventually the snail "disappeared", but the water wasn't too gross, so I decided that maybe the snail really as hibernating or something.

Then, the other day, I noticed that the snail shell was back on top of the rocks.  And it was empty.  Hmm.
 Well, that sucks. It is still a pretty shell, though, right? So we are working under the theory that Tony da Fish, either killed or waited until the snail died....and ate him.  Ew.  So that brings Tony's grand total to two dead fish and two dead snails.

Probably due to the dead snail's decaying body, the tank built up a lot of algae, so today we went to the pet store to see if we could get a sucker fish to get rid of some of the yuck.  The pet store clerk talked us into a tool to clean instead...she also thought it sounds like Tony is a hazard to others.

 But, despite being a hazard to other living creatures in his tank...he is sort of entertaining.  Although he is way too big to flush, so we'll have a fish graveyard when he dies.  Sigh. Don't die anytime soon, Tony da Fish.

The Pets are a pain

Earlier this week we were pretty sure that Tony da Fish had done away with George the Snail.  George was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the tank, upside down, not moving and kind of hanging out of his/her shell.  Despite the absence of smell, which many of our snail expert friends claim is the best way to find a dead snail, we were pretty sure he was dead.  But...because we thought he might not be dead, we put him in a separate bowl to see if he disintegrated.






Notice how s/he is oozing out of his shell?  Icky.









Imagine our surprise when he moved!  It still appears that George might not be well (a sick snail?) but he's not dead yet!

So I gave him (her?) a piece of lettuce and some fish food...we'll see.  Today he (she?) has snotty things hanging off--either they are snail babies (?) or he has a cold....right.







In other news, I found Tigger sitting in Indy's bowl.  At first I thought he might be using the water bowl as a litter box (he has used Indy's food bowl previously, as a sign of his anger)...however, since he turned around and started drinking water, I suppose he didn't.  Weird cat...his tail is all wet...

The continuing saga of Tony da Fish

So we are suckers.  We felt bad for Tony da Fish, and Petsmart (The Evil Empire?) had fish tanks on sale for half off...so Tony got a new tank. Since he was a big as his old tank, I guess it is ok.  Here he is, checking out the new digs...

 And here is is new friend, George the snail.  I tried to video it, but wasn't fast enough (ironic, as George is a snail)...as soon as Tony discovered George, Tony began to head butt George and nibble at his shell.  His attacks seem to have slowed down, perhaps George is now inducted into Tony's Gang.

 Doesn't this give you the creeps?  I mean, if a fish could have a death look, then this would be it...

 Just to review...Tony da Fish was the smallest fish that Petsmart sold, is now about 3.5 inches long.  

New Fish

When I was a kid my brother's fish died and my folks got him a dog.  Go figure.  When Goldie the Goldfish died we kept an empty fish tank on the counter for a couple weeks and just pretended there was a fish in it.  Today we paid a visit to the local pet store and 30 cents later (plus tax, well, and a bunch of dog stuff), we came home with two little goldfish.  They are named...wait for it..."Goldie Junior" and Tony.  Yes, Tony.  Why Tony you might ask?  After Tony Stark, Iron Man's not so secret identity.  I'm sorry, I don't know which one is which....I think the white one might be Tony, but then again, who really knows?