“Please don’t forget cat food today,” my husband texted me
on his way to work.
I had some errands to run and those locations were near the
Petsmart so I opted to go there instead of Walmart to grab my cat’s grub. Upon
entering the store, my children immediately began asking for a new pet. We have
three dogs and a cat. We don’t need anymore pets but…
…I grew up with fish, rabbits, dogs, pheasants, and snakes
so I kind of wanted a caged animal too. It didn’t take long to “break” me.
Mammals were out. I’ve done that before and it is way too much up front
investment and work to keep them tidy and happy. I wanted a relatively
self-sufficient pet. Something we could watch and enjoy with minimal upkeep.
What’s more self-sufficient than a fish? It keeps itself entertained and as
long as you keep up with cleaning the tank and remember to feed the thing
you’re good to go. Remember this easy going ideal as this story unfolds.
Before completely giving the kids permission to choose a
fish and get the ball rolling, I checked the pricing of the equipment I would
need. Luckily, starter kits aren’t that expensive and we grabbed one and picked
out a few tank embellishments. That was the easy part.
I approached the massive wall of fish, uneducated (for the
most part) about what each type of fish would require as far as care. I wasn’t
interested in playing with saltwater or anything of that nature and I certainly
didn’t want a goldfish. They bore me. A sales associate must have seen the
confused look on my face and heard me tell me kids to just hang on a minute
while trying to figure out where to even start.
“What can I help you find today?”
“Well, this is sort of impulsive but we’re getting a fish
today, I believe.” I proudly patted my fish tank starter kit. “Now we just need
the fish. What do you have that that isn’t a goldfish but is pretty robust?
Something I won’t end up killing in three days…” Apparently if you don’t know
me, my humor can be kind of off putting. At least that’s the impression I got
based on the confused/shocked/sort of amused look our helpful Petsmart employee
gave me. She looked like she was having an internal struggle as to whether to
chuckle uncomfortably or try to tell me they don’t carry fish, as not to send
one to it’s certainly imminent death. God, I’m so awkward. I wasn’t exactly
kidding. I didn’t want some fragile fish that I had to maintain insane
conditions just to keep it alive. “No, no. I don’t mean it like that. I just
want a fairly low-maintenance fish. That’s all.” She looked a little more
comfortable after that.
I’ll tell you, this girl made one of the smartest sales
moves I’ve ever seen. Seeing one tank in my cart and two kids (assuming each
would probably be choosing a new pet) she suggests a Beta. You know, those fish
that you typically can’t house together. Bwhahah, nice try! My kids will learn
to compromise before I’ll buy two tanks for two fish on a whim (one impulse
fish was enough). It is possible this was the first fish that came to her mind
when I said I didn’t want one that dies. Either way, it was a brilliant sales
move, had I taken the bait (HA. BAIT. FISH.). We settled on allowing my
daughter pick the Beta while my son picked out a snail. I was told they’d make
decent tank mates (the Beta and snail, not my kids…they’d make horrible tank
mates). Anyway, after grabbing water conditioner, food, and a feeding block and
being assured I wouldn’t need a heater and the care would be pretty simple, we
were on our way.
Skipping the boring parts, as soon as we arrived home we set
everything up and the new animals were in their tank. My daughter named the
Beta Grape. It was purple at one time but it’s blue and orange now. My son
named the snail Gary Jr. as expected considering his admiration for Spongebob
Squarepants.
Everything was going really well until I started Googling. I
really didn’t want to be responsible for these new pets dying before their
time, so I wanted to ensure I was doing everything right. FYI: do this before
you go to store, not after. I read pages upon pages of veteran aquarium/fish
enthusiasts telling me that I certainly keeping the fish alive but they would
never thrive in their new home. Awesome.
The first fail I made was purchasing a 1.5 gallon tank to
house the Beta/snail duo. According to just about everyone with any authority
on the subject I should have gotten at least a 5 gallon tank. For this tiny
fish. Oh he’ll live just fine in a 1.5 but he wont thriiiiiiiive. I kind of
figured, he’s lived most of his fishy life in a little cup at Petsmart, how
could anything bigger and better be worse? Anyway, for those worried I will be
upgrading. My husband saw this as a great opportunity to pull his massive tanks
from the shed and start seeking the proper equipment to set them up for
thriving fish.
While I was advised a heater wouldn’t be necessary, I’ve
still been obsessively temping the water. It’s too cold. He’s not freezing,
it’s only a degrees or so off but enough to prompt me to go get a heater
tomorrow. In the meantime I’ve been doing 25-50% water changes daily and slowly
introducing warmer water to the tank. Temping it each time I add a little more
water. I know constant water changes can piss him off but that’s where I’m at
right now.
A day or two after bringing these guys home, we went away
for the day. We came back to find Gary Jr. floating at the top of the tank,
hanging out of his shell, with an air bubble inside it. He also smelled like
death. That’s probably because he was dead. My son took it really well until he
starting thinking about it. He went from completely understanding and almost
callous to a little bummed. He’s ok, though. My son, not the snail. The snail
is dead.
After the snail died I got him out of the tank and did a
100% water change and cleaned everything in the tank. The next morning the tank
was murky and smelled horrible. I cleaned it out once more and it looked
amazing and lost the horrid smell. Since all this craziness with the dead
snail, the water change, the temp adjustments, etc. the Beta (for good reason)
was pretty stressed. Eating has been hit or miss and now I’m 99% sure he has
Ich. So a heater plus the Ich treatment and another tank deep clean are on tap
for tomorrow.
I’m not upset that this has turned into more work than
expected. I like having the tank in the living room. I actually find it
hilarious that my mission was to appease the want for such a pet, specially aim
for low maintenance, and here I am treating Ich.
No comments:
Post a Comment