one fish two fish, dead fish.... ALIVE fish!!

The other day I noticed that my fish, dear sweet Polamalu (of course named for the Pittsburgh Steelers player because when we got him, he had quite a bit of black on him -- and his fins were long and wavy and black -- a bit like Troy's gorgeous hair) -- anyhow the other day I noticed that he was no longer swimming up near the middle of the bowl, as is his usual fashion. Instead he was kind of lying down next to the rocks at the bottom of the bowl. I have never seen him down there before, for more than a second or two before flittering back up to the middle of the bowl. He stayed there for hours. I didn't watch him for hours, but I was sitting there watching a dvd and would intermittently look up and think with great sadness "oh nooooo I think my poor fishie is dead!!"

So I asked Andy to "dispose of the deceased" (because apparently the Helsbys are fantastic pet undertakers -- long story -- but ask Andy if you want to hear it for a really big laugh)... so he takes the bowl to the kitchen. He's about to reach in and pluck out the deceased, when he sees that the fish is now floating at the top (still not moving) and figures that the water moved around a bit when he picked up the bowl and therefore dead fishie floated to the top. So he reaches in and is about to grasp dead fishie when dead fishie pulls a Holy Grail "I'M NOT DEAD YET --- I THINK I'LL GO FOR A WALK!!!" and SWIMS OFF!!

So yep -- Polamalu is NOT dead... and he's a very happy fishie because he now has a nice clean bowl with lots of fresh water. Which makes me very very happy because we've had him for almost a year and a half now -- a long time I know for a common goldfish but I've grown quite attached to him. He has outgrown his black patches... only has a tiny bit of black left on his top fin that hasn't gone yet... (just a lil fyi -- goldfish are born black and become gold over time -- also If you leave your goldfish in the dark , it will turn almost white. Goldfish have pigment production in response to light, which is almost like our tanning in the sun.) Interesting stuff eh!

Posted by kristen at May 23, 2007 10:49 AM