My son loves animals. He loves to see them in real life, in books, on TV, you name it. He can name them, tell you what sound they make, and most of the time he can also tell you what they look like. Naturally, I wanted to give him the joy of having a pet of his own. We haven't had a pet in over a year, and now he's really able to understand pets anyway.
So, I'm not ready for cats, as I still mourn my own who died just over a year ago. We don't live in a place large enough for a dog. What that leaves is caged animals. I wanted to start simple and low maintenance.... a fish.
We head on over to the pet store to get our son a goldfish. I was expecting the simple feeder fish to be about a dollar. To my excitement thy were only 17 cents! WOWEE! However, as we gathered supplies for this fish and tried to get my son to pick out the fish he wanted, my husband decided a betta fish would be better. The problem is, I have bad luck with bettas. Why? I have no clue! But for some reason they die on me real quick. I warned my husband of this, but we also had the benefit of our friend giving us all the details of how to care for it, since she works there. I gave in and said, "Fine, let's try a betta." And we brought home "Ennie", the blue betta.
This was Thursday night. I cleaned out the bowl and supplies without soap like the directions stated. I added water conditioner to make it clean (and the right amount too). I floated the fish in his bag for a while before I transferred him to the bowl. Things seemed fine. Friday I tried to give it food. Just enough, but it didn't eat. The bowl wasn't sitting in sunlight, and the temperature was fine. Saturday, we were gone all day.
Today, Sunday morning, the fish is on it's side, with a slight "film" on his body. He was alive though, we tried to move him and he swam away fast. Water was clean, everything seemed fine, but he proceeded to do this all day. Finally, this evening.... he floated to the bottom and was officially dead. I have no clue what happened, what went wrong, what I did.... but I'm sad. I told my husband I couldn't keep betta fish alive and I wish I knew why because I feel so guilty now. Guilty for the fish's life, and guilty that my son's first pet, even though short lived, died already. Third betta I've had in my life. Shortest amount of time to die.
I hate to waste all the money for the bowl and supplies, so I am thinking this week we will try to get a goldfish and see how that goes. Those, I have had better luck with. If it dies too, then I'm switching to rodents. Rodents are my thing, but the husband doesn't like them. On the other hand, I hate feeling like a fishes life seems almost disposable. "Oh, just get another". It's still a precious soul and I tried to love it and care for it.
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So, I'm not ready for cats, as I still mourn my own who died just over a year ago. We don't live in a place large enough for a dog. What that leaves is caged animals. I wanted to start simple and low maintenance.... a fish.
We head on over to the pet store to get our son a goldfish. I was expecting the simple feeder fish to be about a dollar. To my excitement thy were only 17 cents! WOWEE! However, as we gathered supplies for this fish and tried to get my son to pick out the fish he wanted, my husband decided a betta fish would be better. The problem is, I have bad luck with bettas. Why? I have no clue! But for some reason they die on me real quick. I warned my husband of this, but we also had the benefit of our friend giving us all the details of how to care for it, since she works there. I gave in and said, "Fine, let's try a betta." And we brought home "Ennie", the blue betta.
This was Thursday night. I cleaned out the bowl and supplies without soap like the directions stated. I added water conditioner to make it clean (and the right amount too). I floated the fish in his bag for a while before I transferred him to the bowl. Things seemed fine. Friday I tried to give it food. Just enough, but it didn't eat. The bowl wasn't sitting in sunlight, and the temperature was fine. Saturday, we were gone all day.
Today, Sunday morning, the fish is on it's side, with a slight "film" on his body. He was alive though, we tried to move him and he swam away fast. Water was clean, everything seemed fine, but he proceeded to do this all day. Finally, this evening.... he floated to the bottom and was officially dead. I have no clue what happened, what went wrong, what I did.... but I'm sad. I told my husband I couldn't keep betta fish alive and I wish I knew why because I feel so guilty now. Guilty for the fish's life, and guilty that my son's first pet, even though short lived, died already. Third betta I've had in my life. Shortest amount of time to die.
I hate to waste all the money for the bowl and supplies, so I am thinking this week we will try to get a goldfish and see how that goes. Those, I have had better luck with. If it dies too, then I'm switching to rodents. Rodents are my thing, but the husband doesn't like them. On the other hand, I hate feeling like a fishes life seems almost disposable. "Oh, just get another". It's still a precious soul and I tried to love it and care for it.
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