He was that goldfish that our neighbour gave The Kids on Friday. You know, the sixth day of the week and only 13 days before a cross-three-country roadtrop spanning 5,000km.
For the past 18 hours, Bubba has single handedly caused The Kids to go to bed on time and not wake me up before 7am. Nothing says privilege like “feeding Bubba” and “getting to watch him swim”. Note that if the kids didn’t get their privilege, I would have fed Bubba myself.
If you’ve noticed that I’m talking about Bubba in the past tense, you might not want to read on…
Last Sunday, at 7:01am, Max informed me that Bubba was “sleeping”. I’m not up on “all things fish” but I’m pretty sure that they don’t sleep. And if they do, probably not on their side.
Artemis immediately got up to check things out and her conclusion was that Bubba was dead. In fact, her exact words were, “Bubba is Dead”.
When I came out to look at Bubba, it turns out that he had in fact gone to fish heaven.
I love animals. All of them, except mosquitos and there was that one rogue mouse. However, I had to leave the room after I saw Bubba. I mean, the poor thing only lived two days…
I mean, the thing didn’t even live two days as a member of our family.
Thankfully, The Kids were distracted. We’d slept in and were going to be late for a birthday party so Artemis wiped away a tear and then joined Max jumping on the bed. Note we were late for the party.
So the real question is…
Would You Get Another Goldfish?
P.S. I can’t believe I wrote an entire post on Bubba the Goldfish. But, what surprises me more is that I wrote a second post on Bubba the Goldfish.
P.P.S. This past Friday, Artemis came up the street with yet another fish. You keeping track? This one she named Nemo. However, 15 minutes ago, after less than 48 hours with us, he too died. I’m not allowing anymore fish in the house. Not even if it makes for blog fodder alone.
P.P.P.S. And, I’m not writing a third post about goldfish. Well, never say never…
RIP Bubba….and Nemo. You will forever be in our hearts. Or at least immortalized online.
Well Sarah, your dogs would eat them…
Eric
The “SHERIFF”
Sounds about like how long our fish live….one time I accidentally dropped live one down the drain. Poor Kyle. I told him it went to the river.
Christy Maurer recently posted…Book Launch and Review: To Catch a Creeper by Ellie Campbell Plus a Sale and FREEBIE!
Dear Christy,
Yes. The fish went to the river just like Nemo…
Besos Sarah
Sarah recently posted…WIN at the Weekly #Giveaway Linky, WW, 04/15
fish should stay were they live,they never seen to live to long in a tank
Oh dear. 🙁 Poor Bubba.
You really have to be prepared for any pet to live in your home. That’s the bottom line.
We have had fabulous success through the years with fish and when we were leaving Ontario for Nova Scotia we had dear friends who adopted our “school”. Lucky fin indeed! I get periodic updates, even. 😀
Peady recently posted…Let’s get our “buts” in check, so we can get our “butts” in gear!
Dear Peady,
Those fish just might be waiting for you when you move back to Ontario…
Besos Sarah
Sarah recently posted…Wonder Mountain’s Guardian Ride Provides Thrills in 4-D #Giveaway, CAN, 04/21
RIP Bubba and Nemo. Poor fish! They never live very long so don’t feel too bad about it. I stopped having fish because I couldn’t handle all the death!
Dear Susan,
I was worried it was just me that couldn’t make fish live longer than 24 hours… Until I read all of your kind comments.
Besos Sarah.
Sarah recently posted…Sign the Pledge and Support our Young Drivers
My condolences.
Freda Mans recently posted…Breathtaking: Seven Bestselling Novels of Love and Suspense (With #Giveaway)
Dear Freda,
Thanks. You’re the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Besos, Sarah
Sarah recently posted…Does Being Late Bother You?
Poor Bubba, I hope you went to a better place with all the other goldfish.
it hard on kids when a animal dies but I think it good for them to learn that nothing lives forever
Yikes, another one! Yep, about as long as they last at my house too.
this is not a good gift for a child
RIP Bubba & Nemo. My longest lasting Goldfish as a child was 3 weeks. You can always try a Japanese Fighting Fish. They’re pretty & they last longer.
Stephanie LaPlante recently posted…FunDayMental Friday
Sorry to hear about your little fish. When I was in jr. high I attended a local carnival, and my brother and I came home with 9 goldfish we’d won. My parents weren’t very happy about it. I used my allowance and bought them a basic starter tank. I’d never owned fish before and knew absolutely nothing about how to care for them. And some of them died within a few days. Over the years I ended up with 1 fish out of the 9. And had 3 additional fish at various points; 2 Beta (not at the same time) which ended up in their own bowl, as I hadn’t realized you can’t put them with other fish. And a beautiful black bubble eyed goldfish with a fantail that the other fish decided to gang up on and cannibalized; you shouldn’t put other types of goldfish in a tank with each other either. Had to find out all of this the hard way. However that one lone goldfish that survived, I had him for 7 years. And he survived through many illnesses (treating a tank with meds can be very difficult). And he got to be HUGE. He lived in a 20 gallon tank by himself. I was heartbroken when he died. Later on I decided I loved having fish, and a nicely setup tank can look beautiful in the home. So I started researching online for months on the type of fish I wanted, and how to care for them. I decided I would start a tank and then cycle in 3 guppies to start, adding more fish in with each cycle. Well, after all that researching I still lost those 3 beautiful little guppies. I couldn’t bring myself to get anymore, as I didn’t want to keep losing fish.
I don’t really think fish are a good starter pet for children (advice for your neighbor not you lol). They can be fragile and they’re kind of high maintenance, and everything has to be just right. You can very easily over feed them. The temperature of the tank, the amount of bacteria, etc. Even the water you’re putting into the tank or bowl can be a problem. Usually you have to cycle the tank with healthy bacteria and plants before introducing the fish to the new environment. If the tank is too clean, that’s bad, and likewise if it’s too dirty. They get sick easily. And goldfish , from my experience, are one of the dirtiest fish you can own lol. They really are a chore. It’s never as simple as dropping them in a bowl of water and sprinkling food in. I suggest if you do decide you want to try again anyways that you research how to care for them (there should be plenty of information and help available on the internet now, not like when I tried way back when). And avoid buying fish from a big chain pet store. They’re usually not very healthy to begin with. Find a local shop instead that is specifically for aquariums. I’ve owned hermit crabs too. Also another high maintenance pet, but very interesting to keep.
Dear Dominique,
Thank you for sharing your story.
So glad to hear that it wasn’t me that killed them. I think Bubba might have eaten too much and Nemo not enough. Tough to tell. The store where we bought them had 100’s in a small tank. Bad idea from the get go but there was no telling my neighbour. And, she wanted to get me a THIRD fish.
I’m going to have her read your comment. Know of a good Spanish translator.
Besos, Sarah
rest in piece bubba
so whats the next pet gonna be huh huh ?
We had a Samaroid Tetra fish called Sammy.He lived forever.In fish years he was probably 3 or 4.He started losing his fins and then took the big plunge.It was so sad to see him go like that.I haven’t had the heart to get another one.Sob…enough already.
Wanda Tracey recently posted…Travelling without Medical Insurance
So sorry to hear about sammy Wanda
I had three and they died too. Fish are very sensitive to change of water and temperatures. This is what i learned. I will not and would not get anymore. 😀 its a pain in the butt to clean the water and I hate when fish or anything dies.
maria medeiros recently posted…Gratitude
You should get another fish. Practice makes perfect!
Your luck with goldfish is worse than most, I think. They usually live longer than two days unless they were seniors when your children got them. It’s nice to read a rather sad but ‘light subject matter’ once in a while. I actually know people (unnamed) who got ‘stuck’ with looking after fish (after son went away to College) and who rather wished for their quick demise because of the very smelly job of cleaning the aquarium , and the fish actually thrived.
Dear Elva,
I’ve heard that goldfish poop a lot. Can’t say that I miss having to clean the bowl at all…
Besos, Sarah
Sarah recently posted…A Balloon For Alexander #babyloss
rip bubba!
Goldfish have short lifespans. At least the kids weren’t too concerned with how quickly they went to goldfish heaven. lol
They never last long, eh. So many times when my kids were younger we had gold fish and every two to three weeks after that we didnt have gold fish any more.