Life Lesson

Where do I begin? The girls have been begging for another pet (Madison has requested a hamster, rabbit, hermit crab, bird, cat, dog....and Charlotte requests whatever Madison does). We weren't up for a lot of added responsibility (two working parents with two kids and a dog is PLENTY), so we decided a nice group of fish would be a good start.

The Saturday before school started we purchased the aquarium and all the "gear". We were told that we couldn't purchase the fish that day because you had to get your tank water just right to prevent the untimely death of your new pets. So, we waited a few days.

Finally, the day came! The girls and I went to a locally owned pet store and a super nice guy directed us to all the fish that would live in "harmony" for a long time. (Thinking about it, next time when I hear a 17 year old say "harmony", it will send up a giant, red flag). Charlotte picked out two Dalmation Molly fish (black and white polka dotted) and Madison picked out a guppy and a random yellow fish. The employee said we also need two "bottom feeder" fish to clean up all the yuckiness that comes with (aka- out of) the fish. We left the store with six fish in two baggies.

Charlotte, being a fan of Disney villians, named her two fish Ursula and Cruella (should I be worried?). Madison picked the names of Shimmer and Sunshine. After talking to the girls, we decided that the bottom feeder fish (cleaner fish) were named Mom and Dad. I think this name is very fitting, but Dewayne wasn't a fan. The girls promptly renamed them to Oreo and Silver.

All was well for a bit. We fed the fish once a day and they seemed happy swimming around. I noticed that one of Charlotte's fish was a tad bit dominant (red flag #2), but didn't think much of it. This past Sunday (less than a week of having the new pets), Charlotte exclaimed "Shimmer is missing!" We looked and looked and looked. I even took out the filter to make sure Shimmer wasn't plastered to the suction part. No luck. Madison's next observation was that Cruella looked abnormally large. She did look pretty big.

Bug's fish ate Shea's fish. The Natural Selection science lesson has been explained with minimal crying from Madison.

We will not be purchasing any more guppies. Only fish as big as Cruella. Hopefully this will solve the problem, but only time will tell.