Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Gone Fishin'

Mini-Me won a prize at our first ever Passover celebration. It was a gift card to W*l-M*rt. I had to make a grocery run, so she went with me gift card safely tucked in my purse.

We went back to the toy section. I figured we'd look at the dolls that she loves. There are 3 sets of them that she really likes. She looked at one and then told me, "I want to look over here."

And off she shot.

I followed slowly and she met me with a box in her hand. This is the girl who weighs her options and is often overwhelmed by too many choices. Not this time. This time she knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted a "Fish in Space" aquarium. I was a bit surprised, but, okay.

So we walked back to look at the fish. They didn't have any great selections for Betta fish. while standing there among the fish stuff, I opened the box and pulled out the instructions. We were going to have to condition the water before we put the fish in anyway. We decided that we would go elsewhere to find a "Galactic Wonder Fish".

I have to say, the instructions are a hoot to read for this aquarium. And it doesn't come with a lot of extra stuff. So a betta fish was going to be the best bet. We got the tank ready the next day. We rinsed it out - twice - per the instructions. We soaked the "rocks" for 15 minutes - per the instructions. We put the water and rocks in the tank, left the lid off (per the instructions) and we were going to have to wait 24 hours before we put the fish in.

I think she must have asked once per hour if the tank was ready. The next day, Friday, I took her to a petsm@rt to look at Betta fish. I never asked why their fish were in blue water, but she found a fish that looked promising. In the water, it looked really blue.

We took him home and began the acclimation process. He didn't have a heart attack when we finally dumped him in the fish tank, and he began to swim around. Success!!




We were a bit surprised to see a PURPLY fish... and mini-me made a bit of a groaning noise- until we noticed that there are markings in his scales that look much like Roman Numerals. Mini-Me LOVES Roman Numerals. On his Right side, it looks like the IV of a 6 and then an "M". Which, of course, stands for Mini-Me (and 1,000). She was thrilled.
I was thrilled and claimed it as a God-Kiss for her.

The only problem we came across was the feeding of our newly acquired space fish.
He didn't like fish flakes.
A&EMom, who wears the shirt for a fishy 'been there, done that', told us about bio-gold betta pellets. So we got some - and he loves them.

So now we have a happy space fish.
and I have a happy Mini-Me.

I also have a G-man who is now saving his money for a fish tank, and a J-man that wants a fish, too. I may soon have a line of betta fish on my piano.

We have definitely gone fishin'. Or maybe, it should be "fishy".

9 comments:

Unknown said...

What a fun prize for her to choose. I had a beta fish in my 3rd grade class when I taught that lived 3 years. Enjoy!!!

jugglingpaynes said...

Let me know if you need any advice with the fish. We've had many bettas. My best advice is don't feed it every day. (Yes, I did just say that.) Fish tend to die from over-attention- particularly overfeeding. Our bettas all enjoyed long lives in a peace lily vase. In fact, if you want to plop a peace lily on the top of the tank you have, you'll make your fish very happy. (Just the plant of course, no dirt.)

Peace and Laughter,
Cristina

Classic Mama said...

That's cute. Scarlett had a betta, and named it Sushi. Yep. Sushi.

Growin' with it said...

Gonzo...love that name, he even kinda looks like Gonzo on the muppets! Beta are great HARDY fish...good choice! Happy "new" pet day to you and your cutiepie.

Debbie said...

Congratulations on your new addition!
We've had a couple of goldies that never lasted that long. They didn't seem to like the flakes either, but died trying!

Paula Vince said...

Hey, what cool pets! A great idea for a prize. I'd never heard of space fish before.
I have a few comments about your last few posts. Tomatoes straight from the garden make the shop bought ones taste really insipid over here, but alas, our tomato season has just finished. Your little seedlings are looking good.
Glad to hear J-man and speech therapy is going well because I'm beginning to think Blake may need some too. He's just not as clear as Logan & Emma used to be and get's quite frustrated when we can't understand his excited spiels.
Blessings,
Paula

The Gang's Momma! said...

One year for Christmas, The Boss decided to blow the budget by buying one tank for each kid's dresser - complete with a small fish of their choice. Shaggy picked a gorgeous dark blue one - who is STILL alive and growing all the time! He's crazy big and is "trained" to FLY to the top of the tank when the light goes on to be fed. He loves WHATEVER food Shaggy gives him. His name is Bob. And he is just like Shaggy: he just keeps growing and he'll eat ANYTHING! :)

TobyBo said...

that looks way cool.

Kate said...

We have an old beta fish, 1 year old, and he just keeps on living. Great choice.