One Fish, Two Fish, Dead Fish, New Fish

Yesterday we had a funeral service for a goldfish that belonged to my six-year-old daughter Hannah.  She won it at a carnival recently, and it never really adapted to the non-carny life.  When we looked in the goldfish bowl yesterday, it was clear that her now-floating fishy had seen better days.

So I took her to a nearby pond, and we had a brief but touching ceremony which ended with her plopping the ex-fish into the water.  I asked her if she wanted to wish him well wherever he's going, and she responded, "I wish he could go to Disney World and have a chance to ride all the rides."

Not a bad thought, really.  After all, who wouldn't want a quick spin through the Haunted Mansion after they pass away?

Comments

[alan]

Sorry for the loss, Bradbury's. Perhaps it was the loud, supersonic volume from all the 'Guitar-Hero' songs playing over the weekend that did him in. ;)

So, as the blog title suggests... are you replacing said dead carny fish guitar hero victim, or was that just for rhyming purposes?

[Robert W. Anderson]

Against my better judgement, I got 4 such carnival fish for my kids (then 3 and 5). One died. We had a funeral and it made my older kid sad. I replaced it. When the next three died I sureptitiously replaced them. When those died, I did it again, and so on.

Now we have 2 fish (the gradually diminishing numbers don't seem to trouble the kids).

I affectionately call these two fish 9 and 10.

[Phil Spohn]

Then there's the story about the dime-store (dating myself I know) turtle that died. The dad arranged a funeral with a little matchbox for a coffin. By the time they went out to dig the hole, the turtle started to crawl again.

Of course the dad said, "That's nice, now we don't need to have the funeral."

The response? "Can't we kill him?"

[Nick Bradbury]

@alan, yep - a new fish will probably replace the one that died.

[Mike Martin]

When I was a kid I buried my pet turtle one winter because it died. A few years later I read that turtles hibernate. Oops.

As for goldfish, you need to be careful of tap water, it often contains chemicals that can kill fish. Fortunately pet stores sell a chemical to help neutralize the worst of them. If you don't have a filter and aerator you can get a small one at a pet store also. You used the term bowl rather than tank, so I presumed you don't filter.

Google "fish tank" and "tap water" to get an idea of the problem.