Not the Sharpest Hook in the Tackle Box

Three weeks ago today, I lost my mind. I felt compelled to get FrogBoy a fish. I wanted him to learn a little responsibility, and thought a pet would be fun. We are a dog family, but since the pet fee at our apartment is $350, and SuperHubby is a dog snob and will only have purebred dogs, and I refuse to spend (as if I could) $1000 on a dog...well, a fish seemed the way to go.

Not wanting to leave anyone out, I offered to get Spanky a fish as well. Seemed like a good idea at the time. We made a quick visit to our local Petsmart and walked away with 2 fish, 2 fishbowls, and a variety of items to care for our new housemates. All told I spent less than $50, which I felt was a pretty good investment. Even if they died, the fish were only $2.99 each.

One thing I didn't factor in was that we were leaving that weekend - for the whole weekend. That meant I had to have a fish-sitter. How embarrassing is that? So I asked the Smurf to come over and feed the fish. I told her it wasn't a big deal...they are only supposed to get 2 pellets a day...so if she just came once she could pop in 2 pellets and that would take care of the whole weekend (we fed them before we left).

Imagine my surprise when we got home and both fishbowls were covered with pellets. Apparently she thought I said "2 pinches of pellets." But we got over that hurdle.

One of the reasons I chose this particular brand of fish - betta fish - is that they are hard to kill and cheap to replace. However, they fight each other - their other name is Japanese Fighting Fish - which explains the "2 of everything" thing.

Meanwhile, the boys had to name their fish. Spanky chose the ever popular "The Punisher" for his. FrogBoy went with "Lego." Who didn't see that coming?

Things were going really well until Saturday before church. As is my usual daily comment, I walked over to The Punisher's bowl and said, "Spanky, your fish is dead." Only this time I wasn't kidding.

Poor Spanky. He comes over to the bowl and says, "No Mommy, you just have to tap it and he'll move." He didn't.

And at that point I realized something. The stupid fish had drowned. Yes, only in our house could a fish drown. But he did. His little fish head was stuck in the rocks on the bottom of the bowl. I'm pretty sure he was trying for a piece of food that got lodged down there. But he's definitely dead.

We flushed him. Spanky scooped him out and tossed him in the toilet like a pro. Then he declared that he was done with pets because they all die, and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

One down, one to go.