Poor little fish
Daniel was given a fish for his birthday. He named it Ben and lovingly reassured him that we would take good care of him and he shouldn’t worry about the dark. He looked like this.
Or at least he did until yesterday, when we found him floating, nose up.
We don’t know why you died, little Ben. We suspect you were never very well and that is why you spent all your time on the bottom of the tank. We hope we didn’t do something wrong, but honestly, we know bugger all about fish. Daniel feels very sad and Helena cried because your brothers and sisters will miss you and now she is terribly worried that her brother (or mother or father) will die. Little Ben, you were more than a fish. You were — and are — a philosophical provocateur. We will miss you.
Oh dear. Fish are the most mysterious of pets. They don’t let us know how they feel – or if they do, we don’t understand what they are saying with the same easy recognition as a dog’s tail wagging or a cat’s head bumping our leg. I’m sure you did nothing wrong – he was probably on the decline when he arrived. So sorry to Daniel and Helena that he couldn’t have lasted a little longer. Good luck with the philosophical conversations you’ll be holding.
I have had these guppies for a year and a half. I feed them and clean their bowls, but secretly I just want them to go off and be with Daniels philosophical provocateur.
Fish are interesting pets. I had several and they all died very quickly except for this one little blue fish . . . in a tank by itself. So, I decided to buy it a friend of the same kind . . . and he killed it. Well, I thought he could use company . . . apparently not. I finally got sick of the bloody thing and gave it to a Vietnamese restaurant that has many fish on display in tanks. He/She is still alive and kicking! The fish that never dies . . .
Adam Gopnik wrote a fantastic article (published in the New Yorker) on the death of his daughter’s fish, who was also a philosophical provocateur.
Oh, dear. A dead beta. Would be crushing for a child. An excellent tool to extol wisdoms about life and the meaning thereof.
Also: good chance to buy a chinchilla.