This Mom's Confessions

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When Even The Fish Is Out To Get Mom…

Filed Under: Crazyiness, Married Life Tagged With: , , ,

“The fish is dead,” my husband shouted through the bathroom door as I was clearly indisposed. 

“So, why are you bothering me?”, I found myself angrily responding.

“Well, because I need to flush him,” my husband answered me back.

“Well, I am in the bathroom and if he is dead, I think he can wait a few minutes. It isn’t like he is going anywhere!”, I retorted now even more than a bit annoyed.

Actually, if you must know I added a few colorful words in there as well, but for the reader I will leave that and other things to your imagination.

However, why does my family always decide that when I am finally quiet and taking care of business to annoy the crap out of me literally?

They are all out to get me, even the fish!!!

Anyways, I will get back to the actual story here.

We have had a total five fish and this was actually the last of that pack to up and die on us.

Still my husband got this genius idea that we needed another fish instead of leaving well enough alone.

Why you may ask?

Because the one poor, lone poor fish that was left, needed a friend.

See after losing power from a storm for 48 hours prior to this that rendered our filter unusable and that did enough fatal destruction by taking out 3 out of the 4 fish we had, the tank now was also filthy and unlivable.

Honestly, It was a miracle that the last surviving fish did live to tell the tale, but live he did and was actually thriving.

But then my husband thought and actually said out loud, “We should get another fish to keep the poor guy company, plus it could be a gift to him.”

Sounds harmless enough. So, we went and added the fifth fish.

But Murphy’s Law got us the best of when we should have just very well indeed left well enough alone (cue ominous horror movie type music!).

Still, once the tank was all cleaned up and the filter was changed, the new little guy was added.

However, all was not well in fishy world in our little tank as the two remaining fish seemed to have an aversion to each from the beginning.

The original storm survivor, who loved swimming all over the tank and would actually come up to the glass to practically to have a conversation with us, when we went over to him, was now stuck in the righthand corner, while the new guy was in the lefthand corner. It was like a boxing match and they each took to their corners!!

That said, the lone storm survivor didn’t even make it two days and was found pressed up against the filter. He had gone to fishy heaven or so we told our young girls!!

Life move pretty quickly though (think Ferris Bueller) with us once again having to clean the tank again for the new guy to continue his stay, where he was seemingly OK, yet he was not as active as the original fish. We chalked it up to his wet mop personality, but still something wasn’t right. 

Right before that fated knock on the bathroom door, I had actually checked and oddly enough, the fish was moving more and thought to myself, “Maybe he is feeling better and the worst has past.” 

But only an hour later, he was gone and had joined his other four fishy heavenly friends.

I felt terrible to hear that he too didn’t make it, but seriously did he have to do it while I was in the bathroom.

Is nothing sacred around here?

Seriously though he will be missed, because he fit right in with the rest of my family by not letting this girl use the bathroom without causing some kind of ruckus to interrupt the one theoretical quiet time of my day.

I guess it is only fitting though and seems my whole family including the fish is in on the conspiracy to keeping this mom from getting a few minutes alone in the bathroom!

By the way, my husband actually said and I quote, “You should give the fish a tribute on your blog.”  I guess the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for!

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About Janine

Janine is a published author of the books, The Mother of All Meltdowns and Only Trollops Shave Above the Knee. She has been featured on The Huffington Post, Mamapedia, Today Parenting Team and SheKnows. She also runs her own graphic design company at J9 Designs.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Janine Huldie says

      Lol, Lori, I am with you on this one. My husband keeps talking about a dog and my final words on this would be, "Who is going to take car of this dog?" Yup, it would be this girl and I already have enough with the two little girls that are mine, lol!! So no dogs for now!!

  3. Melanie Chisnall says

    Hahaha…oh Janine! Fish Heaven….that was priceless! 😉 I'm going to tell Geoff that when he gets home. We had one little fish for 3 years…a long time in fish years and he died last month. It was very sad, and I'm really not a fish person because you can't cuddle them…you just get to watch them – boring. They're more for Geoff. But I'd gotten used to seeing him sucking on the glass…it was one of those sucky fishes. Don't know what you call them. Somehow, last month he got stuck sucking on the filter pipe thingy – I have no idea how he did it. We got him out and he swam around for a few hours like he'd recovered. But his mouth was all messed up. This poor little guy was suffocating away while I was sitting watching TV!! Told Geoff we are never getting fish again. At least if a cat hurts itself it can tell you! Great post…loved, loved, loved it!

  4. Kera says

    Haha I love how you can find the simplest daily happenings and make a hilarious story out of them. I actually feel bad for your fishy pets too! I seriously hate when anything dies so I stay away from the fish. You never know with them! My sister had a fish in college and when she graduated there was no way of moving him successfully in his tank. He got the flush and I hated it! Lord knows that when our dog's life comes to an end I'm going to be a wreak for weeks. He's only two years old and I can't even think about it without crying.

  5. Emily Cappo says

    Ha, I can totally relate to this one…and I too blogged about our former fish (named Frankie) on my old blog. I was notorious for not being able to keep the fish bowl clean, but somehow our fish lived for a year in this dirty, disgusting bowl. Anyway, I actually watched the poor little guy die in his bowl — he was frantically swimming around and then finally gave up and floated on to his side. I felt a bit guilty but when I looked up the life expectancy for that type of fish (it was a beta), he made the minimum so then I felt better.

  6. Kevin says

    Oh Janine, you have failed to inform your readers that you brought this plague of "fishy fatalities" upon us when you jokingly named one of the fishes 'Sandy', which was a result of your cabin fever caused by Hurricane Sandy.

    When you walk into PetSmart all the fishes cower in fear at your wrath. Have a nice day!

  7. Bill says

    A tribute to a dead fish???? LOL Kevin and Bev would get along quite well…she would have taken it out to the back yard, buried it, and put a marker on its grave…and I am not joking at all. 🙂

  8. Rachel Harper says

    Oh Janine, great post for a Monday 🙂 I was given two goldfish as a birthday present from two of my best friends when I was 15. One day the tank looked dirty so I carefully removed the fish from their tank and cleaned it with Herbal Essences Shampoo. After it was sparkling I put the fish back in, and they started to look like they were trying to jump out of the tank. Minutes later they met their fishy fate. Turns out all the shampoo wasn't gone. Brilliant teenager I was.

  11. Janine Huldie says

    Thanks Melanie and I am with you on it being awful watching watching a fish possibly be hurt, because there really is nothing you can do for them. I am so sorry to hear about your fish and what happened to him. That said I just totally found the irony in when he actually gave up the good fight, lol 🙂

  12. Janine Huldie says

    Thanks Kera for saying that and just couldn't resist. That said I did truly feel bad for our fish and we too had a dog when I was younger and remember how bad I felt when he had to be put to sleep. It was almost like losing a member of the family. Can very much relate to what you were saying here.

  14. Janine Huldie says

    Emily, I am with you on cleaning the tank out and will say that Kevin does the cleaning and actually does a pretty good job, but still our fish don't seem to make it. Oh well back to the drawing board, lol!!

  15. Janine Huldie says

    Kevin, I always love your take on things that happen around here. You and I seriously see things so differently at times but will admit that naming that one fish Sandy might not have been a good idea in hindsight, lol!!! 🙂

  16. Janine Huldie says

    And I knew we had a ton in common Bill and this only solidifies that for me. Seriously, I never would have thought to write a tribute, but Kevin gave me the idea and do think it turned out Ok 🙂 🙂 So I thank him for that one!!

  17. Janine Huldie says

    Lol, Rachel and thanks for sharing. When we were kids, we had a ute tank of fish that my dad bought for us. He did a great job of cleaning it and my mom fed them. We used the flaky powdery type food. Well, my little brother thought he was doing something nice by feeding the fish baby powder. Needless to say, we had an empty tank and many fish needed to be flushed, lol!!

  23. sarah elizabeth says

    We've had fish like that. We had 2 really nasty little things that terrorised our aquarium and killed several fish until we kicked them out of the tank and into the grandparents pond. They seem to be fairly happy there though! Maybe the other pond fish are big enough to stand up to them!

  25. Stephanie Sprenger says

    That is too funny! There have been a variety of unfortunate activities that have disrupted my bathroom time, but a dead fish definitely trumps them all!

  26. Cyndi says

    Poor fish! Actually, we had fish a few years back. If they're goldfish, they're fine if just one or two are in the tank – they'll grow to fit the space. They also are "dirty" fish, meaning they will change the acidity of the water so that other fish can't tolerate it. However, changing the water – when you get a new fish it might help to change about 1/4 to 1/2 of the water, but no more. There are friendly bacteria in it that help the fish survive and if the water is too "clean" it can actually make them really sick because of the lack of beneficial bacteria. I only share because I learned this the hard way. It's good to change the water when algae starts growing and gets murky, but not generally more than that. 🙂 My two cents anyways…dunno if it helps. 🙂

    • Janine Huldie says

      Thanks Dani and I have learned the answer to that question too many times to count now, lol!! As for the fish, my kids don't seem to even notice or care that we have an empty tank full of clean water waiting for a possible new arrival!!

  32. sparkling74 says

    In college, I had a goldfish that lived in a bowl without a filter. I had that thing ALL YEAR LONG and it survived. I brought it home and killed it instantly. Then my mother got me a tank full of cute little fish for Christmas. Within days, they were dead. And like you, I would watch and hope they weren't dying and suspect they were and then they were dead. d-e-a-d. I am not a fish grower. I tried and it was very stressful. I can keep everything else alive but fish is not my bag, baby.

    • Janine Huldie says

      Thanks Sparkling74, for letting me know it just isn't me who has had trouble with goldfish. I am sorry you too had to go through that with all of your fish and I guess somethings are truly not meant to be for some of us, I suppose. Thanks again though for sharing here 🙂 🙂

  34. Daven Midtown says

    Having raised for decades… I can honestly tell you that a fish tank does not need a filter to remain livable. It simply need a weekly water change and its gravel vacuumed once per week… water change would be 10-15% and never the entire tank. The filter in the fish tank had a very minimal task, and that is to simply keep water circulating. Sure, the filter moves water over a carbon unit, but if the carbon has been wet for more than 30 days it is likely not absorbing anymore ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite. Active carbon can sit on a shelf for 100 years and be just fine, but once it is wet it has an active life span of about 30 days. I think I recall giving you pretty sound advice when you got the fish… i'd not recommend getting a cat or a dog either… Cleaning the fishtank should have been kevin's job… very disappointed. ds.

    • Janine Huldie says

      Dave, I can't say that Kevin did anything wrong as far as cleaning this tank, because he has cleaned it weekly even with a filter, as you said is not necessarily needed, but we still have as a backup I guess. That said, that tank was cleaned and even vacuumed (we have the gravel vacuum purchased from PetSmart), but we had Hurricane Sandy hit us and was without power or hot water for a few days and that did do a few of our fish originally in. This time out the tank was cleaned and honestly the fish just didn't make it. That said, we may try again and we are just two parents trying to please our kids and may not be perfect or know everything about fish, but are trying our best. Thanks for your advice though.

  35. clarkfarley says

    we do not have fish, so for a (fish) tale to contribute, I need to call up a memory from childhood.
    I was probably in 6th grade and for reasons lost to time, my father took up the tropical fish hobby. Started with a 10 gallon tank with 2 neons and an angel fish. Inevitably, the tanks grew larger as the fish grew more exotic, until one winter evening, as we sat at the dinning table, someone screamed 'whats that?' while pointing frantically at the floor.
    Being the head of a family of arachnophobes, my father responded instantly. His shoe was off in the blink of an eye and the somewhat squishy sound of the impact on the floor was followed by the discovery that he had succeeded in killing a miniature frog. (His most recent acquisition, it some kind of rare, tropical frog that was supposed to add a really exotic dimension to the menagerie and cost $50.00, it being the mid 1960's that was no small investment).
    Somehow, the thrill of adventure of collecting exotic water-life ebbed and within a year the fish tank was replaced by a stereo (which, again it being the 1960's, was a 5 foot wood cabinet affair that had a turntable and a radio…all built-in!)

    • Janine Huldie says

      Ok, sorry but I couldn't resist laughing just a bit and then of course felt terrible for my laughter here. But then again just like our fish, it happened and of course I feel sorry, but I still had to find some humor in the tale. That, my friend, is just my wicked sense of humor I suppose, lol :: Thanks Clark!!

  36. Nicole Leigh Shaw says

    Ah, yes. Fish death. We recently flushed our friend Pedro, and in a stunningly predictable turn of events, replaced him within the week with Finn.

    Condolences. . . on your interrupted bathroom time.

  38. Marie Chamberlin Moo says

    Well, that is sorta sad isn't it? I bought Beta fish and the girl told me that male & female fish could not live together because the female killed the male. Well I brought the beautiful fish home. One Blue sort of iridescent & a white one I called the blue one Minnie & the other one Pearl. Get it? Well Pearl decided to take a chunk a fin out of Minnie & visa versa and the battle was on! Pearl one and Pearl is now white & red & her… excuse me found out it was a him later… Pearl's name is now "JAWS"! So much for listening to sales people. Sounds like fish heaven is getting sorta crowded huh? I'm your latest follower here & on Pinterest. Nice to meet you… hailing over from "A Sorta Fairytale". Have a great weekend.

    • Janine Huldie says

      Oh thanks Marie for following me over and totally sounds like we are giving a great boost to fish heaven. I have heard that about the Beta fish and we even had them when I was a kid and we too learned that lesson the hard way. Thanks for sharing and hope to share more with you here, too 🙂 😉

  40. Sadder Wiser says

    We have a 60 gallon hex tank. I'm too short to clean it and do a whole lot with it. My six foot three husband, on the other hand, is the one who is supposed to be maintaining it. We haven't had much in it for awhile other than the world's oldest plecostumus and a couple of goldfish that are pretty elderly. The final goldfish bit the dust, and we didn't realize this had happened until my 2 year old nephew was talking to it and calling it Dorothy. "What's Dorothy doing?" Apparently Dorothy was doing the backstroke…

    • Janine Huldie says

      Lol, oh man Sadder Wiser. We have had now 5 in total that have been dead in the tank and it seems that when they die they get attracted to the filter and usually find them floating belly up next to that. So I can truly relate to what you are talking about here. Sorry, you too seem to not have so much luck on this fish front.

  41. MyHalfAssedLife says

    I remember telling the husband – you just don't get it. Being home with kids all day is hard. You don't even get to use the toilet by yourself.

    • Janine Huldie says

      So true and sorry that you too have similar with the bathroom in your house, but it when you are a mother (and a stay home one at that) it does seem to be the case unfortunately. Thanks for commiserating with me though!!

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