A Reversal of Fortune

We have not had much luck with fish.

As stated on previous posts, it took a mere two weeks for seven goldfish to decide they couldn't live in our house. So they died.

Here we are a few months later, attempting tropical fish instead. We started with five, and one died. Yesterday, I marched into PetSmart with my body bag (a ziploc containing our dead fish) and traded for two Red Wag Platty fishes. They're pretty, huh?



After our new, bagged fish were acclimated to the temperature of our tank, Bruce released them to swim free. And he made a prophetic statement: "Wouldn't it be great if you bought a pregnant fish and we raised some baby fish?"

He went on to say how we'd need a bigger tank. And you're supposed to separate the pregnant fish for some reason and then the babies for some other reason. All this translated in my mind to "more work".

Uhhhh... no. "Great" isn't the word I'd have used for that idea.

And yet, this morning when I stumbled into the kitchen to feed the fish, they had indeed multiplied.

A lot.





Okay, here's where I go off and use the big "s" word we don't allow the kids to say.

Stupid PetSmart employee who bagged me a pregnant fish! If I wanted to breed fish, I'd have asked for a Mamma fish. I even purposefully nixed guppies for their reputation of being vigorous breeders.

There are now 15 itty, bitty (kinda cute) fishies swimming amongst our other six, planned fishes.

And, of course, we have to admit that these babies are illegitimate, because we have no idea who the parents are. At this point, they could be Tetras or Mollys. They're just little gray blobs with fins. (We're pretty sure they aren't Plattys, because they really haven't been in the tank long enough to be the proud parents of this brood.)

However, go back up to that picture of the pretty Red Wag Plattys. And tell me that first one on the left doesn't look a little big around the middle.

I'm sighing and rolling my eyes as I think of the possibilities.

I will admit, they are fun to watch. Those little things hide everywhere, blending into the gravel on the bottom or resting in the branches of the plants.

If they live, I'll be happy to share the love and pass out a few freebies. Our tank isn't big enough to sustain that many fish, and we aren't buying a bigger tank.

I even asked Clay if he'd ask his teacher if she'd like a classroom pet. She's going to love me!