Remember when I thought fish would be easier than a hamster? Two fish, and many...many...tears later, I humbly retract that thought. I had no idea how much work fish could be. How many fish you can have per gallon of water, who socializes well with others, who doesn't, food, balance of the water...the list goes on. And on. Oh my.
These are Ava's first two fish, guppies, named "Spots" and "Violet". She loved them dearly. It was very sad, Violet was the first to go...followed only a couple days later by Spots. Ava was really upset, and while my mind was in the "they are just fish" place, hers was torn over the loss of her dear friends. I had to adapt.
We went back to the pet store and were very fortunate to talk to the resident fish whisperer. He educated me on the "dos & dont's" of 2.5 gallon size tanks. In short he recommended a beta fish to start, and once the tank has stabilized - after about a month - we could add a snail. This made Ava very happy. We went home and cleaned out the tank and got it ready for the new tenant. A couple days later we were back and searching for the perfect fish. She looked at red, blue, purple, and even a white beta fish. Finally, she decided on this guy.
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She named him Sheldon. (all I can think of is Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory) The day we brought him home she started talking about his birthday. I didn't really give it much thought, but she kept bringing it up. She decided his birthday was July 1st. On June 28th she was getting a bit antsy about not having a gift for him, and begged me to take her to Petco. It was there, with her own money, she bought him some delicious dried blood worms. What a treat! When I started to take the treat into her room she shouted "No mom! Don't let him see it! It's a surprise." Oh boy.
She and Noah set about making decorations for Sheldon's birthday. All of this, for a fish. Wow.
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