Wednesday, April 29, 2009

R.I.P. Mr. Fins...

The kids got a Male Crowntail Betta fish for Easter. He was beautiful -- turquoise and pink. He was on the young side, the store clerk said, so he would grow and be with us for many years. Feed him only 2 times per week and change his water weekly. That's it.

Well... the fish food container said to feed him 2 to 3 pellets twice a day. Surely, we didn't hear the clerk correctly and I didn't want Mr. Fins to starve. So we fed him religiously -- twice a day. We even made a feeding schedule for the kids to remember. You can see 2 pellets floating above his head.

By Day 5, Mr. Fins was swimming sideways. Hmmm, I've never had a fish before, but maybe he's tired. Day 6 -- Mr. Fins! Mr. Fins! He was at the bottom -- totally still. "Kids, I'm sooooo sorry. It looks like Mr. Fins died. I guess we overfed him... I'm sooooo sorry!"

Greta cried big tears. Anna was sad. Nic was mad at me for insisting we feed him more often than the store clerk suggested. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa!
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Posted by Monica Crumley at 9:19 PM

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 30, 2009 at 5:27 AM

    Sorry to hear about your loss in your family. ;)
    ~Amy

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  2. ChrisApril 30, 2009 at 5:50 AM

    Hope you can take comfort that he is swimming (hopefully straight) in that big fish tank in the sky...or maybe he is in a heavenly ocean.

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  3. MonicaApril 30, 2009 at 6:08 AM

    Ohh that's to bad, so sorry!! But, I would have feed him 2x a day also,2x a week just wouldn't seem enough...

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  4. Salt RacerApril 30, 2009 at 7:01 AM

    Sorry to hear about that.

    If it helps you feel any better, Betta's are notoriously difficult to keep. They can be extremely aggressive towards other Betta and are known to fight to the death against their own reflections.

    I had a Betta or two growing up and none of them lived very long, a month or two at the outside. My traditional goldfish however lasted a few years (until my cat figured out how to get the lid off the tank and ate them...but that's another story).

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  5. BeccaApril 30, 2009 at 8:19 AM

    That's so sad! He was a beautiful fish. I was cat and fish-sitting for some neighbors once and on, like, day 2, the fish started to die, one by one. I was mortified! It turned out that they had neglected to tell me that the fish were new, and that it's sometimes pretty normal for fish to die in new environments. I felt sooooo guilty.

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  6. Anne and Whitney: Up, Down and All AroundApril 30, 2009 at 11:31 AM

    so sorry mr fins!!! i would have followed the food container directions too... maybe you can find mr. fins brother at the fish store???

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  7. BeverlyApril 30, 2009 at 1:46 PM

    Poor Mr Fins! Hope the kids feel better soon!

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  8. My name is SarahApril 30, 2009 at 5:21 PM

    Oh poor Mr. Fins. Bye fishy.

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