Last One Standing

Having fish has been in some cases less work than I thought, but definitely more drama!! Amma got Josiah the fish for her 6th birthday. A gift both Josiah and her Grandma were very excited about. The tank started out with 4 fish and give or take a few fish in between, Rainbow (pictured here) is the only fish to outlive them all. Yes, he is one of the originals. He has never been the favorite, perhaps the all black one (Midnight) or the one with orange lips (Lady) or Adalie's all orange ones (Tiny and shortly after Tiny 2) held the favorite title. But Rainbow has been the most faithful and so has endeared himself to us all.

The 1st fish found floating had to be the most dramatic. I wasn't prepared... what do you do when the favorite most beautiful fish ever that Amma had just gotten as a birthday present DIES?? The best solution I could think of was the obvious flush and the promise of a new fish just as pretty! Seemed to work. But then a fish flops out of the tank over night and is found crispy in the sink the next morning. Why oh why would she jump out?? Then another isn't looking so good and so he has to go before contaminating the whole tank. And we seem to be getting better at this.

And then of course there is the all time zinger..... company is due to arrive in hours and I have what you might call a "slight" fetish about smells. And so it is no surprise that the fish tank would need a quick freshening up. (In all honesty it probably wasn't even stinky... I'm just neurotic!) But there was no time for the whole enchilada of a cleaning.... so I did what my Mom did to our fish tank.... stuck it under the bathtub faucet and let it filter. Josiah hears the water and runs in. She informs me that this is not a good idea, it doesn't seem safe! No sooner did I answer that Mommy would never wash her new fish out of the tank when SHRIEK!!! the new fish slipped out of the tank and down the drain!!

And so we are back to faithful Rainbow. I am grateful for Rainbow's hardiness. And everyone now seems to be satisfied with just him!! ahhh...