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Fish is Dead, RIP Fish
In September 2006, at St. Monica’s final Octoberfair parish fair, we won a goldfish in the classic parish fair ping-pong ball in the fish bowl game. Last weekend, 18 years later, that fish, known as Fish-Fish or just Fish for short, crossed the rainbow bridge. This hearty fish lived his 18 years in a cubic foot of water on our kitchen counter.
Fish was small when he started his time with us. Here he is in December 2007, just over a year old.
Fish had quite a personality. For a fish. He would greet us each morning and evening at feeding time. Once, when I was traveling and my wife had forgotten to feed him, he banged against the side of his tank to get her attention. Here he is in 2010.
As he grew, I had to reduce the number of plastic plants in his tank. By 2017 he was much larger and was down to one plant.
Perhaps you wonder what Fish did all day. He mostly moved the rocks around in his tank. He did sleep, hanging vertically in the water without moving. We knew his time was coming when he began to slowly move upside down when he was sleeping. Here is a short video of Fish enjoying tending his rocks.
I cleaned the tank about once every five weeks. I started taking pictures of Fish and his cleaned tank so I could keep track of when I had last cleaned it. Here is Fish last month, in his ultimate romp around a clean tank.
RIP Fish Fish, September 2006 – October 2024.
Published in General
You didn’t replace Him so the Family wouldn’t notice, like on tv shows?
Where would I find another 18-year old goldfish?
Also, he died while we were away and we heard the news from our pet nanny. So everyone heard.
I think Mrs. C is relieved.
A square foot of prime counter space? She no doubt has plans for that.
From the title, I thought you had gotten a replacement.
Ditto.
I suppose the title does suggest that.
There is a parish fair coming up at our current parish, Visitation. They will have a goldfish game….
Hmm. Perhaps I should edit the title.
Title changed.
Well now that he has gone to the great fish bowl in the sky, does that mean he can start voting for the Democrats now?
Whether he wants to or not, and he was over 18.
I am sorry for the death of Mr. Fish. He lived a long life though and I am impressed. Someday I will tell you our Church fair ping pong gold fish story, but this is a time for remembering Mr. Fish and your many years together.
I look forward to hearing your story.
All I can think of it, why on Earth didn’t he get much larger tanks over time?
A fine and oddly moving post.
The Irish do believe in emotional funerals and memorial services and yet we usually leaven the bitter herbs with laughter, to mix my ethnic metaphors.
In the Thirties and Forties, IIRC, Rep. Hamilton Fish was a New York congressman. Some will recall FDR making fun of his name in a campaign speech denouncing Republicans. He repeatedly intoned their names with mock solemnity, each time getting a bigger laugh: “Marton…Barton….(longer pause) and Fish”. That’s the context.
A waggish proofreader at a New York paper swapped the congressman’s picture into a story about a rare tropical fish on display. The editor got an angry call and started to apologize. “Congressman Fish, we fired the man who did this, and we’re sorry–” The voice at the other end of the phone sputtered, “Congressman Fish?? This is tropical fish!” and hung up.
I’ll have to ask Mrs R to tell us again the story of the people who never forgave our pastor (now deceased) for giving away goldfish as part of one of his Sunday childrens’ sermons. I don’t remember the details myself.
Two reasons.
1) There was no room on the counter.
2) If he got a bigger tank he would just get bigger.
Come now, the goldfish in all these cases, Fish included, are all feeder fish. They are bred to be fed to carnivorous fish. So if they die in a bowl at home in a week, how different is that from being eaten?
And Fish did not die in a week but instead lived 18 years doing what goldfish would do.
Wow. They are usually lucky to last 18 hours. Your home must be full of positive vibes.
I used to have a small tank with a male betta and some ghost shrimp on my desk, until the kittens started splashing in it. George was the best of the six bettas. He would pester me for food, but never took a nip at the shrimp, which I appreciated.
I found a picture of George. On the leaf to his right is one of the ghost shrimp I enjoyed raising.
So what was the title?
It was “Fish is Dead, Long Live Fish” but that implied that there was a new Fish.
😀
Sorry for your loss? [But I bet your wife isn’t.]
That is quite a fish tale, though. He must have set some kind of record for a kitchen counter goldfish.
Are you going to tell us about the service for Fish-Fish?
Fish was interned beneath a statue of St. Fiacre in our backyard in a simple ceremony.
So he was a kind of ‘bonsai’ fish.
If it dies at home it’s a cheap lesson in death for the kids.
What a cruel existence, living all alone, the only Fish in his entire universe. I’ll bet that he died of loneliness.
Fish was not perfect, but who among us is?
I don’t think so. Look at the video above. He had fun moving the rocks in his tank. With an attention span of a few seconds, what could be more fun?
Also, if he was lonely to the point of death, why did it take 18 years?