Pets help make our house a home. A hairier and sometimes smellier version of home, but home nonetheless. We had tons of pets growing up. At one point, I think we had four cats and three dogs (although it may have been more). As a result, I never thought twice about sharing my space with animals and still am unfazed when I pull a dog hair off my pants or a cat hair out of my dinner. (Sorry, but it happens!)
But we spent most of our years growing up with dogs and cats. I’m fine with that. They’re domesticated. They need people. Or my pets do, anyway. If placed outside and told to Run! Be free! My pets were most certainly turn around and look at me with the eyes that say, “So what time should I be home for dinner? And make sure you have my spot warmed on that Tempur-pedic bed please.”
Occasionally, we’d venture into new pet territory depending on what they were giving away at the county fair. We had goldfish that lasted way longer than county fair goldfish are supposed to last. We had ducks that had a tragically short life.
Eventually, I moved on to college where I focused on portable pets. I had two parakeets, a boy bird named Polly and his cage mate Wally. And as a suite of six girls, we owned a hamster that I believed we named Hobbes (after the wildly popular “Calvin and Hobbes”).
I spent a few long, lonely petless years and then we started up our own menagerie. I like it, mostly. It certainly makes me keep up on vacuuming.
But when it comes to other pets, like fish, I feel very ambivalent. Shouldn’t they be in the wild swimming around freely? Some would argue they might be swimming around freely just waiting to become part of the food chain. So when I had the chance to review the Aquafarm, a supposedly self-sustaining aquatic ecosystem, I broke down and bought a betta that I intended to raise at the same time I grew herbs.
I picked out a handsome bluish betta that I named, affectionately, George.
To make a long story short, aquaponics are not as easy as they sound. There’s a lot of biology and chemistry involved and I’m sorry to say that after four months, we lost George. And I was sad about it. That little fish made me cry.
I swore that I’d never have another fish and that I was done with fishtanks. Cats and dogs ONLY. Until…
As part of the National Geographic Kids {Insider} program, I get to try some of their cool products, usually books (we LOVE the Weird But True books). National Geographic recently partnered with PetSmart for a line of products for specialty pets (fish, reptiles, birds and small pets). One day, a box arrived with…
Betta fish food.
Wait, what? Was it George sending me a message from his watery grave?
Nope. It was the precursor to a National Geographic package that I received a week or so later with a 1 gallon aquarium and all the fixings for inside the aquarium.
I’m not getting another fish, I proclaimed. I thought maybe I’d give it away and so it sat the floor collecting dust. But I had a quandary.
Shortly before George passed, I had purchased three zebra snails to help maintain the condition of the water. Two of the three snails eventually joined George in Davy Jones’ locker but one snail kept hanging on.
Okay, fine. I’ll set up the aquarium for the snail. Why is he lasting so long?
Okay, fine. I’ll get a betta fish but when his time is up, we are never getting another fish. And we are MOST CERTAINLY NOT giving him a name.
And that’s how he came to be known as The Fish Who Shall Not Be Named or TFWSNBN for short. And all was fine. I removed King Tut, not because he wasn’t cool but because I wanted room for the filter. But I did use the sleek black gravel and the decor provided. He swims in and out of his National Geographicâ„¢ Flaming Aquarium Plant as if he were back in the rice paddies where he’s normally found.
Oh yes, I did refer to him as a “he.” He is actually a male but I was still determined not to personify him.
And then Evan told me that his name was Samuel.
We now officially welcome Samuel, the fish who shall not be named, to the Nally family. Let’s hope he makes it more than four months.
3 comments
Good for you Fadra. I was wondering who actually sprang for the beta fish out of our Nat Geo Kids Insider group. Unfortunately, we can’t do it, but I look forward to hearing more about Samuel and his “journey.”
We finally just got our fish today. I am terrified!
Sam the fish! Sophie thinks that’s a hoot!