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Here, fishy fishy fishy

]By a streak of luck, our family is the lucky recipient of a used fish tank. I say lucky because fish tanks are outrageously expensive in my opinion, and had we had to buy a new fish tank, we would not have because I am cheap.
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]By a streak of luck, our family is the lucky recipient of a used fish tank. I say lucky because fish tanks are outrageously expensive in my opinion, and had we had to buy a new fish tank, we would not have because I am cheap. We have not had a pet in the house since our dog was put down and we both felt that we weren't quite ready for another dog, my husband is not a huge fan of cats and we thought that maybe some fish would be a much needed addition to our little family.

I did not have fish growing up but I did have a few goldfish in a bowl when I was in university in Victoria. I had come home to Prince George for a wedding and the centerpieces were little fish bowls with goldfish swimming around. At the end of the night, I was able to take the little fishies home with me. I put the fish in a baggie, and carried the fish, their bowl and their fish food with me on the plane. This was only a few years after 9/11 and before liquid was restricted on planes. They didn't blink at the fish I was carrying on the plane with me but the fish food set off all sorts of sensors when checking my carry-on bag. Lacking a reason not to, I was allowed to travel with Virgil and Othello and they kept me company for a few months during my studies. They died because I didn't know what I was doing. Also, as I have been researching, you shouldn't use tap water in a fish tank (that is likely why they died). But I'm older and somewhat wiser now and I've kept a couple of children alive for a while so I am moderately confident that I can keep a couple of fish alive too (I am crossing my fingers that this is true).

We set up the tank last week and let it go through it's nitrogen cycle and treated the water et cetera and were able to finally go to the pet store for a few fish. It was more expensive than I was anticipating. Our son was very sure that he wanted a gold fish and he wanted to name him Goldie. Our daughter wanted a pretty fish and so we walked amongst the tanks looking at fish before they made their choices. Our son picked a gold fish except when he looked at him/her (because how do you tell the gender of a fish) through the little plastic bag, he announced that the fish's name was Joe. Joe the goldfish. Our daughter was drawn to the neon tetras all swimming around erratically and picked the brightest, pinkest little fish she could find. The fish's name is Princess Pinky.

In the evenings after dinner, we gather around our little ten galleon fish tank and watch Joe and Princess Pinky swim around their watery world. The kids fight over whose turn it is to feed the fish and my husband and I try to manage the excessive amount of fingerprints on the tank. We have chairs in front of the tank and we sit and watch them swim and learn about their little fishy personalities as they go about their day. It's soothing. I set up my laptop so when I stare off into space when I am trying to write, they give me something to watch instead of the wall. We can't wait to get more.