RIP Eggplant the Glofish

Eggplant in March

It was a weekend back in March when I reported on the three new members of our family.  What started as a great afternoon with the last day of school and an early out turned turned south quickly when Dawn noticed a white bump on the side of her fish Eggplant.  It looked like she was loosing some of her strength to swim against the bubbles as well.

As the time went by we all started one by one facing the inevitable.  Something was wrong with Eggplant and she more than likely wouldn't be with us much longer.  It was a rough time for my sweet compassionate creature lover daughter.  It wasn't long before both girls were in tears and the news was bad.  Eggplant was floating.

As Dawn planned for the funeral flush, David and I joined her around the toilet (the one in the hall bathroom that has had a broken flusher for a couple of weeks).  Poor girl put Eggplant in and burst into tears "and the toilet doesn't even FLUSH!"  (Pause for another hug)  We got the flush to work manually and we had a sandwich hug.  I asked Dawn if she wanted to get out of the house for a bit and come on errands with me.  David said "and stop by the pet store?"  I didn't think that it was an appropriate time but to my surprise, Dawn perked up and said "could we really look at new fish?"  David reminded her that they had talked about actually being able to have four fish in the tank with the size of the tank and the fish.  I was surprised, Dawn usually doesn't bounce back like that so quickly.  But,

Left to Right: Shade, Sunshine, Tamale, and Olaf

she was up for some frozen yogurt and a trip to the fish aisle of PetSmart!

After a lot of walking back and forth down the fish aisle (and a little detour to take a peek at the fluffy cats that are there for adoption), she chose another glofish that they call green although she looks more yellow sometimes.  We went in thinking that she wanted two zebra type but all of them looked the same and she realized she wouldn't be able to tell them apart!  So, she picked one of those and the glofish.

There was a very big smile on her face as she carefully carried the bag out to the car.  I told her that it was nice to see her sun shine again.  We decided the yellow one looked like sunshine.  Then, with the darker not quite as flashy zebra fish we picked Shade for his name.  Within about 45 minutes they were all swimming around and getting used to their environment.  Fish have brought some great joy to our lives and as we found today, they will bring sadness too, but I have seen my kids grow in the experience and they all still think it is worth it!