Monday, March 29, 2010

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

A couple of weeks ago, Megan announced she wanted a fish. I am not sure where she got this idea, but it didn't seem to fade with time. Since this seemed WAY better than any fur bearing pet she could have suggested, I agreed she could have it if she paid for it. That was no deterrent at all, because Megan is RICH. You see, Mac has an intense aversion toward using change. In fact, the only reason our floor isn't two inches deep with coins, is because Mac pays for almost everything with credit card (don't worry finance friends, we pay it off every month). Instead Mac gives his pocket change to Megan, who's piggy bank has eaten over $60 in the last three years!

So last weekend I took the kids out on a little fishing expedition. First we hit up Goodwill for a bowl ($2.99 as opposed to $12.99 at the pet store) and then it was off to Petco. On the way, I said we could get two goldfish for Megan's bowl so Liam could have one, too.

We checked out all the pets and then moseyed over to the fish tanks. When I inquired which goldfish would do okay in a bowl, he told me none of them; even goldfish need aquariums. Really only Bettas would work for a bowl.

Bettas are also known as Asian fighting fish. They live in the rice paddies in Thailand. We did (safe and non-harmful) experiments with them in my college Animal Behavior class, where we put the bowls of two fish next to each other or up to a mirror and recorded what the fish did. We then had to draw conclusions about the aggressiveness of the fish (red vs. blue; male vs female; self vs. other). It was SO boring. I can't remember anything about it except my paper had the same title as this post. So I wasn't really thrilled to buy Bettas. But Megan and Liam, thought they'd be great. And since I already promised Liam a fish we had to get two. At least the price was right: $2.99, and Megan paid for Liam's, too. With the fish food, we ended up with a bill around $13, which we paid for in change, much to the delight of the cashier.
No way was I buying another bowl, even if it was Megan's money. So Liam's fish gets to hang out in a nice vase. The pebbles and glass are from my green house and art supplies, respectively. I come from a family of master recyclers (aka cheapskates)!
So now we are a family with two kids, two cats, six chickens and two Bettas (and about 50 pond goldfish). Quite a zoo!

(Forgot to mention that our fish are named Magnolia and Otis!)

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