The Story Of How I Got My Fish

This is the story of one girl’s courageous story to get fish. (The girl is me.)  For years, I begged my parents for a dog, a pet. I got my brothers on board. I researched dozens of animals and breeds. First dogs, then guinea pigs, parakeets, hamsters, cats, rabbits, hedgehogs, turtles, tarantulas, and fish. I  asked every birthday, every Christmas. But for years the answer was the same: “We can’t take care of it” “I’ll end up doing all the work” While the responses I received were discouraging, I kept trying different persuasive tactics. So finally, two years ago, my parents agreed to….

a fish. While it may seem like a meager animal, it was a huge step forward in my pet campaign. On Easter, my mom and dad told us kids to search for the Golden Egg. When we revealed the plastic egg, nestled under our rusty wheelbarrow, we were in for a great surprise, a note that said “We’re getting fish!” and pictures of fish.

Betta fish were the fish we had decided on. Bettas are beautiful fish with long swishing tails and colorful fins. However, our excursion to the pet store was a rude awakening as we realized just how much work, time, and money a mere fish could be. We were faced with a seemingly never-ending list of things we had to buy. But a promise is a promise so we bought a twenty gallon tank, a filter, a heater, a bag full of pebbles, and a light. It all sat in our basement collecting dust for two years as my dreams of fish evaporated. I started to think I would never get a fish. 

 

Then one day, my friend Eloise came over. Eloise has fish and she knew how much I wanted a pet.  We must have felt especially motivated that day because we hauled all the fish equipment up the basement stairs and started to assemble it. It was a tediously complicated process. We flipped through dozens of those tiny instruction packets, we google searched everything, and we did it! The fish tank had pebbles and fake plants, with three wires coming out of it: the light, the filter, and the heater. 

 

As my family and I did some more research on Betta fish we found that they were aggressive fish, no matter how mesmerizing, and loved to bite at each other’s tail. We had a twenty gallon tank that could fit six betta fish. We would have to get only female fish; it’s called a sorority. The other choice was to get just one male betta fish, which we were told was a much more first-time-pet-owner- friendly selection of fish.  That’s when we started to contemplate only getting one betta fish.

 

Our tank sat without water for a few months before we filled it up. We traveled back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room with big gallon size pitchers to fill it up. The people at the fish store told us we would have to let the tank sit with the filter on for a week or two. We added conditioning and turned the filter and heater on. I’ll be honest, the sound took some getting used to. We had some little obstacles and hiding spots for the fish to play in, in the tank. Even without the fish, I thought the tank was good decor. 

 

Then after a couple days, something weird started happening. The water in the fish tank was turning yellow! We weren’t sure what was causing this but we had an idea. There was this long piece of fake wood inside and we thought it might be releasing toxins or something. We took the wood out and soaked it in a separate bowl of water. We had to change out all the water with clean water. After the wood stopped releasing the yellow things, we put it  back in and there were no problems. 

 

Our cycle had been running for a week and we decided to go into the fish store. My brothers and I had been begging all weekend. The fish store tests  your water for free to see if it is ready for fish so we brought in a  sample of our water. It was full of aquariums, saltwater and freshwater, giant fish and ones that glow in the dark. The bettas were in these small plastic containers and some of them looked like they were dead but the pet store employees said they usually sold out in a week and then they got big fish tanks. Our bettas were going to be the main fish in our fish tank, we could also get some smaller fish. Unfortunately, the fish store people said that our water wasn’t ready and we had to wait another week.

 

One week later, we came back to the fish store and they gave us the thumbs up to get fish. They told us to get some smaller fish first before we got our bettas or else the bettas would eat them. My brother and I selected five of these cute little fish called neon tetras and three aquatic snails called nerite snails. The guy put them in these bags and told us to let the bags sit in the tank for fifteen minutes before we put them in. My brother and I each got to hold one bag. I was so excited! It might seem silly to be so happy about a small thing like fish but I had been waiting so long to get them! 

When we got home we rushed to the tank and put in our fish. We waited fifteen minutes before we put them in. I  jumped up and down as our first pets swam around and explored their new homes. Even now every time I walk past the tank, I stop and admire our fish and find our little snails hiding spots. It took a lots of time (and we haven’t even gotten our bettas yet) but I am so glad we got our fish.