Getting a fish was not on my To Do list. In fact, this week I had other New Things planned. Two were canceled due to work and a third was canceled due to fish.
This week I adopted a rescue fish. Thats right, a rescue fish. The owner didn’t want it anymore and was going to flush it. They had the fish for a year and just decided that they didn’t want it anymore. So, my friend Summer swooped in and saved it from a trip down the drain. Summer decided, since I spend so much time at work, that I could use some company and my office needed to be more homey.
When I told my friends that Summer gave me a fish, the first two questions were: “Alive or dead?” and “In a bowl?” These questions concerned me. Mainly because I wondered what it said about me that my friends would think that someone would hand me a dead fish.
At first was hesitant about having a fish. I feel responsible for a great deal of fish carnage as a child and I remember at least 3 backyard fish burials. Also, I feel bad about keeping it captive in a bowl. But its not like I can exactly release it back into the wild. Now that I am an adult, I feel I have as good of a chance of keeping it alive as anyone else, and at least I won’t be flushing it down the toilet.
I soon realized that I was a nervous fish mother. He wasn’t moving or eating much so I became concerned. A friend commented, “He’s a picky eater and aloof? Your fish sounds like a jerk.” Another suggested he was just being coy. However, my friend Candace pointed out that the poor guy was probably just cold. Despite keeping my office roughly the temperature of a tropical island, the water in the tank was quite chilly. So, I moved the tank to a warmer spot in my office and set up my space heater and warmed the little guy up.
The next day he was cold again. I realized that I couldn’t keep up this routine. After work I went to the pet store and spent more than I would like to admit on a larger tank, a heater, and other fish accessories. Setting up an aquarium is more of a process than you’d think. I spent at least 20 minutes just cleaning the rocks for the tank. But once I got it all set up the fish seemed a lot happier.
I decided to name my betta fish Peyton Manning, which I have discovered is a remarkably unpopular name for a fish. If anyone has tips on how to keep Peyton alive and happy in his new little super bowl, please let me know.
52 Things 52 Weeks 
He’s beautiful! I think he’ll be a lot happier with the heater, etc now. And they often are picky eaters, it’s not your fault! The bettas I’ve had really only ate ‘frozen’ foods, such as bloodworm (their favourite – and it helps keep their colours vibrant) and mysis shrimp. They come in little blister packs and you defrost a wee cube at a time. Sometimes they will refuse to eat flake food point blank, but I don’t know what he was eating before? Hope you have fun with him!
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Now if you get a second fish, you have to name it Papa John!
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