Friday, January 11, 2008

Animal Rights Activists, Don't Read This....

There is no way I'm qualified to be a mother.

We have a huge 75-gallon fish tank in our basement. Awhile back all the fish died and since we were having a hard time keeping up with it anyway we decided we wouldn't restock it and just quit. We unplugged the heater/water filter/etc. and left it sitting there. Last night Brian started draining it so I could clean it out and sell it. Well when Brian lifted up the shipwreck our huge catfish swam out of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like an animal torturer... letting it live in freezing cold water without food for seriously MONTHS! Of course the water level was really low by the time we discovered the little guy and I totally panicked, begging Brian to find a big enough tupperware bowl to save him. I mean, come on.... The thing suffered for HOW many months, clinging to life? I couldn't let it all be for nothing. The poor thing obviously wanted to live so who was I to kill it after all the surviving it did?

("Surviving it did?" I don't think my old English teachers would have liked that grammar. Oh, well. Moving on....)

Anyway, now we have an empty fish tank and one skinny catfish living in a bucket in our basement. I have no idea how it's still alive. Seriously. My cats are trying to remedy that fact but I have him well protected.

Animal rights activists, not to worry.... We found a good home for it at Brian's old office so he will take him to a much happier place next week.

I cannot believe the guilt I am feeling right now over a fish.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

We used to have a small fish tank in our apartment and we also had a frog that we named Houdini. I swear, the thing escaped a dozen times and we usually found it and saved him. Well, one day we realized we hadn't seen him in days...and never saw him again...that is until we moved and found his poor skeleton underneath the shelves that the tank was on. The even funnier thing? One of my good friends happened to move into that same apartment a year later...and she's terrified of frogs! She had a tree frog that would often visit and stick to her patio door and she swore it was the ghost of the frog that died there..haha!

Ok...that was a really long comment!

Anonymous said...

Seriously, Christine, I would've gagged. That is sooo creepy that it had been living that long. I'm sure it's now out to get you. I'm glad you were able to find it a new home. It'll probably die from all the warm water and food available to it. You'll have to let us know if you ever get updates on how your fish is doing.

Unknown said...

I told Paul about this and he said it probably survived because catfish are bottom feeders...so it was probably living off all the junk leftover. Its probably good thing you didn't clean it out sooner!

Christine said...

Eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...! ;)

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