After school on Monday, my kindergarten-aged son and I went to Petco to replenish our supply of cat food. We found our usual cat food brand and then walked around browsing the different aisles. We always find our way to the fish section, one of the only areas at Petco that has live animals. The fish section always has interesting things to see – a poor man’s aquarium.
There’s something about the fish section that makes me feel like getting a cool looking fish. We decided to ask the salesman which fish are compatible with the fish we already have. We have two goldfish at home in a foot tall 15 gallon tank sitting on an end table near the door. The end table is the first place as you enter the house that has any surface area and tends to accumulate mail and other things. It’s a regular home to my keys and wallet and anything else somewhat small that I feel the need to put down as I enter the house. The accumulation of stuff in front of the fish tank covers about the bottom five inches of the tank. This means that the fish can’t enjoy watching the TV from the comfort of their mini-castle or rock bed. They actually have to get up and swim to the top to see.
It’s true that the fish can’t see out much. The side-effect of this is that it’s also hard to see into the tank. Taking care of the fish is my job. I’m guessing that my wife (aka FishMom in this saga) never looks at the fish or even notices them. If the cat wedged open the top and got to the fish, she’d probably never notice.
After looking around at all of the different fish, we decide to get a fancy looking goldfish that’s primarily white, has orange and black markings, and has a split tail fin. My son named him Bonchew. As the salesman was trying to net the fish from the tank, my son (FishBoy) and I decided not to tell FishMom. We just invented a new hobby to see how long it will take before she notices the new fish. The other two fish that we already have are very different looking than Bonchew. The larger fish is named Seventoes and the smaller is Sixtoes. They are both solid orange color. Seventoes is about the same size as Bonchew.
I’m counting on the fact that FishMom never goes to this web site. If you read this, shhhhhhhhhhhh! Don’t tell FishMom!!! Every time I look in the tank, Bonchew is usually hiding in the bottom right corner of the tank so he must have caught on that we’re doing this on the down low. Good job Bonchew! I will throw in an extra few flakes of food for you.