Jack's Fish

Emily and I have really been missing having a pet, so we decided to get Jack a fish. Neither of us had ever had one before, but we figured it's sort of like a pet, without all the walks. Jack seemed into the idea, so much that when Emily mentioned it Saturday morning, he got sort of quiet and nodded, eyes wide, a happy smile on his face.

Little did we know that in order to get a fish, you need to prep the tank/aquarium for 24 hours before. Try explaining that to a 3-year-old, especially when you go out to get a fish and come back with an empty tank in a box. So, he helped me fill the new tank Saturday afternoon, and after each container full of water, said, "NOW do we get the fish?" No, I explained, the tank isn't ready yet. "Why?" Well, it needs to wait a day, or it would be bad for the fish. We got the tank at 2 o'clock, so we'll get the fish at 2 o'clock tomorrow. Jack probably still didn't understand, but at least he stopped asking.

When he woke up Sunday morning, the first thing he said was "Do we get a fish today?" Yes, Jack, we get the fish today. "When?" Well, we'll go out after lunch, probably. When he saw Emily, he said, "At 2 o'clock we get my fish?" Emily said, well, probably sooner than that. He mentioned it once or twice during breakfast, and then we headed out to get the fish.

At the store, we gazed at the same wall of fish we'd seen the previous day. The guy was a little more helpful, steering us away from the goldfish ("They get big and they're dirty") and toward the fish that stay small and don't eat as much. I pulled the receipt out of my pocket just now in order to write down the type: red Danio and a couple of Danio-white cloud. (For all I know, Danio means "small fish.")

I should mention at this point that Jack was a lot more interested in the guinea pig at one side of the store than the fish. At no point did we present guinea pig as an option, so no worries there (at least not this week), but Jack made a point to bend down and talk to the little feller through its cage: "Hi! Hi!" In kind of a quiet, breathy voice. It was cute.

Anyway, we loaded our three fish into the bag, dropped another 30 bucks on, I dunno, some sort of cleaning thing ("You gotta have this...") and some food, and left the store. As we got into the car, we asked Jack what he was going to call them. I don't know if he'd been thinking about it for a while or not, but he didn't hesitate.

"Doh-doh, Tiki, and Tiki Two." OK then.

According to the guy, we were supposed to float the bag for 20 minutes, and then gradually add water to the bag from the tank. We put the bag in. Told Jack we had to wait 20 minutes. There were a few "Why?s" We went into the office, while Jack crawled up on the bed and I sat at the computer.

Jack: "Has it been 20 minute?"
No, Jack, it's been about 2 minutes.
Time passes.
"NOW has it been 20 minutes?"
No, Jack, it's only been 3 minutes.
"These many minutes?" He holds up three fingers, awkwardly.
That's right.

Gradually it became time, and we transitioned the fish. Inwardly, I worried about smothering them somehow. But, they made it. And we fed them, and wondered if we'd fed them enough. Or too much. Watched them swim around. Jack: "Do we give them dinner?" No, only once a day. "I think there are FOUR of them!" he said. No, only three. "No, see?" Er, I think that's a reflection. Hey Jack, which one's which? He pointed: "That's Doh-doh, that's Tiki.....and that's Tiki Two."

It's nighttime now, and I peeked into Jack's room. I was at least partly checking on Jack, who was asleep.

I couldn't really see our new pets. Do fish sleep? Are they afraid of the dark? Were they hungry?

I'd like to think they're doing OK.