Menu Home

Mysterious fish disappearance & reviving a baby fish after a squeeze incident

Recently, our Neon Tetra fish numbers dwindled to five from seven. One suddenly disappeared about a month ago, and we assumed it was eaten by the female Betta, the biggest fish in the tank. No other events occurred until three days ago; we noticed only 5 were visible.  

Kids were intrigued by its disappearance and determined to solve this mystery. They were not kidding. Elliot opened the tank lid and started lifting the decorations and moving around the gravel. I doubted he would find anything, but when he lifted the cave a tissue thin skin with its regular coloring swirled to the surface. Its insides were gone.

The red color is not blood. Its the red stripe on its body. Kids want to keep this specimen for an indefinite amount of time.

Clues: The orange Platy was seen nipping at the Tetras lately, so it became the first suspect. Betta became the #2 suspect. These suspicious fish had two sets of keen eyes watching their moves and a tap on the tank glass if they got too close to the Tetras.

Kids profiled each fish and after watching, what seemed like a billion YouTube videos, they concluded it’s the catfish group. One video explained how catfish will eat their tank mates if they run out of algae to eat. A-HA! We haven’t been giving them algae drops since they probably had enough to eat from the leftover food and fish waste. I assumed they already had plenty to eat.

New Plan: For kids: Must buy new fish to replace the 2 Neon Tetras. For me: Let’s keep it the way it is and no more fish.

Action: Bought 2 orange Platy’s and the 2 of the tiniest Neon Tetras at PetSmart. When I told the guy we wanted the smallest ones, he really delivered. They were barely visible in the plastic bag.

Implementation: Kids wanted to do the transfer themselves. I wasn’t too sure but it would be a good learning experience nonetheless. Two minutes in…water all over the chair and floor. This plastic bag collapsed and water spilled out when I cut the rubber banded part off with a scissor. Clean up took about 30 minutes for me while the kids ran off to do their thing. humph…

First transfer to our tank from PetSmart. Two baby Tetras mingling with the others.

Realization after the fact: The tiny 2 Tetras are probably babies. They may starve because the bigger ones will get to the food first.

Next action plan: We must transfer them to a smaller bowl. I tell Elliot and he wholeheartedly agrees that’s the best plan.

Implementation: Prepared a small fishbowl with conditioned water and some rocks. Elliot netted out the first one and put it in the bowl. Unfortunately, the second one got squeezed on its side during the transfer. It darted out of the net and Elliot tried to hold onto it, and this is how the Tetra’s midsection got squished. It immediately went limp and floated slowly down to the bottom of the bowl. Thought it was playing dead, but it was breathing rapidly, floating sideways. It wasn’t floating upside down; all hope is not lost yet.

Reaction: Elliot – speechless. Me – frustrated. This probably means we’ll have to go back to PetSmart the next day. Elliot: visibly upset and panicking when the fish wouldn’t swim. He apologized to me for being careless and apologizing to the fish for hurting it. I told him he didn’t need to apologize to me; it was no one’s fault. We were trying to provide a conducive habitat for the fish, except that our well-intentioned move went awry. He put his hand to his eyes and started crying saying if the fish dies it would be his fault.

When he replayed this saga to his sister later, she asked if he cried. He said, “No, I wasn’t crying. I was weeping.”

I’m exhausted from cleaning, moving this and that around, comforting a sad child, and googling treatments for Tetra fish. My first instinct was to tell Elliot that we should just let it peacefully die. We’ve accidentally killed so many fish that I didn’t see it possible to revive a tiny one back to health. It’s not that I’m heartless about fish; I really didn’t believe we could do anything productive.

Problem Solving: Google how to care for injured fish. Elliot starts searching YouTube videos and I google search on my phone. Visiting a fish vet is a possibility, but I wasn’t confident we’d go that far. The Tetra was $2.50. He found a video from a YouTube channel called Joel’sAnimalPassion00; his Tetra looked weak and would hide in dark spaces away from others. He provided specific steps for treating a sick Tetra. His channel

Step 1: Quarantine the sick fish in a small cup or bowl

Vitals: Rapid breathing, floating around sideways. At time, it swims normally and floats sideways again.

Step 2: Add a few drops of water conditioner and a dissolve a dash of salt into it. He added some medicinal formula for fish, but we didn’t have that to add at home. Had no idea if this would work, but it was worth trying in changing the water composition with salt.

Step 3: We do all of steps 1 and 2. Since the fish may be stressed out, we add a tiny pinch of “First Bites” powdered food.

Step 4: Still floating around, nibbling at the food falling over it, and breathing rapidly still. The YouTube guy said his Tetra didn’t like light, so he covered the cup with a cap. We used a small white box to cover the top.

Reducing sunlight to create comfortable ambiance for frazzled fish. Fish is housed in the bottom half of a cut plastic water bottle.

Step 5: Wait and see

Step 6: The next morning, we are surprised that the wounded Tetra is swimming normally. We give it more food and it perks up. Few hours later, we net him back into the 10 gallon tank. Immediately, it starts schooling with the other Tetras. Its name is “Warrior” due to the ordeal it survived.

Conclusion: Elliot is thrilled he was able to revive the baby fish back to health. He said we were the Emergency Room Fish Doctors and that it was tough treating a baby fish.

Current status: The revived Tetra is back with the other fish in the main tank, schooling happily with the others. I don’t want it to starve, maybe I’m paranoid, so we feed the two in a separate net container. Rest of the fish are inundated with baby food scraps. Must do a water change in the next day or two.

Careful transfer from quarantine to main tank.
Warrior is back!

This experience has convinced the kids that they are ready to upgrade to a 20 gallon tank. They promised to do all the necessary work and won’t need my help. Elliot says he’ll even use his birthday money to buy the new tank. I’m not giving in easily; they told me the same spiel when we got the 10 gallon tank. Guess who does most of the cleaning, feeding, and burying the dead fish by our garage.

Update: Day 2 of post-discharge from the small bowl. Warrior is happily schooling with the other Tetras.

Categories: learning with kids Nature observations and thoughts Raising kids

Tagged as:

singlikewildflowers

Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!

43 replies

    1. Miriam, it was an ordeal that drained my energy. We had the outing to buy the fish, the clean up from transfer, and more transfers, and rehabilitating a fish smaller than a bean.
      It’s a fun story for them to remember and I think kids learned that they can be good caretakers.
      Warrior is doing great! I’m assuming it will grow bigger soon…hopefully it will have a long life span. 🙂

      Like

  1. This was such an exciting story! How compassionate of you to not only revive the fish, but for Elliot to have that level of care, as well. Although exhausting, there were so many memorable lessons here.

    Like

    1. Thank you so much for saying that!! After I posted, I thought it was too long. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.
      It was a memorable and successful experience for us. I think it’s an experience he’ll remember…for a 9 year old this was a huge deal. OMG, my back was killing me from all that netting and cleaning.
      Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. For a minute I thought someone needed to bring in the “Fish Whisperer”. 🙂 Good job revising your finned friend. I had two Gourami a/k/a Kissing Fish when I was a kid and one chased the other out of the bowl and onto the floor. Many hours out of the bowl, picked it up and it flopped and lived a good long life once back in the water.

    Like

    1. Your Gourami fish is a survivor!! I didn’t know fish could survive that long out of water. That fish was not about to go down…had to show the other fish who’s boss.
      Thanks! Our fish was revived and it caused a big stir with Elliot. I don’t know what I was thinking in asking for the smallest fish. How could it have passed my mind that that would be a baby?! Not kidding, God fills in the gaps for my forgetfulness and gives me grace. Makes for spontaneity, I think. 🙂
      Hope you are having a good weekend. Hugs…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Ha ha – those two fish were not liked by my mother and she made me keep their bowl downstairs. They were pretty big and they were actually Gourami Kissing Fish (Google to see their image of them kissing – I couldn’t find a link to send you).
        I may not have said that in the comment. But they were pretty big, flat with big lips. 🙂 So, my mother said “you’re not keeping them upstairs, nor in your room – you can keep them in the basement on a table.” I have no idea how it could live that long out of water. I had guppies through the years – I think they got to stay upstairs but my mom did not like the looks of the Gourami. Well yesterday was good but today has been stormy – I do not like stormy weather, especially when severe, so we are supposed to have more storms, but I think that will not happen as it was supposed to storm in the 6:00 o’clock hour. Good – my heart could not take another severe storm. Lots of people lost power – I was lucky and we have another heat wave. My time will come again I’m sure for losing power.

        Like

      2. I get all confused with the Michigan weather! It seems you guys have a storm almost every week. Maybe you are right…heat wave is better than a storm. Plus, you don’t lose power. We Californians lose power when it’s super hot and too much electricity is used. Hoping the storm passes quickly and you stay well.
        Even with 2 fish, didn’t their bowl get dirty quickly? I used to have 1 Betta fish in a bowl and it would get cloudy in a few days. I looked up a Gourami and they are differenct sizes. I wonder if you got the giant one; they are kind of cute with the big googly looking eyes. They must be very hardy to survive a fall like that. I must say Gourami are good fish for the beginner aquarist and homes with small children. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Do you have a generator at your house Esther? Is bad for Ellis if you would lose power and she gets overheated? Maybe it is cool enough in your basement if it is very hot. I don’t like the extreme heat because then you have whopper storms, but the meteorologist on Accuweather said we have had three times the amount of hot days this year and he looked ahead and said we will have extra warm weather through October!!

        Yes, I had to clean it every few days especially as they were fairly big fish for tropical fish. It did get to be a pain and after they were gone, I decided no more. I had a turtle for a while – Myrtle the Turtle. My mom worried as he had a plastic bowl with a ramp that he could sit on top of with a palm tree. Almost all kids at that time had a pet turtle. They are dangerous in that they can pass along salmonella to you and my mom worried that would happen and warned me not to play with it and handle it with gloves – I forgot how I cleaned his bowl out – I would have had to pick him up to clean the bowl. Yes, at least having fish gives kids a chance to prove they are responsible for taking care of a pet. When I was a kid, all the kids on the street were about the same age. We all played together and walked to school together – one family had two boys and their dad was a forensic meteorologist and a little quirky. He drove an Isetta which at that time was a fancy little sports car, which was about the size of a Smart car and shaped like a triangle. Anyway, he was a little quirky and had big fish tanks filled with piranhas. He would feed them raw hamburger every day and we kids would go to their house to watch him feed them. 🙂

        Like

      4. We are considering getting one. Ellis may get dehydrated and that’s a major concern if she gets sick. She has a sensitive system that needs just the right amount of fluids in her body that has to be just right, and if one thing is off, everything is off kilter. We always have Pedialyte at home. I hope you have a good working generator. It’s amazing how fickle the MIchigan weather is. Ellis’ cardiologist transferred to the a children’s hospital in Michigan with his family; they must’ve had heck of a time acclimating to that weather.
        Myrtle the Turtle! What a cool name and pet. They are fun to have but my concern is the salmonella too. I’d get stressed out watching the kids handle it and warn them about germs. They are hyper aware of germs but I repeat myself over and over. Drives Elliot nuts; says I’m too overprotective.
        I wish I could’ve seen the piranhas eat the raw hamburger. What a sight! It’s interesting to know quirky people and their idiosyncratic ways. Major carnivores. I wonder how that family cleaned the tank.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. I know you don’t get that cold there so temps dropping would not be a problem I wouldn’t think, but yes, if it got too hot in your house – is it cool in the basement? I don’t have a generator and in the Summer I don’t keep much in the fridge, having lost food over the years to bad storms that took the power out. I wish we had underground lines – that would help somewhat. I’ll bet Ellis’ cardiologist either went to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor or Children’s Hospital in Detroit.
        Yes, the turtles can have salmonella and my mom did warn me all the time about handling Myrtle. Too risky for your kids to have – hopefully they never get a notion that they want one. Fish are safer.

        Like

      6. Houses in CA don’t usually have basements. Some homes have attics, but that’s not a common feature. When it gets too hot, I put a wet cloth around my neck (so old school) but it lowers body heat. Kids follow suit. I can imagine how frustrating it would be to throw away food gone bad from power outage. It’s a lot of work to clean and expensive to replace.
        I can’t remember which hospital he moved to. This forgetfulness. It is a teaching hospital. He was the fellow cardiologist who helped us from day 1 of her birth to almost 4 years. Now her main cardiologist moved to another hospital, and we are meeting the new one next month. Sad to say good bye, but life has a lot of hellos and goodbyes.
        Oh, turtles have been talked about as possible pets, so have frogs, lizards, hamsters, birds, and snakes. They try to persuade any chance they get. Fish is all…we had frogs (that I accidentally killed with bad water change).
        We buried the frogs. You can see the pictures in the link below.
        https://singlikewildflowers.com/2019/03/27/my-kids-say-i-killed-their-pet-frogs/

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Hi Esther – I didn’t comment as comments were closed but I read this story – well, poor you – and of course you not only had to bear the brunt of the death of the froggy pals, but you are constantly reminded of what happened. It was odd how their little bodies swelled up like that? As a kid, we lived in a new subdivision, having moved there from an apartment in Toronto when I was two years old. So the area was not all developed and the neighborhood kids, all of being around the same age, used to go to a woodsy area with a meadow and Creek, much like Council Point Park. Every Spring, we would collect tadpoles and bring them home – of course, not just one or two would do, but a passel of them. My mother supplied the big pickle or jam jar like all the other mothers did and just a few days later, they’d be all belly up, too close quarters. Probably a good thing because it would not have gone over well having frogs hopping around the basement. I also had a rabbit as a kid and a great uncle who owned a farm gave him to me – I kept him in a bushel basket with straw in it but he got bigger and my mother said it was cruel to keep him in the basket in the basement so I had to take him back to the farm. I can imagine you will always have the kids asking for pets – I always pushed my luck on asking too. We had budgies and some dogs but had no luck training the dogs so had the last one in 1965 – that was it on the dogs.

        Like

      8. Those frogs were fun for kids to have hands-on science learning and caring for a pet. Kids were younger when we got them, so they were clumsy and wanted to pet the frogs. After frogs passed, they would tell anyone who would listen that I killed their pet frogs.
        It was a big fright when they died They were suddenly swimming up and down rapidly and I could tell they were in distress. Ugh, very sad. And yes, their bodies swelled and got stiff.
        Your growing up stories give me that nostalgic feel. Love the imagery of the pickle and jam jar. I wish we could have experiences like that now and have easier access to nature.
        Considering how your mom was not into pets, you had quite a few! Rabbits are cute too. We considered rabbits too – the floppy eared one. Oh my, they’re adorable. Chris said, no space and they eat through everything. We would need to rabbit proof our home. Then, we researched little pigs and Chris didn’t even bother to answer – it’s kind of impossible to raise one without a backyard. It doesn’t hurt to imagine and find pet options. hahaha

        Liked by 1 person

      9. Well, my mom rebelled on the pets because every time we got a dog (or Scratch the rabbit), I was still kind of young and my father, wanting to be “the good guy parent” said he would walk the dog in the morning or after work, or clean up after it. My mom could not go into the yard on uneven ground like the grass due to mobility issues – he never did anything and I was still young for taking the dog on a walk. Not getting Cocoa housebroken was a deal breaker for his longevity at the house. My father and I would take him after dinner – and would come home after the walk and piddle. Of course, even though the carpet was then cleaned, it still went there automatically every time it wanted to go. And the poodle was wildlike for some reason. But you have to worry for infection too and dogs or cats can’t be totally prohibited from getting into germs sometimes and would be bringing it home, so fish are better. 🙂

        Like

      10. Cleaning up after pets must be a lot of work. Not to mention the surprise when you accidentally step on it!
        It was too hard for your mom to run after a pet, especially with mobility issues. Just navigating how to care for a dog would’ve stressed her out. How funny you say your poodle was wildlike; just like people, dogs have different temperaments.
        No dog for us. Too much responsibility for me on top of all the childcare. The germs too when they come back from a walk and go everywhere. How many baby wipes to clean up the little paws and butt?!
        Fish is plenty for us now. Frogs were a novel pet for us, and if they start complaining, we may get another one. I think I can do better this time!

        Liked by 1 person

      11. Yes, pets are a big responsibility and you have the germ issue, but our family had birds for years … first we had parakeets who loved to talk and later we had two canaries. We/I never had more than one at a time. They are fun to have … you can teach the parakeets to talk if you have a lot of patience and they are not a lot of work, but do need their toenails cut – if you have a parakeet you can pick them up and do it –
        if you have a canary, they don’t like being handled and so you go to the vet three times a year – she used to charge $15.00 – one visit had a yearly physical at the same time.

        Like

      12. Fish and (maybe frogs) are enough for me. I can’t have more things to take care of. lol.
        I wouldn’t mind a lizard, but they need certain temperature and habitat. Maybe when the kids are older and they can do the caretaking.
        I think $15 is a great price for a vet visit. It’s costly these days…my friend spent thousands when her dog had to be hospitalized. Poor doggie, too old and had hip issues and other health problems.

        Like

      13. Yes, vet prices are really high. My friend had three cats – now one cat. But when her two older cats started having unusual health problems that the local vet could not determine, she was back and forth to specialists for each of them. This went on about a year for each of the cats and they were not feeling well, lethargic and not playing or eating – just staring into space. She had each one euthanized to spare them more misery. Yes, lizards have to have heat lamps or hot rocks – I knew someone who had one many years ago.

        Like

      14. It’s sad when your pet gets sick. Some of my friends had to euthanize their dogs because of old age or sickness. Pets become like family members.
        We get emotional when our fish pass away; I can’t imagine the sadness if it were a dog or cat.
        Tortoise seem cool but they can outlive humans and get very large, as well as open space for exercise.

        Like

      15. I’ve never seen this story. OMG, the yellow turtle is cute. Like the article says, it’s like a little lemon. I hope this rare turtle is protected; amazing find. I didn’t know albinism could mutate into a yellow color for different types of animals. But in thinking about it, why wouldn’t it?!
        Thank you for sharing this story with us!! I know my kids will ooh and ahhh over this lemon turtle.
        Have you heard of Claude, the albino alligator in CA. He’s at the science academy in SF and he’s famous. He sits on a heated rock and gets fed good stuff.

        Liked by 1 person

      16. No, I had not heard of Claude, but I Googled him to find out. I saw that he had cake on his 15th birthday – looks like Claude will turn 25 this year. Bet they do something even more special for Claude. I had heard about “Sweetie” who is an alligator who is blind and lives at a park but someone takes it home with them and into his restaurant. He has tee-shirts for the alligator. This is the story in case you missed it:
        https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2020/06/11/the-unexplained-6-foot-alligator-named-sweetie-is-a-viral-video-star/

        Like

      17. He’s famous in SF! My kids think he’s awesome although for the first year we saw him, they were deathly afraid of him. Chris had to take a day off work to go to the museum with us. It was a way to overcome fear. That day we ended the trip with a Claude stuffed animal. Claude has a bunch of merch too. He actually had his pinky bitten off by a tank mate early in his stay. I think her name is Betty and they had to transfer her to a different museum. We follow Claude on Instagram. 🙂
        Must check out Sweetie! Thanks for sharing these fun stories with us.

        Liked by 1 person

      18. Reading about these animals makes life a little lighter and brighter doesn’t it? I am on Instagram but don’t post and only signed up to follow Jill the Squirrel. 🙂 And I followed a walker who was originally from Michigan and in 2019, he walked across the U.S. from Jersey Shore to California where he lives. His name is Mike Posner. I wrote a couple of blog posts that I mentioned him – he did make it, despite being bitten by a rattlesnake along the way (Colorado I think that happened). Here is Jill the Squirrel’s Instagram site for the kids and you too Esther:
        https://www.instagram.com/this_girl_is_a_squirrel/

        Like

      19. I agree, animals do make life more interesting and entertaining! I’ll look for you on Instagram and follow. I will have to check out the other people you mentioned. I want to know what motivated Mike Posner to walk all those miles and to spend all that time on the road. That’s a lot of miles and to get hurt in the process. I would’ve definitely bought a one way ticket and flew back home.

        Like

      20. They focused on Mike Posner here since he had been a “local boy” before going out to California. His father was a local criminal attorney. My boss knew him – don’t know why, but I mentioned Mike Posner’s walk one time and he said “I used to know a Posner attorney one time” – I said it was his father. This is a post I did, scroll down a little to read about Mike Posner. I did a second post when he finished, but yes he was out of commission for a while due to the rattlesnake bite, was air-lifted to a hospital to recuperate. I don’t know how to unsubscribe to him – he is into mountain climbing now. 🙂
        https://lindaschaubblog.net/2019/04/30/only-1000-more-miles-to-reach-my-goal/

        Like

      21. I read your post about him and he is a total outdoorsy guy. Sounds like a cool adventure to take while having new runners join your trek. Reminds me of the movie “Forrest Gump.”
        He must really like pushing his physical limits if he’s into mountain climbing.

        Liked by 1 person

      22. Yes, I haven’t been following him on Twitter after he got to California, but I did spotlight his progress later in my blog. I usually say how many miles I’ve gone and have been remiss – will add it up next week as two bloggers asked me and I feel badly that I have my daily totals in three different places … I used to be so orderly … no more. But yes, I went into Instagram and saw his latest photos
        and he is mountain climbing and was doing push-ups on top of a mountain. No thank you. Yes, I think he likes pushing his physical limits bigtime!

        Like

      23. He’s an adventure and adrenaline seeker! It’s a dangerous hobby that I wouldn’t be keen on pursuing. You hear of so many tragic incidents. I hope these people stay safe and don’t over push their limits.
        Push-ups on a mountain? That’s wild.

        Liked by 1 person

      24. Last night I told Ellis about your kissing fish, and she says, “Oh you mean, Gourami.” I was like, where’d you learn that. She says, “I know stuff mommy.” lol. I told her how your Gourami survived being out of the water and she thought it was wild. She told Elliot and they were both amazed. If you haven’t noticed, they love all kinds of animals, reptiles, fish, amphibians…

        Liked by 1 person

      25. That’s amazing they knew about them. I thought they were a bit of an oddity, not like your regular goldfish or aquarium fish. That’s good that the kids love nature. I would watch “Animal Planet” if I could, but I don’t have TV – I cancelled my cable in 2010, but I follow some animal sites on Twitter and a friend of mine on Facebook posts “Dodo” videos all the time. They have a lot of cute animal videos there. I followed at one time, but it was overwhelming how many videos they post. But they are all fun and educational. Here is their site and they have a special section for kids: https://www.thedodo.com/
        We have another severe weather day tomorrow – this is very unusual for us to have this many bad weather days in a short period of time. Today I took some photos of a very old willow tree that was hit by a storm. Part of the tree fell in a park where I went when we first moved here. I am going to write a post about that park and going there as I remember sitting under the willow tree years and years ago.

        Liked by 1 person

      26. I was shocked too, but they watch all kinds of animal YouTube videos: Wild Kratts, Dino train, Coyote Peterson, some fishing guy show, etc. I’m surprised they retain it: I still think they are babies that need my help ti remember.
        I think they take after my love of nature. But I think all kids love nature if they are around it much. You know it’s weird that we haven’t watched “Animal Planet.” You don’t need cable…don’t you save a lot of money and time?! We cancelled ours too and don’t miss it. You can watch so much through Netflix and YouTube. Ok, I’ll check out Dodo. If you follow catslove on Instagram, they post silly things cats do. Hilarious!
        Another severe weather!! Please take care and look forward to seeing what that tree looks post-storm.
        Have a good Wednesday and will check out your Wordless Wednesday.

        Liked by 1 person

      27. When I was growing up, my parents always watched the Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic specials and a story on Sunday nights about animals. There is an older guy at the Park and he will mention stories he sees on the TV about animals and was surprised I don’t watch them nor have TV. I have mentioned how much time I spend blogging, and he/wife have never used a computer, nor do they have a smartphone. He says he/she are not computer literate, nor are they interested in becoming so. I told him I probably spend 10 -11 hours most week days on a computer between work and what I read/do online. He was incredulous. I said I listen to the news on an AM station during the day, but follow news sites online and spent a good amount of time reading various forms of news online. I said perhaps Netflix will be a good option for me after retirement, however, I have an old-style TV so maybe not. I did not realize you did not have basements (for the most part) in California. That is interesting – does that have anything to do with earthquakes?

        Like

  3. You *are* the fish whisperers! That’s really impressive and like you said, quite a memory for the kids. Mine have been trying to get us to get fish, too. I blame shelter-in-place 🤣

    Like

    1. Thanks Erin!! It was a dramatic evening for me and Elliot. Ellis was taking a long nap so she missed out on it, which I’m thankful for. I can’t imagine dealing with 2 kids freaking out instead of 1. It will be a good memory for 2020 COVID summer. lol.
      It must be the shelter-in-place and being in the same place all the time. Need some kind of variety! Are you going to get fish too? If you need info on how to get started, I will gladly share. We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning that led to our inhabitants’ early demise. I’ve made tons of errors on gardening too and just about giving up. I should’ve just gotten the Aerogarden. still not enough basil to eat. hahahah, must remind myself to stop gardening next year.
      I hope you guys have a good weekend and stay healthy!

      Like

    1. Thank you! We were the attending E.R. doctors that Elliot took seriously. It was surprising how a dash of salt could revive Warrior. BTW, I need to update but one of our fish ate Warrior. We think it’s the orange Platy. Kids were so upset that they put the Platy in a small bowl, fish jail.
      Warrior didn’t have a long life but he had a made a deep impression on the kids.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. This is amazing! I loved reading this and the way you told the tale was super engaging:). What a fantastic story about your kids’ learning and commitment- well, and yours too!

    Like

    1. Hi Erin. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement!! It’s nice to know that my hard efforts are useful to their learning and growing process. Mine too…I protest a lot, but they make good content for stories.
      Have a wonderful weekend and visit again soon. 🙂

      Like

%d bloggers like this: