Sunday, August 18, 2013

Our Friend Seaweed.

Our family lost a beloved pet today.  Seaweed, our 2 1/2 year old goldfish, has died.

There were many fish before him.  Most lived only a few weeks, which I suppose is pretty common.  They swam around, ate their food, and generally didn't do anything noteworthy except die quickly.

S'weed, as he was often called, was different.  He knew us and when we'd walk into Nathan's room, he'd start swimming wildly.  He would "yell" at us for food by swimming to the top of the water and shaking his head while making fish-face.  He liked to swim upside down, often giving us a scare.  A quick tap on tank and he'd right himself, as if laughing that we fell for his hijinks again.

Seaweed cheated death twice.  Both times he somehow sucked in a small piece of gravel from the bottom of his tank, presumably to suck something to eat off it.  The gravel got stuck in his mouth and my husband had to use tweezers to pull the piece out.  The first time we thought it was just a weird random thing.  The second time, we bought new larger rocks for his tank.  He survived well over a year after that last incident.

He hadn't been swimming around as much in the last week or so.  He just hung out on the bottom until we fed him, he'd eat and go back down.  Then last night I knew he wouldn't make it through.  I encouraged Nathan to give his tank a hug, blow him a kiss and tell him how much he loves him.  When we got up this morning I saw I was right.

I really never thought I would get this attached to a fish.  But I did.  We're going to miss Seaweed.  He was really special.

Nathan showing S'weed the birthday card he made him last March.

20 comments:

  1. Aw! So sorry! Losing a pet is a hard thing. It sounds like S'weed was a great pet and friend! Most fish don't have a personality. Like the one we have now (you're welcome to him!). Sorry and sad for Nathan. This stuff can be hard for kids. Or, like the baby duck that we had that died, they won't care after five minutes.

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    1. Nathan surprised me with how upset he was. He was sobbing. It was so sad.

      You had a baby duck die? :(

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  2. Losing a pet it really, really hard. Sorry for all of you guys.

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  3. I didn't realize that goldfish could have so much personality. Thanks for sharing Seaweed's story.

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    1. I didn't think I'd get so attached to him. If someone had told me he'd have been such a character I wouldn't have believed it.

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  4. OH my gosh are you freaking kidding me? I'm tearing up over a goldfish post. :( I honestly never knew goldfish had little personalities or that it was physically possible for them to live longer than a few months. This sucks and I'm sorry you lost Seaweed.

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    1. I was crying too and I really didn't think I'd get that upset.

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  5. Not gonna lie, this made me feel so sad. Your sweet boy having to deal with this. That was an awesome pet.

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    1. Thanks Christie. He was a good fish. Sorry to make you sad.

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  6. I had a goldfish, Eugene, for 8 years. Yes, eight. Fish have as much personality as a person. I'm so sorry. Goodbye, S'weed. <3

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    1. 8 years. That is a lot of water changes. You guys must have been so sad to lose him.
      <3

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    1. Thanks :( I still go and check on him, forgetting he's not there.

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  8. OH man. It reminds me of Shane's Goldie-Jimmie (yes, that was his name). But he only lived 3 weeks. Luckily, they stopped handing out goldfish at the school carnival the following year...

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    1. Goldie-Jimmie! That's a great fish name. The ones that die fast really are annoying - the kids don't realize and still get attached. We never expected Seaweed to make it so long.

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  9. 2 years is remarkable. We tried numerous beta fish and they'd all die within a week or so:(

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    1. We didn't have luck with the betas either, even though I'd hear they were supposed to be very resilient. I never thought Seaweed would be with us that long. We still miss him.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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