I have no funny pet fish stories to tell, which is another way of saying that two and a half months into Genevieve's first foray into pet ownership, things are going well. No fish under the bed, no toilet bowl tears. Just a little spilled fish food. Of course, I do the water change-outs and more often than not have to remind her to actually give poor flipper some food. But she sometimes remembers to feed it on her own, is still interested in the fish, and even asks for another pet.
I bought her a male beta, since they require no mechanical filter, are fresh water fish, and are a very good starter fish as far as pet fish go. The males have showy fins and color. My girls don't care what my story about the provenance of this pet -- it's a girl, and it's name is Dorothy, end of discussion.
Shown here is Reesa's earliest extant representational artwork -- Dorothy from the top. The squiggy blob in front of Dorothy's face is the food that she is about to suck in.
You probably don't want to hear this but ... my word of advice to you if you feel AT ALL tempted to get a gerbil, hamster, or gods forbid, a guinea pig, just cut to the chase and get a cat or dog. We've had a rat, a hamster, crabs, African clawed frogs and one supposedly male guinea pig that miraculously gave birth to another (real)male guinea pig who fathered 4 more guinea pigs ... a sordid tale. 5 years later, we're down to one lone guinea pig again + a disinterested teenager. So I say, NO MORE LITTLE ANIMALS IN CAGES! They inevitably were neglected and the trauma when each one died was, well, traumatic. A cat or dog may be more work in certain ways, but they will not be ignored, and actually have some personality.
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