It’s actually quintuplets, measuring in at one inch each. I am only 1 or 2 weeks from being due but lets not get to hopeful… our addition is much less exciting than a new little baby.
This is how it came to be…
Whenever I’m out for the night and Jer has the kids, they will occasionally entertain themselves by going to the pet store. Emma and Isaac love it and run around looking at all the different kinds of animals there.
I’ve been completely satisfied with only having a pooch at our house and I thought Jer was too but somehow, he and Emma got the idea of getting fish. I agreed pretty easily thinking we’d just get a few of the cheap 15 cent feeder fish, blung it into a bowl, and see how long they lived.
I admit we were a little ignorant on the requirements for owning fish. We soon learned that there are 2 philosophies on having fish:
The first being what I had initially thought: put a fish in a bowl, sprinkle fish food and waa laa… you have a fish.
The second train of thought requires much more effort than that: healthy happy fish need 1 gallon of water per one inch of fish. The water must be de-chlorinated, filtered and cleaned regularly. A tank of water must sit at room temp for 24 hours before adding any fish. A new tank must be cultured with only 3 fish to establish a healthy bacterial environment and then others can be added after a few weeks. Fish need to be fed twice a day and some need companions. It’s an extensive process.
All this was learned when we were trying to buy our little bowl of cheap tiny fish. The pet store workers would not let us purchase fish without the proper tank and preparation. They were obviously advocates of fish and believers of the second philosophy. Talk about fish rights. Unbelievable! Do we really want to get ourselves into this?
Once you make a commitment to a little kid, ya just got to keep it. Emma was so excited and pumped up about this new pet that we couldn’t back down. Before we knew it our 15 cent fish ended up costing us around 80 dollars. Crazy, I know, but I guess it’s an investment. We’ll never have to buy a 10 gallon tank and a castle fish home again.
We have ended up with 5 tiny fish. 3 Neon Tetras and 2 Red Cherry Barbs. We did have one initial fatality (his name was sunshine and he was a yellow tailed guppy) but so far everyone in the house has enjoyed the little fish. Jer and the kids spend a few minutes before bed time watching them swim about and eat their dinner. It has turned into this little relaxing ritual. Emma has been quite responsible with her fish and is excited to show and tell to anyone willing. I just hope the excitement lasts long enough to make this new addition worth it.
Isaac wanted to be included in the picture taking. He was so proud that he had opened his mouth for the picture. Go figure.
My name is Manda and I love creating 
Congrats on the new additions. I was the same as you. I wanted to get each of my girls a fish, but was thinking just a fish in a fish bowl. We currently have a 55 gallon tank in our living room! What!? The tank was free, by the way, from freecycle… but still… it went beyond what I had planned. Sadly, we only have one fish left, out of the 10 or so we’ve purchased in the last year. I hope you have better luck! ;o)
Ok, first of all – you can’t head a blog post “Our Newest Addition” at this point in your pregnancy! Sorry to say, your cute little fish family was slightly disappointing when I was thinking BABY!!! But the kids look happy, the fish look happy in their fishy castle, and now I’ll just wait for the real news!!!
You have the fish that Dean always wanted, though he would longingly at the saltwater tanks. We had a tank, but used it for our multiple baby snakes from the snake Jeremy rescued one January. Congrats! Love you
I love it! Especially the picture of isaac in front of the fish tank! You two are great parents, and great fish parents! When I had a fish (badoofadopher) I followed your first train of thought! Round small bowl, and sprinkled food once a day. I am now feeling like i might have deprived that poor fish, it might even be considered fish abuse!
I am SO very glad that you have a responsible fish store in your area. I have worked in tropical fish stores for 15 years and there are a lot of them that will take your money, let your fish die and never care if you get discouraged. Even the smallest creatures deserve the best care we are able to provide! Thanks for doing it right!
I’m glad I didn’t get Joshua’s fish at an actual pet store. I just the goldfish at walmart…don’t tell! But this little gold fish survived for two weeks while we were gone for Christmas…and yes I did learn about the de-chlorining of the tank. What a pain. luckily, I only have a one gallon tank, thus only one fish. it is fun and Joshua loves to feed him. Good luck.