Posted: May 10, 08 7:51am
I used to have a little fish named Homer. He was a deformed Ryukin goldfish. I bought him on purpose, to rescue him after the holidays. I got him and another Ryukin and put them in a tank with a Sarassa Pearlscale.
Homer's deformity made it very hard to swim, or to stay right side up. It drained his vitality and he got fin rot. He also soon found himself at the bottom of the pecking order in the tank, especially with the high strung and aggressive Pearl. I came home one day and found poor Homer bloodied and battered, floating around haphazardly. I quickly got a big mug and scooped him out of the tank, and put him in a 5 gallon bucket with a tea tree oil based product added to the water to help him heal. He stayed inside his mug.
I got a new tank just for him. I put it in the bathroom, and transferred him and his mug into it. Homer's tail was nearly gone, but grew back over time. He was a cheerful, joyful little fish. He eventually developed a swim bladder problem and was stuck floating at the top of the tank for several weeks. I devised a way to feed him by sticking food on the end of a plastic cord and putting it near his mouth. He was smart, he caught on quickly, and he and I shared a 15 minuted feeding ritual every day.
Soon his swim bladder problem reversed itself and he was stuck at the bottom of the tank, on his side. I went back to feeding him the heavy pelleted food I always had, and he scrambled through the stones to find it. He remained cheerful and friendly, wiggling whenever I came into the bathroom. I started singing to him. He always wiggled when I sang and spoke to him.
Tumors grew on Homer's head, and one morning when I went in to greet him, he was very still, and he did not wiggle or twitch his eye in my direction. He was gone. He had survived for 2 years like that.
I buried him beneath an heirloom apple tree out back. I still think about him every day. I used to sing this to him: "Look at that fish, shine in the night, look at that fish, shine in the night......."
I miss him very much. He taught me a lot about being joyful despite your circumstances.
