One Fish, Two Fish, Third Time's A Charm Fish

Goldie and Pearl, our gargantuan pets.

The only pets we currently own are fish.
Two humongous, Little Shop of Horrors-like, goldfish.
One is aptly named Goldie, and the other one, not actually gold, is named Pearl (see photo).

Sabrina won Goldie at her school carnival, almost two years ago.
Yes. You read that correctly. Two years.

These are the tiny "feeder" fish they give away at carnivals for winning the ring toss game.
The ones you are usually attending a toilet bowl funeral for, after a couple of days.
A week, tops.

"Don't get your hopes up, Sabrina," I said.
"These fish, don't usually live that long."

Way to crush the kid, you may be thinking, but she had experienced a couple of prior fish deaths, so our expectations were low.

Oscar bought a small fish tank. He filled it with clean-ish water, a small filter and pretty blue rocks.
He followed all of the instructions dutifully given to him by the Petco clerk.
Goldie was deposited into her new home, and we all sat around on pins and needles....waiting....

Would there be a third fish funeral in our future?

Goldie, about a week old, the new fish on the block

Every morning I would wake up and inquire about Goldie's status.
And every morning, would be the same.
A -L-I-V-E.

A few months passed. Oscar decided it was time to get a friend for Goldie.
Another trip to Petco, and $150 bucks later, we had a fancy new aquarium and two new fish.
Aquarium and accompanying bits.....$149.50.
Fish.....$.50.
No kidding.

Unfortunately, the Petco clerk forgot to mention that new fish usually need to be quarantined because they carry around a fish virus called ICK.
So, the new fish infected our robust Goldie with the ICK virus.
After some internet research, Oscar discovered that ICK had a cure.
Fish antibiotics.
Seriously.
So, off to Petco I went. To purchase fish medicine.
Sadly, one of the newbie fish didn't make it...fish funeral number three.
The other one, Pearl, did.

Two years.

Goldie and Pearl happily co-exist.
Both of them Huge, and eagerly anticipating their next meal.

Goldie and Pearl hiding from my camera.

Goldie, age two.