I wasn’t planning on posting again about the goldfish, but today we had a bit of a close call. Since Friday, my parents have purchased a bigger fishbowl along with two other goldfish to accompany Pedro. My father wanted to name them Peter, Paul and John…so to go along with Pedro, the new fish were finally named Pablo and Juan. Of course, we don’t know what the genders of the fish are, so it could all be for nothing.

Anyway, over the weekend, the fish looked like they were continually hungry. They were constantly at the top of the water, popping their mouths up and taking in water. We kept putting in fish food, and they would suck it in from the surface. I thought it was strange, but figured it was just fishy nature.

When I came home from work today, I complained to my family that the water was extremely cloudy. As well, Juan (Juanita?) was looking really pale. He was barely moving and floating close to the surface. The other two were still popping above water, gulping in water and air. I did a quick search on the Internet, and learned that they were either in oxygen-poor water, or ammonia-laden water. Truth be told, it was probably both. I told my dad that Juan looked like he was going to die and that we needed to change the water. So, we scooped out the fish and put them into a sink full of clean water. Poor Juan, he was almost floating sideways, looking quite pathetic. I really felt bad for him. I thought he was going to die. As my father scooped ‘em out, he commented on how nasty smelling the water was. The ammonia levels must have been poisoning the fish. No wonder the fish were gulping for air at the top; the water was polluted.

As my father cleaned out the bowl, I stood watch over the three fish. As they swam around in the clean water, the gulped in as much as they could. Juan in particular was “breathing” pretty heavily. Eventually, he started swimming in a normal vertical position. His recovery looked miraculous.

Right now, the fish are back in the bowl, swimming happily in clean water. I guess, since the bowl doesn’t have a filter or some sort of oxygen pump, the water will need to be replaced on a regular basis. I think my father seems very willing to change the water daily. They’re almost like his children, know what I mean? This whole fish thing is a learning experience for everyone.

My parents still manage to surprise me from time to time–not with anything material, but in terms of attitude. On Monday, as we sat at the dinner table, somehow it came up that we suddenly had a goldfish in the house. I was surprised when they said that because normally I’m very observant with things going on in the house. Sure enough, in the living room in a wide wine glass was a goldfish keeping still. The water level was only halfway up the glass, so the first thing I did was to fill up the glass a little bit higher to at least give the fish a bit more room to move.

See, on Saturday, they’d gone to a party, and the hostess gave away goldfish as thank you presents. Now, I was shocked to see that my parents managed to keep the thing alive for that long. They’ve never been all that keen on pets or anything that requires too much care. Hell, I would’ve figured that they’d flush the poor fishy as soon as they got it home–but no, there it was, still alive and kicking. They weren’t feeding it fish food at the time, if only because there was none in the house. Instead, it was living on crushed up crackers and biscuits (temporarily, at least). I convinced them to go and get some proper goldfish food. They did. Mom even got a bigger bowl for the fish. I’d asked her if the fish had a name. She had no clue, but when put on the spot she named him Pedro. Actually, we don’t know the sex of the fish, but Pedro stuck.

He’s now living a great life. My father pays close attention to his needs. He’s the focus of the living room, at least for the time being. Hopefully he’ll stick around for a good while.