His days are done

Yes, I am talking about my little fish (recently named Popeye, referring to a prior post, since I never really had a name for him) swam his last swim yesterday. I knew this day was coming, but it was still sad to see him go. The biggest inkling, besides the eye condition, fading of his vibrant color, and lethargy, was that yesterday morning when I was trying to feed him, I tapped the bowl loudly and shook it a little to get his attention. He swam like an crazy fish all sideways and upside down for a couple seconds and then just drifted down and landed on a leaf of one of the plastic plants. I seriously looked like he had a stroke or something. It was so crazy, and pretty dramatic. So maybe he died right then, but I didn't notice until I was giving his night feeding and couldn't find him. He blended in with the rocks on the bottom of the bowl. I know this is gross, but I didn't have time to clean out the bowl yesterday, so I was going to do it first thing this morning. I seriously had a restless night as I kept dreaming about the dead fish in my entry way. In some dreams, I was about to flush him and he was alive. I think there were several other dreams (since I kept waking up and falling back to sleep) where I finally flushed him and it was over. Then I'd wake up and it hadn't been done yet and I was disappointed because I just wanted to sleep! So finally at 5:30 I woke up and did the job. The once very rambunctious fish, was lifeless and dull in color. I'm sure he is happy where he is now. It was a little strange not feeding him on my way out this morning. I might get another fish, but it might be nice to not have to clean out the bowl for a while. I'll have to put a picture up on the wall where he was so it won't look like an empty space. Maybe I'll frame a picture of him and put it up there.

Here's to all the betas that have been good, quiet, well-behaved pets. (And probably the only kind of pet I'll ever own.)