No, not these Ethel, Fred, Ricky and Lucy. Although I spent many evenings watching them and loved when Ricky and Lucy moved to the country. I wanted to live in that house so badly! I just loved the kitchen!! Do you remember it? I was so sad when it stopped being on and even sadder when I discovered all the troubles that the 4 of them had.
But I digress, I'm not talking about these 4 ---I'm talking about these 4.
I've had fish for a long time! I have fish because my doctor told me to get fish to help me deal with stress that I was going through at the time. I started with Beta fish and really enjoyed them but they never seem to live very long so one day I got gold fish and I've been happy ever since. When I got these 4 they were the same color. Then one day Ethel became white. It didn't happen overnight but by the end of the week, sure enough one of them was white! I had no idea why and thought that she was just getting old. You know I go gray, she went white and she doesn't have Clairol to help her out.
But she seemed to be healthy and no one else in the tank seemed to care so I just laughed it off and kept feeding and cleaning and changing out the toys and stopped thinking about it. Then about a week ago, the same thing happened to Lucy! It took all of 3 days and she went from the wonderful gold color just like the boys to a wonderful white like Ethel. I guess she was jealous of all the attention Ethel was getting because she is so pretty.
Well, now I had to Google what is going on. It seems that in Goldfish, they can change color at any time. Water temperature, amount of sunlight, food with "color enhancers" - nothing matters. It's in their genes. They will turn the color they are suppose to be.
The girls, Lucy is the largest of the two with the more elaborate fin tales and Ethel is the smaller one who changed first.
The boys. When you see them up close Fred is the smaller of the two the one in back, he has the shortest body but the larger top fin. Ricky is the one in front and he loves to play in the bubbles in the back. He does have a bit of a sense of humor and likes to hide in the fake log we have for them.
Most days they swim around, chase each other, swim through the bubbles and eat but when our grand girls come over, they stand on the chair near by and feed them and all 4 swim to the surface and stick their little heads out of the water and eat. Our oldest grand daughter say they are smiling and are happy. Well how can a grandmother argue with that logic!
It occurred to me that they are doing just what God made them to do (swim). In the place God wants them to be in (water). Wearing whatever color they were meant to wear and we all look at them and smile. I think there is a lesson here, if we all just meditate on it awhile.
Where do you find your life lessons?
I'm a lover of fish, too, and have had fish of one kind or another most of my life. I like goldfish best.
ReplyDeleteThese days all of my fish live outside, in a small pond. I love watching how they grow and change colors, just as yours did. Usually ours will start out black or brown and turn orange though.
New fish hatch in the pond each spring, and we'll finally catch glimpses of the survivors after they've grown too large for the larger fish to eat. They try to remain hidden until then...
You did a great job photographing your foursome--and I love their names :)
We had a 55-gallon salt water tank for years but had to sell it when we moved overseas. I loved it-so beautiful! It took a while to get it established and we lost a few in our eagerness to get it going but once we did it was really fun. Flushing a tropical fish you bought three days prior is the same as flushing a $100 bill down the toilet. Just sayin' : )
ReplyDeletenice post thanks for sharing...i found your blog thrue the hodgepodge...looking for to visit more...blessings from holland...
ReplyDeleteI had goldfish growing up ... I can remember using my allowance to buy a fish bowl and a couple of fish. I didn't know that goldfish would turn white.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that before and we have had many goldfish over the years. They all looks very cute and I love their names. I did love the kitchen when they moved to the country!
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