Rocky the old goldfish

 I sat and stared into my simple, over 10 year old, 10 gallon fish tank. I was not just staring at the tank, but Rocky, the common goldfish. This goldfish is 10 years old. No, I can not take all the credit for having this fish for 10 years. I have only had Rocky for 2 years now, but I can not imagine life before him.

How did I end up with this now 10 and half inch long and 3 inch wide fish? Well, it all started when I had a fight with my husband and took off to visit my oldest son for the day to cool off. His ex-girlfriend came to his apartment to get the rest of her personal items. I overheard the two of them discussing if this fish could be flushed down the toilet. "What?" I yelled. I convinced them after an hour to not flush the fish.

My son told me he hated the fish. The ex-girlfriend told me she hated the fish. So, feeling bad for the fish in the green murky water, I decided to take him home. I had no idea at the time what kind of fish it was nor how big it was - the water was too green and murky from neglect.

The ex-girlfriend dumped the water, collected all of the fish's personal belongings and placed the fish in a Demoulas shopping bag with a little water. Feeling like I was a member of Green Peace, I placed the fish called simply 'Fish' in my car on the floor with its belongings. In a half of and hour I was home, announcing to my husband that I brought something home.

My husband came out helping me in with all of the fish's belongings and then asked, "what in God's name did you bring home?" I simply told him it was a fish. He helped me get the tank situated on a makeshift stand and I added the rocks, the statues and the water. The fish in the Demoulas bag was having an anxiety attack because the water was leaking from the bag into the sink. As it goes, Demoulas bags do not at all hold water.

After rescuing the fish from the plastic bag, I realized that the fish was icky green and ugly. "Oh, well," I thought. I still felt good keeping him from being flushed down the toilet. We watched the ugly green fish swim around. My husband wanted to know how old was the fish. I told him that the ex-girlfriend told me that the fish was 8 years old. We realized that it looked as thought the fish was suppose to be a common goldfish. The ones you can buy for $1.95 or so, but bigger.

We went the next day to the pet store to find a fish like him and to buy food. We found out from the clerk that he was not suppose to be green. That the common goldfish does turn the color of the tank if the tank is not taken care of, some will be green or brown, but it was suppose to be red, orange/gold or lemon yellow. Some are other colors, but he believed ours was suppose to be one of these colors.

We left with a water conditioner and some food that was suppose to enhance his color. He might not ever become the color he was suppose to again, but it was worth the try. Well, when we got him he was about 5 inches in length. Now his is 10 and a half inches in length and 3 inches wide and the most beautiful orange/gold I have ever seen.

We decided to rename him from Fish to Rocky. Why you ask? Not just because Fish seemed stupid to us, but because he has the most annoying habit. He picks up the dime sized rocks off the bottom and throws them at the edge of the tank. Sometimes he throws them out of the tank and they are found on the floor. We have come to love him very much. We have two cats. Trust me, I do think we will have him for a long time still. When the cats put their paws into the tank, Rocky comes up and nips at them. They jump off and will leave him alone for a few weeks. We have estimated that he is 10 years old now.

He is better than a dog. Trust me he is! He gets happy when he sees me come home. I have to walk by him to get into the living room. He starts to swim and jump in the tank. My younger boys put a small ball in the tank and he will push it around the tank almost like a dog will with his nose. He also jumps and swims fast around the tank almost like a dog will chase his tail when he sees me grab his fish food. I put it in the tank and he seems to gobble it like a dog does. Who needs a dog when I have Rocky. I wish you many, many more years Rocky, We love you.