Requiem for two goldfish

Oranda

My two goldfish died today.

I got them for my first year anniversary with my boyfriend last year, so they were really special, marking the first milestone in our relationship. We decided to name them "Pix" and "Script", after what I did at work.

Pix and Script were orandas and were with us for 1 year and 3 months when they passed away. Pix and Script were very lively and smart for goldfish and would often swim near the side of the tank when we walked into the room. The Boyfriend always said that was because they were hungry for food, but I thought that was really cute and puppy-like of them.

Of the two, Pix was the more intelligent and lively one, while Script tended to be the follower. Pix can be a really naughty goldfish and he loved to terrorize and eat the tetras whom we put in the same tank as them. I remembered how they managed to decimate one bag of 50 tetras within three nights. Most of the damage, I suspect, was done by Pix.

Pix was always the more greedy and domineering of the bunch. When we got two more baby ranchus to be with them, Pix tend to body-slam the babies whenever we feed the aquarium, just so that he could have his fill. Script, at least, appeared to take to the babies more kindly.

Fin rot was what got them. On hindsight, maybe we should have suspected something when Pix started swimming upside-down on his head. Script was the first to succumb to the disease, The Boyfriend found Script floating belly-up in the tank this morning. We suspected that Pix first got the disease as his beautiful fins started to tear a day before, but he stayed fighting till he breathed his last this morning. Pix is a goldfish with character - he does a lot of weird things for a goldfish, like hiding himself inside the barrel in the tank whenever he failed on his "tetra hunt" or swimming upside down on his head. Pix would often get the both of them stuck in the strangest places as they go on their hunt for tetras. They are really greedy goldfish and eat so much. Strange thing is, The Boyfriend and I both agree that we can pick Pix out even if he gets lost within a school of orandas - Pix has got the bad-ass fish look down pat. As The Boyfriend would say,"He has the spirit of an orca trapped in the body of an oranda".

I am not overcome by grief for this loss, but neither can I say that I don't feel anything. Pix had more personality for a goldfish than most Singaporean managers that I have seen. I will miss these two boys of mine, for the endless hours of entertainment that they gave us.

Now that they are in the big Fish Bowl in the sky, I wish them eternal peace.