Tragedy

Barnadi has always lived with pet fish, in the UK we had a cold water aquarium in which a variety of goldfish had lived.  The longest lived of them all was Goldie, at 10 years old she was still doing well when we left if not a little grey.

It was time therefore Barnadi decided that we start a new fish tank here on our balcony, we had the container ready, a sprinkling of multicoloured gravel along the bottom, all we were missing were the fish.  Yesterday we went up to the petshop on St Georges Road and chose our fish - two 'colourless' goldfish.  While carrying them to the till Barnadi noticed one had a white spot and was worried it might be sick so we swapped them for two fresh ones.  Although they are described as colourless they are actually a brownish colour.  One had a longer tail and a reddish shine to it, so we called him Coppertail, the other had a more yellowy tinge and so we called him Bronzefin.

To begin with both fish took a while to get used to the new surroundings, and hid underneath the plants at the bottom, occasionally coming out to chase their reflections around the edge of the tub.  This morning however they both looked more relaxed, and even came to the surface to feed when I gave them their breakfast.  But it was a short lived improvement, at least for Bronzefin, as when I got home from work today Barnadi informed me that one of the fish looked sick.  Indeed Bronzefin seemed completly paralysed, lying on the bottom of the tank, only his mouth moving.  Within a few hours he stopped breathing altogether and poor Bronzefin was no more.

Coppertail still seems quite active and we can only hope that Bronzefin did not die of anything contageous, for it would be a real tragedy to loose both our fish so soon.

Poor Bronzefin, may he rest in peace.