Fishy Business

It’s time to introduce you to another member of the Kananaskis menagerie, this time, the beta fish formerly known as Dennis.

Dennis the menace.

I’ve been caring for Dennis since the end of October, when my friend Giggles (you may have read about one of her escapades here) bequeathed him to me while she was between houses. It’s a big challenge being responsible for another living thing. I can tell you unequivocally, after Dennis’s most recent adventure, I’m not ready to bear offspring of my own.

After most of the water in his fish bowl had evaporated due to the extremely dry climate, I did what any semi-responsible pet owner would do and left Dennis in there for a few more days. Then, I cleaned out his fish bowl, added new water and let the little red devil loose in his pristine new environment. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I’d managed to keep a fish alive for close to a quarter of a year, and although he wasn’t exactly thriving, Dennis was having a good time living in Kananaskis.

I then went about my business as usual, and checked in on Dennis ten minutes later to find him floating on his side at the bottom of the fish bowl. At first, I wasn’t alarmed, as he has been known to play dead from time to time. So I tapped the glass to get him moving, but being the actor he is, Dennis did not move. At this point I wasn’t too worried, until I noticed his fins were not moving and he wasn’t breathing. A new development in the method acting of Sir Dennis. I moved the fish bowl around more to try and find some signs of life, but there were none. Dennis was dead.

I messaged my neighbour Granger (you would have read about her escapades here) saying ‘OMG I think Dennis is dead’. It had been 15 minutes with no response so he was definitely a goner, unless he was playing some elaborate prank to be flushed and reunited with his family ala Finding Nemo. Granger suggested the classic switch situation – get an identical fish and Giggles would never know the difference. That was looking like a good option, but Giggles had also previously told me she wouldn’t mind too much if Dennis died under my care. So either way, I wasn’t going to be feeling too guilty.

I decided not to flush him right away, and took my time getting ready for work. It was about two hours later I looked in on what should have been a fish carcass, only to find the little blighter was alive and swimming again! He had come back from the dead to swim another lap of his tiny glass bowl. I couldn’t put this miracle down to anything other than divine intervention, and promptly renamed the resurrected Dennis, ‘Jesus’. I’ll let you know if he starts walking on water.