Saturday evening was a sad moment in our house. Our Angel Fish, Bolo, died. She began having some trouble swimming upright about a week ago. I changed some of the water, vacuumed the gravel and got a better filter. She seemed to perk up but on Friday she stopped eating and I knew she wasn't going to make it. Here is a picture of her. She was a pretty good size. Her body was about 3 inches long and with her beautiful fins she was 6 inches high. We had her about 3 years and had gotten attached to her.
She was always so happy to see you whenever you walked up to the tank. She would come right over wagging her tail fins and would get so excited for food. She was a great little mama and laid several thousand eggs over her lifetime. We didn't have the right conditions to raise the fry. We let her try to raise them several times but each time they all died when they got to the free swimming stage. She would get so upset and sulk in the corner of the tank when they died that I decide not to let her keep the eggs. I would just wash them away and put the stone back. She handled that much better. She just looked so happy and proud when her little babies hatched and would swim in a cloud around her. I had read that Angel Fish are one of the most intelligent aquarium fish and I believe it after having her. Her mate, Goodie, is a beautiful fish but he lacked all the natural instincts of raising baby fish. This infuriated her and she began to hate him for eating her eggs and babies. We had to take him out of the tank to let her try and raise the fertilized eggs. After her losing several batches of babies she hated him so much, she wouldn't let him near the eggs, even to fertilize them. To me that was pretty smart for a fish.
On Saturday afternoon we went to Olive Garden to eat dinner with some friends and when we got back she had dragged herself into the small cave we have in the aquarium and breathed her last. When Rich reached in and took her limp body out of the water and put her in the plastic bag I was holding, my eyes filled with tears. I took her outside and buried her in our garden. It was just so sad. Mary came up to me seeing my tears and said, "Mommy, I am going to really miss that fish. What did you do with her outside?" I said, "I buried her in our garden." She asked, Why?" I said, "Because when something dies and the spark of life that God gives them leaves they are put into the ground and they return to dust." I reminded her of our Bible reading of creation and how God formed Adam out of the dust of the earth and then breathed the breath of life into him and he became a living soul. So too God breathed the life into us and all the animals. So me, Daddy, you, Mackie and all our fish have life that was given to us by God. For people when our spark of life leaves our bodies will be buried and our souls will go to heaven. She was OK with that. We have talked about heaven before so she knew what I was talking about. It was a very sad moment when our little fish died and I still cry a little when I think of her and don't see her in the tank when I go to feed the other fish but I am thankful for that moment to think about our mortality and talk about it with Mary. I know the Lord cares about the animals for it says that he sees when the sparrow falls. All creation groans for the coming of the Lord and the ending of all sickness, suffering and death.
