Our Friend Seaweed.

Our family lost a beloved pet today.  Seaweed, our 2 1/2 year old goldfish, has died.

There were many fish before him.  Most lived only a few weeks, which I suppose is pretty common.  They swam around, ate their food, and generally didn’t do anything noteworthy except die quickly.

S’weed, as he was often called, was different.  He knew us and when we’d walk into Nathan’s room, he’d start swimming wildly.  He would “yell” at us for food by swimming to the top of the water and shaking his head while making fish-face.  He liked to swim upside down, often giving us a scare.  A quick tap on tank and he’d right himself, as if laughing that we fell for his hijinks again.

Seaweed cheated death twice.  Both times he somehow sucked in a small piece of gravel from the bottom of his tank, presumably to suck something to eat off it.  The gravel got stuck in his mouth and my husband had to use tweezers to pull the piece out.  The first time we thought it was just a weird random thing.  The second time, we bought new larger rocks for his tank.  He survived well over a year after that last incident.

He hadn’t been swimming around as much in the last week or so.  He just hung out on the bottom until we fed him, he’d eat and go back down.  Then last night I knew he wouldn’t make it through.  I encouraged Nathan to give his tank a hug, blow him a kiss and tell him how much he loves him.  When we got up this morning I saw I was right.

I really never thought I would get this attached to a fish.  But I did.  We’re going to miss Seaweed.  He was really special.

Nathan showing S’weed the birthday card he made him last March.

20 thoughts on “Our Friend Seaweed.

  1. Kirsten Oliphant

    Aw! So sorry! Losing a pet is a hard thing. It sounds like S’weed was a great pet and friend! Most fish don’t have a personality. Like the one we have now (you’re welcome to him!). Sorry and sad for Nathan. This stuff can be hard for kids. Or, like the baby duck that we had that died, they won’t care after five minutes.

  2. Vapid Vixen

    OH my gosh are you freaking kidding me? I’m tearing up over a goldfish post. 🙁 I honestly never knew goldfish had little personalities or that it was physically possible for them to live longer than a few months. This sucks and I’m sorry you lost Seaweed.

  3. Dana

    I had a goldfish, Eugene, for 8 years. Yes, eight. Fish have as much personality as a person. I’m so sorry. Goodbye, S’weed. <3

  4. Stacie

    OH man. It reminds me of Shane’s Goldie-Jimmie (yes, that was his name). But he only lived 3 weeks. Luckily, they stopped handing out goldfish at the school carnival the following year…

    1. Michelle Longo

      Goldie-Jimmie! That’s a great fish name. The ones that die fast really are annoying – the kids don’t realize and still get attached. We never expected Seaweed to make it so long.

    1. Michelle Longo

      We didn’t have luck with the betas either, even though I’d hear they were supposed to be very resilient. I never thought Seaweed would be with us that long. We still miss him.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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