20 fish, 30 fish, goldfish, dirty fish?

Okay, that title was supposed to be a take on Dr. Seuss's book. How many of you got it?

Well, anyway....

Our Farmer (see earlier post) keeps cattle. And the cattle have water troughs. And our farmer is, shall I say, very laid back about all things hygienic on his farm. So, anyway, the water troughs have been filthy for some time. Which was driving me crazy. (Cows have feelings too, right?)

So, I asked mr. Farmer (names have been changed) if I could put some Goldfish in his cattle watering troughs to keep them clean. Mr. Farmer was totally cool with that idea, even a little intrigued. So, I emailed my Riding Instructor and got all the details on keeping fish in troughs. She told me to expect about a 50 percent rate of survival of the fish we buy.

Last Friday, we decided a goldfish adventure was just the family fun we were in the mood for, and we headed to the pet store. We even found a "One Free Fish" coupon in the phone book. Grace called it her ticket.

The guy at the pet store was also very laid back. We asked for 20 fish. $2 worth, plus the ticket. After filling a clear bag with a big crowd of 10-for-a-dollar frightened fish, he asked us if we had far to drive. I was curious why it mattered since we were planning to go shopping and maybe run a few errands before going home. He said he could add oxygen to help the fish live longer, which he did. I thought the fish would be okay in the bag for a few days, and at this point I realized I better find out.

"How long will they survive in the bag?"

"Oh, maybe an hour with the Oxygen."

Apparently realizing how unprepared we were to keep these fish, he added, "Why don't you keep your free fish coupon for the next time you come in?" I later realized he probably predicted we would kill all 30-or-so. That made me laugh, realizing he was probably right and secretly hoping he was wrong.

So, we went straight home to find some container to hold these poor 30-or-so fish until we could clean out the filthy troughs. (I was going to add the fish to clean troughs, and then let them maintain the cleanliness.)

A 3 gallon bucket was our golden boy.

Well, the next day Royal and I cleaned both troughs out. Much less trouble than I had expected, really. And, we put about half in each trough. No fish died up to this point. (SCORE!)

Today is Monday. 2 days later, Our death count is up to 9. We have 8 living in one trough (metal) with no cover, and about 16 living in the other trough (plastic) with a cinder block for protection.

It feels great to be caring for something living. And, it feels great to see those beautifully clean troughs.