My Fish Story – On 8th August 2022, I saw a fish seller, carrying fish in a glass pitcher, while sitting at my workshop. He had colorful fishes. When I saw him, the desire to buy fish arose in my mind. Although I knew that Mummy would not agree to this, but I thought that I would convince her in the name of my little nephew. So I stopped him and asked the price, he said it was 300. I asked if it would die without an oxygen pump and without a filter because you are walking around with it like this only, then he replied, take my number, there is a guarantee for one year, no one will die. so I bought 3 fish from him, 1 goldfish, 1 grey cichlid, and 1 rainbow fish and I also bought food for those fish. The water of the fish was yellow, for which the fish man told me that he had put food color in it, it is not harmful to any fish, but when my brother came in the evening, he said that this water was dirty and yellow, you change its water as these sellers keep fishes anyhow with no care. Now my new problem was where to get clean water for fish. Is it okay to use RO water? But if I change it again and again, a lot of water will be wasted. On this my brother suggested me to use groundwater, and that never caused any problem to my fish.
As told by the fish man, the fish was living comfortably in groundwater without any air filter or any oxygen pump, from my side, I just changed their water once a week and fed them fish food every day, gray cichlids never ate in front of me, maybe she was shy but the other two used to run as soon as I start giving food. The fish should not feel locked in the glass pot, So I put them in a big tub. Everything was going well, but with time I thought of bringing more fish. This time I brought 7 small fishes of which 4 were color widow tetra, 1 black widow tetra, and two sucker fish.
I don’t know why the Black Widow Tetra Fish died on the first day. I felt very sad. But there was nothing I could do. But this had to happen to me once again, I remember Navratri was coming, so my parents asked me to take the fish out of the house for the first time which I did not like. So I brought them to my workshop. There Papa kept them in a dark place from where I could only give them food but could not see because of the darkness. Perhaps due to lack of sunlight for 9 days, my little 4 tetra fish also died.
I was very sad, I told my parents that all this had happened because of you, fish is the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu, so how can it be inauspicious for the house? But nothing could happen now.
Winter was starting now. The fish should not die from cold, so I thought of bringing a water pump and heater for them, at first I called the fish man, but he was left selling fish anymore, so I went to the nearby shop, but the shopkeeper did not have it, he asked me to bring it in two days but it has been 5 days, Troubled, I started looking for another shop, now the shop I found was very big. Things were also cheap here. I bought a water pump, an oxygen filter and 2 white betta fish from this shop.
Now my daily routine was to feed the fishes and turn on the heater and pump at night. The fish should not be disturbed by the vibrating pump all the time, so I did not run the pump during the day. But one day I got lazy in the cold of January and thought that I would give food tomorrow but it was very cold, and the water in the tub had become very cold. When I went to feed the fish in the morning, I saw 2 fish were about to die of cold. One of these was the gray cichlid from the group of first three and 1 white betta fish that I brought from the new shop. I regretted my mistake and was praying to God to save one of them, at least this first group of three should not be spoiled. Seeing the fish dying from the cold, I brought Mommy’s water which Mom had heated for bathing. The miracle happened that day, I saw that now the gray cichlid was swimming comfortably and in its place, the other white betta fish was dead, while nothing had happened to her. I started pouring the water slowly into the tub, God did not kill the gray cichlid but instead, both white tetras died of cold that day.
After this, I remember that then the whole spring, summer, and rain had passed, and nothing had happened to anyone. In fact, because of my marriage at home, I had to keep the fish out of the house, but even then they were very comfortable. I and the little street kids used to play with them a lot. My fish have enjoyed every season as I made the tub movable and we use to take the fishes where ever and whenever we wanted.
इस कहानी को हिंदी में सुनाने के लिए वीडियो पर क्लिक करे :-
Now the cold started once again, the earlier water pump and heater were out of order in March, they were not needed in the summer, so I did not even bring them. But this time I had already brought them before winter started in early November. I didn't want any of my fish to die this time like last time. So this time I never turned off the heater. But God had something else in mind, due to continuous running, the heater exploded in the water, and the whole water turned black, the fish had swelled to death due to electrocution, I could not even explain what I was seeing. I had accepted and had also decided that I would never bring fish again. I am finding myself the cause of death as I only have to bring them home. Now, with courage I had to have to clean the water, so as soon as I went in cleaning, I saw the shadow of the fish moving in underwater, I understood that despite the current and the water being black, both my sucker fish still survived, I quickly started emptying the old water in the drain and cleaned them. Pour the fishes in fresh water, and thank God for this miracle.
Now I had only 2 sucker fish left to me. The problem with them was that they did not eat fish food, at least I have not seen them eating anything to date. When I looked at it on the internet, I came to know that it is not difficult to raise them, just give 1 boiled egg in small pieces and it is as simple as doing nothing. When I observe the speed of their food consuption, I came to know that one egg is enough for a week. My fishes mostly stick at one place, and do nothing, so my attention also started to divert from them. Since I don't eat eggs, bringing eggs was also a different task for me. My wife eats eggs, on her pretext, I used to bring eggs once a week and give one to my fish too. But when my wife went to her mother's house, I never went to get the eggs. Even, though I started forgetting about the fish, after coming from my mother’s house, my wife had stopped eating eggs maybe because the eggs are warm for the body, but it meant that now I was not giving anything to the fish, even remembering their existence. Now, due to the tub being kept in a corner, I did not pay attention to it for many weeks yesterday on June 9, 2024, when I suddenly remembered about the fish, I immediately ran to the fish tub, There I saw that only the bone of one fish was left in it, means one ate the other due to hunger, now she was lying in one place waiting for her death. I thought that this time I had made a big mistake. Now, I thought I should kill the last left fish too, or feed it to a bird or cat, after all, what is the use of leaving it too? Slowly 11 died, and now there is no reason left for her to live. So, I picked up the tub and placed it on the roof so that any bird, thirsty in this hot summer could come and eat the fish and drink the water in the tub. Instead of starving to death, it would be great to fish that it satisfied the hunger of a hungry bird in her last breath.
But, my Papa brought the fish down and all the family members scolded me that the fish was my responsibility and that I should have taken care of them, They told me to realize the situation and how painful that scene was when one partner ate his other partner just due to hunger. Everyone also explained to me that you have no right to kill anyone like this, Now, feed the fish and if possible, bring her a partner. Now I realized and I'll do that.
From this story, I want to tell you that if you take responsibility for any animal or bird or fish, then fulfill it till its last breath, either do not keep it. These pet animals are dependent on us and waiting for the day when they will get a good owner who will take care of them like their parents.