I’m finally settling down with a cuppa to write a post for the 16th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I hope I have something interesting to say though my mind is blank. I am feeling tired, my cup half empty instead of half full. I’ll just sit for a while and watch my little goldfish swim around in the bowl. It is relaxing. He seems happy in his world. I don’t know if he is lonely. Do fish have emotions?

I did start out with 2 tiny goldfish but one died after 2 weeks. I’m not sure if it was sickly to start with or if my bowl was too small. My research through AI told me that I should not keep goldfish in a bowl. They need to be in a proper tank with filters, pump, treated water and everything. What I learned was that I was doing everything wrong. Goldfish are social and so should not be alone. In the end, I felt I was abusing my poor goldfish. It made me feel very bad.

I had to stop my research. Having a goldfish should not be so complicated. I stopped fussing and worrying. I did not get another little goldfish. I waited to see how my little one does by itself. I feed it a little bit twice a day. Changed the water every week. I use the water from the rain barrels, letting it get to room temperature first. I turn on the grow light during the day for the water hyacinth as it needs sunlight for at least 6 hours to thrive. I dim it or turn it off in the evening so the fish would not get stress by it. I think we are both happy campers. I haven’t start talking to it yet. I do send it good vibes.