[lit-ideas] Re: A Fish Eyed View of the World
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 19:52:03 -0700
erin writes:
> Obviously I should get a new goldfish and see if I can connect with it on
> anything more than a superficial emotional level. It's been many years
> since Gefilte the Fish passed away. Poor thing.
a "superficial emotional level"?
i have a 50-gallon aquarium. when my last large fish passed on to the Great
Aquarium in the
Sky, i filled it with a bunch of small goldfish. maybe they would be more
colorful. and my
cat would like to watch them.
but i didn't expect what would happen.
the nine goldfish are always hungry, so i fed them several times a day. and
they grew. now
they're huge: six or seven inches long and thick as trout.
the fish have their own social world.
sometimes, when they're resting on the bottom, they form a half circle,
radiating outward
like spokes, so they can keep an eye whatever goes on around them.
often, they all line up, facing the same direction. there's a large filter that
puts out a
jet of water, so they face into the stream.
when they're hungry, they mill around, swirling up and down. when they see me
in the
morning, they get very eager to be fed. i open the top and drop in a handful of
pellets. my
brother once kept piranah, and despite the reputation, piranah are shy fish.
goldfish attack
food. the water churns. all you see is a whirl of color as they dash up, gobble
a pellet,
and flip to dive down. i have to close the lid quickly, or a great deal of
water is splashed
out.
after eating, they settle down to the bottom.
if other people feed them, they shy away to the bottom, and pretend to not be
there.
the fish don't mind the cat. Eurydice likes to sit next to the aquarium and
watch them. they
swim up to her, and the cat and fish look at each other, nose to nose. when i'm
feeding the
fish and the top is open, she gets on top of the aquarium, and drinks from the
aquarium
water. the fish swirl about, just under her nose. i think she is in more
danger; one of
these days, a fish will snap at her pink tongue.
the fish react to whatever is happening in the living room. if people show up,
they swim
around, looking at what is going on. if people are sitting quietly on the
couches and
talking, the fish cruise around quietly. if an unknown person comes quickly
into the room,
the fish form a cluster and shy back against the back of the acquarium.
they always look outwards, towards the living room. the aquarium is in the
center of the
living room, along the wall, so they have a good view of the room.
i have more goldfish outside on the porch. i took a very large vase, sealed it,
filled it
with water, and put a bunch of goldfish in it. they live out there all year
long. mostly,
they hang out at the top of the water, but if anything shadows their view, they
dive to the
bottom. with a bit of water plants in the vase, they're pretty happy. you can
make an
outdoor vase for your fish, just search Google for "vase of fish".
the problem for an Italian goldfish in those small bowls isn't the distorted
view of the
world. it's loneliness. goldfish are social animals and like to be in their
school of fish.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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