Once upon a time there was a fish named Wiggles Jr.
Now, to understand this tale there are a few things you should know:
1) Wiggles Jr. is a Tiger Oscar Fish. He is about 8inches long and will eventually be about a foot long. He is named after our first Tiger Oscar that we owned in Washington (see Wiggles here)
2) Oscar fish are commonly called the "puppy dog fish" because a) they beg for food, b) they will "play" with people, and c) they respond to and know who their owners are.
3) Oscar fish are quite strong.
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Our tale begins last week when Wiggles Jr. started to get very aggressive about eating his food. He is by far the most animated about begging for food out of the 3 Oscars that we have. Last week I dropped in his pellets like normal and ended up taking a full face of fish water as he lunged for them (with amazing speed I might add). It only took one fish water bath for me to start dropping in the pellets with an outstretched arm and a quick jump back with each feeding.
Fast forward to a few days ago where our curious tale unfolds:
I was talking to Kara that particular afternoon when Wiggles Jr. started performing his "I'm desperate for food, please feed me" dance. Without thinking too much about it, I grabbed some pellets, opened the lid, and at arms length dropped them in the tank. Within seconds Wiggles lunged up, up, and apparently had no sense of just how powerful he was because he jumped right out of his tank and flew straight towards me. I yelped (okay screamed) as his giant fish body came flying at my face and then fell to the carpet landing right at my feet. I yelled to Kara "Oh my gosh the fish just jumped out of his tank!" and threw the phone with one goal in mind - SAVE MY FISHY!
In a panic I looked for something I could grab him with (because as much as I love the thing, I was NOT going to pick him up with my bare hands). With no net in sight I ran to the kitchen thinking a bowl would do the trick. I reached down to scoop him up and instead of calmly sliding into the bowl like I imagined, about a foot up he decided to freak out and flipped out of the bowl, onto the piano, back to the floor and started flipping his body all over the carpet. Now realistically I know he was simply practicing some self preservation, but in my mind at the time it was more of a full on fish assault. If I had remembered that Kara was still on the phone and could hear everything, I might have exercised a little self control and decorum- but let's face it, I turned into a complete sissy-face and in between yelps was screeching, "Come on fishy, I'm trying to save you!"
I'm glad to report that our story does have a happy ending, and that after only one more fruitless try with one bowl, I was able to rescue him between two. Although he did give his best effort to escape them, he is again alive and well in his tank.
A few notes:
1) After Wiggles Jr. was safe and sound and my heart had slowed down a bit, I remembered that Kara was still on the phone. When I picked it up, I was answered with hysterical laughing which could only mean I had put on quite the show in my great fish rescue. I realized the whole thing-mainly my reaction, was simply ridiculous. Now don't get me wrong - it would have been sad had the poor fish died (let's be honest though, it would have served him right for his overzealous eating habits). The whole thing probably only lasted 30 seconds or so, but to me (and the fish I'm sure) it felt like a lifetime. Who knew a fish could evoke such sheer panic in a person? A little dramatic on my part over a silly fish? Probably.
2) I hadn't realized that throughout my hasty rescue, Logan had been standing by watching the whole silly thing unfold. After I sat down and he realized it was all over, he marched straight to the tank whipped out his finger and in his sternest voice possible demanded, "Fishy! You stay in your tank or you are going to have a time out!" This brought on a whole new round of laughter and was a delightful ending to an otherwise all to serious (to me) event.
3) Before this instance, Wiggles was the target of much bullying from the other two Oscars. He has, however, apparently gained a new sense of self assurance since his brush with death and has the other Oscars cowering whenever he comes near. So death defying stunt in fish = newly confident fish and current king of the tank.
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This story is, to date, the most odd thing that has ever happened to me. And that my friends, is the Curious Tale of Wiggles Jr. :)
