My Neurotic Fish

Shortly after my husband and I moved into our house last year my husband suprised me by bringing home a beta fish.  I was excited, although a fish is not a dog, and although he isn't very cuddly I have grown fond of our fish.  When we first got him I started calling him Fishy.  I know, not very creative, but I could never think of anything better and the name stuck.  I am pretty anal in making sure that I care for Fishy.  I feed him twice day and change his water once a week.  I am also very careful to make sure that someone cares for him when I am out of town.  However, Fishy has a terrible habit of jumping out of his bowl.  Yes, that's right, he likes to jump OUT of the bowl.  Only I would have a fish that doesn't stay in the bowl. 

In the past he has jumped into the sink and onto the floor while I have been cleaning his bowl and he has been swimming in his cup.  Luckily hubby was around to help me save him.  Fishy has also ripped his own fins in the past too but that's another issue.

Anyways, when I was washing dishes tonight I decided that the bowl could use cleaning so I put Fishy into his cup as usual and washed his bowl.  I left Fishy in his cup on the counter while I waited for his water to warm up.  He freaks out if the new water is too cold.  I do this every week.  A couple of hours later I walked into the kitchen to put Fishy into his bowl only to discover that he was not in his cup.

WTF?  I thought.  Where is the fish?????  I looked around eveywhere and finally spotted him laying on the counter.  I have no idea how long he had been there.   I quickly scopped him up and put him in the bowl.  He seemed pretty dry and I thought he might be dead but after bout 5 seconds of floating in the bowl he sprang to life and starting swimming vigorously around the bowl.

He keeps varying between swimming like crazy around the bowl and laying on the bottom.  I'm not sure if he is ok or not.  I am paranoid that he will jump out again tonight because he is acting so crazy so I put a piece of tulle over the bowl with a rubber band.  I am hoping that this will keep him in the bowl while still allowing him to breathe.

Who thought I would have to devise a way to keep a fish in water??  Only my fish and of course Hubby isn't hear to help :(  Go Figure.

Here's hoping that Fishy is still alive and swimming in the morning :-/