Fish — an easy pet to have as a child, but the worst to have as an adult. In my house, growing up, we had some fish here and there throughout time, but we never got too into taking care of them. For my family, it seemed impossible to keep a goldfish alive for too long.  

After a huge gap in time throughout middle and high school of not having a fish, I finally got one. To be more specific, I got quite a few different fish. After a series of unfortunate events that left me with no fish, I ended up getting beta fish as my last effort to clear my name.  

At this point, I was known to not be able to keep a fish alive for more than 1 week. No joke, I was at the pet store every week replacing my fish for nearly a month.  

Flash forward 11 months from the day I got a beta fish. I was packing up and getting ready to move back into school and I was planning on taking my beta, who I was proud was still alive, to school with me.  

Of course, my luck, he died the day before I left. Sad story. But here I am. Testing out the fish parent life again. For Christmas this year with my friends, I received a beta fish as a white elephant gift. It was perfect.  

The last beta fish I had lived for nearly a year, so I was thinking that this one would live the same amount of time. But nope, that didn’t happen. Two months later, bye-bye, beta. I’m giving it one last chance.  

I got yet another beta the other day and am hoping I don’t have to go to the pet store for quite some time. At this point, you may be wondering “why is she trying so hard to keep a fish alive?” My answer to that would be because, why not?  

While it is inconvenient to have to keep replacing fish, I like to have that part of my day where I can watch my fish swim around gracefully. 

All of these are great qualities to have while living at school. It is just up to me to keep the fish alive to make those qualities useful. I am confident that I know how to properly take care of a beta fish by learning through my many mistakes. No matter what happens, though, there is always more to learn.  

Karena Ozier is a junior elementary education major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at kmozier@eiu.edu.