A Fish Out Of Water

I had a fish 🐟; not an ornamental one. It was the one and only Koi fish or Climbing Perch is what they call it in English.

I am not a fan of the idea of animal captivity, be it in a zoo or so-called safari park where they are kept to entertain the rich.

Anyway, I inherited an aquarium from my senior roommate in the dorm. But I had no plan to use it except for lighting candles inside it during blackouts.

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Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

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So, after almost 3 years of emptiness, I thought petting a tough fish in it would be a good idea. Suddenly, my sense of animal rights is gone— not gone actually, but altered by the urge of liberating a fish from the imminent death it will face in hours once sold to someone else. Pretty decent, right?

Okay, I bought two fishes— alive, of course. They cost me only 20 taka and I brought them home in a polybag.

Yeah, I saved two lives.

After a quick Google research, I gave them some rice to eat. But they were reluctant to avoid them at any cost, so I gave them some puffed rice. Still, no interest.

Meanwhile, the bigger one started attacking the other one and kept doing so until it died the next morning.

So, it’s only one—- the kingdom only for him to claim.

But it didn’t show any sign of hunger or its fondness towards food even a bit— made me anxious about its life. Am I going to kill it right here, right before my eyes? It made me a bit sad— after all, it’s a fish and I am not supposed to show sympathy to this insignificant creature.

This reminds me of a poster where the watery eyes were looking so helpless before a sharp knife was held by someone. Soon after the head was decapitated, the water just dripped down the scales— I can still remember the entire scenario. Whenever I used to move toward the east through the corridor of my dormitory, it never failed to catch my eyes.

Thanks to the Almighty I’m not a fish.

Anyway, probably it was after 4 days the fish began to eat after bringing home and killing its inmates. Maybe it was hungry and didn’t want to die too soon.

So, I bought fish feed from the market and our days was going well until the covid-19 hit the country and the govt. called a nationwide lockdown. I had to relocate to my village and I left the aquarium in the house thinking that the lockdown will be over soon and I will return shortly.

There was enough food for the fish in the aquarium for at least 7 days. So, after a quick calculation, I thought the fish would easily survive at least 10 days (7 days with food & 3 days without food).

But the lockdown stayed for 3 months in a row and I had no hope of finding it alive. Moreover, I was worried about the stink the dead fish would create in the room.

Luckily, when I returned after almost 3 months, I was surprised to see it ALIVE!

Koi fish, tough life— indeed! Survived 3 months without food!

But its head got bigger than the whole body, lack of food but a strong sense to stay alive! Also, the water was clean and crystal clear— the fish ate all the dirt and residue along with its waste to stay alive during the course of the time.

I changed the water and started feeding it again. But the fish was not so lucky and the aquarium got broken accidentally. Determined to keep it alive, I dedicated a big bucket as its new residence.

In the meantime, I bought another 10-12 Koi fishes and put the strongest ones in the bucket as it was big enough. But they were unable to survive as I realised later that all of the new fishes were raised in the firm— they don’t have the ability to survive like wild ones. And they all died the following day leaving the hero all alone, again!

Covid-19 lockdown again and once more, I had to relocate. But I didn’t abandon the fish like in the past. I took it to my village— travelled almost 200km with me in a tiny jar, not enough to allow it to move freely.

When I released it in a bigger bucket after reaching home, I noticed it couldn’t get the tail straight— that tiny jar was responsible for that but it recovered in a day or two.

Days were going well for the fish and I returned to the capital leaving it to my family out there. But when death comes, you don’t need any excuses to be a victim— the same happened to the fish. One night it jumped out of the water and died miserably. But before death, it moved all around the room— the trace of watery lines proved it.

Only if it didn’t come out of water……. :(