We've got these fish, see?

Ok, so being that I'm blogging from the wilds of Alaska, and that we are an avid outdoorsy family, you'd think the title for this post would naturally allude to salmon or halibut, cod or trout, right?

Wrong.

I'm talking goldfish today.

About two months ago, Juneau's Glacier Valley Rotary held their 2010 Boat and Outdoors Show. One of the annoying fun things available to entertain the kiddos, while moms and dads perused the boats and accessories they will never be able to afford, was a Zodiac filled with water and, you guessed it, goldfish. Kids tooks turns netting a fish and then could take it home with them. For free. What a deal.

So, we did that. Got one for each girl. They picked out the ones they wanted based on size, color, and behavior. Then Mommy helped them catch the poor little things, and we ended up with two tiny calico fish. Orange and white, both of them. And, this is important: they were each less than an inch long. So exciting for the girls! We brought them home and added them to our existing ten-gallon tank, thoughts of Ick whirling through my brain.

Both of our newest fish friends have names, of course: "Orangy" and "PahtootieTah". Other names of our 13(!) fish are "Spot", "King Baggenburger", and "Princess", who is a Kissing Pink variety of somethingorother and seriously follows the other fish around "kissing" them, particularly Orangy and PahtootieTah. (Greg thinks Princess is actually a boy fish, it being springtime and all, but it's impossible to tell.) Our remaining eight fish are guppy-like and it's difficult to tell them apart so they do not have names.

But back to Orangy and PahtootieTah.... so, is anyone else aware that goldfish will grow to whatever size their tank allows? Is this common knowledge? Because I did not know this and now it seems we have a Koi pond in our living room. Seriously. These two fish are growing SO fast and SO large, especially PahtootieTah. He is almost four inches long and almost as wide. When he eats, he lunges and leaps, just like Koi fish in a frenzy when you toss bread crumbs their way in the mall fountain (which is a funny reference only to people who live in Juneau since we have no real malls, let alone fountains! Ha!).

While it's been amazing to watch the growth and interaction, it's starting to be a little alarming. Kind of like when the meddling kids in a movie continue feeding their science project things like acid rain and nuclear waste and pretty soon, you've got yourself a full-blown, lame, B horror flick.

Did I mention we started off with two tiny snails? We now have at least 17. True story.