Back when I was a freshman in college, my roommate, Christin, and I decided we needed a pet. We wanted a pet lobster and even went as far as to find stores in Atlanta that sold fresh-water lobsters and made lj polls about what to name said lobster before our RD told us lobsters are not technically "fish" and fish are the only animals allowed. We tried to argue that people had pet snails, but alas, no lobsters allowed.
So we got the next best thing: a one-eyed goldfish. We didn't plan on getting one, but when we went to the pet store in search of some fish to call our own, our eyes fell upon one fish in a tank of several, swimming in circles. I, having passion for animals in need, and my roommate, having a desire for anything out of the ordinary, decided we must have this fish.
That day, Lefty joined our little family.
( Pictures of Lefty )Lefty became our pride and joy. We would find people in the hall and tell them to come into our dorm to look at our beautiful one-eyed goldfish. Some people called us weird, others played along with our game and would ask us how our darling Lefty is doing that day. Lefty became our mascot. Christin, in all her excitement, created a powerpoint presentation about Lefty, titled "Lefty has two mommies and one eyeball."
Since then, Christin and I have been desperately searching for a playmate for Lefty, another one-eyed fish. Everytime we went to a pet store, we'd scour the fish tanks in search for another fish that had a defect. Do you have any one-eyed fish, by any chance?" we would ask. The answer was always "no." We asked our friends and family to look out for another cyclops for us. I even offered to pay anyone three times the cost of the fish, if they would find another one-eyed fish for us.
On November 4th, 2005, our prayers were answered. Christin stumbled upon another one-eyed fish at the pet store. This time, when she asked if the store had any one-eyed fish, the employee answered "Yes. We've been saving her in the back until we found someone who could give her a loving home." Score! Christin brought her home and plopped her into the tank.
It was then that Starboard joined our growing family.
( Pictures of Starboard )The three, two-eyed fish we own have adapted well to having two disabled fish in the tank with them. They give Lefty and Starboard plenty of room to swim in circles and don't get easily irritated when the two cyclops run into them. Eric, PlaV.2, and JFK and Other Dead Presidents really are the best two-eyed fish anyone could have.
( Pictures of the other three fishes: )We're lucky to have such a wonderful fish family. Christin and I no longer live together, but we share custody of the kids, switching back and forth between whose room in which they reside. In the past, the fish have stayed with me over long breaks (summer, Christmas, etc.) since Christin lives in Kentucky and we've always been too worried about the fishie's health to let them travel for that long. But after we graduate in May, I don't know who they'll live with. As long as they have a happy, fullfilling life, it doesn't matter if I care for them or she does. We just want them to grow up to be upstanding, one-eyed citizens of society. :-)
