Our new pets - two little goldfish

The children have been nagging for a pet for years. The trouble is that (in normal times at least!) we are often away from home, and we don't have anyone close by that I'd feel happy asking to come in and feed a pet. But I've kept goldfish in the past, and I sometimes used to leave my most recent goldfish on his own for a week or so at a time with a slow release food pellet. We also recently discovered that you can now buy such things as automated fish feeders which can be used to feed fish while you are away.

So we have finally relented, and after plenty of research between the four of us we decided that we would invite two goldfish to share our home. I still had my old tiny goldfish tank in the loft, but times have changed since I was a teenager and pet shops quite rightly are a lot more fussy now about making sure that you have the correct size tank for your fish. So we invested in a fancy new tank that came with a light and filter included.

I was sure to warn the children not to get too attached to the fish that we bought, just in case they didn't settle well into their new home. I remember setting up a tank and watching fish after fish die before I was left with three sturdy fish that lived for years. But fingers crossed so far so good, and we've been coming down in the mornings to see them still swimming happily around.

Harry's fish is the one with the white patch, and he's called Archimedes. Mia has named her goldfish Glimmer. They each chose a decoration for the tank, with the little bridge in the middle coming from my original tank. At the back you can see my paint by numbers painting, which is the perfect size to hide all the cables. 

I've always enjoyed having fish, and I must admit that it is lovely watching them swim around. It's very relaxing, and we've each been spending time sitting on a chair pulled up in front of the tank just watching them going about their business. Fingers crossed they are with us for a long while yet!