Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Scarface Burgess (b. Circa 2003 – d. 2009)


Well I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I regret to inform you that our longtime fish companion, Scarface Burgess, perished last week at the age of 6, from an unknown fish disease.

Scarfy was a South African Cichlid, also known as an Oscar. We got him a little over 4 years ago from a friend who could no longer take care of him, when he was about a year old. He was smaller then. He grew to be pretty big, and people thought he was a grouper, living right there in our living room. He was a great conversation starter.

The fact is, Scarfy and I had a bit of a rocky relationship. He could be sweet and conversant at times, but usually he was just moody and difficult, making sarcastic comments or dramatically whipping himself around as I walked by to avoid making any eye contact.

Truthfully, our falling out began when he ate the face off Sugar Ray, one of the other two fish we had in the tank. That really stuck in my craw. I then had to remove the surviving fish and take him to work, where I accidentally dumped sprite in his bowl, which may have killed him, since he died not long after that. I know that was my fault but I kind of blamed Scarf for that death too.

But over the years I will say that we forged a grudging mutual respect. He was with us through three different residences, was a good fish, a real character, and we’ll miss him. So Scarface, this O’Doul’s is for you.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

He fought 'til the end. I'll never forget the times where he would just swim around the tank and breathe through his gills. Good times.

Betsy said...

Honey, please - you're going to make me cry. Let's find an old TransAm to sit in while listening to "Everybody Hurts" by REM.

Ashley said...

Awww, poor Scarface! I can't believe he lived as long as he did, especially since he was on the verge of meeting his maker when you adopted him! So, um, how did you bury him....?

Mom2 said...

May he rest peacefully.

Betsy said...

Well Ashley we were going to bury him, but it was late, and the trash guy was coming the next morning, so we grabbed some plastic bags and.... can you see where I'm going with this?

nikki webb said...

joseph and ella will be so relieved! i mean...sorry to hear of your loss.

Betsy said...

Thanks for your condolences, Nik. I generally don't like to speak ill of dead fish, but he could be an assh'le.

You know what - I said he was a South African Cichlid, but I just found out he was actually a South American Cichlid. So that explains the Spanish accent and his interest soccer. Makes more sense now.