Today, my fish died. It was very sad.

As I was trying to get him out of his cute little bowl with the colorful rocks and into the toilet, I tried to think kind thoughts about him. I remembered all the fun times we had together: seeing him swim in seemingly endless circles in his cozy bowl; banging on the bowl and watching him swim around erratically to amuse me; watching him jump for his food whenever I would drop some in after forgetting for a week or so.

Good times. Sushi was indeed a prince among fish.

In this solemn moment, with my fingers poised above the handle, I began to worry that all living things perish at my touch, so later I did a quick Google search to see what I could learn.

Sushi was a beta or betta (I always called him a beta; maybe that's what killed him), so I checked out a couple Web sites that discussed care of bettas.

One site I found was Ask the Vet — Solving Pet Health Questions. (Maybe I should have checked this site yesterday.) The "Ask the Vet" guy had the following things to say about the care of bettas:

"The beauty about betta fish is that they don't need a large tank to survive, they can cope quite well in a small bowl with no requirement for a filtration system." — Okay, I did pretty well on this one. Sushi's bowl was not a large tank and there was no filtration system. But, compared to the tiny little plastic specimen cup he was in at the pet shop, he practically had an ocean to swim in. And now, I like to think he's on his way to that big ocean (in the Gulf of Mexico).

"… there are some betta owners who will swear that having a tank system with a filtration system does seem to make for a happier fish." — Sushi never appeared to be depressed; he wasn't moping about or prone to fits of melancholy. He did seem to be sleeping a lot though.

"Generally, the smaller the container for your betta fish, the more likely you need to do frequent water changes." — Huh? Change it into what?

"They aren't particularly fussy about food, you can feed them once a day or twice if you feel the urge to." — Does that say once or twice a day?

I learned a lot at that Web site. If you want to know how to help your fishy get to heaven, I suggest reading the Question and Answer section at the bottom of the page — it involves Vodka and the freezer. That doesn't sound so bad.

Anyway, cheers, Sushi!