October 27, 2001 -- September 5, 2004
About Jackie:
You're not supposed to choose favorites, but she was mine. She was the friendliest, smartest (not to mention largest!) fish I had. She'd always come right up to the top for feeding time, and she'd often stick her face out of the water so I could drop pellets right in her gaping maw. ;) She let me pet her when I was cleaning the tank. She was a huge, powerful fish who could send gravel spraying everywhere with a thwap of her tail. She suddenly became sick and upside-down on July 26, 2004. I tried four different kinds of medicine including two that had to be injected, and took her to the vet for X-rays. I put her in a cotton flannel sling with fishing bobbers and sinkers to keep her right-side up, and had to hand-feed her everything. She fought very hard but eventually it was simply her time. She passed away just after midnight on September 5, 2004, in her tank with my hand on her back and Sammy nearby. She will be missed very much. :( I don't know exactly what the nature of her illness was, but considering her symptoms (heavy breathing, difficulty swallowing), its noncontagious manner, and the failure of the medicine to do any good whatsoever, I believe it was probably some sort of internal tumor or growth. At least she is at peace now where she can swim free and strong forever. Love you, Jackie. :( Jackie's Stats: Species: Carassius auratus (a.k.a. goldfish) of the Fantail variety Size: 7.5" without tail, 10" with tail Gender: Female Hobbies: Sucking gravel and then spitting it out, riding the bubble column, doing acrobatic twirls, thwapping Sammy when he gets too close to "her" food,, bottom-feeding, making incredibly loud splashes to get attention Dislikes: Getting stuck in corners behind fake plants, when Sammy zipped to the food more quickly than she does and gets the good stuff first, when her mouth was so full she can't fit in any more food, and freeze-dried brine shrimp (for some reason the shrimp cubes terrified her!) Diet: Same as Sammy. Habitat: A 37-gallon aquarium between the kitchen and dining room. She used to live in a 10-gallon with Sammy but outgrew it, then in a 25-gallon until the same thing happened. Tankmate: Sammy Nicknames: "Hoover," because of the way she sucked up food and vacuumed the gravel while bottomfeeding! Also "Jaws," because of the way she lurked around and sometimes stuck her face out of the water when she was really hungry! I sometimes also called her Jacquelin and Jackiekins, or "my leviathan" when I noticed how huge she was!
Photo Album: Watch Jackie grow and change color!
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Jackie
came from the same pet store as Sammy, but about a month later. She used to have
some black tinges on her fins, but they soon disappeared. She also used to have lots
of bright orange blotches over the white, including "lipstick," but since the
summer of 2002 all the orange on her body had faded to white. 
