My Mother is allergic to fur so the only pets we were allowed as kids were goldfish (or dogs wrapped in clingfilm - we chose goldfish). When holiday time came around we had the dilemma of how to care for them while we were away. We decided to use shell-shaped fish-food blocks that slowly dissolved over a period of days. The idea was that flakes of food would be released into the water everyday to sustain our water-based companions until we reappeared.
Whenever we returned from our holiday we would find dead goldfish floating on the top of the water and a perfectly intact fish-food block at the bottom. We would pull the block out, pat it dry, pop it in a freezer bag and save it for the next time.
We buried the fish.
