Happy Heritage: Fish

I don't know where the idea came from. I was 9 weeks pregnant, struggling against morning sickness, moving everything out of our main living areas, packing for a week away from home while our floors were being redone, with NO desire for a pet let alone one that doesn't contribute to our household (protection, eating mice and insects, laying eggs for us to eat). Suddenly as I relocated my water-planted pothos out of our living room, I thought a fish would be a perfect companion to the plant. (??!??) I then proceeded to spend an hour online figuring out whether I could make it work. (No heater, no filter, can the fish live for 3-7 days without food, can it survive our nighttime indoor winter temps of 55F, is the pothos actually a good aquarium plant, will leaving water out overnight be enough to remove the chlorine from our water so it doesn't poison the fish...) I wanted to go out that same week to buy the fish, but realized it would die quickly since we were, as I said, moving out of our home for a whole week. So I had to wait until we returned.
.

I have never wanted to keep a pet. I told my daughters that they already "own" several: 4 cats next door, 1 dog at my mom's, another dog at my in-laws, a cat who lives with my sister. They've adopted a couple stray cats in our neighborhood, meaning they point to the cat and call it their own, not that we feed or care for those cats in any way whatsoever. They've asked for fish and been told we don't have room in our small home for one. I've played with the idea of getting chickens, but that would be for the sake of the fresh egg supply, not because I want chickens. Where on earth did this idea of buying a fish come from?? Whatever inspired it, my daughters are ecstatic to be finally caring for a pet of our very own.
.
Welcome home, Freddy. I hope you don't die too quickly (bettas are cheap, but not if we have to buy several every year!)