My daughter Jordan used to hate taking a bath, that was until she got old enough to sit in the bathtub without a bath seat. Now that she has the freedom to move around the tub, with close supervision of course, she loves bath time now. In fact she cries when you take her out of the tub now. Jordan especially loves her bath toys. So, on a recent trip to the store, I just had to go check out the baby isle, in search for a new toy. After 20 minutes of looking, and since I like the Sassy brand of toys, I decided on the Sassy Tube 'n Fish. I should have listened to the voice inside my head, saying "Step away from the fish, and walk away as fast as you can".

The Sassy Tube ‘n Fish is a cute little fishy sitting on an inner tube, that is supposed to scoot across the water when you pull on it’s tail. The day I bought it I tried it out that night when giving Jordan a bath. I pulled on it’s tail, put it down in the water and watched it scoot for 2 seconds, before it went under water faster then the Titanic. It can’t sit in the water more then 5 minutes before it takes on so much water, it tips over and goes belly up.

Jordan didn’t mind it. She picked it up and chewed on it. Pulled on its tail and watched the tail go back in place over and over. Threw it around in the tub. Jordan also likes to watch the tiny propellers on the underside move after she pulls the tail. She didn’t care that the fish couldn’t swim, and flipped on its side and went under water. Jordan had a new bath toy and loved it.

The fish is made out of a durable soft plastic, which your baby can squeeze easily to make it deflate then let go and watch its shape come back. Fishy has a cute face, with big blue eyes and hot pink fish lips (pucker up). The body of the fish is a dark orange, almost a butterscotch color. The fins on fishy’s back is yellow and green strips. The fins on fishy’s sides are yellow with green polka dots.

The inner tube fishy is sitting on is a purple with white polka dots, with the word Sassy written across the front. The inner tube is a made out of a hard plastic. The fish and inner tube are attached securely to one another, so there is no way your little one can pull them apart. On the back of the inner tube is fishy’s back fin or tail. It’s a thin yellow and green piece of plastic. When you pull on the tail, the string comes out about a foot and slowly goes back in, making fishy swim in the water. There are also two yellow plastic wheels underneath the fish that help the fish swim in the water, they move when you pull on the tail.

The Sassy Tube 'n Fish doesn’t do well in water (I guess he wasn’t paying attention in fishy swimming classes), but he does do well on land. Pull on his tail and watch him zoom across the kitchen floor or any hard surface. If Jordan is watching him sink in the tub, she likes watching him zoom across the floor or living room table. The cats on the other hand, run the other way when fishy is on land.

Even though fishy can’t swim, Jordan enjoys her fish. So it wasn’t a total waste of money on mommy’s part. Jordan uses it as a floating toy and not as its attended use. The Tube 'n Fish is cute and brightly colored, and does attract a toddler’s attention, but it doesn’t keep it too long.

The fish is easy to keep clean, except the underside has a few crevices that are hard to reach. The fish is supposed to be mildew resistant. I’ve only had it a few weeks and haven’t had a problem with soapy or mildew buildup. There are a few screws on the underside you can undo to get any water that might get inside the fish. I’ve done this a few times to wipe it clean, get the water out and let it air dry.

I would only recommend the Sassy Tube 'n Fish if you want another floating toy in your baby’s tub. From reading a few of the other reviews I see I’m no the only one with a drowning fish.

Recommended: No