Lazarrus
returns from the dead (and from the DEADly toilet bowl) After
the death of our two cats, my parents put their foot (feet?) down:
no more furry pets that need to be let outside or have litter boxes
cleaned. Always the animal lovers, my brother and I picked a
new pet: betta fish. Ralphie and Bubbles happily lived in
neighboring tanks in our bathroom, flaring at each other when the
paper we put between the tanks was
removed. When Ralphie and I went to college, Bubbles seemed to
go through a depression. Within days he was
floating listlessly at the bottom of the tank. For two days he
didn't eat and didn't seem to move After poking him with a net, my
brother decided that he must be dead. He scooped Bubbles up
and poked him a few times while he was in the net. Nothing
happened. Sad that he lost his fish, he put Bubbles in the
toilet.
Suddenly, Bubbles came back to life! He swam around like
crazy, exploring the toilet! My brother immediately put him in
a cup of water, cleaned his bowl and returned him to his previous
home. He was soon eating and happily swimming around. We
gave him a mirror so he wasn't so lonely. Eight months later,
Ralphie and Bubbles are both doing fine. Ralphie comes home
during my breaks and they swim around happily and flare at each
other. We, however, will never forget Bubble's brush with
death an resuscitation in the toilet!
Mindy Hammond
Oswego, IL
Footnotes from Faith:
Well, that's quite the betta horror story!! Your betta is incredibly
forgiving Mindy because throwing him in the toilet surely should
have killed him. The water temperature change, water quality change
as well as chlorine and other chemicals present in the toilet bowl
should have finished off your lethargic betta right there and then!!
How the little thing came back to life and more importantly SURVIVED
the ordeal and lived another eight months (and more to go ;) we
hope) beats the heck out of me. But that's just bettas for you. Just
when you think you've seen it all, BAM, they come up with another
puzzling one. All of you reading this DO NOT EVER FLUSH YOUR DEAD
BETTAS in the toilet. Not unless hey are DEADER than DEAD, as in
dead for a few days and starting to decay. Just in case ;).
|
| Headnotes LOL from Faith:
I received this betta related email and did not have the heart to
not publish it, since it came form an 8 year old betta lover :), so
here it is:
Dear faith,
When I first had my betta at age 4 5 or 6 years old, I didn't know
how to take care of it so it died. then at age 8 I had another beta
and successfully raised it and - Wait, I needed to tell the truth: I
am only a 8 years old boy who owns a computer. so... Its still
healthy today and I just bought a female so the male wont be so
lonely and my male is so happy now that he is swimming crazy.
and today my bettas are normal as is .
My bettas are cool:) only that sometimes they act crazy.
Footnotes from Faith:
Of course they act crazy, they are bettas!! LOL
|
Lucky
(in deed) the betta
Hi,
I wanted to tell you about Lucky. He is a beautiful red and teal
blue betta. I work in a car dealership and was given one of those
vase with plant and betta displays to put on my desk. I kept it
cleaned, kept the plant trimmed way back so my Betta named Art
would have some room. Well, I came into work one day, and Art was
floating on the top of the water, only he was not sleeping. I was
crushed, I had gotten pretty attached to the little fish. I
cleaned out the bowl and disposed of Art (all drains lead to the
ocean) then put the vase without fish back on my desk. It sat
there for about 3 months with no fish.
Then one of the salesmen from my work got fired (long sad story)
he left without any of his stuff, including his betta fish.
Someone thought it would be funny to put the betta in the 250
gallon tank in the showroom with the very aggressive much larger
fish. One of the guys saw the betta in there and saw that he
was being eaten alive, and asked if he could put him in my vase. I
didn't really think he would survive, but told him to go for it.
They brought him to me, and this fish, had NO fins, all of his
fins were chewed off...he was hardly moving, and very very pale, I
thought that he was a light blue color. I just knew he would
not last through the night. I came in to work the next morning, to
be greeted by my new friend as soon as I sat down at my desk. He
swam over to the side of the vase closest to me and seemed to
hover in the water.
That was a year ago, and now Lucky is beautiful, deep red and teal
in color and long long fins, I named him Lucky, because he is
Lucky to be alive, if he had been left in that big tank much
longer, he would have been lunch.
Thanks,
Kelly
Footnotes from Faith:
Kelly, thank God
someone fished out Lucky!! It's unbelievable the horrible stuff
fish have to put up with. Of all pets they are probably the ones
people abuse most. How quickly we all forget that we ALL once were
FISH!!
|
Remembering FISCH
(the betta martyr)
I would like to write a story to
commemorate my first betta-- Fisch (German spelling of Fish).
Without him, I would have never gotten the betta bug, and ended
up with four bettas currently. :)
Fisch was named Fisch simply
because, "I didn't want to get attached." He was my
dorm pet, and we became great friends and had great "fish
and owner" games. I won't bore you with those but our good
memories and he made me *research* betta care because I became
a paranoid betta mommy! I will never forget the time I
promised him (what, like you don't talk to your fish???) that we
would have a painless 20 minute car ride on the move back from
college-- and then I ended up trying to avoid traffic and got
lost, resulting in an hour later and a pouty fish! He was in a
crate to avoid too much movement, but that night he hid behind
his fake plant after being moved back into the bowl after travel
conditions, obviously unhappy with my misadventure. Also-- the
first time he met my dog: he flared up and my dog had no idea
what the HECK he was, jumping out my arms rather than looking at
the wildly swimming scary fish. He died between
December 15-20 of this past year; my mom took care of him while
I was out of the country for a semester, but figured "no
one wanted to take care of a fish" when she left on
vacation for a week to come and see me. She didn't want to tell
me that she flushed him alive-- so she waited until I asked (3
hours after she arrived). I have to say-- this is now one of
those things that I'm afraid I'll be holding against my mother
for a few more years. I ended up becoming attached, unlike what
I originally thought (duh!!!) and Fisch--- he was a good one to
become attached to. He taught me that animals other than the
furry variety make great pets, show so much intelligence,
response and PERSONALITY. No betta since him even acts close to
his personality.
I still feel so bad I never got
to say goodbye-- I wish I could have brought him with me to
Austria to avoid the mom disaster, but...... :( But now I
have 4 other beautiful boys that get the same love and care that
my Fisch did, thanks to his love he showed me.
Footnotes from (a pissed) Faith:
I was VERY upset when I read the above story. As a matter of
fact, I STILL am. To think that a person would take a live fish
and flush it down the toilet is for me both unbelievable and
outrageous. BOY AM I PISSED! Not only was this an innocent LIVE
animal, but it also was the cherished pet of a family
member!!! It would have been so easy for the mother to go
to the local fish store and donate the betta, or even to go to
the local school and donate the betta. or even put a small free
add in a local classified add type paper. This was a good betta,
a good friend and a good pet and it was killed needlessly. It
could have made someone else happy. If the mother lo longer felt
like taking care of the fish she should have discussed it with
her daughter. After all she was given custody of the pet.
Terminating the pet without even consulting the owner is so very
wrong. This is one bad case of BAD karma that undoubtedly will
come back to haunt this person. No blessings ever come out of
taking life needlessly. There. I spoke my truth.
PSS: Keep your mother AWAY
from your current four bettas (and lock the bathroom door for
God's sake!) ;).
|
| betta shark?
Dear Faith,
I currently have 4 bettas, Spirit, Cherry, Sunset, and Big Blue. They all live in two 2.5 gallon separated tanks. This story is about 2 of my bettas, Big Blue and my new betta Spirit.
Big Blue is a beautiful half moon royal blue betta that I rescued from Petco. Spirit is a red veil tail betta. Me and my mom were out fish shopping. We came back and as usual I went to check on my bettas. Cherry and Sunset were just fine but when I went to check on Blue and Spirit, BLUE HAD LEAPED OVER THE DIVIDER!!! Spirit was behind the filter stalking poor Blue. OOHHHH poor Blue! He had NO fins! The poor thing was white. Little Blue was hovering like the shark Jaws . I ran to get a net but when i finally got one Blue was heading to Spirit's hiding place. This was no time for a net! I took off the lid, gently grabbed Blue, and let him go in the other side of the divider. Little Blue looked at me like I did this.
A month later we discovered there was a gap between the light and the divider. We called the company but they didn't care. I read your website and got both bettas cleaned up. Thanks for your site. Oh ya, and your band rules!.
Sincerely,
Amy
PS. Don't buy mini bows for a separated betta tank.
|
(Not so) happy
valentines!
Well, it was just another day when I came home from school and walked over merrily to my bettas to feed them. I removed the top from their homes and placed their food in the water. As always, my mom calls and we end up going to the store. But, this time....I forgot to put the top onto my bettas living quarters...
A few hours pass by and I come home, ready to clean their home with a few supplies and I notice....my female betta
wasn't in her jar!
I frantically grabbed a flashlight, looking for her on the floor and moving my radio, looking through the cracks and became frustrated. Where the heck could she have flopped off to?! There was only so much room and flopping distance! Worried, I looked around again and lo and behold.....she was there, at my feet in front of my radio!
I picked her up and she was majorly dry, but! She breathed!!! Hurriedly
I put her back in her bowl and watched.
She didn't move...she moved a little, then a lot until finally, she was clean and
swimming around!
I felt so relieved and put some medications into her bowl, thinking that I saved her in time and happy.
So, I head to sleep and woke the next day, VALENTINES DAY! As always, I went to go check on her....and a frightful image caught my eyes....she was there...in her bowl...dead..
What?! She was just fine when I went to bed!! Of all days my betta decided to go air borne on Friday the 13th and die on Valentines day...just my luck. Now I'm upset, Viggo my male betta is depressed...and all has gone down the drain...
SO the moral of the story is?
NEVER LEAVE YOUR BETTAS UNCOVERED!!! They might decide to jump or become suicidal! I hope Miss Betta Liv is alright in fishie heaven..
-Myda Owens
|
| His bark is worse
than his bite!
My Betta( Poseidon )named after the Greek god of the sea. is
a 'mutt' betta. . He is a very beautiful fish.
Well, one night when I was
feeding him my dog came in my room. My dog saw my fish, he
probably said to himself yum, fish, time to eat! He ran up
to my fish and tried to get them, but he forgot about the
glass around the aquarium. He did'n know what hit him. He
didn't break the glass, but he bumped his head. Then my betta
got MAD . He turnd around and looked at my dog ( I had got
up when he first hit the glass). My betta went to where my dog was
and tried to bite him. He freaked the dog out.
Score 2 for
Poseidon
0 for dog.LOL
|
|
I have a sad story to tell you
about my first betta, Deluge (it means "great flood). I
bought Deluge at an LPS. He was swimming and was very active. So
not knowing any better, I bought him. That night I put
him into his new tank. He loved it soooo much. He was swimming
around, blowing bubbles, and moving pebbles. So I figured he
would be alright. the next day, I went shopping and when I
came home, there was Deluge covered in fungus. So i went on the
internet and found out that he had cotton wool disease and that it
was caused by poor water quality. So i started puring loads and
loads of conditioner in. I was afraid he wouldn't survive the
night. But he did. The next day at school, I asked a friend
of mine about the disease. He said he had the meds and he didn't
need it. So I went home, ready to pour the meda and there was
Deluge, dead. I cried so much that I got a new betta
that night and named him Crossfire. He is still living today.
Footnotes from Faith:
Morality of this story? You might want to be careful when you
buy a betta at a fish store.
|
| Every living
creature deserves a chance at a happy life
I bought my first Betta from a pet
store when I was fifteen, armed with the little bit of inaccurate
information they gave me at the petstore. I took him home excitedly
and he wouldn't eat and now I now know it was because his house was
so tiny and the food was so awful (he would spit it out) that he was
depressed I had to move from that house quickly and during the
moving process was not allowed back at the house. I kept asking my
parents to please please bring me my fish but they kept forgetting.
I was so upset about it until I learned my aunt had taken him with
her. I was thrilled
because I really wanted him back, so I was shocked to learn that she
had just dumped him in a pond out back. I live in Canada so it is a
very inhopistable environment for a tropical fish. Needless to say I
was haunted by his memory in my dreams. Recently I feel like I was
able to right a wrong when we saw a bunch of betta's Wal-mart was
trying to sell in a bind and has drastically marked down (they were
in awful shape). Oddly enough I had been researching Betta care with
hopes to get another, and armed with a ton of info from your site I
was able to pick out what appeared to be the healthiest one (note:
they were in about 3/4 of a cup of filthy water). We took Jefferey
home and put him in a temporary new home we urgently bought at (bleep
- the name of the store has been bleeped)
and gave him some food (he has since undergone a transition to a
bigger home). He eats like a pig, flares proudly beneath his bubble
nests and has started to bond with us significantly. There are two
morals to this story...(bleep
- name was bleeped) shouldn't
be allowed to sell Betta's because they do not have the ability to
take proper care of them, and every living creature deserves a
chance at a happy life.
Ashley
|
| Unusual toy?
I have a pet store mutt, age
unknown, blue steel veil tail named Storm Cloud. I've recently
moved him from a 1 gallon tank to a 3.3 gallon tank. He's
become much more active with the additional space, and has really
started to play. I have a free floating thermometer in his
tank, and he has taken to head butting it all over the tank - he
really gets this thing bobbing!! Sometimes he gets it caught
in the silk plant which is in the middle of his tank, and then he
works for ages until he sets it free again. I think all this
started when he didn't want the thermometer too close to his bubble
nest, and then discovered what fun it was to play with. I
really do think space makes a difference to him. I'm currently
boarding four bettas belonging to a friend, who are all in 1/2
gallon mini tanks, and Stormie is just so much more active than
these four are. Mind you, these four probably think they're in
heaven compared to what they were in when they came here - my friend
kept them in dollar store glasses with no lids. I had to
improve their quarters - I have cats as well, and lidless glasses
are a no-no around here, so I bought them each a lidded mini tank.
In fairness to my friend, while their glasses were clearly
inadequate, their water was clean and well treated. Stormie's
enjoyed their company, and,
when he is not bashing up his thermometer, has been happily flaring
at the visitors. I think he'll miss them when they go home
next week, and will just have to content himself with the mirror I
bought him instead. He's just an incredibly playful fish.
It shows what a betta is capable of turning into with the
appropriate home and care.
|
Bruno The Suicidal Yet
Ideal Betta Fish
Dear Faith,
My
name is Nathaniel, I am currently 13 years old living in
Inglewood, California. I want to tell you about my fish
named Bruno and how he was the 'survivor'.
One
day, I was cleaning out my fish bowl. I usually do a
complete water cleaning which mean I have to take Bruno out
of the fish bowl and put him into a cup with not top (sorry
if i offended you). So, I was just about done with the water
cleaning and the chlorine take-a-wayer was resting their for
10 minutes. Then, after 10 minutes, I usually put Bruno back
in. So, while I was waiting, I was playing a video game
(which is about 5 feet away from the fish tank). While I was
there, I heard a flop. I thought it was nothing so I kept
playing. About 5 minutes later, I was ready to put back in
Bruno when I saw the betta on the counter. So, I try to grab
him to put him in the water, but, he flops away, and falls
about 9 feet onto the carpet (which is about 20 stories
for the poor betta). So, I yell for my mom to help me and
she helps me put Bruno into the tank. All of a sudden, Bruno
is still alive but he goes all the way to the bottom to
'recover'. So, for about 2 days, Bruno stays there (except
for coming up to eat) forever. After 2 days, that morning,
Bruno was up and swimming. I was very excited and gave him
flaked worms for breakfast.
Bruno died on May 1, 2003, which was 18 days before my
birthday. He was the Ideal Betta Fish.
Footnotes from Faith:
People , how many time do I have to say this: COVER YOUR #@%!#
JARS!! ESPECIALLY if they are cups! Bettas will jump out even if
left unattended for a few minutes, they hate small cups.
|
|
The very mad (and flirty)
betta
I have 3 bettas, 2 males and a a
female. Their names are Disco, Oberon, and Nefertiti. Nefertiti and
Disco were gifts from my grandmother, but Oberon i saw in a store
and had to buy him. he was next to a dead fish, and was so
beautiful. He is in love with Nefertiti (their in the same tank with
a divider) and needs to show off for her. So he is completely cowing
poor Disco (who is in his own tank near by)!! So we put a little
background pisture in between them. Disco is still a little nervous,
but Oberon is enraged! He was winning (he believes)!!
Now I have heard live brine shrimp is good for bettas, and so I got
some. Nefertiti loves them. She thinks their the coolest thing since
Oberon (no joke, she's in love too, I might mate them) Disco has
warmed up too them since on hit him in the mouth and he ate it. but
Oberon ignored them completely!! he was too busy attacking the
picture!! one bopped him in the nose and he just flared up at it
too!!
Oberon has now started eating the shrimp, but is still flaring up
and flirting.
-a betta lover (I'm hooked)
PS I'm also hooking my friends and sister (Moms already hooked, and
Dad isn't an animal person)
Footnotes from Faith:
Yeah, bettas are
oftentimes clueless when they are introduced to brand new foods LOL.
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