Tags
Betta, Dust Bunny, Erma Bombeck, Goldfish, Helvetica, humor, pearls before swine, pets, postaday, Sarcasm Font, Siamese fighting fish, Times New Roman
… I have arrived.
I appear to have acquired an enemy of sorts with my Betta Fish posts. In the comments.
Go figure.
Gotta love controversy, eh?
Most folks take my posts … read them … laugh … notice the sarcasm font* … and move on.
This gal is apoplectic.
But hey … she called me “honey”.
Oh honey… You are so terribly ignorant… You ARE abusing your fish.
I remember a woman calling me a brainy brunette once … she somehow meant it as an insult.
Everyone laughed.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ongoing drama here, it started with a Betta Fish … whom I named Fred … and grew from there … culminating in the often hit blog entry “The Crazy Lady With The Bettas” … a tongue in cheek homage to The Crazy Lady With The Cats that lives at the end of most every street in Smalltown, USA.
Seems some folks take these little guys quite seriously.
But hey, on the other hand, I also heard from some folks I met this summer up at the lake in support. (Hi Robin! Hi Jenny!)
And in the midst of it all, someone hit the blog entry “I Support You Holly“. Probably my newest best friend enemy … in shock that someone actually supports me.
So I am a fish abuser, eh? Because I don’t have a dedicated five gallon tank for each Betta? And because I said I didn’t change the fish water completely every single week?
Microscopic view dust bunny. (Wikipedia)
Guess that makes me a Dust Bunny Abuser too. I don’t dust under the beds every week either. Big Erma Bombeck fan here.
Maybe I should have a shirt made … you know … “Hi. I’m Holly and I’m a Betta Fish Abuser” with a picture of my smiling face surrounded by Fred, and Bert and Ernie.
Or maybe I’ll just go and read todays’ version of my favorite comic strip … Pearls Before Swine.
Indeed … nobody does … or the Betta Fish either.
Gotta go. I hear some disturbance outside. Hmm.
Looks like the Eastern American Troop of Supporters Having Ichthyology Tantrums. They appear to be arguing with the All National Dustbunny Devotees Idolizing Erma.
Of course it is.
Let he … or she … who hath ears … or eyes …
* FYI – The Sarcasm Font can be found between Helvetica and Times New Roman in your Official Font List. Also seen on a regular basis in the Happy Holly Project blog. Like today for example.
Happy Holly Project 
Do you keep them in heated 5 gallon tanks? If you cant change the water at least once a week they it would be a good idea to get some type of filter.
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For those wanting the entire message … here it is … as it inspired me …
“Oh honey… You are so terribly ignorant… If you got that info from your pet store they shouldn’t be in business, I mean unless it’s a chain store… they are just there to sell you stuff though so they’ll say anything to get you to buy something. So lets use your logic here, the betta fish live in “mud puddles”. These mud puddles are located in a warm setting of Asia. So warm temperature means warm water. Doesn’t look like you have any heaters on those bowls. Secondly those “mud puddles” you call them are actually rice paddy fields. Those fields are are thousands of acres. Thirdly, you said. “I guess I don’t obsessively change all the fish water on a weekly basis.” Changing the water in a tank is a weekly thing on a 50 gallon tank. According to Petsmart. (one of the WORST places to get fish info from), “Change the bowl water weekly, making sure that it is dechlorinated and at the correct temperature.” This quote came directly from their website. You aren’t even following Petsmart standards! Fourthly, just because they are shipped this way doesn’t mean they should live this way. They come that way because they want to be able to sell as many as they can.
Again do some RELIABLE research. You ARE abusing your fish.
Oh and one more thing. If the “Betta Fish Protection Brigade” has said things to you many times maybe it’s time to listen. Or keep ignoring us. Ignorance is bliss for the one not being abused.”
I do love hearing from my fans … 🙂
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Um…I KNOW they said it rudely, and rudeness SHOULD often be ignored…But really, they DO make some points…as someone who once had four bettas in tiny bowls as a child(I didn’t know any better…and to be fair, ONE was in the community tank)…the males made bubblenests, and my purple girl seemed quite content…
…but I have since grown and learned the error of my ways.
Looking back on it now…the lone betta girl in the community tank was always more energetic…she was curious, and responsive…following my fingers across the glass of the tank, and “following me” whenever I walked past…they other were slower moving, as if groggy, and often ignored me. See the difference? The community tank has a filter, a heater, plenty of space…caves to hide in, plants to swim around…other fish to play with…Rosemary, my lovely pink cambo veil girly with maroon fins in the big tank wasn’t just SURVIVING like the others were…she was HAPPY. In thruth…male bettas sometimes blow bubble nests because they are BORED. There’s nothing to do but swim in circles…if they respond to you, it’s only because you’re the most entertaining thing in their site which is not saying much since, well…there IS nothing else entertaining around them.
Because of the labynth organ, bettas can SURVIVE in tiny enclosures. This is an adaptation they got in order for them to more easily jump from paddy to paddy, so that if they missed a paddy, they can just flippity-flop back into one. Because they didn’t originate in PUDDLES. They originated in RICE PADDIES:
https://www.google.com/search?q=thailand+rice+paddies&espv=2&biw=1050&bih=593&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIsuyHrcPhxwIVAnySCh0pTA6c#imgrc=_
(above is a link to pictures)
Rice paddies in Thailand are knee deep, yes, but span for MILES.
And in the wild, this is a betta’s DOMAIN. They can SURVIVE harsh conditions, but they are still FISH…and fish from a TROPICAL AREA at that. Your bettas will be happier and more energetic in water temps ranging from 70-80 degrees celsius…and YES.
YOUR “FAN” IS CORRECT.
One inch per gallon is the rule for ALL FISH…bettas included, because that is according to how much oxygen dissolves into each gallon of water. Notice how your bettas keep going to the top for air…? That’s because the containers you have for them DON’T HAVE ENOUGH AIR IN THE WATER DUE TO THE SMALL AMOUNT. As for weekly water changes…that’s to get rid of ammonia in the water because, like all living creatures, bettas go number 1 and number 2, and high amonia in the water can get them very, veeeeery sick. If you don’t have time to do weekly water changes, small Whisper (brand) filters are cheap, and easy to set up…with them in, you should be able to wait about a mounth between changes. Just hose out the filter cartridge once a week…it only takes a few minutes.
Also, due to fishy bordom, if you DO insist on keeping those tanks for your fishies, please, PLEASE put some plants in…especially for Big Fella, as bored Bettas with long fins will BITE THEIR OWN TAILS for entertainment, (like sometimes bored dogs chase their tails)…and this can cause infections, or diseases like finrot that will cause his pretty fins to TURN BLACK AND FALL OFF. Little caves (called glow caves) can be purchased at walmart for under 5 dollars as well.
Veterinarians learn about MAMMALS and the occasional AVIAN in school…fish arn’t their patients, so they do not often learn much in regards to their care…as for pet stores, to them, they are just FISH, and the workers typically don’t receive any training in regards to fish care except to take out the dead ones, and feed them…sometimes.
I am not telling you this to be mean…I am telling you this because you seem to really care about your fish, and I want you to know how to give them the best care in the simplest, most cost-efficent way. My own precious Betta, Chumani, is cared for in such a manner…she has so much personality and fascinates visitors regularly with how affectionate and sweet she is…swimming right up to them and wiggling around, waving her fins as if to say “HIIIIIIII! I’m SO happy to see you~! ouo”
She takes blood worms straight out of my fingers and flares at people who DARE to sit in MY places…(aka, my desk, and my bed…as those are the places I often sit when in my room). She is a precious sweetie pie and my dear companion, and has captured the hearts of any who enter my room with her super friendly and adorable personality, and slight sass.
Bettas have an amazingly long memory span compared to other fish…they have so much personality, and each is different. Your bettas as they are, however, are likely to groggy and slow right now to show their true colors. If you take this advice…if you give them a CHANCE to SHOW YOU how TRULY AMAZING they can be…they will ASTOUND YOU.
I KNOW they will…just like Rosemary, and now my Chumani have astounded me.
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