I guess I could write about some important issue like stem-cell research or global warming, but I won’t fool you. I know very little about either of those things. I could also bore you with my view of how the media portray women and why that annoys me, but I don’t think I will do that either. Instead, I am going to tell you about my pets.
I have eight (one of them is just visiting) betas or Siamese fighting fish, whatever you want to call them. Four of them moved to Oregon from Wyoming with me.
You’d be surprised how well these fish can travel. You put them in a small, clear container with a lid, and you are good to go. Set them in your cup-holders, and you’ll have someone to talk to for the whole ride. I do think that Ziggy Stardust, the oldest of my fish (over a year), gets carsick. He turns white, which is weird because he’s black. Ziggy is the toughest of all of my boys. He has moved long distances with me twice. Both times he had to ride in the car for hours.
I do believe that betas are some of the greatest pets ever. They come in a variety of colors. You can find one to match anything you want: your paint, your hair color or your bedspread. They can live in small spaces because they have lungs and breathe from the surface of the water, making them a very convenient pet for desks or residence hall rooms.
Right now the visitor to my collection, Pixel, lives in a beer mug. He is on loan from a friend who found he didn’t have time to properly take care of him, but this friend assures me that he will take Pixel home before school starts. I hope so, because I have to move again, and it gets a little difficult hauling eight fish around.
Another great thing about betas: You have to try very, very hard to kill them (unless you drop them down the sink drain or they commit suicide). It’s okay if your life gets a little hectic and you forget to feed them for a while. They will be fine, unlike any other pet, which keels over if you don’t feed it for a few days. They do have to have their water changed every now and then. I would like to do it about every two weeks, but if I don’t get to it, they’ll still live. Remember, they breathe from the surface of the water, so unlike goldfish, they will be fine in the same water for weeks.
Not that I am recommending that you don’t feed your fish or change its water, I’m just saying that if it so happens you get a little busy and forget about them, they will be okay. This simple fact makes them the perfect college pet.
Betas are also quite entertaining. When you own more than one and you place their bowls next to each other, they get angry. They puff up their bodies, spread their fins and flare their gills to intimidate the other fish. This will also work with a mirror. Billy Idol (yet another one of my fish), however, doesn’t do that. He just swims around really fast and looks angry. Because of the fact they are so aggressive and territorial, all Betas must be kept in separate bowls because they will kill each other. No one start an underground beta fight circuit please — that’s sick.
They are also very affectionate fish. They can recognize different people. All my boys will swim happily toward me, showing off all their wonderful colors and fancy fins, when I go near their bowls. When my mom was here and she fed them, they didn’t give her the time of day.
I do have to warn you, though, that betas can be addicting. I have had my habit for many years now, and I keep influencing others to the habit of collecting betas. It is very hard to own just one. It seems every time I go out I end up buying another fish. They are cheap and nice to look at. I am running out of room for all of them though, so for right now I think that eight fishbowls is quite enough.
Someday, though, I will have my own beta farm.