In the beginning....

My family consisted of my and my husband, a few months after getting married, we added our dog Brownie.
About nine months after that we added Lucy;


Our family consisted quite happily that way for many years. Both of our pets came from rescue organizations. But after about six years, a friend of mine in california bought a baby tortoise. I fell in and decided I absolutely wanted one too. (A smaller breed though) But they are not cheap or easy to come by- or at least easy to come by of good healthy quality. So I had to wait. Then one day I spotted some baby leopard geckos at the petstore, I thought... maybe I could get gecko instead, they are smaller still than the breed of tortoise I wanted, and much cheaper when purchased as babies. But at that time we weren't in a position to buy a gecko and all the accessories needed to go with it.

There were two pets I swore I would never own. A) Frogs/toads- especially frogs, they gross me out... long story. and B) Fish. It seemed like a lot of work, maintenance and upkeep for such fragile animals that you really couldn't interact with.

So a short while after the failed gecko attempt I found myself meandering through the pet section at our local Wal-Mart. I was in the section looking for something for the dog. When I wondered into the area where they sell fish. I browsed over all the different types briefly, going mostly by appearance and size than anything. And decided, it wouldn't cost much to have a fish. Maybe I should give it a go. Each fish was only a few dollars, and the supplies I had selected as being what I would need came to only a little more than ten dollars. The fish I originally had decided on was a shubunkin goldfish, I think they are awesome looking. They had them in "small", "medium" and "large" so in my mind it meant they had three different sizes, not that that tiny little one was going to grow to the size of the large one. (Yeah, I'm not always so bright)

But after waiting for a matter of minutes there was NO SIGN of any employees in the department to help me get a fish. So, as I wandered around I went to look at the bettas. I had initially over looked them as they always look so sad and unhealthy in the little cups all stacked up together. And I got so put off with people who thought (maybe they still do) that you could put a fish in a vase, add a plant to the top and they could survive off each other (that whole war and peace thing) because even as a none fish keeper I knew this was NOT TRUE. So I decided since the Bettas could be selected without help, I would get one of those instead of the goldfish.

Clearly, this was fate stepping in. I selected a male (like most people do because of their impressive long flowy fins): (And by the way, it is MUCH harder to photograph fish than dogs or cats)
Shortly after purchasing my betta, his name is Ned, I did some reading and thought he would need a larger tank. So with much thanks to my mother-in-law I ended up with a five gallon hexagonal tank for Ned to live in.But after putting him in the tank it seemed so large, I decided he needed some company. So I did some research on algae eaters and found that a particular type called otocinclus catfish are well suited for living with bettas. I purchased two- Digby and Pigby. But you if you want to see what they look like you can do that on your own cause they are impossible to get pictures of. (though in the wide world of google you can find some)

So, after all of that, I decided that a betta in a 1 gallon bowl wouldn't be such a bad idea. Less to worry about as far as air stones, air pumps, filters, etc. So the next addition was a female betta, named Olive.




Although a decent picture. (Thanks hubby) This photo does her little justice. She is STUNNING. She is actually a blue-ish purple with horizontal silver stripes. That fin on top is silvery with blue polka dots and her tail is blue with orange highlights. (you can see the orange highlights well here)
By the way, this all happened in the course of about about two weeks.
I decided that though I LOVE Ned, he is beautiful and special because of his cambodian gene which gives him the lighter coloring. I prefer the females. They too are beautiful but often over looked in petstores because they don't have the crazy fins.
AND the bonus is, some females can live together. So I hatched a plan I would buy a 2nd female, and put her and Olive in the 5 gallon tank and put Ned back in the bowl.

But the more and more I read about bettas and the more I saw them in stores the more I was reminded of some of the horrid conditions they are kept in. Many arrive sick to the stores that sell them or become sick because of the poor conditions they are kept in. Tiny cups with dirty water, under or over feeding, and sometimes nothing done about the obviousness of their illnesses.

So I decided then rather than "buy" another betta I was going to "rescue" one. Although I consider the first two rescues because I took them from the horrid conditions at walmart both came to me beautiful and in good health and have stayed that way.

My favorite aquatic store in town, has a small section of their bettas they keep behind the counter, they call it their betta hospital, where they treat the fish with obvious illnesses. I made a deal with the owner, and traded her a 20 gallon ran down tank, for one of their hospital fish. Bought some supplies and have a little hospital tank set up for her. Her name is Charlotte. I don't really have any photos of her yet. But just picture a tadpole and you've got Charlotte. She's at least half the size of Olive, if not smaller, she has some tail rot, and some fungus issues. She is clearly very very young.

But when she has colors she looks a great deal like her big sister Olive. She LOVES freeze dried blood worms and has the appetite of my other two fish put together.

As I learn more about rescueing and recooperating bettas, that fish store and I might work out a deal where I can foster their fish sick for them, and return them to the store to be sold. That way I get to love on lots of fish, without having a house full of them.

and for now, that is the beginning of my fishie tales....