If you've ever seen the cramped quarters and unhealthy water conditions of bettas waiting for adoption in some pet stores you'll know why this beautiful poem, "Little Life", by Autumn Rhinesmith, brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could adopt them all!
4 comments:
Oh, I LOVE this!!!! Such a big beautiful filled tank for precious one!
It's not terribly huge PJ, only 5.5 gallons, but a lot larger than the store cups or little bowls, and a whole lot cleaner! She gets a 40% water change once a week. With all the plants providing natural water cleansing a 40% water change is more than strictly necessary but I siphon the crud from the substrate and it's hard to do a decent job without removing that much water at the same time.
Oh my goodness, that poem hit me in the soul!
I'm no longer embarrassed to admit how many Bettas I saved from stores for exactly the same reason you're describing. Tiny little dirty cups. Disgraceful! I've had so many. At one point, I had five beautiful males and four little girls (the girls lived together with a firm but non-violent pecking order). They were such a calming happy presence in my room at college. I lugged them back and forth - Idaho to Illinois - between semesters.
We don't have any at the moment, but your post has persuaded me to rethink that.
Isn't it a beautiful poem Sweetsknit?! I fellow Facebook betta forum member, Autumn Rhinesmith, said she wrote it about 15 years ago. Bettas are such fantastic fish, and this little female is the most interesting I've had yet. She is *constantly* busy foraging and poking around amongst the rocks and vegetation in her tank. With her marble gene she's interesting to watch over time too as her colours are always changing.
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