NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay, maybe that will get someone to read it,lol


There seems to be a trend on my campus of college students buying male (and very rarely, female) betta fish as dorm/apartment pets. Does this seem to be the case anywhere else?

I never saw so many people with fish until I moved here. Some are obsessed to the point of trying to breed their fish, and calling them "sexy little bastards." It's very odd.

There seems to be a trend on my campus of college students buying male (and very rarely, female) betta fish as dorm/apartment pets. Does this seem to be the case anywhere else?

I never saw so many people with fish until I moved here.

That's odd.. was just considering buying one on Sunday. However, I can't afford the $30 tank (yeah I'm in college). Haven't noticed a trend.. but they are easy pets to have and take care of. :)

I say dont conform...buy an eel instead.

I say dont conform...buy an eel instead.

Or a lobster. Nobody has a pet lobster.

That's odd.. was just considering buying one on Sunday. However, I can't afford the $30 tank (yeah I'm in college). Haven't noticed a trend.. but they are easy pets to have and take care of. :)

Most of them seem to be kept in small $10 plastic tanks, or little $3-5 fishbowls.

It's fun to get a fish tank and split it in half with a piece of plexiglass and an opaque divider. Put two males in, one on each side. When they see each other they'll immediately start to compete with each other. It's rather fun to watch. They increase their size and color to compete, almost like a peacock.

WTF is a Betta fish?

When Alphpha fish go wrong! Or Gammmma Fish...

Or a lobster. Nobody has a pet lobster.
Homer Simpson. What do you mean, "he's not real"?

Get a spider crab. This one's over a metre across:

http://www.aquarticles.com/images/Singapore/Spider%20crab.jpg

WTF is a Betta fish?

When Alphpha fish go wrong! Or Gammmma Fish...

Some people know them as Siamese Fighting Fish.

Most of them seem to be kept in small $10 plastic tanks, or little $3-5 fishbowls.

Yeah, I know. But I want a blinged-out tank.. with a night light.. and I want to grow lots of plants and have little hidey holes and stuff. APPARENTLY.. I laughed when I saw this.. their natural environment is in Puddles between rice paddies or something. WTF. Anyway, that's why they like enclosed spaces. :p

Get a Yak. And a tredmill. Put the Yak on the tredmill. Yeah.

Or a lobster. Nobody has a pet lobster.

Actually, quite a few aquarists do. While intelligent and responsive, they require extremely large, mechanically chilled marine aquaria and exacting attention to water parameters.

Get a Yak. And a tredmill. Put the Yak on the tredmill. Yeah.

Dangle a carrot in front of him. He'll keep running.

Actually, quite a few aquarists do. While intelligent and responsive, they require extremely large, mechanically chilled marine aquaria and exacting attention to water parameters.

I think its funny, how specific the water levels and all that need to be...they seem to do fine in the ocean.

Some people know them as Siamese Fighting Fish.
I'll have to Wiki it I guess...

Yeah, I know. But I want a blinged-out tank.. with a night light.. and I want to grow lots of plants and have little hidey holes and stuff. APPARENTLY.. I laughed when I saw this.. their natural environment is in Puddles between rice paddies or something. WTF. Anyway, that's why they like enclosed spaces. :p

That's a common misconception. While Betta splendens do occur in stagnant rice paddies and the like, they more naturally inhabit sluggish, tannin-stained streams. Captive B. splendens are able to tolerate small, oxygen-deprived aquaria largely by virtue of the namesake labyrinth organ of Anabantoids (labyrinth fish). Cramped quarters are neither preferred by said fish nor otherwise advantageous in terms of maintenance. Please elaborate on the particulars of your proposed setup.

I think its funny, how specific the water levels and all that need to be...they seem to do fine in the ocean.

Exactly. No private aquaria can hope to replicate the self-regulating oceanic habitats to which said organisms are adapted. More to the point, environmental conditions in effectively closed saltwater systems - in the absence of responsible aquarist commitment – will quite swiftly deteriorate beyond tolerability for many organisms.

I'd prefer just to get a lava lamp. Try to zone out staring at the thing. Plus, it won't die on you.

I never saw so many people with fish until I moved here. Some are obsessed to the point of trying to breed their fish, and calling them "sexy little bastards." It's very odd.

The mass-produced veiltail lines that dominate the U.S. hobby should not, in my opinion, be perpetuated. While they make for fine pets and are well-suited to genetic exercises, such strains cannot compare to the finer SEA varieties (images forthcoming).

I had a friend in college who got an aquarium, and just kept going back to the pet store and getting the little 10 for a dollar goldfish. When the died, he'd just scoop 'em out and dump them out his window, just above the girls' bathroom downstairs. More than once he said he heard shrieks of "eeww! a fish! where'd that come from! groooossssss!!!" floating up from below as the girls saw the dead fish fly by the window and down into the bushes. Heh. After a while, some of his fish lived though, and grew big enough they just ate all the new little ones he got, so he had to get another tank for the little ones. Somewhat heartless, but they're little 10/$1 goldfish. Who cares?

I had one! Till it died.. Go to wal-mar..errrrrr a "place of business" and buy a vase and a beta fish and there you go. Mine had a plants with it. http://www.blumen.com/images/bettas2240p.jpg minus the bows