Babbles of a Lover and a Fighter

A few days ago, I decided to get some Betta fish.  I’ve kept a couple of plants alive the past few months, so I suppose the next logical step would be something more…animated?

Betta fish are apparently pretty resilient (they can breathe air…? All you really have to do is keep them wet…but I doubt that’s very good for them for any length of time), and I have found that I can keep myself entertained for quite awhile just watching them swim around and/or eat.  And they also look pretty cool sitting on the desk.

As you can see from the (awesome) name tags Brandon and I created, the one on the left is Finnegan: Bearer of the Caudal Flame, and the one on the right is Regulus: Harbinger of Destiny.  Naming them was a pretty big ordeal.  I mean, Betta fish are aggressive and will actually fight to the death when placed in the same bowl as another, so we thought that their names should be warrior-like.  The squiggly divider keeps the carnage from happening and allows for both of them to be tank-mates.  It’s quite cute.  And the tank also doubles as a vase, which to me, makes the cheap-o plastic tank more appealing to the eye.

I never thought that fish would have personalities, but these guys are interesting.  Finnegan…I should have probably named in Sleepy or something because that’s pretty much all he does.  Regulus is the feisty one, darting around his half of the tank if someone gets close.  Finnegan likes to sleep on the floor, and Regulus tends to catch his z’s near the surface.  And they actually yawn.  It’s pretty weird.

Apparently, you can train them and play with them and even pet them.  I’m not sure how much a fish likes to be petted, but I’m guessing not too much.  I’ll let you know if they try to bite my fingers off.