Tiamat10

I have three betta fish. Well, maybe. I'll get to that. Anyways, when I woke up, all three were where they were supposed to be. Then I went to watch a movie. When it was over, and I went to feed the fish, one of my females was missing in action.

I spent the next fifteen minutes scouring my desk area looking for a fish corspe and wondering if perhaps the dog had found it first. I figured she'd have to be dead and I didn't want this room to be inundated with the scent of decaying fish in a day or two.

The search of my desk area revealed nothing--not even a tell-tale drop of water. So, I crawled under the desk, amid the tufts of dog hair and, oddly, crumpled wrapping paper and bows. I picked up a discarded piece of paper and, much to my surprise, saw something wiggling.

I promptly slammed my head off the underside of the desk and exclaimed, "Oh fuck me, it's still alive."

So, I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a cup, stole some water out of one of the other bowls and plopped my poor little fish in the cup, dog hair and all. She was completely dry to the touch. Then, to add insult to her injury, I tried to brush the dog hair off her with my finger. After succeeding I put her back in her bowl and made lids out of paper plates for all three.

She's still alive but I don't know if she'll pull through. Damn fish. I'm so freakin' terrible at keeping them alive. In the last six months, I've had a total of about thirty fish (because one of the guppies had babies). I'm down to eight.

Anybody else think I should just stick to being a dog person?

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Foxee

Dogs do jump out of their bowls less often.

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By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

Mike

I'm surprised the dog is alive.

What's killing your fish? Lack of food or ph balance or what?

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- Mike

Tiamat10

Most of the baby guppies died because I'm an idiot. As a temporary solution when I got my female bettas, I put them in with the guppies till I got them their own digs. Of twenty-one babies, I'm down to five. (Babies is a loose term--they were four months old so I thought they were big enough to not be food. Obviously I was wrong).

The other fish just died. I blame inbreeding and poor conditions at the pet store.

The upside is that it's been something like six hours since the out-of-bowl experience and my betta seems to have made a full recovery.

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Mike

I haven't had to take care of something for a long time. I think I need a plant, fish or small rodent to feel this emotional ride when something goes awry. Maybe I'll get really drunk one night and hide my only pair of shoes from myself. Maybe I can experience it then.

Glad for your fish, or at least the ones that survived. The less you have, the fewer names you have to remember.

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- Mike

Jocelyn

What a trooper that fishy gal is! Who knows how long she was out of water, so that's pretty amazing. Best of luck to her and her recovery.

As to the others, live and learn and don't beat yourself up about it. A standard pet store usually sells pets that have questionable backgrounds, pedigrees, and environments. I learned that the hard way with a dog, so I'm sure fish would be no better.

smilinghelps

Female bettas are pretty hearty. They're not as easy to kill as the males and you can have more than one per bowl (downside= the females aren't as pretty). The paper plate lids are a good idea, also you can get a larger bowl and not fill it as much. They don't require much food (a few pellets per day?) and you only need to change the water once a week or so.

Jocelyn is right about the pet stores, they're not all they're cracked up to be. My pet rock is the bomb, though!

Good luck!

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"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E. B. White

Foxee

I didn't know that the females were more hearty than the males, smiling. That explains why 'Moose', our runt of a male betta, died...possibly because the water was too cold? Our apartment at the time was really chilly. Shame, though, I like bettas but I haven't gotten another one because I just can't take the fish guilt.

Glad she came through the out-of-bowl experience all right, Tiamat.

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By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

Malone

I really hope you're keeping them in a large tank and not bowls. For some reason people thinks it's acceptable to keep betas in those tiny little "cups" (Not saying you are, yet) and it sickens me.

I've had two eels crawl out of my tank and die, so I know how you feel. One was years ago, and I thought the lid was escape proof, but my snowflake eel got out somehow and I found it all dried up on the floor gasping for breath. I put him back in and he lasted a day or so then died. Heart wrenching. A year ago I got a chocolate chip eel and added him to my tank, then put a layer of mesh under the hood to keep him in, but a few months ago he got out somehow and I found him dead on the floor. Eels are too curious for their own good. The snowflake had gotten to almost three feet in length when he died too, so he had a pretty good life living in his cave and getting hand fed everyday.