| Rumble Fish |
[May. 20th, 2008|01:47 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | allusions, bored musicians in hotel rooms, death, fish care, karma, life, music, personal, pets, rumble fish, writing | ] |
Have you ever seen the movie "Rumble Fish"? I saw it recently for the first time, mainly because I finally understood what the allusion was (duh). Rumble Fish are Siamese Fighting Fish also known as Betta Fish in pet stores.
Since our three cats departed this earthly plane (in rather quick succession because they were oooooooold puddies, one 16, one 17, one 20), my daughter has been angling for more pets. Now, Spouse and I were true to our caregiver commitment to these three cats, but we don't want to do it again, in the same way that we had two kids and we don't want to do that again either -- not because it wasn't great, but because we want to do other stuff now that we're 50.
One of my daughter's friends wanted to give her a betta fish for Christmas. I said yes, knowing she was NOT going to care for this creature properly at age 12 (she's still too impatient) and the responsibility was going to fall on me. I'm starting to miss having no pets in the house too, so felt ready to care for more critters but on a less intense level than cats. And babies. Fish sounded just about right. You don't get too attached, they don't live for 20 years (average 2 - 5 with good care).... the commitment isn't up there with marriage and childbirth, yo. Which cats, dogs, and horses certainly are if you are not going to be guilty of neglect. I figure we really raised five children, two human and three feline, with all the cats coming first and then the human kids after. And no, I never confused a human being with a cat, yet still felt responsible to give the best life possible to our three kitties. And we did. The end part when they were old and starting to fall apart was no fun at all. That's when I started not wanting any more 20 year commitments to animals. It burned me out a bit. Now we have three little headstones in the front garden, pink granite with their names engraved. Why did I do such a thing? I wanted my kids to learn that these animals had the dignity of true family members. And in fact the cats were in the family longer than they were. :) I did certainly love our feline children. As with our human kids, Spouse and I did as well as we could. At the end, the cats become more like elderly parents and less like children. Our children are only just now moving into adulthood (one 19, one 13). At those same ages, our cats were ready for kitty AARP. I've already lost one aged parent, my mom in late 2006, and there's my dad and two in-laws to watch over. It's an inevitable pattern... most of us go through it unless we lose our parents early for some reason. And some parents lose their kids too early and head into old age alone. What can we say, that is life in the raw.
So anyway..... back to the fish. At Christmas we acquired a dark indigo male betta. Daughter named him Freddy but I call him Ville. LOL. Turns out, he is beautiful to look at and surprisingly full of personality. Who knew the finny folk had personality? :p
So charmed was I by the first fish -- this fish is sassy as hell but also laid back and remarkably friendly -- that after a couple of months we decided to get another! I looked up all sorts of information online about how to properly care for these little darlings. It's not too difficult, they are pretty tough fish, using gills AND breathing air because they originally came from a low oxygen environment in southeast Asia. Yah, nature adapted them and these little bastards habitually come to the surface and breathe air! Fascinating.
So then we had two male fish -- the second being a flashy-looking turquoise and red one that daughter named Bubbles and I call Billy. LOL. He fancies himself to be the superior fish, but soon after we acquired him I made the mistake of putting them in a large divided tank together and Billy somehow squirmed over the barrier I'd made and invaded Ville's side......... whereupon Ville kicked his flashy fish ass in short order! LOLLLLLLLL. Billy lost some finnage that day to Ville's teeth and looked terribly droopy and whipped once I fished him out and put him in a separate tank. Took him several days to forget that he'd been bitch-slapped and start acting like his overconfident self again.
*cracks. up.*
Once we sorted out the two males and their rivalry (*snrkles*), we decided to get one more -- a female this time. Her name is Candy. That suits me and daughter both so there are no alternate names. She is a good deal smaller than the males, with smaller fins, but she is very pretty with pale pink body and dark pink fins. She has more personality than both the boys put together, spunky little thing. They do not protest too much when being netted (for tank cleaning days), but the little girl darts around fast and tries to leap right out of the tank rather than submit to that net. I've developed a special technique to catch her (after some wild underwater chases that almost went airborne), but she's smart and extremely quick. Not to mention adorable and surprisingly interactive with humans.
So anyway... I'm digging these fish. I never knew the aqueous could be so friendly, it's cool. :)
However, they don't call 'em Rumble Fish for no reason: you cannot put two in a tank together, either male or female. They will fight to the death. Unless it's breeding season the males will even kill the females o.0.... They are devout carnivores. (They love freeze-dried blood worms and tiny shrimp -- refuse to eat fish flakes and barely tolerate the betta pellets made specifically for this breed.) They are vulnerable to fungus and bacterial diseases so tanks must be cleaned thoroughly every week. Dirty water = sick fish. But they are such charming, friendly babes that so far the work has been worth it.
When you buy these darlings they are sold in tiny containers. That's because they must be kept separate so they don't kill each other. However, don't be fooled by the stupid little tanks sold in the pet stores. They will NOT thrive unless given lots of room to swim and play. I mean... that's like keeping a musician in hotel rooms for too long. What do YOU think is going to happen? That's right, they are going to sicken and die! I'd say 3 gallons is minimum size for a male betta. The females are tinier and can do well in 1.5 or 2 gallons. Males do best in 5 gallons or larger.... but bigger tanks are harder to clean and maintain, so I have one 5 gallon tank and one 3.5 gallon tank and switch the males back and forth between the larger and smaller one on cleaning days.
So please, if you buy one of these fish -- do not listen to people who tell you they can live well in a tiny bowl. They can't. Get the proper equipment to care for the animal and give it a decent life. The universe will thank you. ;)
*is a happy betta mom*
-PQ-
EDIT 1:50 AM --
For the curious, here is everything about the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_Fish |
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