I found a place that sells RO (reverse osmosis) water for $0.50 after you buy the first jug, so the spouse approved of a fish acquisition adventure yesterday! I am very excited, as I have missed having finned children around.
Why Dumbass and Dumbfuck?
The instant Dumbass got into his tank, he began fighting with himself. Six hours later… still fighting with himself. There were numerous instances where he was so focused on fighting himself that he ran into his ornaments, etc, thus resulting in me saying, “You are such a dumbass!”
So, he’s Dumbass.
This is Dumbass.
This is how Dumbass sleeps.
I love you, Dumbass. You live up to your name well.
Next up we have Dumbfuck.
Dumbfuck is not real clear on how food works, resulting in a mess, tested patience, a hungry fish, and more time spent convincing this fish that food is a real thing he needs to eat.
I was successful in teaching Dumbfuck how to eat his supper, but the volume is not where I want it at this stage. (This will improve over time, but he’s going to be a light eater to start with. This is okay… mostly.)
This is Dumbfuck. He is a dumbo, and according to his jar, he’s supposed to be a halfmoon.
Dumbfuck does not understand flaring when he gets into disputes with himself, so I haven’t actually seen him fully flared. Or flared at all. I think he’s a super delta, but in any case, he’s a gorgeous little dumbfuck.
Don’t let the camera colors fool you, by the way. This is not a red and a blue fish. He’s a color changer, and Alexandrite would have been a good name for him.
Most of the time, he’s a lavender-lilac color with pink-red-purple fins. His pectorals are a very very pale lilac.
Dumbass was a discounted rescue due to the state of his fins. I will have to monitor carefully for issues and diseases while he heals, but so far so good.
The tank I got for them is a three gallon split waterfall tank. Dumbass is in the taller section while Dumbfuck has the shallower one. Dumbass is the better swimmer of the pair from the looks of it, although Dumbfuck is becoming more active as he settles.
My husband was not paying attention when I was asking him if I could have pet fish, and he failed to realize the tank alone was $60. He realized his mistake and I have gotten away with proper murder.
I need to order a pale gravel to mix in with my colored stones at the bottom; the fish stores I went to did not have what I wanted. But beyond that, their habitat is mostly set up.
Price of Dumbass: $10.
Price of Dumbfuck: $20.
Habitat, water, etc: $300.
Finned Children: Priceless.
To quote, well, you, a successful attack was staged on a wallet, huh?
They’re adorable.
A most successful wallet attack was staged!
… it’s an anniversary present from my spouse, realistically. I’ve been asking for new fish for over a year now. But the water has been an issue, and I am willing to go get the fresh water for my children on an errand, so his concern was dealt with. We were not buying a $250+ RO system when I can buy the water for $0.50 a gallon. (And it’s only a 3 gallon tank.)
I live in Las Vegas and our RO system has been a major money saver since we have hard water here. I know it sounds like a major amount upfront but the convenience of not making the trip and having to haul 3 gallons of water around might tip the scale someday. We save a ton on bottled water now that we have our bigger, travel wayer bottles. 🙂
We don’t have room to install such a system even if we wanted to. Our apartment is too small.
We’re also not allowed to make modifications to the plumbing. And the external systems are waaayyy too large for going to a fish store to lug five gallons around every 3 weeks.
I love the colors of Dumbass and Dumbfuck!
Dumbass looks like our Istalri- our dragon scale. He’s sweet and smart but his fins are so outrageous now he tends to flutter from plant to plant and rest a lot. He too has some interesting sleep habits 😜
Fortunately, Dumbass is just a standard halfmoon, and he’s a well-bred one, so he has an easy time swimming!! <3 Dumbfuck has marvelous conformation, too! 😀
My little finned children are very active and playful, which is a delight!
🤣 Good for you. The fish are lovely. What does the furred management think?
They don’t care. They got nuts over birds, but fish aren’t interesting to them.
Re finned children..Hi Congrats on your new family members. one thing I discovered when I had the same type of fish is to put a background on one side of the tank to prevent reflection from the light. Then your beautiful beta won’t see its reflection and therefore won’t attack itself. It is their nature to fight if they see another fish. One of nature’s quirks..beautiful and deadly..luv it..
If you do that, they often become depressed, especially the more active ones. They LOVE fighting themselves. So killing the reflection is usually bad for their mental health and causes depression.
The current general recommendation is to turn the lights off / make it dark enough they can’t see reflections in the evenings and let them have a ball during the day unless they injure themselves or are clamping over it.
Mine are having a ball, and they get the lights turned out so they can sleep at night, so they’re fine.
(I’ve had bettas before. Many of them lol I just wasn’t allowed to have any with tap water after losing six to contaminated pipes.)
Hoping we’ll see a return of the finned and frond management. Enjoy!
I’m glad the management are ignoring them. My teenager self had a goldfish that my cat would NOT stop teasing.
Enjoy your new babies. They are beautiful.
Lucy would most likely approve of Dumbass!!
We once had several tanks of different kinds of fish, from bettas to mollies to oscars. We once successfully bred some lovely red bettas, and sold them to a local pet store. Showing my age there, as most pet stores won’t do that any more. Unfortunately, these days, the only thing we raise are our rare and beautiful air fish (empty tank in the garage). So happy you are enjoying your beautiful (but dumb) finned babies!
They still do that with bettas.
I will just say, fishkeeping is a slippery slope. I started out with one tank. At one point we had a 150 gallon tank, a 100 gallon tank, a 75 gallon, 2 20 gallon tanks and a 10 gallon for my little bumblebee gobies. Bettas are cool, and yours are beautiful. We have no tanks now, but we had them for 40 years, they are a lot of fun.
I’ve been keeping fish since I was a little kid. I only took a break after a pipe failure (that we weren’t warned about) released chemicals into our tap water that conditioner doesn’t handle.
I live in a small apartment, so expanding fish owning is not an option.
I will help you hide the dead for you.So that he doesn’t find out.
Love your bettas. Just as pretty as your kitties. I understand the draw, I had a galaxy koi betta that passed a couple years ago. Congrats on the new family members, and pulling one over on hubby.