v-s.net v0.6

Thursday, 3:13 pm in Life

In light of my post about XHTML other day, I’ve switched the content type of sk.log to application/xhtml+xml.  This will have almost no effect whatsoever (and none at all for those of you who use IE and other browsers who don’t support ‘true’ XHTML), other than to make my site more prone to dramatic death on the off chance it encounters even a minor error.  Oh well.  Let me know if you find any, hey?

I started thinking the other day about getting a pet.  Obviously I miss my cats, and our apartment is very small; not to mention according to our lease we can’t keep animals.  On Monday night, when ~Mat [h] was away, my parents took me out to dinner at the Club.  Sitting on the counter in a dirty bowl much too small for it was one very sad, very black Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens, or ‘betta’ to US readers).

A fish, eh?  Surely the agent can’t complain about one little fish?

I’ve kept fish before.  In high school I got it into my head to buy a goldfish in a very small, unfiltered tank.  He eventually got moved up into dad’s old big tank, with a bunch of tropicals thrown in for good measure (guppies breed like crazy; don’t be an idiot and buy both genders because it’s ‘cute’).  The tank and associated paraphernalia came from when I was a very wee tyke and dad got into aquariums for a while.  Back then, one of the fish I insisted on was a fighter (you know, I was like 3, and they’re pretty).  I’m not sure what happened to him, though I have a feeling he got his fins massacred by this psychotic angelfish we had, and may have died from stress.  I think at the time dad might have told me that they were hard fish to keep, though now I know that’s not true (to be fair to dad, they are hard to keep with other fish).  Owners are also generally convinced they’re extremely smart and react to human interaction (though owners of most types of pets say that sort of thing).

So today at lunchtime I went down to the chain pet store and had a poke about at their fish supplies (didn’t get served by the old guy behind the counter, of course, in my ravin’ pants and black and white striped jumper).  They had three very sad looking fighters in a barracks set-up – pale colours, tattered, drooping fins, lying on the bottom of their cages – though the fish themselves are roughly $20.  Poor things; I think fighters are probably the most abused species of fish out there, mostly because they are exotic and pretty-looking but also extremely hardy.  They seem especially popular in tiny bowls on the counters of restaurants, for some reason; I’ve actually told clerks previously that they were killing their fish.  They’re usually horrified, and I’m like, “I’m sorry, you thought a 6cm fish could survive in a filthy cup barely twice its length because of why, exactly?  Would you like to be kept like that?”¹

Anyway, after assessing my options, I’ve decided that to go ahead I’d need the following:

• Tank:  Well, duh.  From what I’ve heard I’m going to need at least a 10 litre tank, if not 20L or 35L!  A 16L glass non-rectangular tank is about $60.  The other option is one of those plastic self-contained tanks (tank, light, filter, heater in one).  They’re about $90 for an appropriate (though smallish) size.  Either way, a lid is a must (fighters jump).  Downsize of a big tank; they’re a PITA to clean.  I’ve done tank siphoning before; when it goes wrong it really goes wrong, and you end up with a floor flooded by dirty fishwater.  Not cool.
• Heater:  I’ve heard some people recommend against heaters, but honestly here it’s not optional.  We’re going to hit winter soon and it’ll easily get below freezing outside.  Constant exposure to temperatures below about 24°C is fatal (all you people keeping your fish in tiny unheated bowls I am looking at you).  A heater is about $30, though all the ones I’ve seen thus far are for 35L-ish tanks.  Might be a problem.
• Filter:  Again, I’ve heard these occasionally recommended against, due to the fact that their big fins and slow swimming speed means fighters sometimes get knocked about by the currents (in the wild, B. splendens live in slow-moving or still water).  Again, though, I think I’d want one for water-quality reasons, though it’d mean I’d have to be very careful about the current speed.  Downside of smaller filters; they do jack shit.  It’s about $20 for a corner filter.
• Environment:  Apparently fighters like medium-to-high density planting (though not so much that they can’t move around).  They’re primarily carnivorous, so eating the foliage shouldn’t be a problem.  Shelter-structures are good, so long as there’s no sharp edges.  I’ve also heard that driftwood is excellent because it releases tannins into the water which are similar to the chemicals found in the fighters’ natural environment.  Downside of driftwood; it makes the tank like tea and really hard to clean.
• Water Quality Chemicals:  Agers and pH testers and special ‘Bettamix’ formulae.  The pH testing kit I saw in the pet store today was $70!  Cripes.  Probably about $15 for a basic chemical set, easily surpassing $100 for something really fancy.
• Food:  The only part that’s cheap (besides the fish himself).  Special fighter pellets and some freeze dried blood worms (the lives ones are a bit too… interesting to look after, plus you have to wash them; ew).  Say $15 for food.
• Misc Crap: At a minimum, a soft-mesh net for removing uneaten food.  It’s recommended not to use nets to catch fighters in to move them (potential for fin damage), and people seem to recommend small cups.  This would be good for tank-cleaning, too, since you can cup the fish and sit him aside while working on his tank.  Ironically, one of the tanks sold as ‘betta tanks’ would be idea for this.

Hrm, not cheap.  Then again, nothing I ever do is cheap…

1. On a similar note, while I was there two corporate bimbos walked in wanting to buy a goldfish.  The old man (who served them, I might add) had to talk them out of it because buying a fish when you’re on lunch is a really fucking dumb idea if you’re not going to go home until 5:30pm.  I cringed; poor fish. ^

• Tags » big plans, dumb ideas, fishkeeping, sk.log, xhtml
• Comments By » ~H [h], Amelie