Alexander!

Poor Michelangelo has been declining for months. Listless, loss of color in his scales, hiding in his plant most of the time. He even developed a grey beard, which was somewhat funny and somewhat sad. I took a few pictures of him the other day, just before I cleaned out his bowl.

You can actually see the grey beard in this one.

Anyway, sad story short, he jumped out of the bowl I had him in temporarily as the water adjusted in his newly cleaned large bowl. Roommate Laughter found him while I was at work. She said he was still twitching, but that he felt dry. By the time I got home, he was stiff.

If it weren't for the fact that his plant is living, I would have disassembled the bowl and called it quits for a while. As it was, the empty fish bowl made the whole room feel empty and I couldn't bear the thought of killing the plant too.

So, I went to the Petco in Leesburg, where they had maybe twenty bettas on display, four of them were dead, and six of them looked like they wanted to be. An employee came up behind me, made me jump as she asked if I was finding everything okay. I waved at the fish and said "they're all dead!?" She cleaned up quick, but I was even more disgruntled about buying one than I had been at the start.

Four dead fish?? That's sooo not okay.

Anyway, I found a blue-green male who'd made a bubble nest in his bowl, but it turned out his kind was the most expensive on the shelf. I was already in a bad mood over the dead fish, so I put him back and found another, less-expensive white and red male who also had a bubble nest in his bowl. Smaller nest, but at least it was clear he wasn't dying.

When I got home, I found Roommate Laughter to tell her "Alexander is downstairs," but she knew exactly what I meant, so the reaction wasn't that great. Until I told her she figured it out too fast... that got a good laugh.

I snapped a picture as soon as I got Alexander in the tank, but if I took the picture now, you'd see that a good third of the surface is covered with bubbles. Alexander definitely approves of his new digs and Roommate Laughter and I have been greatly amused to watch his industriousness. I even caught him picking a fight with his reflection in the corner of the tank. Possibly he could tell there was something wrong with his reflection, because he did the little dance but without the gill flare. I'd imagine it's a bit distorted.

When I get back from vacation, it might be fun to research betta-breeding and find Alexander a mate. It would be cool to see what baby bettas look like and how they grow. Fun science experiment, also an excuse to have multiple fish.

And... the girl's name is already picked out. Or mostly.

I guess I'd have to see her to know if she's an Angelica or an Eliza. ;-)