Here is (brave) Sir Robin!
(bravely) attacking a piece of flake food...
(bravely) circling another flake before moving in for the kill...
I wanted to get a nice photo of him with his fins all fanned out and doing his "I'ma kick your fucking ass into the next pond" display, except Robin doesn't have an "I'ma kick your ass" display.
Because he's a pussy fish (Vaginus ichthus).
I held my finger up to the tank. He swam away.
I held my hamster up to the tank. He was strangely interested (kept following Bluto around as Bluto circled the tank looking for sunflower seeds), but not agressive.
I held a mirror up to the tank. This will get 'im for sure, thought I. Bettas are territorial, and when they percieve another male in their territory, will display aggresively. If two males actually come into the same bit of water, they will fight, often to the death.
(My old betta, Klingon, kicked my friend Betsy's betta's ass. I felt bad for Betsy, but I was so proud of my little aquatic warrior. It was a complete accident, mind. It's not like we were making them fight. It just happened, and it just so happened that my fish thrashed her fish. Hee hee.)
So I held a mirror up to the tank, and...
...he hid in his treasure chest.
*sigh*
I am feeling rather like the father of the gay prince in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
(Me: Go on! Kill him! Kill him and take his pond! He's got HUGE... tracts of duckweed!
Sir Robin: But I don't want that! I want to sing!...)
Anyway, he's a happy little guy.
Ooh, look! He's blowna bubble nest! Horny little scaled bastard.
When mating, the male betta builds a bubble nest, and after copulation with the female the fertilized eggs float in the sticky bubbles for protection. That he blew bubbles so soon after moving in to his new tank shows that a) he's happy, feels that this is definately his territory, and is ready to get on with life, and b) that he very much wants to get laid.So basically like every other male i know. Ok then.
9 comments:
And like this particular male, it seems he's destined to be frustrated, what with the lack of female companionship
here's what my dad said:
"You have a GAY fish.........already decorating the 'bedroom!'"
as Annie would say, lollerskates.
why don't i get a bubble nest? i never got a bubble nest.
i want a bubble nest.
I forgot to mention that the females are often strangulated to death by the males during copulation.
still want that bubble nest?
Wow. I thought it was always the females who were eating the males and such. I guess this one type of fish makes up for all the spiders, praying mantises, etc.
Be nice to your gay fish or I will report you to the AVP. Do they have an AVP in England?
'females are often strangulated to death by the males during copulation.'
What is the biological logic for that then? Doesn't seem particularly useful in the propogation of the species.
Da Nator: I don't know what the AVP is, but i'm always nice to gay anything.
Dave: since females lay dozens of eggs in one go, it appears to be sufficient that many of them only mate once in their lives. That said, there is some debate on whether females are commonly strangulated by their mates in the wild, or if that's a behavoir that happens primarily in hybridized, captive-bred fish.
It would appear that this particular species requires intensive therapy and dissolving Zoloft tablets in the aquarium. They seemed destined for the evolutionary dustbin due to their penchant for strangulating females and killing other males!
Cursed with beauty they are destined to live out their lives in splendid isolation peering out through their liitle glass prisons in Pet Shops around the world.
Are you sure that those bubbles are reproductive decorations..
maybe he just has gas?
...a bubble next and A SHOTGUN, then.
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