Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Meet the new guy

My new fishy! yay!

I've had him about a month, but he was really sick for a while and I didn't want to say anything in case he shit the bed, like poor Brave Sir Robin.

Like BSR, he had a touch of fin rot. Every betta I've ever had has gotten fin rot at some point, but BSR's case was the only fatal one I've seen. After a proper course of medication, however, I managed to bring the new guy around, and now he's doing just fine and is swimming about happily, so I decided the time had come to present him to the awaiting (unwitting) public.


And before you ask, yes, he is a boy. Female bettas are small and dull have short fins. All the flashy pretty ones you see in the pet stores are males. But yes, he is pastel, shimmery pink. Not exactly the image of a fearsome fighting machine, is he?

So of course I had to give him an appropriate name. Since most everyone who meets him thinks he's a woman, I felt he needed a good drag queen name. My favorite movie about drag queens is To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. And then it hit me. The perfect name:

Wong Foo!

Isn't he bee-ootiful???

5 comments:

FirstNations said...

Wong Foo is delightful!
The Amazon has one of those same fish and yes, it does have some kind of crud going on with the fins, I noticed. Doesn't seem to bother it though...

FirstNations said...

btw sorry to hear about the aunt. my fil has the same dr, and only lack of speed has slowed him down. i understand from the staff that he has more visitors ten times over than the rest of the residents combined. they all seem to be young, male and single, too! go your auntie! i'd much prefer to die somewhere exciting too!

Romeo Morningwood said...

If those psychotic, piscine, bad to the bone, anti-social, pretty boy, nutjobs weren't beautiful, who would love them?

Their bad attitudes have sentenced them to be prisoners in little bowls all over the world.

Once upon a time, as I meandered through the utopian 'ray stevens everything is beautiful world of my youth', I wanted to save the aquarium world and eliminate these genetic deadenders..nasty, mean, selfish, little f$#%@ fish!

but now I realise that they are an object for my pity and not my scorn.

When I was child we had a huge aquarium full of happy, get-along fish that 'worked it out' so an insecure bully, no matter how pretty he was, was unwelcome in our utopian tank.

You are an absolute angel for rescuing the unlovable from a life of endless desperation.
A wasted life spent staring at other equally sociopathic males who are all patiently waiting for their chance to kill the others!

Surely goodness will follow you all the days of your life.

llewtrah said...

I was fishtank monitor at school and we had a lovely crimson betta in the large aquarium he shared with several other species (and his less flashy wife). He was there for years and we didn't have fin rot. Does the aquarium size and other occupants have any influence on it?

Moominmama said...

FN: if the fish's behavior doesn't change, ie it doesn't become lethargic or spend long periods of time hiding and not moving, than yeah it's probably kosher.

FN: i think in my auntie's case a stream of young, male visitors would only hasten The Big One. It would certainly give the nuns she lives with a massive coronary!

Homo: bettas have such a bad rep! they're not crazy or phycho. they play very nicely with other fish, just not their own species. it's a mating thing. kind of like deer, only all year round. and without the antlers. and a lot smaller. and wetter.
so not really anything the same.

llewtra: sure, all those things can make a difference. mostly it's a matter of stress. bettas will always have a touch of the fungus that causes fin rot on them, and it their immune system becomes weak from stress the fungus will get a foothold and start chowing away at the fins. a large tank, a nice environment, other fishies, constant temperature, and good filtration are all things that will keep the fish chilled out, unstressed, happy, and therefor healthy.