A Fish Tale

There was a time when Southern Man was a bit of an aquarium enthusiast. This had more or less faded before he and his ex separated, but he still has several tanks and stands and boxes of various aquaria accessories and was a regular poster on the various rec.aquaria groups; his signature tagline was "mostly goldies, guppies, swordtails and bettas" - the last referring to betta splendens, sometimes known as Siamese Fighting Fish.

About six weeks ago Southern Man's ten-year-old daughter acquirred a little male betta and soon tired of it, so Southern Man set up a ten-gallon aquarium with a proper filter and heater and substrate and plenty of live plants so he could rescue that poor fish. And after a couple of days to let the water settle and the heat stabilize, he picked up five little neon tetras from the local pet emporium and fetched that poor betta and brought them all home.

Now the betta is free from that little unfiltered unheated bowl and is king of the tank. He's staked out his favorite corner in a stand of broad-leaf plants, where he lords over the little school of neons and waits for food to fall from the sky. It's fun to have an aquarium again. Someday Southern Man intends to build a house with a room dedicated to aquaria.