Disclaimer: The premise of this post is an oft-repeated story on the poor conditions that some home aquarium fish are kept in, but if it can reach more people, all the better!

In September of this past year, I once again became gainfully employed following my Masters defence. My reaction to this was (and continues to be) something along the lines of “Yay steady income!! Booooooooo boring 9-5 at a desk…”

So to liven up my desk at work beyond the two sunless, struggling plants, I thought I would get a fish.

My First Mistake

I did literally everything wrong except fix what I did wrong. My first, biggest mistake was not doing any research. I didn’t even google “how to keep a fish”. I just biked over to a nearby petstore on my lunch, and told the store owner I wanted a fish. They had a display wall full of pretty male bettas, and a whole display of betta-branded tanks, ornaments, and all that. I picked out a sleek looking cube that had two-compartment system to make changing water easier, a little fake plant, and some food. Mission complete!

The Learning Curve

Very proud of my very uneducated self, I brought Fish to work, set him up, and took a picture to show him off to the internet at large. This did not go particularly well.

Random internet strangers gently but firmly told me I kind of sucked. They told me that Fish’s 1 gallon cube was fit for no fish, and further he needed a filter and a heater. Oh also, I need a kit to test the water to make sure it stayed clean. Also, the plastic plant was probably going to tear his fins. I literally did every single thing wrong.

Fixing Fish’s Set Up

Over the next month, Fish went from a single gallon unheated, unfiltered, unplanted cube to a 5 gallon tank with live plants, a heater that would keep the water where he likes it at 78F, a small filter to house bacteria that manages the ammonia from his waste, and an overall better life. He loved it!

In the process of upgrading. Slightly larger tank and a heater

Beyond making my fish suffer, this also completely changed how much having a fish costs. My initial purchase (none of which was useful beyond the fish and food) was a wasted $45. Replacing the crappy pieces and adding the needed pieces ended up costing around $110, all said and done.

Had I done my research and not been in a rush to fix my mistakes, I could have easily bought a great set up and less than half the cost on a craigslist-type website, and my fish would have been far happier for it.

Final product. At 7.5G, this is a good sized tank for male betta.

No-Take-Backs

Unfortunately Fish did not survive my learning curve unscathed. Over the course of the initial ammonia and temperature swings, he sustained damage to his swim bladder organ, which is what helps fish float. So now, Fish…. sinks. He is a Floppy Fish. It’s possible that his health issues are completely unrelated to his difficult start in life, but… let’s be real. It’s pretty likely that bad living conditions led to poor health.

Being floppy wasn’t optimal, but for a while he was still a decently happy fish, as he could still surface for food and air (Fun fact! Bettas and other “labyrinth fish” can breath through their gills and their mouths. This provides an evolutionary advantage as they can survive water with low oxygen content). However, with the added stress of sinking, his quality of life has deteriorated over the last 6 months. He bites his tail in frustration and it is half the length it used to be, and he’s having a much harder time getting to the surface.

It looks like I’ll likely have to euthanize Floppy Fish soon, and he’s maybe a year old – when bettas can live 5-7 years in proper conditions.

The Moral of the Story?

I was a shitty pet owner, and that’s not okay. Fish are friends and they deserve adequate living conditions, and I’m happy to say my following fish are thriving now that I’ve learned better. However, it would have been far better for me to do my research and learn these things without harming Fish. If I had, he could still look like he did in his prime: