meet Fidelity

meet fidelity!

It has been my goal for awhile to get out and see more local stores/places. Today, while looking for a sporting good store that sold darts, we drove past a mom-and-pop pet store called Pet Lovers Lane. I immediately pulled in to the tiny parking lot. The store has a lot of cool fish and random animals, but not a large selection. But the people there were friendly and knowledgable. There were adult male bettas on sale, and you know I just had to get one.

I've had this second tank since getting baby-July (it was an old wedding gift, actually, that I mailed to myself from Massachusetts), but haven't needed it because I bought July a large glass bowl on impulse. So I've been looking to get another, adult Betta. I needed Adam to be with me, because he wasn't with me when I bought July, and I think he was a teensy bit mad about not being consulted about that. So today I asked him about getting another betta, and asked him to pick one out for me. He chose this beautiful dark blue betta, and named him Fidelity. (Don't ask me why, I have no idea). We actually also asked some cute kids at the store what to name him, but they suggested 'Shimmer', which got shot down by both myself and Adam. 'Shimmer' sounds like a girl's name.

Anyway. Long story short, now we have Fidelity! He was concerning me earlier with some wonky swimming, but I think (hope) he was just stressed. We'll see!

Sassy still seems completely unaware of the fish. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I could move one or both of the fish into the bedroom, where Sass is not allowed, but for now the tanks are on my kitchen island, where I can easily check on them throughout the day. And enjoy their beauty.

my kitchen island set-up

As you can see, both fish tanks are resting against the kitchen wall. July is in the pink-gravel extra-large brandy-snifter, and Fidelity is in the smaller Hagen betta tank. (Mine has a custom Buddha background that I printed out -  I somehow lost the original background. No matter - this way I can switch out the images. I think I need something lighter so that Fidelity shows up more clearly).

July clearly is living the high life in his/her almost two gallon tank. S/He also has a heater that I picked up last night in another local pet store called Country Pets & Ponds, a store that I liked. The staff was friendly, and they had a decent selection for the size of the store. (I would have gotten one of their beautiful bettas last night, but we were going to see a movie and couldn't leave the fish in the car, etc). July needs a heater because s/he is still a baby and requires warmer water. Apparently, all bettas should have tanks with heaters, but it's not necessary. I've been doing a lot of googling.

Both tanks have little homemade covers. One of the sites I was browsing suggested covers for several reasons: to keep the betta fish from jumping out, to keep the humidity high in the tank, and to help the fish stay calm. Neither tank has a cover, so I improvised. Fidelity just has a (temporary) stiff piece of photo paper over his tank, but July got decked out with a cardboard cover covered in polka-dot duct tape, with a space cut out for the heater. (I made it with made with leftover cardboard from an IKEA gift - I love recycling!).

The peace plant next to the tanks is to help prevent Sassy from realizing the fish are even there. She likes to perch on the chairs next to the island and peer over the top to see what we are doing. I don't want her to notice the fishies. I'm not very concerned about it, as she rarely ventures onto the island itself.

And... that is it.