as small as a world and as large as alone

9:02am September 14, 2014

countesscruella:

scienceyoucanlove:

The Siamese fighting fish, also known as the beta, are known as biting fish in Thai and tend to be rather aggressive. 

More info: http://tr.im/1NNXf
©Visarute Angkatavanich

from I fucking love biodiversity

I had two that were deeply in love with each other.  If they were humans, theirs would be a tearjerker movie-ready story.  They were not at all aggressive.  Most of these fish are, but these two and some others I’ve had were not. 

She was chronically ill, with a swim bladder disorder that caused her to float to the top of the tank.  He tried to save her.  In most circumstances, beta fish should never be in the same tank because they’ll fight to the death, but this was an emergency.  He had panic attacks seeing her float up when they were in separate tanks, so I knew he wanted to help.  He would gently keep her from floating up, and only when he slept would she float up.  He always quickly brought her back down when he woke.  Her condition worsened and she lost all control of steering her body, but she was more relaxed and less tired despite this because of him.  I know he prolonged her life by ten days.  She died, and he was depressed for the rest of his life and eventually killed himself.

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