RIP - Akao Jan 2006 - Dec 2008

So I come home this afternoon, and go to move the jar outta the furnace room into my area b/c it's finally warm enough, and he's dead. Poor little body's all puffed up and lying on the bottom of the jar. Poke his body a few times with the stick and he's nonresponsive. So after almost 3 yrs, the little guy couldn't recover anymore. Ever since this summer, he hasn't been the same. Eats only 1-2 pellets when he used to eat 4-5, would jump occasionally but then doesn't look for the food. And ever since it got cold, he just doesn't go for the food at all. I'll wait for him to wake up, make sure he sees the food, and then he spits it back out. I tried the 2 different pellets and the really dried out bloodworms. *sigh* Since I can't really remember when he did eat, it'd have to be at least a month, so I knew it was inevitable. And betta fish usually live about 3 years too. But it's still sad. The poor little dude had been through so much since I moved outta the apt, and he was pretty pissed at the changes.

I guess for Boxing Day I'll look at getting a new betta fish. And I'd seen an electric muscle heat pack for $15 the other day, and was debating on whether to get it or if it would boil Akao. It had a low setting, but I don't think it had a timer or thermostat so he'd undergo a lotta temperature fluctations or I'd have to leave it on all the time but keep it kinda away from the jar.

So I'm not sure what to do with the body. I could use a potted plant at work, and then I could bury his body among its roots. Fish and their poop are great fertilizers. Right now I have a "lucky bamboo" in the jar w/ him. So I'm not sure if I should just leave him there. That bamboo must be lucky, it's outlived both my fish, and botanical experiments.

So as I'm going thru my previous posts (b/c I forgot how old Akao was), it seems like I never explained his name. Aka is for red, and Ao is for blue. In Japanese of course. Yes, I'm aware that betta fish originated from Thailand, but at least it's a step up from naming him after a Pokemon. Which was Feebas, my first fish. So Akao was red-bodied, blue-finned and was able to jump for food, and was very responsive while in the Parksquare apt. He got to be about 2 inches. And then when I moved back to the house, he was pretty ticked off at the change, and not being able to see things. Before, he was in the living room so could watch TV, watch me cook, and watch D do his stuff on the keyboard. Now, at the house since my Dad wouldn't allow him to be in the living room (b/c what if the jar spilled?! Only if some idiot managed to knock it over. Oh wait, that's my Dad), he went in my room. Which I was in sometimes, but he didn't have a good view of my monitor and well, other than me sleeping or reading, there wasn't much else to see. And the sun only came in for about 4 hours, during the summer. But he started to get used to it, and began to come up to me for food and do his "feed me!" wiggle dance again... and then I went to LA. And I don't know what trauma he was subjected to in that week, but when I came home, the entire bottom of the jar was covered w/ a month's worth of rotting food. The water was this murky brown, and he was ensconced among the bamboo's roots. And even after I changed the water and apologized profusely to him and tried to find similar pellets, he just wouldn't come up to me for food anymore. It was like he couldn't trust humans again. The plant was his only friend, and that's where he usually stayed. *sigh* And I'd been thinking that I should do some drawings of him, b/c when he was among the roots, he was always posed so nicely. But tis not to be. I'm attempting to draw one from memory, but I'm much better at drawing things in front of me. And I don't wanna draw Akao as he is now.