My fish died.

I've had this betta for over a year. I've had bettas previously but this one was pretty wild. Very curious, full of energy and super social. He'd blow bubbles at me constantly and play games with my finger and jump for his food. He lived in a 2.5 gallon tank until I went for a 10 gallon planted set-up because I wanted to have a planted tank and see how his boundless exploration and energy would manifest with more real estate. I remember watching him lounge on a blade of amazon sword and thinking he somehow looked more "at home".

He had this fake root system he could hide under, a new cave and spent a lot of time doing back flips in the new, stronger, filter current. This tank was also heated, so watching him take on a new brilliant glow in the warmer water was gratifying.

I was impatient with the dwarf grass however, and opted for a field of brilliant plastic grass to balance things out. Sometimes I would see him face down in the plastic blades, looking for something or maybe even stuck. Surely enough he'd wriggle free and find something else to do.

I should've done something then, but I didn't.

This morning I am looking all around for my friend. I've got the hood off, my phone flashlight peering into all the nooks and crannies, my basket tapping around gently trying to draw his attention. 10 gallons isn't a lot of real estate to cover, but I must've combed every inch twice. Then I start pulling things out, tipping things over, hoping if he flops out I'll just toss him back in.

Wedged in the underside of the plastic grass, burrowed out of sight in the cheap soil mounting was my fish friend. He was contorted and scratched, as if he'd realized pretty quickly that he wasn't just exploring, but fighting for his life. It's trite to say fish eyes are "lifeless". In that moment I saw exactly what was and what wasn't there by awful deduction.

When was the last time I saw him? How long was he struggling down there? Was he dying to break free while I was asleep? While I was a few feet away cooking dinner? Were my wife and I laughing and drinking wine in the other room while he was gasping for some sort of intervention? Did I do the fucking dishes, calmed by the sound if his filter, thinking "Oh, fish sure did turn in early" when really he was turning in for good?

I wrote him a note, cried for the first time in a couple years and packed his limp little body into a jewelry box. I dug a hole in the frozen ground with a flathead screwdriver and buried him in the front yard. Maybe he'll enjoy watching people pass by, just like he did in his tank.

I hope heaven is a tropic shallow somewhere.

TLDR: What do you guys think is the most diverse, fun way to stock a planted 10 gallon? Starting from scratch.

Submitted December 28, 2016 at 08:51PM by b00mtown http://ift.tt/2hPez7q