Pretty Little Fishes

There is a lot to be said for finding projects to do at home these days, as we find ourselves in constant limbo between MCO, CMCO, school-closing, in-class learning, lockdown, homeschooling etc and with no clear end in sight.

Well, our boys have certainly caught on to a project that keeps developing and I think it’s safe to say I can officially announce them as professional fish breeders. 

It started with a male Siamese fighting fish, also known as a Betta, displayed in a beautiful cylindric glass jar on our bathroom counter. That quickly turned in to three beautiful cylindric class jars with Siamese fighting fish, displaying side by side on the bathroom counter (move aside useful toiletries!) 

It started with a male Siamese fighting fish, also known as a Betta, displayed in a beautiful cylindric glass jar on our bathroom counter. That quickly turned in to three beautiful cylindric class jars with Siamese fighting fish, displaying side by side on the bathroom counter (move aside useful toiletries) and now replaced by all sorts of jars, domes and converted sandboxes inside and outside.

The enthusiasm over these wee homegrown Bettas has been priceless and urged along by Simon the boys have been very responsible looking after their nursery, being given the full responsibility to feed them every morning and making sure they are looking well and healthy but we have had to take a break from any more breeding as we are simply running out of space even after giving many away to friends and class mates.

They are very beautiful little creatures and the changes they go through from tiny babies to fully grown Bettas is amazing. Unlike most of our other fish that pretty much stay the same colour throughout their development and usually resemble their parents unmistakably, our Bettas are constantly changing colours.

It has been an interesting experiment, which has started many conversations about biology and genetics and resulted in a lot of living art displays around our home.