When I was in college, I got a betta. I don't remember what made me want to get one, but I do remember being a kid and seeing the bettas in Pet stores and feeling bad for them that they were in such tiny containers (at that time, it was a pet store in the mall and they kept them in these tiny glass bowls that were smaller than the cups they come in in most pet stores now). Anyway, fast forward about 12 years, and I bought a betta and a small tank for him. It was probably less than a half gallon. :-? He only lived about a month. So I went out and got another one, and got him a little bit bigger tank (still less than a gallon, tho). I had no idea they needed a heater, so he had no heater and I only changed his water when it started to look dirty- which was about 10-14 days. :shock: I thought that's what you were supposed to do. I had him for 3 and a half years, so I thought I did good.
Then this past spring, me and my mom went into Petco because she needed to get something for the cat, and I took a look at the bettas, and then I caught the betta bug again. I didn't buy one right then. I went home and looked for the tank I kept my last betta in but I couldn't find it.
Something made me wonder if you could keep female bettas together, so I started reading up on that, and that led me to read about proper betta care, and I was shocked to find out I had done it so wrong before! Anyway, I went out and bought a 5 gallon filtered tank, and was going to cycle it before I got a fish. Anyway, I went into Petco another time, and saw a fish I couldn't pass up (A metallic blue, HM chocolate betta), so I got him, and bought a temporary 1 gallon tank. I eventually ended up putting him in the 5 gallon and finishing the cycle with him in it. But then of course I saw how awesome they can really be when they have enough space, and I wanted to get more. So that led me to Shiny- a pink HMDT, and eventually I was drawn to females and I ended up with Lila- a super cute purple VT female. She jumped out of a small hole in the tank when I wasn't home, so she didn't make it. :-(
But a month or so later, I got Jasper- a green VT female (and now I make sure to block EVERY hole).
Now I'm planning on dividing a 10 gal. for the 3 of them so I only have to do one water change per week, instead of multiple, on different schedules because of my 3 different tank sizes. And I'm also planning a planted 50 gallon sorority/community tank! Bettas got me into other types of fish, too!