He was my first betta since I became adult (the one I murdered in my childhood did not count), and he got me falling headlong into this world of proper betta keeping.
He began a tough life with a novice keeper like myself, I have unknowingly put him in cold water in a bowl, through the beginning of a nitrogen cycle in his new tank, where he got sick and in search for a way to save him I found this forum, and I managed to save him the first time, when he suffered from velvet.
He's had the best treatment out of all of his brothers and sister, one 5ga. tank to himself, heated, and I cleaned his tank regularly for the first few months I had him.
He used to make me angry by biting off more than half of his tail in one go, it would almost grow back to the original state, and he would bite it all off again. I tried everything and in the end I concluded that they do it like some people bite their finger nails... can't be helped...
Even when I went overseas for a month to visit family, he held up well, and was a strong fish.
Then earlier this year I had some difficulties with my life, and I neglected him and his brothers and sister... all the others were alright... but one day my friend came to my house, took a look in the tank and asked me if Mr Pinky was alive... then I realised that he had this huge gash on the side of his body... I looked up advices on this forum for bacterial infections, and set out to look for medicine for him... but I couldn't manage to find it...for a week he fought on, like the matador he was, but he lost in the end... he was still breathing and moving one minute, and when I looked again just a few minutes later, he was still.
Oh Mr Pinky, I am so sorry that I neglected you, I am so sorry that I didn't check on you often enough to see if you are ok, and I am so sorry that I couldn't save you in the end. I got so caught up in my own miseries I forgot how happy you used to make me when you jumped at my finger to get the food, when you would let me touch you, and how happy I felt when you recovered from velvet, and when you moved back into the tank looking happy after I cycled the tank. I am so sorry I put you through so much pain...
He now rests in the flower patch next to our swimming pool. May he be happy and pain free in fishie heaven...
Rest in peace now mate...
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