Well im not very close to old yet, but its been about 4 years since Ive had a betta fish and I want to get back into the action! I had two bettas (too young for any pictures) named Chester and Kaiser.
Chester:
Lived to be 4 years
4 inches
Bought from
here
Kaiser:
Lived for 3 years
3 inches
Bought from petsmart
STORY: One day while watching TV, I noticed Chester was floating awfully close to the top of his tank. I leaned over to see what it was and saw something that resembled a hair. I got up to remove it but on closer inspection I saw that it was a mosquito! A mosquito had landed in the water and was just floating around the top. I saw that look in Chesters eyes as he started to inch closer to the female mosquito trapped by the water but it was far to late 
. Not wanting to risk my fingers, all I could do was watch what I knew was bound to happen. As soon as he was in range, his head shot up and grabbed the mosquito. Within 3 bites the whole mosquito was in his mouth, a leg sticking out, but then he stopped moving . Thinking the worst, I was scared that he had choked on the mosquito and was going to die before my very eyes. Then he moved . He began to chew the mosquito, fierce bites that shook his whole body. He had eaten a mosquito off the surface of the water! But the show wasnt over yet. He concluded by spitting out bits and pieces of the legs which sunk to the bottom.
In another incident, Chester was darting around his tank like no tomorrow. In every direction as if searching for something. It seems he jumped out of the water at one of the tank walls and pushed off back into the water twice! Chester was doing
Parkour! (at 0:25 .etc)
I put the lid back on the hexagonal tank after he had already calmed down but changed the water like an hour later.
I tried not to have favorites, but I secretly liked Chester more due to his personality. He seemed to be sworn enemies with my fish net and avoided relocation for up to an hour the time I tried to bring him to school but Kaiser was duped easily enough. I kept their tanks right next to each other but neither of them seem to have any objections. Many times they would sit there staring at the other or sleep very close together.
Its amazing how I never see more white plumbing tubes in tanks nowadays. They cost less than a dollar at HomeDepot, And after a cleaning, they make a great base for plants (because of Mario?). I feel like im more of a traditional caretaker, with no real fancy things or equipment. Just water changes, at first the yellow freeze dried shrimp stuff, then moved on to petsmarts food and conditioner and some sort of dark blue fish medicine that I never used, with a 5 gallon and and a 3 gallon tank.
My bettas lived for 3-4 years with no sickness or any other sort of hitches but I cant help but believe theirs deaths were due to my young negligence. I dont remember much, but I remember when Kaiser died, I didnt really care as much as I should have. A week or two later Chester died but I dont really remember how I felt about either. Im ready to start afresh soon and am glad I found this!
/end of dramatic, sad, droning post
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