Trevor: A Eulogy for a Betta

Two years ago, I purchased the most interesting looking male betta from a Petco near Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was a crowntail betta, but his fins were curly. Each ray was curled in exactly the same way. His body was black shot with blue, his fins had a butterfly red and black pattern with blue spots. I didn't know then that he was a mutt and his finnage was bad. To me, he was the most beautiful betta I'd ever seen, so I paid the extra two bucks for him and brought him home.

We named him Trevor - After "Magical Trevor" and I apologize to those of you who now have the song stuck in your head.

He was always so clever. He knew me from my roommate. He would flare up for food and follow my finger back and forth and he knew that MY hand in the water was a good thing and he'd let me scoop him out for water changes.

When it came time for us to move across the country to Seattle, I couldn't bear to give him up. He'd already been with me for six months, so I scooped him into his plastic cup that he came in, put him in a cooler (no ice) with his plant and his bowl and some other things and secured him into the car. I was amazed and relieved when he survived the trip! He put up with me as I discovered real aquatic plants and tried to get them to grow in his bowl with no lights. He survived the first fiasco when I tried to get him to live with male dwarf gouramis. He grew his fins back when I got him a 10 gallon to share with another male betta (separated by a mesh) and as I slowly upgraded and got him a heater, some real plants, and a good light for growing things. His favorite game was knocking snails off the glass. He never ate them.

He was getting slow and tired a couple months ago, I decided he needed to see other fish. I put him in a 30 gallon planted tank with 4 female bettas. He chased them around a little bit at first, but I could see him getting more and more tired as the days drew on. He would barely eat, and he would just hang out in "his" plant day after day.

Early in the morning on June 1st, 2007, Trevor passed away.

Trevor was my experiment fish.

Trevor is the whole reason why I started getting bigger and bigger aquariums, and why I will probably always have at least one crowntail male betta.

You will be missed.

(thank you for putting up with my eulogy. I can't imagine anywhere else for me to post such a thing)