Who’s Carson?

We had the privilege of taking care of Carson for five weeks. You might be asking yourself “Who’s Carson?” Did they get another dog? No, Carson is a Siamese fighting fish, also known as a Betta. They are very territorial and are prone to aggression towards other Bettas, so they need to be kept in separate tanks if you have more than one.

Carson was extremely friendly and outgoing for a fish. We’d go up to his tank and say, “Hi Carson” and he would swim over, and his little flippers would vigorously flap up and down, this was his way of saying “Hi.” So adorable!

We would move his tank around, so he had different views to look at. During the day and evenings, we would have him on the table near our living room window. Also, he could watch us as we sat on the couch watching TV. We’d say, “Hi Carson” or wave and he’d swim over to our side of his tank and his little flippers would go up and down like crazy.

At night time, we would move him over to our china cabinet and put a doggie blanket around his tank to keep him warm because the furnace would go on and off during the night.

Feeding him was an event at least for me it was. He’d get two tiny little pellets twice a day. They were hard to get out of the container. Many times, I’d have lots of them lying on the table in my attempt to get two. When dropping the pellets in, it was important to get his attention, or they would sink to the bottom of the tank. When I opened the little door on his tank lid he’d usually swam over to it. If he didn’t come over, then I would gently tap the water where I wanted him to be.

Carson needed his tank cleaned about every two weeks. His owner provided us a turkey baster to siphon out the water. The baster was also used to suck up Carson’s poop at the bottom of his tank. We only needed to remove about half of his water and replace it with fresh. Carson also had his own mason jar for water which sat for a while before being added back to the tank. This all had to be at room temperature and there were special Betta liquid drops that went into the water as well. 

Doing all of this eliminated the need to remove Carson from his tank. This resulted in a healthy and happy fish! This may explain why my previous Bettas didn’t last long in my care. I didn’t clean their tank often enough, plus I removed them from their tank with a net which always seemed to traumatize them when I cleaned out the tank.

I got the call on a Thursday from Carson’s owner saying he was back from Winter Break and would like to make the arrangements to pick Carson up. I knew the call was coming but I was devastated that our guest would be leaving us. How can one fall in love with a fish? Well, I did.

Carson left us on a Saturday morning. Later in the day I went into the living room and was alarmed that his tank wasn’t on the table. I took a moment to breathe and my brain then kicked in and said, “Hey dummy -- he’s gone back to his real owner which you aren’t.” So true, but sad nevertheless.

I have contacted Carson’s owner several times to see how he’s doing. I have mentioned at least twice that we would be more than willing to take care of Carson over Spring Break. Hopefully, his owner will decide to go somewhere and not stay on campus. Only time will tell!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A Betta or a Puggle?

Carson the Fish:

When I put my face right up to his tank and called out his name he would swim over and his flippers would flap up and down a lot. If he was resting and I called his name, he would start swimming around.

Fast Eddie the Puggle:

When I call for Eddie or pet him, he just ignores me unless I have dog treats to give to him, and only then does he respond to me. Basically, he ignores me 23 out of 24 hours a day.