(Not a cel post) My fish died today.

Or last night sometime. He wasn't a particularly expensive fish, as he was just a betta, but he was nifty. I never thought fish were a particularly interactive sort of pet until him. He was this pretty salmon pink and his fins had hints of red, iridescent blue and purple. He was beautiful, and he knew it, so I named him Hotohori.

I first learned that fish (at least some of them) could be interactive pets because Hori-fishie would "dance" whenever I came into his field of view. Evidently, his field of view was more than 12 feet, because he'd start dancing to catch my attention whenever I entered my living room (and his bowl was in the dining room). He was smart too. He'd dance if he'd catch a glimpse of me through the cut-away into the kitchen. You might suggest he'd dance if he saw any movement. Uhm, no. He'd never dance for the cat, or other people. Just for me.

Once in a while, when I was feeding him, he'd come up to the top and crest out over the water, as if in his little fishie mind, he were a great shark. It scared the heck out of him (and me) when he bumped into my finger doing that one time.

The first time he bearded, it frightened me. It was a show of a primal sort of aggression that was simply awesome in its ferocity. I had read that betta would beard, that is puff up their fins and pull forward some other, I guess they are fins too, that normally lie flat against their heads in a "back off and no one gets hurt" threat display. These fish are rather insanely aggressive, as they will beard at each other (so you can never have two betta in the same tank or one will be killed). So, my pretty, placid fish got himself scared by something and bearded. The something? A little figure I have of Dark Magician. Until this last month or so, he'd beard whenever I put the Dark Magician near enough for him to see. So, now we know! Hotohori and Dark Magician are mortal enemies!

Periodically, he'd get all horny, and make bubble rafts in his bowl. He'd get all sulky, make tons of bubbles and be even more pissy than usual. Turns out the male betta is responsible for the young-uns, since they fertilize the eggs then lift them into the bubble rafts and guard them until the little ones are born. Silly, little horny fish! There were never any unfertilized eggs in your tank!

A few months ago I noticed a white patchiness on his top fin. It never did appear like Ick to me, but that's what everyone assumed it was. I got a betta specific medicine to add to his water, and upped changing his water out according the schedule recommended on the medicine. Nothing seemed to help, as his top fin eventually "melted" away. Until two days ago he was energetic enough, and still eating, but I could tell it was pretty close to the end, since his color had faded to merely a pale echo of its previous splendor. Truth be told, he hung on about two months after I thought he'd die. Stubborn, brave, little fish!

So, it wasn't a surprise to find him on his side and still in the bottom of his tank this morning. Still, I'm sad and feel kinda guilty that he died, since I was his owner and responsible for him. This summer, he would have been four years old.

Does it seem silly that I'm going to miss him? Just a fish, not a creature I could cuddle as I do my cat, but, in his own way he developed a language with me, and, well, was a true pet, not just a decorative thing as I had always assumed fish were.

Good-bye, Hori-fishie. I'm gonna miss you!