Imagine being stuck in a transparent porta-potty where no one walking past you cared to clean or help you escape. Awful, right? That’s how my Betta fish friends were living when they were surrendered to Ahimsa Safe Haven from a grocery store. You’ve probably read or seen people talking about the cruelty of keeping fish in plastic take-out containers at pet stores, yet they’re still being sold and transported all around the globe. This story is different than many of the Betta fish accounts —it has a super sweet ending.
My name is Brittany, and I have a micro-sanctuary where I house several rescued or liberated animals. Thanks to the amazing care and time that Cari from Ahimsa Safe Haven put into taking in so many surrendered Bettas (over 30!) while finding their forever homes, I was able to adopt two of the boys and transport four others to their sweet new families.
My two new Betta residents are named Hex and Jinx. Hex is a radiant, teal colored male that loves to play in bubbles and sit on his leaf hammock. Jinx is a majestic, red colored male that adores swimming right by the filter stream and floating his way down to his mushroom house. The minute they see me walk by or sit by their tank homes, they immediately dart to my direction and stare (either waiting for food or for me to gush over them as I do several times a day). I have always loved fish, from their biology to their fascinating appearances, but I never knew how much personality they all uniquely possessed. While transporting the six Bettas from their stop at the sanctuary to my house, I worried the entire time about injuries or stress… but each time I checked on them, they were quite perky and nosy of what I was doing. When we got home and I laid them all out (still in their cups) in a heated room, they immediately started looking around and staring at one another. Hex was immediately sassy to the boys around him, puffing out to appear larger than them. Through it all, they stayed healthy and curious, ready for something new.
Guest Author
This week’s blog post is brought to us by Brittany Menhart, our Fish and Wildlife Strategic Analyst. Brittany is a new volunteer, having recently moved to Pittsburgh after earning her Bachelor of Science in Biology. Brittany spends most of her time caring for her many animal companions (horses, rabbits, cats, dogs, ponies, and fish) and organizing local animal rights activism events.