The Thoughts of An Anxious Person

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Sororities.

Now many people keep female betta fish together in sororities, something that has been argued about for years. People believe females are less aggressive compared to the male betta fish, or better known as a Siamese Fighting Fish. They get this name from their extreme aggression and the ability to kill each other along with other fish. There has been many published studies saying the best environment for any betta is being alone, or with small peaceful fish, as anything else will cause stress, eventually leading to health problems or death.

For the past year, I have worked in a Animal Behavioral Studies lab, where we tested different environments and different fish. Here’s what we found~

(These notes are taken straight off the documented papers from our lab)

Tank A

10 gallon cycled aquarium, heavily planted consisting of one crowntail female betta splendens.

Month 3 showed no physical symptoms of stress and no amount of stress related hormones could be detected in water. Twice a week water was changed at 25%.

Month 6 showed no change, female started to beg during feeding hour, jumping at surface.

Ending results; healthy female expected to live maximum life expectancy.

Tank B

10 gallon cycled aquarium, heavily planted consisting of two halfmoon female betta splendens.

Month 3 showed fin nipping and minimal fighting, no stress lines were present. High hormone levels were tested in the water signifying some level of stress between each fish. Three times a week water was changed at 25%.

Month 6 female #1 needed to be put down due to damage.

Ending results; Female #1 died in result of fighting damage. Female #2 may die from amount of stress experienced during the 6 months.

Tank C

20 gallon long cycled aquarium, heavily planted with pvc pipe hides. Consisting of five assorted female betta splendens.

Month 3 ended with death of female #3 and female #5 and fighting between remaining fish. High level of stress hormones were detected in water both before and after fatalities. Three times a week water was changed at 50%.

Month 6 hormone levels continued to rise and a “pecking order” was established, resulting in 2/3 females to show physical signs of stress and fighting.

Ending results; alpha female expected to survive, other females may crash after a few months.

Tank D

40 gallon cycled aquarium, heavily planted with pvc pipe hides and manzanita drift wood. Consisting of seven assorted female betta splendens.

Month 3 showed no physical signs of stress but extremely high hormone levels tested in water, daily water changes at 50% were in order to help decrease levels.

Month 6 resulted minimal physical signs occurred along with extremely high levels of stress hormones.

Ending results; Females were separated and given away to responsible homes. Any longer together sorority would have crashed.

Males + Females

Some people believe female bettas are able to live happily in a tank with a male betta. This living situation is even more harmful to the fish than sororities. When males and females are put together, there’s often fighting between the two. Both fish attacking each other, releasing stress and mating hormones. Many females become egg bound in this process.

(These notes are taken straight off the documented papers from our lab)

Tank A

10 gallon cycled aquarium, planted with grass and silk plants, along with pvc pipe hides. Consisting of one male plakat Betta Splendens.

Month 3 showed inproved color quality and unique personality. Only betta out of study to be named; Berty. Twice a week water was changed at 25%.

Month 6 no change had occurred, “Berty” eventually went home with professor and in living in a 55 gallon aquarium with cherry shrimp. In both lab aquarium and home no signs of stress were noticed along with zero amounts of stress hormones.

Ending results; “Berty” is expected to live the rest of his life happily in retirement with shrimp.

Tank B

20 gallon long cycled aquarium, heavily planted with both real and silk plants. Consisting of one female and male betta splendens.

Month 3 male attempted to mate two times, female attacked leaving minimal damage. Stress lines had been present on and off while hormone levels continued to rise. A mating hormone and a stress hormone was both detected. Twice a week water was changed at 50%.

Month 6 ended in female being egg bound and eggs were forcibly removed using light pressure. Female then removed.

Ending results; both fish given to good homes, any longer time spent together may have resulted in death of the female.

Tank C

40 gallon cycled aquarium heavily planted with pvc pipe hides, consisting of one male and two female betta splenens.

Month 3 showed no changes. Very low levels of stress hormones could be detected.

Month 6 females showed aggressive behavior towards each other and male. Male hid behind filter for most of the day and swam around during feeding hours and when lightes were off. Some levels of stress hormones could be detected and water was changed twice a week at 25%.

Month 13 longest run test. Female #2 became egg bound and had to be removed. Female #1 began to get overly aggressive with male, had to be removed.

Ending results; female #1 was expected to cause the death of the male. Hormone levels continued to rise to extreme levels and both fish showed no physical signs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The point of me sharing this is to show not everything is physical and can be seen. Most of the time these experiments ended badly.

Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Gelato (via fangirl-in-a-world-full-of-books)

Firstly, this is not about me. It’s about one of my followers. PLEASE READ FULLY! something terrible happened and I need to make a miracle possible for them!

My own cat is/was very sick and many people helped me. One of my followers commented that they were so pleased my cat had been able to be saved, while their own cat was very ill and they didn’t have the money to help the pet, because they were unemployed. I tried to comfort them, but another of my follower chimed in and started to accuse them and shame them for being poor and having a pet. The user with the cat had a breakdown and had to leave my page, now fully emotionally stressed. It went like this: Tiaras Owner: Im happy your cat could be saved! Me: Thank you! Me too! Tiaras Owner: Sadly my cat needs treatment, but I struggle so much and don’t have a job, I can’t even get her checked over. Me: You should make a GoFundMe I am sure a few people would help! Tiaras Owner: I fear we have to put her to sleep, because nobody really donated or helped. I tried to do a yard sale but nothing came of it. Bully: Hey, so did I understand that right? You are poor and have a pet? I don’t want to be that person to tell you, but…that’s really irresponsible of you. If you can’t afford a pet, you shouldn’t have one (and so on and so forth)!! Tiaras Owner: Look, I might lose my best friend, can you please stop, I know all that, I tried to find work for years! Bully: Putting your cat in that situation is really irresponsible and you knew you had no job or income, so you are really to blame for her not getting treatment now. Did you never think about that? If you don’t have money, you shouldn’t gt a pet! This is all paraphrased, but the meaning remains (if needed I have screenshots). I tried to stop her, she then turned on me telling me how she lost all respect for me for telling her off for bullying a person that is already heartbroken, pushing them over the edge until they cried. Long story short, the owner of Tiara had a mental breakdown and had to leave my page, while the Bully just went on ala “I SEE YOU ALL CAN’T HANDEL THE TRUTH HERE”. I think it’s really horrible and ignorant to hurt a stranger like that, especially if they don’t know why all this happens and what the details are. Just because somebody is poor should never mean they can’t have hobbies, or pets or a normal life. Animals are so important for mental health and well-being. I decided to make this post, so Tiara has a fair chance, please spare a dollar and lets all together perform a miracle! My own cat was saved by friends, family and followers - but Tiaras owner doesn’t have such a tight knight community to support them!

PLEASE LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!

https://www.gofundme.com/zc2zk-nana Disclaimer: I don’t know the follower very well, but they follow my page for a few years, often interact friendly and positive with others in the comments and are overall really lovely. this donation call is legit and will help Tiara the cat and nobody else. I also have no gain from this, besides helping a human being who was badly bullied and mistreated. Thank you! <3

Unfortunately, last year was a bad season for growing hay, and they had to pay more than their budget to feed the horses throughout the winter. Now they’re short on hay AND cash and asking for help.

The page for the hay drive is here. A bale of hay only costs $5CAD. I know a lot of us are broke as fuck but if you can spare $5 to help my horse friends, or even just pass this on, I would appreciate it so much!

These are the animals who are relying on A Horse Tale to provide a home and a happy ending:

Balou and Blanco, retired carriage horses

Ulysses and Saari, a bonded pair. Ulysses is a carriage horse who can no longer pull a carriage and Saari was a neglect case who came to us underweight and with laminitis.

Remady, a sweet young mare with neuro and possibly physio issues.

Rocky, a racer who broke an ankle and can no longer race

Buddy, AHT’s first rescue

Jack, a sweet boy who can’t be used for riding because he has Shivers

Smouch, who can’t carry a rider due to a conformation problem

And finally, our only pony, Chocolate!

Like I said, I know that most everyone on tumblr is short on money, but if you can help this place I would appreciate it so, so much. The work they’re doing is incredible, and being able to be there helps my state of mind immensely.