Our newest addition: Scooter the fish

I was recently at a series of pet stores in the Oregon City/Clackamas area, and wound up coming home with the latest member of our family: Scooter the fish. Scooter is a blue Betta living by himself in his lovely, comfortably lit orange tank. He likes long walks on the rocks, cuddling up next to the aerator with a book and a hot toddy, and watching Friends reruns between toddler hand washings in the sink next to him.

Our biggest challenge with Scooter is keeping Jonah's hands out of the water (well that, and keeping Scooty's morale up. Its a tough gig to be a Betta living in fear of a gigantic toddler hand that could scoop you out at any moment). Wouldn't it be nice if we could pet Scooter, but alas, Scooter is a bit anti-social and feels that it might be to his detriment to be the recipient of such genuine affection. He does love the worms however. Keep those coming.

When I bought little Scoot-boy, the Scoot-master 5000, Scootylicious, Scoot-Man, the Scoot, I was actually just trying to find dog food. In an effort to support local independents, I visited a small pet store on the 99E which was a bust - the smell was a little overpowering, and the fish tanks were in poor condition. Would it kill the employees to wipe off the glass once and a while? So as much as I hated to do it, Petco became the store of choice, and after seeing Jonah completely flip out over the fish tanks, I decided it was time for Jonah's first lesson in the life and times of a fish. And so far, no backfloat tricks or, "Tails up Orlando!" radio programs. Jonah loves to feed him, but at this point Scooter is definitely more of a novelty than a pet for him. But I'm sure that if Scooter makes it, Jonah will get attached soon.

In my quest for knowledge of all things Betta, I came across this site: http://www.bettafishcenter.com/ - I had no idea there was a subculture for Betta fish. There is a subculture for just about everything I think.