The Betta (pronounced bet-a not bay-ta) also sometimes called siamese fighting fish, are a beautiful and often misunderstood fish that are popular in the aquarium hobby. They are popular for a few reasons, they are colorful, have interesting fins, are cheap (on average you can get a common betta fish for under $5) , and are perceived to be easy to take care, all of the above are true to an extent. When you enter a pet shop you will often come across small bowls or even cups intended for housing a betta fish, you will even see some literature that says if you put a plant in with them, they do not need to be fed and can just feed off the plant. Needless to say this is not correct.
I’ve been in the fish hobby all my life, I started with guppies and tetras as a child and my father taught me to care form. During my teenage years, I fell out of the hobby but a few years ago when I moved into my current apartment I got back into. Started with a 10 gallon tank and two betta females (which debateably can be kept together unlike male bettas). I lost one of them within the first 24 hours due to poor water quality (clearly I had a lot to learn), so changed the water, got a better filter, and found out that sorrorities (the term for tanks with multiple betta females) do better with 3-5 bettas rather than two, so i bought 3 more. This ended up being way more succesful and I had some of those fish up until just a few months ago. Eventually one of them did get fin rot but I was able to treat her and she made a full recovery. But I won’t keep babbling about my fish history, the point is I’ve been in this hobby for a while and been constantly learning while in it.
I think that a form of activism I can engage in is to make a care guide for betta fish. The parts of my social media that are not related to politics, or video games, are usually related to fish and come into contact with a lot of newcomers to the hobby, many of whom start with betta fish. By having a concise but detailed page with information on how to properly care for betta fish I can both aid consumers in making educated purchases but also improve of the quality of life of Betta fish. I don’t know how effective my guide will be as I’m not what is called an influencer and do not have massive reach in my social media platforms but if I help one or two consumers and thus help save a few fish it will have been well worth the 10-12 hours that would be put into the guide. Plus if I reach people with this information it doesn’t just save one fish, it is information that can stick with them beyond that first betta, and through word of mouth they can spread it to others, which can help improve the community in general. It also comes down to if you give a man a fish, teach him how to take care of it.
I think there is a lot in the aquarium hobby that could benefit from ecofeminist though and I also hope to express that in my blog. The hobby is extremely masculine, and while of course there are many women that keep fish, I often come across men more so, and the men (especially those in their 30s and 40s) can be very aggressive about their knowledge. While I don’t doubt the kindness of many fishkeepers I do find that there is an overly possessive quality to their fishkeeping habits, they make scapes that can involve sharp rocks, and ornanments that don’t benefit the aquatic life they are keeping and many of them prefer to have fish die (because they can just be replace) than change the habitat they have created for that life. I think this relates heavily to mens view of nature as something to be controlled moreso than cared for,
Hello Nick,
I really enjoyed reading about your activism idea. This is a very unique project and I can’t wait to hear about your results. I also liked how you connected the masculine aggressiveness toward fish-keeping to ecofeminism. This is actually a really good example because fish are obviously part of nature, and the fact that men are possessive over their fishes shows that most men have a patriarchal mentality. I was also surprised to read that it’s mostly men practicing fish-keeping because this sounds like a feminine hobby just because women are closer to animals and nature as a whole. However, now that you mentioned that, it makes sense because I’ve noticed that most men are possessive of their pets and are aggressive toward them. Women, for the most part, are gentler and treat their pets as part of the family.