Waterlogged

After the gold crowntail betta died, I decided no more bettas for awhile. Albert will continue as the official Kitchen Fish, but I’m not adding any more to my study for now. (At least not males. At least not this week.)

Instead, the 2g desktop tank is now home to three dwarf puffers. They’re each a little more than 1/2” long right now, and are getting along reasonably well. There’s plenty of wood, java ferns, java moss, and crypts in the tank for hiding places.

Everything I’ve read indicates that these are bright, inquisitive little fish. And damned if they didn’t swim right up to the glass to see what I was up to with the camera. Most everyone else has to be coaxed into coming near the camera, but not these buggers.

Walmart stops selling live fish (Reuters)

Pet fish got a boost in their popularity after the 2003 hit animated film "Finding Nemo," but the aquatics trend has since faded for some fans.

The leading pet store chains, Petsmart Inc. and privately held Petco, have large aquatic departments. Chappell said that Wal-Mart does not have the appeal of such chains or independent aquatics stores for fish aficionados.

"You see too many floaters," Chappell said of its displays. "You walk in there and there are a bunch of dead fish."

"It's not that consumers don't want fish, it's just, in my opinion, it's just consumers don't want to buy fish there and it's in large part because they don't look particularly healthy," Chappell said.

According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 13.9 million U.S. households own freshwater fish as pets as compared to 43.5 million U.S.households with dogs and 37.7 million with cats.

I wonder when this was "new"?