Betta expert

When we got London a fish for Christmas, little did I know how much trouble I was getting myself into. I simply wanted to get a cute little tank, put a Betta in it, put it in her room, and let her feed and take care of him. It's a fish for goodness sake. BUT no, nothing is easy around here. Let me back up...

We went to PetSmart after we got back home from OK and London  picked out a lively blue Betta. He was pretty and we were so excited about our new pet. She named him Walter. Well, once we put him in, he immediately swam to the bottom and really never came up. He hid in the little castle and half the time we could never even find him. He was boring.

The next day he seemed off to me. He would float sideways and his color wasn't as vibrant. He never came up for air and he literally buried himself in that castle. I began doing some research and discovered that the water might be too cold. I decided to get a thermometer but the next morning we woke up to him floating at the top. I was sad. London thought it would be pretty cool to flush him. Lily was heartbroken and kept asking why Walter wasn't in his "cage."
So, before going back for another fish, J decided to do some research. We found out lots about cycling out your tank, toxins in the water, water pressure, water temperature, how ofter to clean out the tank, Betta diseases, Bettas jumping out of their tanks, chemicals in the water....and the list goes on and on. After spending too much time studying these fish, we headed back out and let London pick out another one. This time she picked out a red one. She tried naming him Kermie but for some reason we all keep calling him Walter again. We are letting the tank "cycle" out and we are cleaning out about 20% of the water every day. Yes, every day until the tank has "good bacteria" in it? Oh, which apparently you need some kind of device that detects that.

The pink mermaid fish tank is now in my kitchen. There is a lamp beside him to help keep him warm. It's totally messing up my decor in there. We have to keep an eye on him though and then I read somewhere that fish like to be around people? So, now I feel bad sticking him up there all alone in London's room while she's at school all day. This whole thing is turning into one big mess. A pink fish tank right smack in the middle of my kitchen counter? How long can this go on?

But the new Walter seems to be acting normal and he seems healthier. We'll see how long we can keep him around.

Meet Walter...I mean Kermie??