#but i recently lost my betta fish

[samanthaworm]

Painted this

[christinathezakumechanic]

I think anthropomorphization have done a lot to harm animals too. I bring this up because I was just on a call with a wildlife conservationist recently discussing the betta genus and how they are kept in aquariums. Ive been pretty interested in keeping the betta splendens species for a little while now so I was talking with him a bit about them. Human breeding of this fish species has so greatly fucked them up genetically that some people cant get theirs anywhere close to the normal lifespan. All because some bastard somewhere thought "ooh this fish with naturally short fins would look really cool with insanely long flowy fins, im going to try to breed them to that point!". Its the same with shortbody fish. Or purebred dogs. Its just not healthy for them. Yet when PETA released an article on betta fish care they had so much fucking information incorrect. they saw people keeping bettas in tanks alone and their first thought was "oh no that poor fish must be so lonely!" And with no research said that the females should be kept in groups in their article. Betta splendens is one of the most aggressive nano fish in the aquarium hobby, while the females are a bit more passive, sororities are never recommended. When I bought my most recent dwarf crayfish he had lost about 60% of his limbs and needed to be hand fed because of a betta attacking him in the holding tank(Hes regenerated them since then) because somebody forgot to secure some part of the lid and a betta jumped in. There are betta fish fights on youtube(Against TOS so most get taken down). because of how aggressive they are. When PETA made an article on them they didnt talk about anything in detail. Their little crappy "betta fish in 30 seconds" is just a compilation of pictures of dead fish. They didnt talk about any of the issues that have lead here and how you can ethically keep them. Its probably the most infuriating article on fishkeeping I have read that wasnt from petco. The whole "solitary confinement" thing also really irked me, especially when they said they could be put in community tanks. While its true that sometimes betta fish can be very calm and peaceful and do well in communities its absolutely not recommended. And the whole surface plants restricting breathing is kinda sorta nonsense, especially when floating plants are used to prevent jumping, which can happen if the fish gets startled while disoriented. Ive kinda rambled here, and I could go on and on. about their poor information(although they did write a much better article later on), but much of what those 2 articles are is just kinda stuff to try and make themselves feel better, with little to no care about the situation. The information they give is insanely generalized and not precise enough to actually explain anything about the fish. If you care about the wellbeing of these animals FUCKING RESEARCH THEM. FIGURE OUT HOW TO PROVIDE THE BEST CARE. Theres so much thats wrong with the US fish trade and its just infuriating to see people who say they care doing so fucking little to protect these animals. "Stop selling them!!" is what they say, but that isnt going to happen. People like keeping pets, bettas make for good fish to keep as pets so they get sold. So for fucks sake ensure that they are kept well and promote good breeding instead of those massive farms instead of sitting around crying for a change which isnt going to happen while animals suffer.

anti-egg vegans are always a hoot. like, she’s not using it. it’s not fertilized. it’s going to rot and attract predators. you want me to just throw it in the trash??

[asdcats]

For Special Interest Sunday!

This is perhaps a bit more of a hyperfixation since I learned about it just recently but it fits wirh my major and I would love to work on this as my job!

Currently obsessing over betta fish sex (not the verb)!

In 1975 a group of researchers tried to sterilize a few hundred female bettas and of the surving fish, 1/3 regrew an ovary! And the other 2/3s grew testes and developed into males which were able to produce healthy offspring. Of these offspring the majority of them were female! Suggesting that the chromosomes of the majority of the new male bettas where ones which coded for females, not males. Recently this has been picked up again and a gene was found through gene sequencing which relates to agression, size/color, and sex of the fish. So if a chromosomal female has this gene, and is sterilized, it’s likely that she will develop testes. This gene is common in domestic bettas because of the fighting which these fish were originally and in some places still are bred for.

Here’s a link to the article I read since I may have gotten some information wrong: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/betta-fish-sex-determination/618889/

And as an aside! Through domestication Zebra fish, a very common model organism, lost their sex chromosome, making predicting the sex of the fish nearly impossible, and lines in labs can be cut off due to one sex just no longer being born (or converted since some fish do that).

.

[kingstylesdaily]

Stevie Nicks Answers All Our Questions About Harry Styles

Of all the disciples to worship at the altar of Stevie Nicks, none have managed to capture the attention of rock’s reigning priestess quite like Harry Styles.

The 26-year-old rocker (who this week received three Grammy nominations) is the Gucci-clad poster boy carrying the torch for a bygone era of music history that the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman helped crystallize. Styles recently cited the group’s 1977 (and still charting) classic “Dreams” as one of the first songs he learned the words to growing up. Their friendship began in 2015 after the former One Direction member presented his idol with a hand-piped birthday cake after a Fleetwood Mac gig in London. (“Glad she liked carrot cake,” he later said.) The years since have seen the duo’s mutual affection blossom into one of pop culture’s most cherished bondings.

Last year, when Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he proclaimed the 72-year-old “everything you’ve ever wanted in a lady, a lover, in a friend.” Nicks has gushed about him in interviews as everything from “the son she never had” to her “love child” with bandmate Mick Fleetwood. Styles earned her official seal of approval after covering “The Chain” every night of his first solo tour in support of a record that sounds closer to Crosby, Stills & Nash than anything he released under his prior band.

“Harry could’ve lost a lot of fans, but he didn’t,” Nicks recently told Vogue over the phone. “I’m so proud of him because he took a risk and didn’t go the One Direction route. He loves One Direction, I love One Direction, and a gazillion other people do too, but Harry didn’t wanna go the pop route. He wanted straight-up rock and roll circa 1975.”  

Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers as both Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and solo sorceress—and doing so amid a global pandemic. Since she last performed with Styles at the Forum for his Fine Line release show in December, she’s released a 24 Karat Gold concert film and “Show Them the Way,” her politically minded single and first piece of original music in six years. After Miley Cyrus asked for Nicks’s blessing before releasing her “Edge of Seventeen”–tinged “Midnight Sky,” the two joined forces for an exhilarating new mash-up titled “Edge of Midnight.”

In honor of Styles making history as the magazine’s first solo cover boy, Nicks caught up with Vogue to answer all our questions about their cosmic connection. Currently beachside with her quarantine bubble in Hawaii, she’s been doing what one would expect Stevie Nicks to be up to during a pandemic: writing new music, dancing around her house to “Watermelon Sugar,” and “casting little spells.” As befitting rock���s foremost storyteller, our intended 30-minute chat turned into a two-hour confessional about her love of Styles, working with Cyrus for the first time, joining Fleetwood Mac, the president-elect Joe Biden, the Met Gala, betta fish funerals, and much more.

ksd note: edited to only include Q&A about Stevie and Harry!

Did you get a chance to look through Harry’s cover story yet?  

Right before I called you, I sat here and looked at all the pictures on my new iPad. What can I say? That’s my Harry. I think the thing that’s most wonderful about him—and I’ve told him this, and sometimes I think he takes it the wrong way—is that he’s such a kooky guy. He’s the type of person you’d wanna live next door to. He’d look out the window, see you having a hard time planting flowers, and rush out asking, “Can I help you with those roses?” “Sure, but you are Harry Styles, right?” That’s who he is.

I really only know him to a certain extent, but I have gotten to experience some big moments in his life, like when he released his first solo record at the Troubadour. I always think of Tom Petty saying, “So, you wanna be a rock star or you wanna be a pop star?” It’s two completely different things, and he really could have gone pop like his friend Zayn [Malik]. I was sorry that Zayn didn’t keep going more because I thought he was really good. But he took the pop route, which I think was right for him. Harry could’ve lost a lot of fans doing rock and roll, but he didn’t. Harry did a long tour with that first record and said, “I’m a different person now. I have a full-on rock band, and this is what I’m gonna do.” With many of my records, I’ll stuff down peoples’ throats until they like it, and that’s exactly what he did. Then he went away and wrote Fine Line, one of my favorite records.

What were your immediate thoughts listening to Fine Line for the first time?

Me and four of my friends sat with Harry in his living room  in London and listened to it a few times before it came out. But it wasn’t really Fine Line yet. The first time we listened to it, nobody really said anything. The second time everyone started to go, “I think this song is great, but it should be second in the sequence.” By the third listen, it was five girls screaming, “Well, Harry really now, I think you need to take these four that are called Harry Songs and do this and that—” while he’s sinking in his reclining chair thinking, Are these women ever gonna leave? Thanks for your opinions, but oh, my God, stop already.  

What changed when you heard the record in it’s finished form?

This record means a lot to me. When it was all put together, I listened and said, “Oh, my god, the Beatles live.” A whole lot of people live in these songs. Fleetwood Mac lives there. I live there. When I listen to “Fine Line,” I hear melodies that would’ve worked on “A Day in the Life. “It has that same kind of complexity. I think the Beatles would’ve thought, Here we’ve influenced a young man who took some incredible things from us and made them his own years and years later.

Earlier this year you posted a message saying that Fine Line is Harry’s Rumours. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?

When Harry asked me to do “Landslide” with him at the Forum, I asked why, and he said, “Because I want you to be there. You were there for my first night at the Troubadour for the first record.” That night I wrote him a letter that said, “This is your Rumours so you have to really respect it and adore it because these kinds of records sometimes don’t ever come again.” Fleetwood Mac went on to make many great records, but people would bet their life on the fact that Rumours was the one. And this might just be the one for Harry. We were all kind of the same age when we made Rumours. I was 28, and Lindsey [Buckingham] was 27. I actually don’t even know how old Harry is—he’s that timeless to me.

Do you have a personal favorite of his songs?

Every one represents a different thing to me. “Sunflower” is such a great little song. He loves to do crazy videos, and one time I called him and said, “I have an idea. You’re gonna be a bee, and the sunflower would be your girlfriend, and you guys would get married and live in a beehive with your little bee children. You’d sing the lyrics ‘kiss in the kitchen like it’s a dance floor duh duh duh’ and show this entire bee relationship.” 

What did he think of that pitch?

When I finished, the other end of the phone was silent. I said, “No, really, think about it. It’ll be fantastical like a Francis Ford Coppola movie.” He’s like, “Yeah, okay...” [laughs]. I also love the “Adore You” video with the little fish because I have my own special relationships with fish.

In what sense?

I always have two beta fish, but they have to be separated otherwise they’ll kill each other. I stick my finger into their aquarium, and the blue one will swim around my hand like a little dolphin. When my fish get old and suddenly die, I have funerals for them in my backyard where I play Celine Dion. I have them filmed, and everything [laughs]. It’s too much, but I thankfully haven’t had any recent fish deaths. I haven’t even been able to sit down and show Harry the videos of my little fish, so when I saw the “Adore You” video, I couldn’t believe it.

Why is it important for you to foster these relationships with younger artists like Harry who’ve been so openly influenced by you?

I’m inspired by them. I’m inspired that Miley wants to make music with me. I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans—and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make. I’m not like other 72-year-olds. I listen to current music because I want to be current. When people find out how old I am versus the music I’m listening to, they think it doesn’t gel at all. I’ve been collecting musical knowledge since I was in the fourth grade listening to the singles my grandfather used to bring home. I listened to Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers until the sixth grade when R&B radio became Top 40. I said goodbye country and hello R&B, so it’s not like I’m ever stuck on one thing. What I love about Harry is that he’s very old school but still modern. And that’s kinda like me.

You both also transitioned from massive groups to equally massive solo careers rather seamlessly.

When I decided I wanted to be a solo artist, I’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a few years. I tried to figure out a way to do it gracefully because I didn’t wanna break up the band. I just wanted to sit at my piano and write poetry. After we did a record and a really long tour, the band scurried off to different parts of the world while I’d just be home writing songs for a year and a half. What did they care what I did while they were all on vacation? I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I’ve had: If you’re in a band first, never break it up.

Do you think One Direction would ever reunite?

I think it’s a good idea. For all we know, One Direction is completely broken up forever. But I think those guys are friends, and five or ten years down the road, they could all go, “You know what, wouldn’t it be really fun to do a One Direction tour?” Because that’s what people do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did reunite at some point just because they can. And because it would just be fun. Harry is the kind of person who would never stomp on that idea. He would never say, [imitates posh English accent] “Never! I would never do that again!” Because why not just keep the door open?

Was there any particular detail or passage in Harry’s cover story that stuck out to you?

According to this article, he can get in a car with his friend to drive all over Europe then drive back by himself. I stopped driving in 1978 because my driver’s license expired and I’d already made a lot of money. I very smartly thought, “You know what, if someone even hits you and it’s not even your fault but you’re a little drunk, you are done. You’re finished, and the fortune that you’ve made is gone, so why should you drive anyway?” By then me and Christine were very cloistered, but Harry’s able to live a freer life because he’s a guy. He’s like Mick. He has a free life.

Would you say that you don’t?

I’m only comparing us in the way that Harry goes off to the Bahamas to work on songs, then flies back to L.A., then London, then Italy—I can’t do that. I can’t do that by myself. He’s able to do whatever he wants by himself, and it’s a whole different way of life. Being that Harry is a guy, he’s able to be a loner more than I am. As a woman, I’m not free to do all that. Even when I was his age, I couldn’t just get off anywhere I wanted. When we were on the road, Christine and I didn’t have a clue in the world what the boys did. We went to our rooms with security guys standing outside. It’s not like we ever escaped to go club-hopping in downtown Manhattan. We never got to live that life, so freedom as Harry knows it is very different than it’s been for me.

Did you ever have any figure in your life who provided some sense of mentorship the way you have to artists like Harry?

I didn’t really have anyone. If I had any guiding force at all, it probably would’ve been Christine McVie because she was five years older than me. And five years is five years, you know? Chris was friends with Eric Clapton and knew all the famous musicians in London. She’d married John [McVie] and done a bunch of records with Fleetwood Mac before I came along, so she’d been in the music business for a long time. I was breaking up with Lindsey when she was breaking up with John. She was my therapist and my go-to person for just about everything. We had each other to get through that really difficult situation where no one was gonna quit the band. Christine and I kept the whole thing together by telling the three men, “You quit because we’re not stopping” Thank God I had her, but on the other side of that, thank God she had me. We really were a force of nature.

** I’m curious to what extent fashion plays a role in your and Harry’s relationship. Have you** gifted him any accessories that were significant to you?

I actually gave him a ring at the Forum thing. It’s very masculine and has a pink stone in it. I told him it was a pink diamond, but it really isn’t. It would’ve cost $5 million. It was mine, and I really loved it, but I thought, This should be for Harry. You can see it on his hands in the “Falling” video where he’s playing the piano. If Harry and I were in a band together, we’d be trading all kinds of crazy stuff.

What are your thoughts on him being the first solo male cover in Vogue’s history?

It makes me feel so inspired. I’m extremely jealous he’s on the cover of Vogue because I’m 72 years old and have wanted to be on the cover my whole life. I’m such a magazine hag, so I’m incredibly jealous of Harry, but I’ll get over it. As far as all the crazy things he’s wearing, you do whatever you have to do to be on the cover of Vogue. I’m very proud of him, and I think it’s great that there’s a man on the cover…but I should’ve been in the corner off in the distance [laughs]. Did you know I’ve never been to the Met Gala?

We would be honored to have you at the next gala and every one after that. I’m putting this in the article to make sure it’s in the public record.

As Mick Jagger says, “We still have our freedom, but we don’t have much time.” I would like to be not much older than I am now so I can wear a fantastic outfit and entertain everybody. It’s a dream of mine, and most of my dreams have come true, but I need to not be 90 when it happens.

Harry and you could perform together.

We wouldn’t even have to rehearse. We’ve got a couple of duets that are really great. We do “Landslide” and “Two Ghosts” together really well. We actually have five or six terrific acoustic numbers that we could do at the drop of a hat.

You hinted earlier this year that there might be a role for Harry in the miniseries based on the stories of Rhiannon. Is there any update there?

This is probably the third-biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life after Fleetwood Mac and my solo career. There’s a lot to be done in the movie business before I can start riding my horses across the mountains of Wales. I’ve signed with a movie company—I’m not gonna tell you who—and we just signed a writer. I’m not gonna tell you who that is either, but there’s an amazing part for Harry. My favorite character in the series is the only man who goes through all four books. He’s a magician who doesn’t wanna be king, and I think Harry would just be so perfect.

Have you and Harry discussed collaborating on any future music together?

We’re open to making music together because we’ve been very successful when we go onstage just to do one song. I would love to be in a band with Harry, but even if I never saw him in person again, he’s made a record that breaks my heart in a million places like Fine Line. As far as music goes, there’s plenty of fun things that he and I could do. We can just reach out to each other and do it. I’m always ready to slip back into those high-heel black suede boots and become my alter ego.

via Vogue.com

[hlupdate]

Of all the disciples to worship at the altar of Stevie Nicks, none have managed to capture the attention of rock's reigning priestess quite like Harry Styles.

The 26-year old rocker (who this week received three Grammy nominations) is the Gucci-clad poster-boy carrying the torch for a bygone era of music history that the Fleetwood Mac front-woman helped crystallize. Styles recently cited the group's 1977 (and still charting) classic “Dreams” as one of the first songs he learned the words to growing up. Their friendship began in 2015 after the former One Direction member presented his idol with a hand-piped birthday cake after a Fleetwood Mac gig in London. (“Glad she liked carrot cake,” he later said.) The years since have seen the duo's mutual affection blossom into one of pop culture‘s most cherished bondings.

Last year, when Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he proclaimed the 72-year old “everything you’ve ever wanted in a lady, a lover, in a friend.” Nicks has gushed about him in interviews as everything from “the son she never had” to the “love child” of her and bandmate Mick Fleetwood. Styles earned her official seal of approval after covering “The Chain” every night of his first solo tour in support of a record that sounds closer to Crosby, Stills & Nash than anything he released under his prior band.

“Harry could've lost a lot of fans but he didn't. I’m so proud of him because he took a risk and didn’t go the One Direction route," Nicks recently told Vogue over the phone. "He loves One Direction, I love One Direction, and a gazillion other people do too, but Harry didn't wanna go the pop route. He wanted straight-up rock-and-roll circa 1975.”

Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers as both Fleetwood Mac front-woman and solo sorceress—and doing so in the midst of a global pandemic. Since she last performed with Styles at the Forum for his Fine Line release show in December, she’s released a 24 Karat Gold concert film and “Show Them the Way,” her politically-minded single and first piece of original music in six years. After Miley Cyrus asked for Nicks's blessing before releasing her “Edge of Seventeen”-tinged “Midnight Sky,” the two joined forces for an exhilarating new mash-up titled “Edge of Midnight."

In honor of Styles making history as the magazine’s first solo cover-boy, Nicks caught up with Vogue to answer all our questions about their cosmic connection. Currently beachside with her quarantine bubble in Hawaii, she’s been doing what one would expect Stevie Nicks to be up to during a pandemic: writing new music, dancing around her house to “Watermelon Sugar“ and “casting little spells.” As befitting rock’s foremost storyteller, our intended 30-minute chat turned into a two-hour confessional about her love of Styles, working with Cyrus for the first time, joining Fleetwood Mac, the president-elect Joe Biden, the Met Gala, betta fish funerals, and much more.

Did you get a chance to look through Harry's cover story yet?  

Right before I called you I sat here and looked at all the pictures on my new iPad. What can I say? That's my Harry. I think the thing that’s most wonderful about him—and I've told him this and sometimes I think he takes it the wrong way—is that he’s such a kooky guy. He’s the type of person you'd wanna live next door to. He’d look out the window, see you having a hard time planting flowers and rush out asking "Can I help you with those roses?" "Sure but you are Harry Styles, right?" That's who he is.

I really only know him to a certain extent but I have gotten to experience some big moments in his life like when he released his first solo record at the Troubadour. I always think of Tom Petty saying "So you wanna be a rock star or you wanna be a pop star?" It's two completely different things and he really could have gone pop like his friend Zayn [Malik]. I was sorry that Zayn didn't keep going more because I thought he was really good. But he took the pop route, which I think was right for him. Harry could've lost a lot of fans doing rock-and-roll but he didn't. Harry did a long tour with that first record and said “I'm a different person now. I have a full-on rock band and this is what I'm gonna do.” With many of my records I’ll stuff down peoples' throats until they like it and that's exactly what he did. Then he went away and wrote Fine Line, one of my favorite records.

What were your immediate thoughts listening to Fine Line for the first time?

Me and four of my friends sat with Harry in his living room  in London and listened to it a few times before it came out. But it wasn't really Fine Line yet. The first time we listened to it nobody really said anything. The second time everyone started to go "I think this song is great but it should be second in the sequence." By the third listen it was five girls screaming "Well Harry really now, I think you need to take these four that are called "Harry Songs" and do this and that—” while he’s sinking in his reclining chair thinking "Are these women ever gonna leave? Thanks for your opinions but oh my god stop already."

What changed when you heard the record in it’s finished form?

This record means a lot to me. When it was all put together I listened and said "Oh my god, The Beatles live." A whole lot of people live in these songs. Fleetwood Mac lives there. I live there. When I listen to "Fine Line” I hear melodies that would've worked on “A Day in the Life.“ It has that same kind of complexity. I think the Beatles would've thought “Here we’ve influenced a young man who took some incredible things from us and made them his own years and years later.”

Earlier this year you posted a message saying that Fine Line is Harry’s Rumours. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?

When Harry asked me to do "Landslide" with him at the Forum I asked why and he said "Because I want you to be there. You were there for my first night at the Troubadour for the first record.” That night I wrote him a letter that said “This is your Rumours so you have to really respect it and adore it because these kinds of records sometimes don't ever come again.” Fleetwood Mac went on to make many great records but people would bet their life on the fact that Rumours was the one. And this might just be the one for Harry. We were all kind of the same age when we made Rumours. I was 28 and Lindsey was 27. I actually don't even know how old Harry is—he's that timeless to me.

Do you have a personal favorite of his songs?

Every one represents a different thing to me. “Sunflower” is such a great little song. He loves to do crazy videos and one time I called him and said “I have an idea. You're gonna be a bee and the sunflower would be your girlfriend, and you guys would get married and live in a beehive with your little bee children. You’d sing the lyrics “kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor duh duh duh” and show this entire bee relationship.”

What did he think of that pitch?

When I finished the other end of the phone was silent. I said "No really, think about it. It’ll be fantastical like a Francis Ford Coppola movie.” He’s like “Yeah, okay...” (laughs). I also love the "Adore You” video with the little fish because I have my own special relationships with fish.

In what sense?

I always have two betta fish but they have to be separated otherwise they'll kill each other. I stick my finger into their aquarium and the blue one will swim around my hand like a little dolphin. When my fish get old and suddenly die I have funerals for them in my backyard where I play Celine Dion. I have them filmed and everything (laughs). It’s too much but I thankfully haven’t had any recent fish deaths. I haven't even been able to sit down and show Harry the videos of my little fish so when I saw the “Adore You” video I couldn’t believe it.

Why is it important for you to foster these relationships with younger artists like Harry who’ve been so openly influenced by you?

I'm inspired by them. I'm inspired that Miley wants to make music with me. I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans—and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make. I’m not like other 72-year olds. I listen to current music because I want to be current. When people find out how old I am versus the music I'm listening to they think it doesn't gel at all. I’ve been collecting musical knowledge since I was in the fourth grade listening to the singles my grandfather used to bring home. I listened to Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers until the sixth grade when R&B radio became Top 40. I said goodbye country and hello R&B, so it’s not like I'm ever stuck on one thing. What I love about Harry is that he's very old-school but still modern. And that's kinda like me.

You both also transitioned from massive groups to equally massive solo careers rather seamlessly.

When I decided I wanted to be a solo artist I'd only been in Fleetwood Mac for a few years. I tried to figure out a way to do it gracefully because I didn’t wanna break up the band. I just wanted to sit at my piano and write poetry. After we did a record and a really long tour the band scurried off to different parts of the world while I’d just be home writing songs for a year and a half. What did they care what I did while they were all on vacation? I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I've had: if you're in a band first, never break it up.

I know Beyoncé because I spent a day with Destiny’s Child making the “Bootylicious” video. I owe them a debt of gratitude because that’s the one time I ever got to pretend I played rock-and-roll guitar! But when Beyoncé made the decision to be a solo artist she did not see herself going back to Destiny's Child every couple of years. And that's a perfectly acceptable decision because sometimes that's what people wanna do. I, on the other hand, said why not have the ability to go back to Fleetwood Mac whenever I want? Being a Gemini I get bored really easily, so being able to have those two careers was great.

Do you think One Direction would ever reunite?

I think it's a good idea. For all we know, One Direction is completely broken up forever. But I think those guys are friends and five or ten years down the road they could all go "You know what, wouldn't it be really fun to do a One Direction tour?" Because that's what people do. I wouldn't be surprised if they did reunite at some point just because they can. And because it would just be fun. Harry is the kind of person who would never stomp on that idea. He would never say (imitates posh English accent) "Never! I would never do that again!" Because why not just keep the door open?

Was there any particular detail or passage in Harry’s cover story that stuck out to you?

According to this article he can get in a car with his friend to drive all over Europe then drive back by himself. I stopped driving in 1978 because my driver's license expired and I'd already made a lot of money. I very smartly thought "You know what, if someone even hits you and it's not even your fault but you're a little drunk, you are done. You're finished and the fortune that you've made is gone, so why should you drive anyway?” By then me and Christine were very cloistered, but Harry's able to live a freer life because he's a guy. He's like Mick. He has a free life.

Would you say that you don’t?

I'm only comparing us in the way that Harry goes off to the Bahamas to work on songs then flies back to LA then London then Italy—I can't do that. I can't do that by myself. He's able to do whatever he wants by himself and it's a whole different way of life. Being that Harry is a guy, he's able to be a loner more than I am. As a woman I'm not free to do all that. Even when I was his age I couldn't just get off anywhere I wanted. When we were on the road Christine and I didn't have a clue in the world what the boys did. We went to our rooms with security guys standing outside. It's not like we ever escaped to go club-hopping in downtown Manhattan. We never got to live that life so freedom as Harry knows it is very different than it’s been for me.

Did you ever have any figure in your life who provided some sense of mentorship the way you have to artists like Harry?

I didn't really have anyone. If I had any guiding force at all it probably would've been Christine McVie because she was five years older than me. And five years is five years, you know? Chris was friends with Eric Clapton and knew all the famous musicians in London. She’d married John [McVie] and done a bunch of records with Fleetwood Mac before I came along so she'd been in the music business for a long time. I was breaking up with Lindsey when she was breaking up with John. She was my therapist and my go-to person for just about everything. We had each other to get through that really difficult situation where no one was gonna quit the band. Christine and I kept the whole thing together by telling the three men "You quit because we're not stopping” Thank god I had her, but I think on the other side of that thank god she had me. We really were a force of nature.

I’m curious to what extent fashion plays a role in your and Harry’s relationship. Have you gifted him any accessories that were significant to you?

I actually gave him a ring at the Forum thing. It’s very masculine and has a pink stone in it. I told him it was a pink diamond but it really isn't, it would've cost $5 million. It was mine and I really loved it but I thought "This should be for Harry.” You can see it on his hands in the "Falling" video where he’s playing the piano. If Harry and I were in a band together we’d be trading all kinds of crazy stuff.

How did you come to decide on your all-black stage uniform?

I started getting paid when I joined Fleetwood Mac but up until then I didn't have any money to buy food. All of a sudden we were going on tour so I just packed up my normal clothes. We started eating because there was room service and there I was gaining ten pounds in the middle of the tour. I didn't fit in any of the clothes and I didn't have time to shop so when I got home I said “I can never do this again.” I knew a friend who knew a designer and I told her I needed a uniform because I can't be thinking about what I wanna wear every night. It makes it so much easier since everybody that's in Pittsburgh isn't necessarily gonna be in Philadelphia. Harry's done the same thing with his white pants and pink shirt.

What are your thoughts on him being the first solo male cover in Vogue’s history?

It makes me feel so inspired. I'm extremely jealous he's on the cover of Vogue because I'm seventy-two years old and have wanted to be on the cover my whole life. I’m such a magazine hag, so I’m incredibly jealous of Harry but I'll get over it. As far as all the crazy things he's wearing, you do whatever you have to do to be on the cover of Vogue. I'm very proud of him and I think it's great that there's a man on the cover… but I should've been in the corner off in the distance (laughs). Did you know I've never been to the Met Gala?

We would be honored to have you at the next gala and every one after that. I’m putting this in the article to make sure it’s in the public record.

As Mick Jagger says, "We still have our freedom, but we don't have much time." I would like to be not much older than I am now so I can wear a fantastic outfit and entertain everybody. It's a dream of mine and most of my dreams have come true, but I need to not be ninety when it happens.

Harry and you could perform together.

We wouldn't even have to rehearse. We've got a couple of duets that are really great. We do "Landslide" and “Two Ghosts” together really well. We actually have five or six terrific acoustic numbers that we could do at the drop of a hat.

You hinted earlier this year that there might be a role for Harry in the miniseries based on the stories of Rhiannon. Is there any update there?

This is probably the third-biggest thing I've ever done in my life after Fleetwood Mac and my solo career. There’s a lot to be done in the movie business before I can start riding my horses across the mountains of Wales. I've signed with a movie company—I'm not gonna tell you who—and we just signed a writer. I'm not gonna tell you who that is either but there’s an amazing part for Harry. My favorite character in the series is the only man who goes through all four books. He's a magician who doesn't wanna be king and I think Harry would just be so perfect.

Have you and Harry discussed collaborating on any future music together?

We're open to making music together because we've been very successful when we go onstage just to do one song. I would love to be in a band with Harry but even if I never saw him in person again he’s made a record that breaks my heart in a million places like Fine Line. As far as music goes there's plenty of fun things that he and I could do. We can just reach out to each other and do it. I’m always ready to slip back into those high-heel black suede boots and become my alter ego.

This interview has been edited for clarity and space.

[deltacandyfox]

Fighting an algae outbreak in Nyx's tank. Had to get some algae treatment. But we're gonna get it all taken care of. Nyx is still doing great though. Although she gave me a scare yesterday. I think she must have seen my laptop screen and got super upset.

She hates screens so much I won't even use my TV cause I won't put her through that. But I always have to be super careful with my laptop cause in instances she does see it she panics.

Poor thing is just so nervous, but I bought some more decorations recently. Gotta get them cleaned and see if anything needs to be sanded or cut off. I'm super careful with stuff cause she's already hurt herself squeezing into a decorative volcano where the tubing went and lost some scales on her back. It was quite some time ago, but it was upsetting to find.

This picture is older but have a Nyx with her gorgeous eyes!

Picture description: (Grey female betta fish with ruby fins facing to the left. Eye shown is bright amber with bits of red orange and black.) End of picture description

[katieskarlette]

LiLi  

19 Nov 2019 to 8 Feb 2021

Vinnie

13 March 2019 to 18 January 2021

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

My heart is broken.  Between these two recent losses and the betta who succumbed to old age earlier in January, I’ve lost half my beloved fish so far this year.

Vinnie was never as robust as his tankmate, Sally (who was purchased the same day from the same tank at the store).  She was half again his size.  He began to have trouble staying upright, lying sideways on the bottom, and a couple days later he stopped eating.  I used clove oil to end his suffering.  It was terribly sad but I had seen it coming for months since he was lagging behind Sally.  Sometimes goldfish (especially ones with pet store genetics) just fail to thrive, and when they reach around the two year mark something goes haywire and that’s it.  I’ve seen it before, so I knew the signs, but Vinnie was a really sweet little fish and I would loved to have him around longer.

LiLi’s passing was an utter shock, however.  She had been absolutely normal--eating, swimming, napping, being friendly--until suddenly she went sideways/upside down and appeared to be partly paralyzed while having twitching fits.  About an hour later she was gone.  Boom, just like that.  No warning signs at all.  She had always been an active fish who really seemed to enjoy life, and she had been growing a lot.  She had a great relationship with her tankmate, Maui, and was always friendly to people, too.  She loved swimming through the bubble curtain and perching herself on top of plants to nap.  She ate lunch enthusiastically that day, had her usual afternoon snooze with Maui in their favorite spots, then was up, bopping around, acting like her usual perky self, and then...something catastrophic happened inside her, and she was gone.

I wasn’t having a great few weeks anyway, as far as mental health goes, but I had been plodding along.  This absolutely devastated me.  I actually called into work today because I just wasn’t up to it.  I’m slowly getting myself together now, but I’m still in a state of shock.

I’ve had a few other goldfish in the past 19 years who have keeled over this fast, but it’s very rare, and I’ve never watched the whole thing happen in front of my eyes.  Other times I saw them being totally normal, then an hour or two later looked and found them dead.  This time I saw it all, helpless to do a damn thing about it.  I keep reliving it in my mind.

My fish are like my babies.  I’ve cried so much in the last 48 hours my eyes are a wreck and my head feels like I’ve been conked with a baseball bat.

So now I have a 55-gallon tank and a 37-gallon tank, each with a single goldfish in it.  The next step seems obvious, right?  Take Sally out of the 37-gallon and have her join Maui in the 55-gallon.  Except I tried to introduce her to LiLi and Maui shortly after Vinnie died, and she was a holy terror.  

Backing up, I had long suspected I guessed the sexes of both Sally and Vinnie wrong.  Sally would occasionally get into a mood where she would chase Vinnie relentlessly.  She actually had been doing that just before his final decline, which I’m sure didn’t help him any, but as I said he had been showing signs of not thriving long before that incident.

LiLi was a bit more than twice Sally’s size, and Maui is half again LiLi’s size, so I didn’t figure Sally’s aggression would go anywhere.  For the first few hours they were together, they seemed to get along great!  They swam together, smelling and inspecting each other, with her following them around the tank in a “let me give you the grand tour” kind of way, but there were no signs of aggression.  They ate supper together with no more jostling than usual for goldfish.  Then, a few hours into the evening, Sally just went nuts.  She started chasing the other two, driving hard into them, pushing them over, just being a huge pain in the peduncle.  She took after Maui more than LiLi, but she’d break off from harassing him to chase her around a bit, too.  At first I thought they were just working out a pecking order and let them sort it out, but it continued for a half hour without a lull, and I could tell Maui and LiLi were getting really stressed.  Sally got a stern talking-to and a trip back into the 37-gallon tank.

Sally’s been quite content by herself in the weeks since then.  I expected her to get lonely and mopey, but so far she really hasn’t.  She’s been active, her appetite is good, and she seems to get her social needs met by me spending the vast majority of my leisure time in the computer chair an arm’s length away from her.

Goldfish almost always need another member of their species around to bond with and socialize with.  I’ve had goldfish who have deeply mourned their tank mates and been lethargic and bored by themselves.  I’ve only had one who preferred to be alone.  I’m hoping Sally isn’t the second.

Maybe the dynamic will be different with only one other fish to get to know instead of two.  Maybe because she’s been by herself for much longer now she’ll be happier to see another of her own kind.  I don’t know, but I have to try.  If Sally and Maui can share the bigger tank, I can get another pair of tiny ones to grow up in the 37-gallon.  If they can’t cohabitate then I’m left trying to find a new tankmate for Maui, who definitely needs one.

I don’t know why it’s so damn hard to find fantail goldfish online.  I’ve had both ryukins and orandas in the past (the latter only because I bought what I thought were fantails who ended up growing wens) but I vastly prefer the more normal body types of fantails and veiltails.  No headgrowth that can interfere with their sight or breathing.  No buggy eyes.  No deformed humps.  Just...a fish with long fins.  I know the egg-shaped body of a fantail isn’t exactly natural, either, but it’s much closer to that of their wild carp ancestors, and less likely to lead to health problems.

I have searched extensively online through the years for a source of quality fantails or veiltails, and found one place that is no longer in business (where Maui and the late Aolani came from), and another that stopped carrying non-pond varieties a couple months after I got LiLi from them.

The local brick-and-mortar pet stores really only have larger fantails when someone surrenders one due to it being too big for their tank.  There isn’t enough demand to carry them normally.  Last time I was in the market I asked the locally-owned pet store to call me if anyone brought in a large fantail.  I never heard back from them, which I understand if there was nothing to report, but I don’t know how long they kept my note on file.  Probably not indefinitely.

It’s so frustrating.  And a big part of my healing process after I’ve lost a fish is to welcome a new one home.  When I can’t do that I have nothing to distract me from the loss, and I just feel bad every time I see the “widowed” fish being alone.

So yeah.  2021 is not the year of the fish.

[janeyseymour]

Fight or Flight

In both the past and in this life, Jane Seymour fled from fights. They didn’t even have to be her own fights, she would still flee the scene. She was trying to get better- she really was. But it was hard to shake old habits. 

-

“Catherine! Are you fucking kidding me?” Anne would shriek.

“Shut up Bo-loser! You’re just pissed I beat you at Monopoly again!”

“You were already going to beat me anyway! Why did you have to bankrupt me?”

“That’s just the business of the game Anne.”

“Jane!” Anne whined to the blonde. “Tell Catherine that’s not fair.”

“Jane!” Catherine drew out. “Tell Anne that’s just how you play the game and to stop being a sore loser!”

“Oh, I’m the sore loser? If I can remember correctly, up until recently, you were still pissed you lost Henry to me over 400 years ago!” Anne crossed her arms.

“Because you stole him from me! This is different Anne! It’s just a stupid game!”

“Don’t be bitter cause I’m fitter!” Anne quoted her song. The two continued to go back and forth arguing, not noticing that Jane was getting more and more panicked. Before the two could go any further, blonde fled the room and made her way to the car.

“Jane!” Catherine called after her. “Jane?” 

“You two need to figure this out before I come back,” The third queen sighed as she turned on the engine. 

“It's 12:30 querida. Don't you think it’s a little late to be driving around?” the first queen tried convincing the third to come back into the house.

“I just need to-” Jane pulled away. 

At 3:30 in the morning, the silver queen pulled into the driveway safely, much to the golden queen’s relief.

-

“Katherine, I thought I asked you to take the trash out three times already? And yet it’s still sitting here? This is ridiculous!” 

“I’m right in the middle of watching this movie though!” Kat argued back, not taking her eyes off of the screen.

“You weren’t the first two times I asked you to do it!” Jane refuted.

“Can’t you just back off? I’ll get to it when I get to it!” The fifth queen turned up the volume louder. 

“Katherine Howard!” Jane’s voice boomed. 

“I-” Katherine stood up immediately and went to take out the trash.

“Was that so hard?” the usually kind queen asked in a mocking tone.

“I know you’re frustrated, but you don’t have to be such an ass about it.”

“Fuck this,” Jane stormed out of the house, car keys in hand.

Three hours later, the blonde returned, visibly more relaxed.

“I’m sorry I called you an ass.”

“You were right love. I’m sorry I was being an ass.”

-

“Jane, come on. Can’t we talk this out?” The sixth queen pleaded with her less confrontational friend.

“Love, I don’t know what there is to talk about. I desperately pleaded with you not to continue to write into the night, and you did. Because of that, you slept in and missed the one breakfast I was really looking forward to making. It really hurt my feelings, and now I’m going to go on a drive and cool down before I lose it on you.”

“Jane, I apologized a million-” the front door closed.

The blonde got into her car and began to drive. She ended up three towns over before she broke down crying. Knowing it wasn’t safe to drive in the state she was in, she pulled over into a small parking lot and turned off the car.

“I just-” she began to talk to herself and talk out her feelings, something she rarely did despite what the fandom thought. She was rather reserved in her own feelings other than the show. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

She looked up at the place she had parked. On one side of the parking lot was a tattoo parlor, and on the other was a pet store.

If Anna could have a dog and Anne was allowed to have a tattoo, why couldn’t she?

The blonde returned home with a small “VI” on her ribcage because despite the fact that the other queens angered her quite often, she knew all she would need is six. It didn’t make it any less meaningful when she remembered that her Edward was also known as Edward VI of England. And she returned with a fish: a small white betta named Eddie who she spilled her feelings to on the car ride home.

“We remade breakfast,” Cathy offered with a guilty smile.

“Thank you love. All is forgiven though.”

“You bought a fish?” Aragon tilted her head to the side slightly.

“I did. Meet Eddie.”

“After...?” Kat smiled softly.

“Yes.”

“He’s perfect,” Cleves had already begun to take out the fish tank tucked under Jane’s arms.

“I expect him to stay in your room.”

Jane Seymour spoke to the fish quite often about anything and everything hoping that maybe, just maybe, Edward up in heaven could hear her. And she never ate fish again. She couldn’t bring herself to.

-

“Anne! That’s my chocolate milk! Stop trying to take it from me!” Kat whined.

“Well, I don’t see your damn name on it, now do I?” Anne teased her cousin.

“Mum!” They both yelled at the same time.

Jane, who was up in her room and had already heard the girls yelling, found her keys and walked down the steps. 

“Mum! Tell Anne to stop taking my chocolate milk!”

“Janey, tell Kit that I can drink whatever the hell I want in the house! It’s not just her chocolate milk!”

“Well, it would’ve been nice if you would’ve at least asked!”

“You don’t ask if you can drink Janey’s almondmilk!” Anne was getting more and more frustrated.

“I used to! Right Mum?” Kat batted her eyelashes, hoping she could use some of her Howard charm on the blonde.

“Kat! That’s not fair! You can’t do that when you know she’s going to take your side as soon as you give her that look and call her Mum!”

“What I’m saying is true!”

Jane had enough of hearing the girls’ bickering over something as stupid as chocolate milk, and half shouted, “Enough!” The other two were quite startled by this outburst. “This is a ridiculous argument to begin with. Kat, you know when you’re fighting you can’t drag me into this. You also know that since we’ve all gotten more comfortable living together that if it’s a drink or something small, it’s fair game. And Anne, you know that if it’s everyday, you should probably buy some more, but you never do. It’s always up to me. And yes Kat, you did used to ask, but you know now that what's mine is yours. That doesn’t just go for her, Anne. That applies to everyone. I just ask that everything gets replaced in a timely manner. Now, are we done arguing or...?”

“Well, I was going to grab the chocolate milk, but Anne took it before I could get to-” Jane held up a hand, signifying she heard enough. Without another word, she walked out the door.

The woman came back two hours later, two gallons of chocolate milk and a sharpie in hand. She had already labelled them for the two feuding queens. To her surprise though, there were already two brand new jugs of milk. It would last them a week before they began to fight again.

-

Jane may have had a tendency to flee from fights when it was between her own family, but if someone from the outside tried to come at any of the queens, she was the first one to fight. No one was to mess with her family.

The six were sitting down for an interview about a month before their show debuted. Yes, Jane was very nurturing to all of her sisters, but the love that she felt for them was much stronger than any of them had realized.

“So,” the reporter turned to face the first queen. “The first divorce. The one responsible for the Church of England. The one responsible for Bloody Mary. Why are you the best wife?”

“Sir, I do hope that you will try to conduct this interview as professionally and as kindly as possible,” Jane butted in before any other queen could, already noticing all of their discomfort. 

“Quiet down Miss Seymour. Right now, this is focused on Aragon.” Jane eyed the interviewer before glancing at Catherine. She obviously was getting uncomfortable and was looking for a way to evade the questions at all possible costs. After a few questions of unbelievable prying and disrespect, the third queen had enough.

“You know what sir, I do think this part of the interview is over. All you’ve done is degrade Catherine and her legacy, and I’m sure I don’t want to know what you’ll say to the rest of us.”

“Jane, we can-”

“No Catherine. This man is not going to try to put us in a box anymore. We came back and started our show to show people that we aren’t just who they thought we are. So, sir, let me tell you how this is going to go down. I’m going to be asking the questions to all of the other queens, and then afterwards, you can ask me anything you please. But mark my words, if you so much as try to box us in anymore, I will lose my temper. You don’t want that.” Jane said fiercely before she folded her arms in her lap, the fire in her eyes slowly dying as she reverted back to the mild mannered woman she normally was. 

“Yes ma’am,” the reporter gulped as he wrote down a few notes.

“Okay. Catherine, can you tell me what it’s like in our household?” Jane started off kindly.

“Well Jane, we’ve all grown quite a bit since we first came back. It’s been so wonderful watching each of us go on our own journeys and see how far we’ve come since we were first reincarnated. Our house is truly a home, and wherever I go, I know home is wherever you queens are.”

“Very nice. Now,” the third queen turned to Anne. “Because this is me conducting the interview now,” Jane laughed with a slightly bitter tone. “How has the dynamic of the group changed since we’ve all been together?”

“Oh?” Anne smirked a little, knowing that Jane was alluding to the fact that she could give details about how there are no rivalries anymore. They were done being pitted against each other; really, just simple politics if you were Anne. “Well, in history, we’ve always been put up against each other to see who is the best, who had it worst, who he loved more. And when we all came back, there was definitely some tension between a lot of us. For example, as you know Janey, Lina and I used to fight all the time. We still fight now, but it’s a lot more playful. And you and I had some tension, but now there’s no point to it. Cathy and Lina had some awkwardness but they sorted it out, and now Cath calls Lina ‘Madrina’. Kit thought Anna hated her, but there was no such hatred. At first, we all competed against each other, but in the end, we all realized-” she pointed to Cathy with a smirk.

“All we need is SiX,” Cathy quoted from the show.

“And Anna,” how do you think we all compare to each other?”

“Well Seymour, there really is no comparing us. We’re all our own people. We’re good at things, we’re bad at things, and at the end of the day, we’re all just human. None of us have to be better than anyone. As long as we’re being us, that’s more than enough for this family.” Anna emphasized the word ‘family’. 

“Katherine, do you have anything to add?”

“Uh, not really Mum,” she let a small smile slip.

“Hold up. She calls you Mum?” The interview cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s it matter to you?” Jane snorted. “We’re all a family.”

“Yeah, we’re all a family. We have a strange dynamic, but it works, and I for one, wouldn’t change it for the world,” Kat said earnestly. The blonde shot her a small thumbs up. It was wonderful watching her surrogate daughter break out of her shell once in a while.

“And Cath?” Jane faced the writer of the group.

“All we need is SiX. We don’t need anyone to tell us who we are, or how we should act and be perceived in the public. We’re all perfectly fine with being ourselves and rewriting our stories- the way they should have been told all along. We are so much more than the few things we’ve been remembered for in history.”

“And Mr. Williams, do you have any questions for me?”

“No Miss Seymour. I think I have all that I need.” The interviewer gave a curt nod.

“Very well. Thank you for having us.”

Two weeks later, the article came out.

A few weeks ago, I had the absolute honor and pleasure of meeting the six wives of Henry VIII. At first, I began to ask Miss Aragon questions about the past, to which Miss Jane Seymour quickly shut down. She began to conduct the interview, not based upon the past, but based on what happens now that they are back. 

I was able to sit back and listen to these six queens have a conversation, and let’s just say that they are here to reclaim their stories.

Catherine of Aragon, or “Lina” as she was referred to by the others, spoke with as much elegance as one would think, but her love for her fellow queens was clear. She stated that wherever the others are is where home is. She spoke highly of all of their self-journeys.

Anne Boleyn, master of politics, was able to explain that despite what happened in the past, all they truly need now is each other. While there were some rivalries in the beginning, the queens find no point in fighting over who was the most important queen or if one was better than the other. 

Anna of Cleves, also known as Anne of Cleves, was able to add onto this by saying that there is no comparing them anymore. They are all individual women with different life journeys. So long as everybody is doing their best, it’s enough for their family.

Katherine Howard, the youngest and most quiet, was able to contribute to the idea that they were family simply by calling Miss Seymour her “Mum”. At first, this struck me as quite odd, but the queens were well aware. The dynamic of the household is “strange”, as Miss Howard put it, but it is something that she “wouldn’t change for the world”. The other queens quickly agreed, Miss Seymour even giving her daughter a thumbs up. 

Catherine Parr, or Cathy, made it very clear that they were here to reclaim their stories. No more are they going to be put into the boxes or simple rhyme that we hold them to. These girls are going to reclaim their stories in the musical SiX, which debuts next month.

As for Jane Seymour, this queen herself lived up to what all of the others had said. Jane Seymour, widely known as the most demure queen, showed that this was her life. She did not shy away when I began to ask questions that were a bit too intrusive in hindsight. No longer should she be known as “bound to obey and serve”. No, she proved that to me quite quickly.

None of these women are bound to obey and serve the stories we’ve placed for them in history. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what these queens have to share with us. SiX the Musical debuts in August. Be ready for the histo-remix.

As an addendum, I would like to address this to the queens themselves, if they decide to read this (I would not be offended if they chose not to). Queens: I am terribly sorry for my lack of privacy and the way I began to conduct that interview. You are all absolute treasures who I can not wait to see on stage. Thank you for this eye-opening experience, and best of luck to you all! Keep using your voices!

And to Miss Seymour: I’m terribly sorry for acting so out of line. Thank you for putting me in my place.

Jane smirked when she saw that last line. She found her voice, and she was determined to stop fleeting from confrontation. It had done the queens good.

[hi-tech-odorless-egg]

“Darbhanga puddle was eradicated in the desire of high” (high hopes?)

From an interesting article about pokhar in and around Darbhanga  “pond” or “puddle” this is from my rudimentary knowledge a sort of traditional infrastructure. Ponds are dug and filled by rains and floods with fish and wildlife or even farmed with plants like lotuses. Now a lot of things are changing. I just used google translate on this article

http://badalav.com/%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%82-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80-%E0%A4%96%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B6-%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%82/

These days, you can not see Lahriasarai's son Gami Pokhar without climbing the roof of a house built around it. Once spread over five acres, this pond today looks like a small terrace. Today, its acreage is hardly an acre. Responsible for its condition are private hospitals and other buildings built around it, which have almost completely swallowed it in the last four-five years. The little water left in the pond is hardly visible next year. Because even that land has been completely sold and construction is going on fast there.

There is a Baba Sagar Das pond. A few months ago, when the garbage was being thrown in it, the water men reached Rajendra Singh to see it. Today that pond has become a flat ground. Pillars of many houses have stood up. Local people say that all this has happened in the last month itself. In Kabra Ghat locality, a pond has been leveled in recent times, the other half has been filled and the third one is being dumped. In a pond in Shahi Mansafi in Ward 25, these days, mud is being spilled from the tractor every night and no one can stop this dangerous game. Another Pokhara, also known as Gami Pokhar, has a hotel standing for many years. This condition of the ponds is in the city of Darbhanga, which was once considered to be the district of ponds. Pug-Pug Pokhars are also a cultural identity here. But these days the existence of almost all the ponds of the city is under threat.

Betta Gami Pokhar (which is three-quarters full these days), located at Laheriasarai, began to be filled four-five years ago. In 2014, it was opposed by local poor people to fill it. The same pond was used for bathing and washing these people. There was also a movement. One day the body of Arun Ram, a youth involved in this movement, was found floating in this pond and his companions were charged with killing him. People say, at that time the encroachers had promised that the pond would not be filled any more, and a ghat would be built on the bank of the pond so that people could take a shower. But nothing happened. The agitating youth got entangled in the case-trial and the noose was tightening on the neck of the pond, which is now dying.

In the meantime a case was filed against the encroachment of this pond. But it is said that the district administration did not put the facts properly in the lawsuit, because many influential people were holding the land there. The administration lost the lawsuit. The then DM then asked to go to the Supreme Court. But immediately he was transferred. The judgment could not be appealed against in the Supreme Court. The interesting fact is that there is a police station just behind this pond, he does not even hear the voiceless scream of the lost tank.

Big ponds like Ganga Sagar, Digghi, Harahi and Mirza Khan pond which have been considered the pride of the city, are also under the watch of the land mafia. In 2010, a plan was made to beautify Diggi Talab. A budget of one crore sixty-five lakhs was made available. But in the meantime, some ward councilors said that encroachment of the city's ponds should be free from encroachment. On the order of the commissioner, an inquiry committee was formed to mark the encroachment on these four big ponds of the city. The first three ponds were measured and notices were issued to the trespassers. They appealed to be measured again. Meanwhile, DCLR was transferred and this entire investigation was stopped, the issue of beautification also went in cold storage.

These days the wholesale fisher market has been erected on the banks of the Ganges Sagar pond, nine hundred years old. It is interesting that 95 percent of the fish in this market are from Andhra Pradesh. Umesh Sahni, chairman of the Wholesale Fish Merchant Association, says it is truly a shame for Darbhanga district with more than 65 hundred ponds and surrounded by two big rivers. But what should we do. Where will the fish be found when garbage is put in the ponds? He took the contract of Ganga Sagar Talab a few years ago. The fish cumin also dropped, but all the fish died before growing up. He lost Rs 20 lakh. Different types of local fish were once found in the ponds of the city, now most of these variety have been destroyed. The fishermen are being harmed. His livelihood is getting over.

There is a puddle in Ward 24 in Shah Supan. There must have been a pond before. For the last several years, the people of the locality pour contaminated water from their homes in it, because there is no other drainage system. Recently, a land mafia caught sight of that dub. On the first January of this year, soil started pouring there. If the puddle was full, people would have no place to drain their dirty water. Therefore the people of the locality protested. He was led by Chhotan Qureshi, an activist of a political party. When he complained at the government level, from January 5, the soil cease there. But on 24 March, the soil started to fall again. Then complained, protested. Closed, but again same thing on April 11. This time all the people together protested strongly. A minister was also informed. So now the work of dumping soil is stopped there. Although Chhotan Qureshi says, he is being lured by money, is also being scared. He is the District General Secretary of Akalit Cell of RJD

The biggest disadvantage due to the dismantling of these ponds is that the cities are in the grip of severe water crisis these days. The water level has gone below 187 feet. Chapakal has failed, boring of 1 HP is also not working. The laying of the pipeline, which began in 2005, has not been completed till date. There are only four tankers in the city, which are proving cumin in the mouth of a camel for a big city like Darbhanga. Now there are some public hand pumps with more depth, which are working. Poet and former journalist Amitabh Bachan says that it is sad, the city is still not alert.

Narayanji Chaudhary, a social activist of the city, started the Talib Bachao Abhiyan in 2013. He collected data related to the city's ponds. People from the poorer sections who were most dependent on these ponds participated in this movement. But today, after three years, they say desperately, we could not save even a single pond. At least 25 ponds were filled in front of my eyes. I gave information from the DM to the commissioner, written and picture of each incident. But unfortunately, action was not taken in even one case. Narayanji Chaudhary says that if the logic of water conservation is not understood then people should at least consider it as a heritage. None of these ponds are less than a hundred years old. Many are centuries old. If the safety of old buildings is important then why not the pond.

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

The story of my betta fish, because the world fucking sucks and tonight I lost one of my fish.

Tw animal death

I moved to Illinois from Michigan six months ago. I left my parents, my hometown, everything, in favor of my own life.

The shit I did to live here. On May 6 I decided that I was going to move to IL and on June 13 I did. In the space of that month I found a car, an apartment, packed up my entire life, and got here. Three days before I moved, my apartment fell through. Somehow I managed to find someone who's roommate had recently bailed without warning, and on the first day I arrived in Illinois I did an apartment tour and turned in my first month's rent.

I lived with my best friend and his parents for two weeks while I finalized my car sale, and then I was able to get to my apartment.

My best friend jokes that I have the memory of a goldfish, so his housewarming gift to me was a fish. We took a trip to the coolest fucking petstore in existence and I immediately headed to the shelves of betta fish.

Bettas are fucking beautiful and they had a decent amount to choose from. I was drawn to the beautiful silver blue and black one. With my girlfriend's help I named her Minnie, short for Minnow.

Minnie was my first fish so I was stupidly overprotective. I did hella research on how to take care of her and give her a good life. I got her a five gallon tank, a filter, gravel and plants, and a heater. Everything a fishie could want.

She was happy and strong. I bought her a little tent from the petstore that she loved to hide in, she ate, she had energy.

Then one day that went away. Every time I saw her she was lying on the bottom of her tank and she never really moved or ate. I was afraid she was just getting old. I did hours of research on what it could've been, and it seemed like swim bladder disorder. It should've been easily fixable. I fasted her then gave her daphnia. She never ate it. I made sure her tank was always warm and clean enough. She still always hid and rarely moved.

For a second it seemed like maybe she was getting better. But on Sunday I saw her hiding deep in one of her plants. This morning she hadn't moved, and I knew in my heart that when I got home after work I'd find her dead.

I got home tonight to find that my beautiful girl had passed on.

Minnie moved into my apartment with me. She started this new chapter of my life with me, she was the one constant that I always had. No matter what was going on with my friends or my job or my family, Minnie was always there when I got home. I remember one night I felt sad and alone and needed to talk, but it was 3am and no one was awake. So I plopped myself down in front of her tank and opened my heart to my sweet girl.

I've been trying my damnedest these last couple of weeks to get her feeling better because I hated that she was sick. But here I am, lying in bed, crying over my poor fish. I think I knew in my heart that she wasn't going to get better, but I never stopped hoping and trying.

TL;DR: The world sucks and took one of the things I loved the most.

[helenarlett-rex]

I don't intend to diminish the value of your lost mice, or what they meant to you, I'm sure losing any pet is hard... but you seem to have a lot of pets, don't you? I've read some of your books and I notice you always mention a whole list of pets in the about the author section. (Or whoever writes that section does.) Would you be willing to tell us about all of your pets so we can get to know them?

Sure. I do keep a large number of animals around me. I like the company of animals. Animals don't judge me or think I'm weird. They won't think less of me for not living up to their standards and ideals of what I should be doing with my life. Animals won't use my birthday as an excuse to call me and slowly steer the conversation towards nagging me to quit a job I enjoy and take a job I would hate just because it pays more. I don't have to live in fear that animals will disown me over my sexuality or gender identity... They're just there for me and they don't care about stuff like that, so I tend to prefer having them around over most people.

Currently, now that Kitsune and Tanuki are no longer with us, I have the following pets.

Doris: Doris is a cat. A breed known as a korat. A silver-tipped blue-grey, short-haired breed. She is currently somewhere around 20 human years old and a bit on the senile side. There are times when I don't think she knows what she is doing and can't be let outside anymore. The last time she got outside she went missing for three days and I suspect it's because she forgot where home was. She's an extremely sociable cat and wants to spend all of her time in someone lap of snuggled up next to them if they are laying down. She's had bad allergies all her life and constantly has a sniffle and is so old at this point she only has a single tooth left in her mouth. She's a third generation member of the family, being the grand daughter of a cat I rescued when she was dropped off at a Goodwill loading dock many years ago.

Crenshaw: Crenshaw is a breed of cat known as a lynx point siamese. A blend of the traditional Siamese and tabby cats. I found her outside the library I work at a couple of years ago, abandoned and so starved she was literally skin and bones. She's very slow to trust anyone and doesn't want to be touched, except for a few hours at night when she decides to wants to be right on top of me. Usually when I am trying to write... She instantly adopted Doris as her mother the moment she saw her. She also loves laser pointers and is smart enough to understand how they work, trying to bring the laser pointer to me when the "red dot" isn't around, and instantly going on alert the moment she sees me pick it up. But as smart as she can be, she also has a tenancy to sometimes run head first into walls for no reason. I think she might be slightly disturbed.

Twix: Twix is my leopard gecko. I bought her at a Petsmart about two years ago. She was the only one they had left because she was missing her tail. The employee had actually tried to pick her up by the tail without realizing why you don't do that to lizards... He tail has since grown back but it's a different color from the rest of her. She likes to go up to the side of her tank when Crenshaw is around and taunt her. Otherwise she's perfectly chill... until I take her out of her tank... Then she just wants to crawl all over everything. She's the clumsiest hunter I've ever seen and prefers to be fed by hand, but live food only. I can't get her to take anything that isn't still wiggling.

The fish: I have two fish tanks at this point. In use anyways... One is filled with platies, a single wild molly that won't tolerate being kept with other mollies, and a female betta that doesn't like to be alone. The other is a mini-pond in my makeshift office where I keep goldfish. Eventually I'll move them to a bigger pond in the yard but for now they are still small enough to be my office buddies.

Pixel: Pixel is my wife's bird. She's a peach-fronted conure. She's supposed to be one of those birds that only takes to a single person, or so I'm told, but she will hang out on my shoulder just as readily as she will with my wife. I'm naturally very good with birds. They just seem to like me. Even geese let me hang out with them. (Don't know what that's about...) She's kind of like that kid who is a total brat around her parents but is then perfectly sweet and innocent whenever the grandparents are around. I must be the grandparent because I don't know what my wife is talking about when she calls Pixel a brat.

I've kept lots of other pets over the years, more-so in recent years than in the past, and I've had various other kinds of lizards, tree frogs, a rainbow shark, and even a praying mantis. And I'm sure those have probably been mentioned in the backs of my books at some point. But at the moment the animals listed above are the only ones I am sharing my house with.

(A picture of all the birds at the pet store deciding they want to be my friend.)

[fishproblem]

I’m adding another tank for the new rescue crayfish to the four I already have in my apartment, so I deep cleaned the ones I have to prove to no one in particular that I’m responsible enough for a fifth. Everything is GLOWING. I’m so glad I have fish.

I snagged the 11 gallon Aqueon rimless (same tank as my 30gal but smaller) for TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS on sale. The clarity on these tanks is not bomb but given that I’m insisting on only rimless tanks and am on a budget cause no one anticipated me rescuing a crayfish, for $25 it will definitely do. Gonna fill that halfway with water and try to scape it only with locally found shit, 1. Cause it’s cool and 2. Cause I am fresh the fuck out of money now that I’ve bought all the hardware for my new 6 gallon high tech planted. I’m thinking like a lot of emerging rock with terrestrial moss, and birch leaves on sand substrate.

I’ve gotten really sick of the visible crud buildup in the 30 gal’s inflow, it’s just not doing it for me anymore, and I never did buy a glass outflow (still using the stock sunsun spraybar) so i plan to get the stainless steel inflow and outflow set from jardli when I finish throwing money at the 6gal.

I lost two of my five corydoras paleatus in the 30g recently, which makes sense I suppose because they’re nearly 5 years old. Still a bummer. I’ve been holding off on fully stocking this tank for such a long time for so many reasons. Primarily I’m afraid to take the plunge with some Bolivian rams, and I can’t settle on regionally accurate plants that I like. But I’m just gonna do it. I need to stop being so precious about it. Now that i only have the three corydoras though, I’m wondering if I should try a different type.

Hilariously, the incredibly low tech shrimp bucket looks 🔥 right now.

My two tanks at my parents house in RI are being well cared for in my absence. Rasboras and bettas are all happy.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Hey, I don't know if you're still into aquariums and fish but I found a YT channel that does really relaxing aquarium vids. I especially like the "feeding frenzy" vids where he gives the shrimp slices of carrot or other vegetables! [www(.)youtube(.)com/channel/UC3Kk8tvhHkWMMfKBb0q0X9g]

I am 100% still into aquariums! And I hhave fallen in love with aquarist youtubers. I did a lot of aquascaping research on youtube, and there are some great experts out there, not to mention some quality white notice vids that's just nice music while disembodied hands and arms trim back planted aquariums.

I haven't posted any updates recently because we've had some health concerns.

Gimpy is trucking along, thaankfully, and his color is much stronger these days. However Slick is having some trouble with his fins.

His water parameters are perfect, but he lost a lot of new growth, grew some back, and then lost that new growth AND more of the old new growth. I really don't know what to make of it, except that he either a) wasn't getting enough nutrients from his flakes and pellets or b) his plastic/silk decor were leeching some kind of chemical I couldn't test for.

So I went back to frequent water changes, switched him to some frozen bloodworm, and have swapped out his decor for botanicals. So far I've stuck to rhizomal plants that I could affix to driftwood, until I can get a new fully fertilized tank set up for him.

If anyone is wondering, spiderwood is a bish to waterlog-- I ended up putting some seiryu stone on it to keep it from floating. When I move it to the fertilized tank, I'll probably superglue it to the tank itself.

The driftwood is mostly planted with java moss, with one anubias nana petite and one unspecified crypt that a friend propogated for me. There's a loose hygrophila in the tank, but that'll need soil to really flourish. The floaters are all water lettuce.

Slick seems to enjoy it, and he's got some new new NEW growth coming in, but I'll feel better once his fins are more grown in and getting closer to full color.

I definitely intend to expand my menagerie with a third betta, but I want to make sure Slick is at full health before I do. Feels premature otherwise.

[mynewfishhobbyisoutofhand]

In better news, all the other fish are doing well. The goldfish (pictured in the video) are happy as are the guppies and the other 8 bettas . 3 of my bettas are under the weather though. I lost Merlin a few days ago. But Nova Scotia, Ghost, and Neo are okay, but struggling.

Above (Merlin, female betta, now deceased)

Nova Scotia (male veiltail betta, still eating well, but he's having trouble getting to the surface)

Ghost (male betta, crowntail. Can't sink easily, and lays on side a lot)

(above) Neo (male crowntail betta) This is how he looked after two weeks of care after I got him ill from a store. I'll have to get a more recent photo, but now his fins are much thinner?

[analogdreamsinteractive]

Sorry for being inactive

Lots of stuff has been going on, in no particular order:

I lost my first ever betta several weeks ago. He died most likely due to old age.

I’ve taken in several fish as rescues. One is a female swordtail who unfortunately had ich, which killed some of my fish in the 55 gallon. I just took her out of the hospital tank after treatment.

I recently got a male betta from Petsmart who looks pretty weak. He’s now in the hospital tank. He’s breathing heavily and has done some flashing. He’s currently getting aquarium salt and a parasite treatment.

I’ve been taking care of all the other pets, which are 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a beardie.

Holidays are coming up, so I’ve been trying to finish up my gifts ahead of time.

Been doing lots of housework at home, with plenty more I need to do.

Pokémon Sword and Shield. Eh heh.

My workplace has somehow become an even bigger dumpster fire than before. We’re short staffed, have people off for surgery and illness, and it’s the busy season. I’ll probably need to start coming in early due to how bad it is right now.

Pretty sure I just caught a cold. So that’s fun.

There’s a good chance I won’t be able to update the comic until January. Hopefully I’ll get lucky and have things calm down soon.

[shrimpapalooza]

Let me tell you a story about why my loaches mean so much to me, why Im so happy to see them everyday, and why I'll be very, very sad when they leave me.

Maybe you've seen me write about this before, or maybe you haven't. It's kind of a sad story, but kind of a happy story. Its also kind of an aquarium-related skeleton in the closet story.

In March of 2009 I got this 30g aquarium dumped on me by my uncle's friend and I was ecstatic. I could've never afforded it on my own back then - and it came with everything. The pea gravel, lights, filters, heaters, additional random things, and a jar full of Very Angry Red Wagtail Platys.

Heres the very first pic of it! Theres no fish yet because it was "cycling" and the platies were in a 10g tank (actually, they were in the 10g the Cuties are in now!)

That Anubias on the right? Thats the big Anubias on the left side of my tank in recent pictures. Yeah. My brother bought it...20 years ago now and we still have it. It went through some rough times so it didnt really grow as well as it could have.

Anyways, almost immediately after on March 22 2009 I got the Loaches. All four of them.

Things were okay for a while! And then, about 6 years ago, the timeline's foggy, things got Real Bad. To the point where I lost utterly all interest in most things, aquarium included. I was losing fish, I didn't have time for dealing with it, it was a Bad Time and the aquarium suffered. For several months I did absolutely nothing - I figured all the fish had died and I cut the power. No filter, no heater, no lights, for months. The water turned dark brown and the water level dropped to five inches deep.

Finally, I decided to tear it down. Maybe I could sell it or just store it but I figured I was done with aquariums. I could tell the anubias was somehow still alive so I figured I'd set up a five gallon for a betta and maybe that would last. I took the cover off, siphoned up some water and started taking the decorations out.

It was when moving a plastic half-log that, like in every good horror movie, something brushed my hand.

I need you to understand, this tank had sat unheated, unfiltered, moldering with who knows what rotting in it, for months. And something very much alive brushed my hand.

Now, obviously, it wasnt a monster, but in that first moment I promise you I thought it was. Then I realized that the only thing it could be was a fish, maybe, so I gently removed the log and took a bright flashlight to shine into the murky water. First I saw one loach scooting around, then two -then all four. All four loaches survived months of who knows what.

Seeing that, I knew I couldn't tear the tank down completely. These four survivors had more than earned the rights to a proper home, and for me to be the proper caretaker for them. I was a bad fishkeeper before. Like, four Tiger Barbs, an Australian Rainbow, and a Bristlenose catfish in a 5g bad. I'm better than that now but I won't claim to be perfect. But every step I've taken with this tank, from the plants to putting in a sand bar (that the loaches avoid because of course they do) to keeping up with the water changes and making sure the tank is clean and livable, its all because of and for them.

Every day I see them scooting about during feeding time, every time they do their noodle dance in the evening by racing up and down the glass, every time they shove themselves into the bolbitis and tunnel through its leaves, I know I made the right choice to keep this tank going. It gets tiring sometimes, I've had catastrophes (losing most of my fish most recently) but seeing the loaches still loaching around makes it worth it.

I hope we still have a few good years left with these noodles ♥