#still looking for bettas-

[rcrisdraws]

Undead.

[nebquerna]

11.2-

[princess-of-purple-prose]

Fish, 7 (For your prompts! ❤️)

Hi, anon!! Thank you for the prompt, you were the very first one to send one in! 7 was, again, the wildcard, so I randomly generated a different number to land on Yue Qingyuan (from Scum Villain)! I have no choice but to dedicate this to @bytedykes, because I told her about this prompt and she said ���yqy pet fish mental health speedrun” and we went, uh, a little insane about it. Enjoy some yuefang, folks!!!!

“Mu-xiong,” Yue Qingyuan says. “I’m sorry to bother you. Are you available?”

“Yue-xiong is never a bother,” Mu Qingfang says warmly. “And I am, actually, yes. Is everything okay, Yue-xiong?”

“I think I need help.” A bit dramatic, perhaps, and Yue Qingyuan hates to trouble Mu Qingfang on a rare day off, but Yue Qingyuan and impulse have never been the best combination, and he would appreciate a second opinion.

Mu Qingfang’s voice turns hard. “Where are you? I'll come right away.”

“What—?” Yue Qingyuan stares at his phone like the blank call screen will tell him why Mu Qingfang suddenly sounds so serious. “I'm at home, but—”

“I'll be right there,” Mu Qingfang says, and hangs up.

Yue Qingyuan stares at his phone for another second, then lifts his gaze to his sparkling new aquarium. His new betta, white and black and resplendent of fin, stares back. Was his crisis of faith about his viability as a fish owner really so deserving of such urgency…?

—

“So,” Mu Qingfang says. “This was your emergency?” He looks about as unimpressed by the betta as it does by the two of them.

Yue Qingyuan feels obscurely like he’s being scolded. Mu Qingfang is one of the nicest men he knows, but that just means that his censure takes the form of a blunt instrument of mass disappointment.

“In my defense,” he points out meekly, “I didn’t say there was an emergency. Mu-xiong just assumed.”

“That’ll teach me,” Mu Qingfang huffs, but at least he looks amused. “Yue-xiong should get used to asking for help more so this gege doesn’t have to panic every time he does ask.”

Yue Qingyuan’s mouth almost drops open. He can only hope his cheeks aren’t as red as they feel. “Er—well, I asked this time, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Mu Qingfang allows, looking something horribly close to fond. Yue Qingyuan swallows and tries to hurry on.

“So—not an emergency, but I do want your opinion,” he coughs out. “I’m having… doubts. About the fish.” Mu Qingfang’s eyebrows contract. Yue Qingyuan rushes it out. “Do you think I should keep it?”

“Yue-xiong…” Mu Qingfang looks politely incredulous. “Why does my opinion matter? The fish is already yours, isn’t it? If you don’t think maintaining its upkeep will be feasible, that’s one thing, but… Surely Yue-xiong did the research before getting it?”

He doesn’t sound judgemental, but Yue Qingyuan feels his cheeks warm. “I did, but I wasn’t planning on getting a fish; I was only admiring the tanks. There was a salesperson who was… very insistent.”

Mu Qingfang regards him doubtfully, which is fair. Yue Qingyuan towers over most people he meets, and his bulk only further adds to the impression of immovability. It’s only when he opens his mouth that it becomes clear how spineless he actually is.

Yue Qingyuan falters. “I had thought… I thought it might be nice.” The bettas had seemed so majestic in their tanks, iridescent monarchs of false grass and plastic coves, and Yue Qingyuan had thought, wildly, that one might be rewarding to keep, might breathe a touch of life into his immaculately sleek living room. The whole affair hadn’t even been expensive by his shiny new standards, forget difficult to physically arrange. It was only when installation and set-up for his new aquarium had finished and he was left to watch that jewel-bright being swim disaffectedly through its new home that doubt had seized him, all-consuming and black. He had, admittedly, panicked a little after that.

(Yue Qingyuan’s apartment is very large, and very clean, and very empty. It holds the barest amount of decoration and muss to qualify as lived-in rather than a snapshot from a magazine ad. The fish may, in fact, be the only thing in the entire place which really qualifies as his. No wonder Yue Qingyuan wanted to jettison it from his life as soon as he got it.)

Mu Qingfang’s expression hovers between concern and simple confusion. “I’m sure Yue-xiong will be a more than adequate caretaker,” he says, more gently than Yue Qingyuan and all his neuroses probably deserve. “What’s this really about, Yue-xiong?”

Ah. There it is. Being the mildest person of Yue Qingyuan’s admittedly sharp-tongued social circle doesn’t preclude Mu Qingfang’s wit from being as keen as the scalpels he works with.

“I don’t…” Yue Qingyuan falters. How to express to Mu Qingfang how manifestly unfit Yue Qingyuan is to care for any living creature at all? He changes tack. “I think he hates me,” he admits dolefully.

Mu Qingfang stares at him for a long time, long enough to imply that he’s reevaluating certain opinions about Yue Qingyuan’s intelligence. “Yue-xiong, with all due respect to your new pet—it’s a fish.”

“Fish have emotions!” Yue Qingyuan argues. He flushes at the volume at which it comes out, and at the way Mu Qingfang’s eyes go wide-eyed in startlement. But the salesperson had been very insistent about that, as well. “Bettas are intelligent animals. They dislike certain colors, apparently, and they’re very sensitive—ah, to environmental disruptions, that is. And—”

Mu Qingfang’s eyebrows are still high, but his face has relaxed into a smile. “It sounds to me like you like it quite a bit already. Isn’t that reason enough to keep it?” His tone curls with sudden mischief. “Have heart, Yue-xiong—you’ve hardly known each other for a day! Give it time to adjust to you, and I’m sure you’ll win it over as surely as you do everyone else.” And he grins, sure and easy in his trust that Yue Qingyuan won’t fumble and shatter something so small and monumental as a life that he could cup in his palms.

While Yue Qingyuan is still dazed by that, Mu Qingfang’s eyes alight with interest. “Ah, Yue-xiong—what have you named it?”

“...”

Mu Qingfang’s face falls as devastatingly as it had lit up. “Yue-xiong…”

“Mu-xiong is aware that I was unsure of whether or not I’d keep him!” Yue Qingyuan is terribly aware that his ears are now heating up to match his cheeks. Mu Qingfang’s ensuing laughter does not help with that matter.

Yue Qingyuan is not very good at holding onto things. More often than not, he makes a mess of whatever he’s set his clumsy hands to, lets it fall right through his scarred fingers. But Mu Qingfang’s words ring through his head: Isn’t that reason enough to keep it? And, well, isn’t it? Surely Yue Qingyuan is adult enough to follow through on this. Maybe happiness can be look like his new betta swimming up to the tank to observe the new colorful form moving in front of it, can come as easy as Mu Qingfang quipping that his knowledge about fish is clearly lacking and vowing casually to read up on bettas to be a better fish uncle.

Yue Qingyuan buries a smile and walks over to let Mu Qingfang know that bettas can be trained to follow fingers around. The betta’s clear preference for Mu Qingfang over Yue Qingyuan is as good a marker of intelligence as any fun fact the pet shop worker could have given him. Yes, Yue Qingyuan thinks with a smile—he thinks he’ll be keeping this after all.

[protagonist-art]

running lenny summers thru baby tiktok filters and then adding 5 glam tiktok filters on top

[prince-liest]

TIL you guys also like fish!!!! please let me introduce you to the rest of my fishy community!

first of all, these are my fish tanks:

this is a 20 gallon tall tank that I will be upgrading to a 37 long next year when I find out where I’m going for residency. the 5lb pressurized cannister is a CO2 tank that I use to inject carbon dioxide into the water (on a timer)! CO2 is the limiting “nutrient” for plant growth underwater in a tank like mine (with bright light and fertilizers added), so it helps encourage plant growth and more vibrant colors in plants with red and orange tones, as well as carpeting plants.

this is a 6.4 gallon tank that also has CO2 injection, and currently no fish because it is cycling (and will be for about 4 weeks). it will be her highness the betta fish’s new home once it is cycled, because she keeps murdering my shrimp in the community tank. once she is moved, I will probably get a pair of honey gouramis for the community tank.

this is one of the shrimp in question! she is pregnant. (eggnant, you might say.) I love her.

these are my kuhli loaches! I have 6 black and 6 banded. they are technically different species and the banded ones are much more shy. they spend a lot of time swimming circles along the glass and draping themselves over plants upside-down to make me think they are dead. they get very offended when you poke them to make sure they’re not dead.

I have 8 neon tetras. they’re all fat and extremely hard to take non-blurry photos of.

I also have 3 hillstream loaches, which are one of my favorite fish of all time. they’re juveniles that bred from a friend’s tank, and they look like tiny little stingrays that are frequently stuck to the side of the glass. they are aufwuchs-eaters which means they scrape algae and biofilm off the surfaces of things, but they also like sifting through sand and need sufficient protein (aka. not pure algae eaters).

here’s what they look like from the bottom:

I also have snails:

this is the biggest of my three nerite snails! I like nerites because they have bright colors and they don’t reproduce in fresh water. however, if you get a female (like this one), they WILL lay tiny white little sesame seed eggs everywhere, even though they can’t hatch. I used to have “pest” snails in the form of bladder snails and freshwater limpets but, uh, I have a total of 15 loaches in the tank, so. I no longer have pest snails and my loaches are all well-fed. :”)

thank u for coming to my ted talk. I love fish. I love my fish. please come talk to me about fish. I leave u with one last photo of her highness in all her glory:

[thepeacefulpleco]

Cosmo and cosmos. We have two still blooming despite the changing weather

[skippygoldfish]

saw a ranchu at Petsmart that wasn't half bad? and am also unfortunately in love with this betta girl because she is quite lively and shimmery and i love yellow bettas. i hope she gets a nice home ;;_;;

[savageboar]

strawberry passed away from dropsy last night. i decided to bury his body in one of my flower pots outside so he can feed other animals and plants out there.

[nana2009]

rock x idate?

friend you cant get rid of no matter what

[triglycercule]

who made the mtt. and no i dont mean like who made the CONCEPT of the murder time trio (because i know who that is. touken kamui i thank you for the fangame every day :3) but like,,,, who decided to just randomly pair these 3 together?? like whaaaat.......

part of me wants to believe it was rahafwabas with the whole bad sanses group thingy being made with those 3 in there and then like. the fangame just gave them specifically a seperate group name. but STILL,,,,, where did this trio come from

[thatcharmingjerk]

My old boy is getting tired 😩 He's got a growth on the right side of his head and I think it's really starting to take its toll on him. I've had him for year and a half now, he's sucha gentleman but it really is starting to look like its soon time to let him go...

[lightngaleart]

I caved, I named it Anders

[hungryslothwrites]

i got an arapaima ayyy thanks for tagging me!

@umarthiels (fish quiz!!) @astranauticus and anyone else who wishes to this quiz, it's pretty fun! no pressure though

FISH QUIZZZZ!!! FISH QUIZZZ!!!! TAKE IT!!! special request from my friend avery shoutout avery <3 it's right up my alley anyways... im so jellyfish coded !!

quiz made: june 2024

[birbtails]

.

[bouncyballextraordinaire]

i love my betta tank so much its unreal

[skippygoldfish]

i cant get good vids cuz Zipper's tank still has bad lighting (plus its ugly as hell...) BUT he is truly living up to his name. despite his rather long fins, he is a great swimmer, and he is constantly zooming around, up and down, through the plants, all around. he wiggles around at the front hoping i will feed him more, but he is suspicious of my finger if i press it on the glass, and he did a tiny flare at it. he is so special and i'm glad he's alive!!!!!!!