Hi!! :D ☆ I thought i’d do something a little different today! Nobody I know (except my family) knows Trooper’s complete story- so I thought i’d share it :D This is also a Q&A! After you read Trooper’s story, if you have any questions, feel free to ask and i’ll answer them in the project!! ^^ they can be related to the story, or just random things (ex. What’s Trooper’s favorite thing in his tank, favorite toy, etc!) You can click, press the space bar, or press the arrow keys to advance through the answers to the Q&A! Now onto the story >:D Here’s a little background info: my family is allergic to literally every fluffy animal, and I finally convinced my parents to let me get a betta fish! When I got their approval, I read 5 books about bettas, did some intense researching, and then I got Trooper :D It was July 5th, 2020. My friend and I decided to get each get a betta fish and share the experience together. She already got hers, and I was still waiting on my dad to go pick mine up. Later that day, my dad went to the fish store, and took pictures of the betta fish! They were in extremely small cups- I wanted to save all of them from that horrid life but I couldn’t (there were at least 50 fish there). There was a beautiful navy betta fish with long, flowing fins that I set my heart on. My dad continued to send pictures, and there was another extremely adorable betta fish that he sent a video of. He had red, white, and blue coloring (which was ironic because it was the day after the Fourth of July) and a little red star on his forehead. He swam around happily, showing off his adorableness to my dad. I saw the love in his eyes- and I immediately connected with him. It was like love at first sight <3 :D Before any of this, I really wanted a fish named Edward. When we got Trooper, we knew that Trooper fit his personality much more so we decided to name him that ^^ We brought him home, got him accustomed to his new tank, and everything was perfect. He’s like no fish i’ve ever seen before- his personality is hilarious. He always swims by the glass and opens his mouth repetitively when he wants food, and he loves to curl around things (like leaves and statues in the tank). A week or so later, he started to look a bit lonely, and the tank was looking empty, so we decided to get him some friends! He was living in a 5 gallon tank (big mistake- i’ll explain why later) and for some reason we decided to smush 7 tetras (they were less than an inch long- nothing close to the size of Trooper so don’t worry), 3 snails, and Trooper in that small tank. We had no clue what we were doing was wrong- until the tank started to get polluted. All of the fish + snail’s waste was building up,, everything was getting out of control. It was a few days later when we realized the tetras were eating Trooper’s fins. Most male betta fish are very territorial and can defend themselves, but not Trooper. For whatever reason, he didn’t know how to stand up for himself. The small fish bit huge chunks out of his tail and continued to harass him. Immediately when we realized, we took the fish back to the fish store. Along with the snails, who began reproducing in the tank which was becoming a health hazard to Trooper (don’t worry- the babies + snails got put with others of their species in a community tank at the fish store ^^) Trooper got upgraded to a 10 gallon tank- which he was very happy about! He was finally at peace without all of the other fish. It’s been 7 and a half months since Trooper was put in that 10 gallon tank by himself- and he’s very happy. I’ve had him for a total of 8 months now :D During this journey, he’s encountered many diseases (and his tail is still damaged). There was one point where he started to turn over on his side, and he couldn’t even hold his body up. We’re still medicating him because of his fins and such. He really lives up to his name- Trooper! He’s really a trooper xD I’m so glad to have him in my life, and I hope you enjoyed his story <3 If you actually took the time to read all of this, thank you :00 Have an amazing day!! ^^ ☆ art - me coding - the code for the costumes wasn’t by me, but the rest is ^^ music - Sports by Beach Bunny program - ibisPaintX and Scratch
