The fish turned muddy brown living in a tiny jar
Jess was a teenager when she got her first fish. It was a brown betta fish, which she named Spicy. When she got him, she thought of betta fish as more of decoration than an actual form of life. That was what most people told her, and that was advertised on social media and in the fish stores. They did not see fish the way they saw other pets, such as dogs. Rather, they would just give them a small amount of water and food, only enough for survival, and disregard their feelings about it.
That was why Spicy’s first home that Jess gave him was a tiny jar with barely a liter of water in it. At first, Spicy seemed alright. But over time, his behavior changed. He lost his energy, and at times refused to eat. He was barely even alive, just floating in the jar rather than swimming. That was when Jess decided to go against everything she knew from the social media and stores and started to do her own research.
The first thing to do was to buy a new aquarium for Spicy. This one could contain up to 25 liters of water. Also, she put several natural leaves in the aquarium that would act like natural sanitizers, and would make Spicy feel closer to nature. Jess started to change the water every day. And after all these rearrangements, finally, there was a change in Spicy’s behavior.
After five days in the new aquarium, at last, Spicy started to eat. It was the best reward for Jess after so much work. Now, she had hope that her fish was going to be alright. In several more days, she realized that Spicy was changing color. He turned vivid red from the previous muddy brown. This was the clearest proof that a liter of water and almost no space are not good enough conditions for any fish. The best they can do there is to survive, which too, is not guaranteed.
