My beautiful little betta has met an early and unfortunate end. He started acting like he was constipated (yes, that’s an actual fish ailment) yesterday, so I decided to follow basic protocol and fast him for a couple of days, then feed him a pea to see if that would help. He was much worse this afternoon, so I did a partial water change and decided to head out to the grocery store to pick up peas and try feeding him asap. I think I just stressed him out further with the water change, as he died a couple of hours later. I’m so bummed, in large part because The Man has been trying to be lighthearted about it, and has said a couple of times tonight that I need to give up on fish and start out small, since I’m just going to kill it in the end anyway. I know it’s just his way of dealing with a situation he doesn’t think is really that big, but I really felt a connection with Simon, the way he blew bubbles and hung out at the front of the tank to ‘chat’ with me whenever I’d stop by. I’m a little hurt right now.