Another fish loss and gain

I have bad news and... Bad news or good news, depending on who you are. =P

Cuba died yesterday, six days after Holly's death. As I stated when Holly died, I knew it was coming. He just couldn't live without his best friend. I would be more upset if he had died of illness, or mysteriously like Holly did. But because he had a reason to die that was not my fault (I would blame illness on myself) and he seemed to genuinely wish to die, I'm not that sad. He had a good, long life for a fish. He stayed with me for 9½ months, and he seemed somewhat old when I bought him. By the time of his death he was starting to get age spots on his head, so I know that he didn't die young. He'll be buried soon, in the same style as Holly.

The other news is that before I was even sure of his death, I bought two more bettas. I had no intention to buy either. I was pricing an Eclipse tank at Petsmart and Petco so that I can divide it up and get rid of my multiple small tanks, and at Petco a very large blue and red male flared at me. His fins were very impressive, and I just kept thinking, "What are the chances I'll find such a beautiful fish again for only $3.75?" So after other business, I came back and bought him.

While taking care of the other things, I stopped by Walmart for a bowl to quarantine the new guy in. For once, Walmart had bettas I would actually want: Four identical tiny white females. Two appeared to be constipated, so I took one of the healthy ones. On the walk to the cashier she started floating on her side, a sign of swim bladder disorder, so I put her back and left with apparently the only truly healthy white female they had.

I've named the tiny white female Amalthea, and the big blue male Prince Lir. Photos of the new acquires (and a couple of Hugo) can be found here for the curious.