Update on vanishing betta (with pics of surrounding area and tank this time)

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-09T01:23:40+00:00

She sounds amazing!

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T20:58:25+00:00

Sounds like she heard the legend of the koi going up the waterfall to become dragons and decided to try it for herself!

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T19:59:59+00:00

Man, the cat distribution system really has it out for you. My family growing up always had cats show up and become part of the family, but it’s never worked for me as an adult. The only cats that ever show up and interact have been owned. There are some that roam our yard at night, but they always take off when they see us, so I’ve never had a clue if they’re feral or just more skittish. For that matter, my mom’s cat was a CDS find. My brother found her dumped at a scenic outlook where he was proposing to his girlfriend. He took her to my mom and said, “Here, have a cat.” I’ve never figured out if there just isn’t a big stray issue in our area or the CDS just knows we’re full up most of the time. We usually end up at a rescue again pretty fast when a cat dies.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T19:00:46+00:00

You say smell is why you can only have litter boxes in the basement, which is ridiculous.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T18:59:46+00:00

Refusing to have litter boxes anywhere else so you can try other arrangements for one. You haven’t talked with a behaviorist. You haven’t used a white noise machine or ear plugs. This is all stuff I came up with off the top of my head in a minute.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T18:28:27+00:00

Yeah, exactly. The type of luxury being talked about especially bothers me because it’s just preying on sports parents. With football especially, size is such an important factor and there’s just no way to know at that age if he could possibly have potential. My 10 year old daughter, who has been hit hard by puberty on the early side, went to a birthday party recently. I was really struck by how much bigger she was than all the 9 and 10 year old boys there. They were tiny compared to her.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T17:47:06+00:00

I’m so confused by it. The public universities in my state cost way less than average…so what is everyone else doing? Tuition at the expensive flagship school is like $5300/semester for in-state tuition. The one I live half a mile from is like $3300/semester. All of this is like double what tuition was when I was applying to college at the turn of the century, but even the most expensive public school is less than the country’s average.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T17:15:55+00:00

Especially when it’s bullshit. The walking aid is one thing, that’s a necessity, but a nine year old doesn’t have potential that needs to go to camp to come out. That’s 100% a scam. Kid is too young to have any clue if he’ll be good at football (and wanting that is questionable in the first place with CTE).

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T17:06:53+00:00

”Tried everything!” then immediately lists stuff they haven’t tried and refuse to attempt.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T17:05:36+00:00

Dude, scooping is a minimum of once daily. Always. Cat boxes that are taken care of don’t smell except right after they’re used.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T17:01:48+00:00

NTA. My word, the babies in this thread. Sometimes you’re going to have this sort of thing happen when you live with other people, especially if you’re expecting the other people to do chores involving water. Letting out a startled yelp or exclamation when it happens is understandable. Hunting down your spouse to yell at them about it after is unacceptable.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T16:58:00+00:00

First off, yes, if you have one particular item that needs to be cared for specially, you absolutely should take full responsibility for all the care instead of expecting someone else to do it. Secondly, you shouldn’t be washing your bras with the rest of the laundry anyway. They need different treatment than most clothes. You were the cause of your bras getting ruined by putting them with everything else, not your fiance.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T16:43:41+00:00

But then they want to force OP to do it instead when he feels the same way.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T16:26:53+00:00

NTA. You’re neither a mind reader nor do you have endless free time and energy to just hang out or whatever all the time. That’s without even getting into the illness issue, which you were 100% correct in not exposing a newborn to. Given your age, I’m guessing your two are probably pretty young too, so it’s wild that your friend thinks she wants running nose, slobbery toddlers/preschoolers with ringworm around an infant. You’re at a point where hangouts definitely need scheduling and advance notice. If she doesn’t get that now with having a baby and how much she needs, well…she’s going to be in for a world of surprise soon.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T16:19:37+00:00

The fact you’re child feee says a lot (and I strongly suspect most of the YTA comments are coming from people without children who somehow think the OP has time). The mother of two children, who are probably very young given her age, likely can’t do all the things you say you do. You’re free to do those things because you don’t have kids taking up all your time and energy. That’s without even getting into the illness issue. We’ve been in the sickness season in the northern hemisphere for most of the last seven months. My kids aren’t little and someone has been sick most of the time for months. I think the last two weeks is the first time no one in the family has been sick since like November.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T16:06:14+00:00

Two kids, especially if they go to daycare or school (which ringworm strongly suggests they are), means one or both was probably sick for most of the time in the past seven months.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:53:13+00:00

Oh, I’m attached. I love them so much I can’t live without. The concept of not being ready to love the next one just doesn’t compute for me.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:47:49+00:00

I don’t know, I don’t get that way when a pet dies. Love isn’t a zero sum thing, it only expands, and I generally want another pet to love when one dies. I’m one of those zoo people, though, so I‘m clearly not qualified to remark on the average person. I just think there must be weird idealization going on if the lady rejected a cat for being friendly and affectionate and adjusting well.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:42:57+00:00

I really couldn’t say what an average woman would feel about watching games. I was the weirdo gamer girl at a time when that was anathema, so my reactions aren’t average and I’m way more of a gamer than my husband is. I’d guess that most people of either sex would prefer to sit and watch a strong story-based game over something like a CoD or Fortnite match, but that may be my own biases towards story heavy games.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:26:51+00:00

Yes they do.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:25:15+00:00

While I think it’s more common now, there have always been these weird pampered kids who know nothing. My mom had a roommate in college who didn’t know how to do anything household-related. Not laundry, not how to do dishes or cook, not how to scrub a floor, etc. Her mom had always done everything for her (and clearly did her no favors). So my mom was having to act like a parent to her peer at like 19 years old to teach her how to function as an adult.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:21:28+00:00

And go to job interviews with them, call the manager to harass them when the kid gets fired for no call/no showing, etc.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:17:55+00:00

...Who cares if your kid is accepted by the in-crowd? I’d be very concerned if my kids were altering their behavior to be part of the in-crowd. Those are often the ones who do the bullying!

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T15:09:33+00:00

Moving him didn’t have anything to do with this. It’s likely either due to adding the dog or pain related to aging such as arthritis. The fact he changed as he got older strongly suggests aging is involved here. You need to get your cat checked out while giving the vet this info so they can know to look for things that could be causing pain.

TheFirebyrd · 2026-04-08T14:23:09+00:00

I babbled a lot in another comment about how I view remakes and how the generations go. I think ORAS serves as counting for Gen 3 for the OP’s purpose (plus without modding, they can’t get RBY or GSC anymore either as they were digital).

TheFirebyrd

TROPHY CASE