What happens when you bring home a betta fish and accidentally make aquarium husbandry your entire personality?

Apparently, you make a song about it.

“Welcome to the Betta Parade!” is an original RubyJinx side quest inspired by my three bettas: Stitch, Professor Tinte, and Keke, and the very chaotic learning curve that came with bringing them home.

There were plastic cups. There were planted tanks. There were parasites, water changes, test tubes, bloodworms, algae, questionable snail decisions, and more late-night fish research than I ever anticipated.

Somewhere in all of that, though, these tiny fish became family. Caring for them gave me something to get out of bed for during a difficult summer, and learning to care for them became its own lesson in life: you don’t have to get everything right th ...