Male Betta Lays Eggs

Every time I look in an aquarium, I wonder whether it is like a small miniature world. Only difference is that it is underwater. We know from science that fish do not have the same rational brain humans do, therefor we can assume they don’t have the same problems. But do we know for sure? This is the story of the male betta fish Richard who was not born as Richard-yet there is no certification to say otherwise.

In the aquarium there were tales of mermaids and sirens from where the fish had originally come from. The young betta fish, Rachel, listened to these stories. Rachel dreamed of escaping and being different. They were troubled that they lacked the colours of the male betta fish and had a prominent tummy as Rachel was destined to lay eggs. The thought of laying eggs and having children excited them, yet they always felt in the wrong body. When Rachel started school, they felt isolated. They wanted to play with the male fish who tossed a small pebble around. The other betta fish would just pose in front of the glancing people. One day Rachel approached the male betta fish and asked to play with them. Rachel was rejected as they expected.

One day Rachel went to the bottom of the aquarium and used the brightly coloured stones at the bottom to change their body to look brighter and more colourful like the male betta fish. When they went to play with the other male fish they were laughed at. During a tussle they grabbed the pebble that was being tossed and hurled it as far as they could. The other fish were impressed with how far Rachel could throw it. The other male fish decided to let them play. This continued for some time. As Rachel’s belly became more prominent, they started to feel isolated. One betta fish, Dale, gathered his friend and cut off a piece of plastic seaweed from the aquarium. They decided they would wrap this around Rachel’s abdomen so they would feel better about their image.

As they expected this brightened Rachel up. They made an announcement that from now on they would go by the name Richard. At first the other fish struggled with this. There were a few dissensions as expected. But most fish were respectful of Richard and referred to him with male pronouns. As Richard got bigger he wanted a soul mate. He felt he was more attracted to the male betta fish than the female ones. He wondered if this was possible. As he felt it would be an aberration of nature he kept quiet. While other fish had started mating, he was left behind. When one male betta fish approached Richard as to why he was so silent all of a sudden, Richard enlightened him. The betta fish empathized and said he knew some fish who loved Richard for Richard.

A few male betta fish took interest in Richard. Eventually he chose a beautiful betta fish named Luke. Luke too wanted desperately to have a family. He was not pushy saying the eggs had to come from Richard, however Richard stated he would not want to have it any other way. Luke and Richard went on to have five lovely young fish. They named the fish Sydney, Sam, Jamie, Steph, and Terry. They never forced the fish to assimilate based on gender. They started a group to help other fish seek help if they felt they were born in the wrong body and let them advocate for each other. The two betta fish, Luke and Richard, started a new progressive alliance and set the tone for future generations all in that small aquarium.

As you see we can only speculate the similarities and differences between fish and humans. We can dissect them, study the nervous system and their mating habits. Observe how seahorses become transgender. However in this particular aquarium where there were stories of sirens and mermaids, a legend was born. The thing about legends is, sometimes they are true.