The males are pretty fish. I used to have an aquarium where I had one male betta fish. I wish there could have had more than one without having them tearing each other apart.
henry, we inherited one from my son when he flew the mothership recently. We had him in the kitchen for a while and he was shy but was starting to come around. Then the Calico discovered him and it was nonstop staring. She left him alone but I think he grew paranoid. We moved him to my daughter's room and he literally greets you when you walk in the room. He practically eats out of your hand.
My older daughter used to have a carefully assembled community of tropicals, one of which was a Siamese fighting fish (as we call them over here). She called it "John Lennon" because it had large round eyes that she equated with his trademark specs. Any time it perceived a threat it would inflate itself by sticking out its gills, to the amusement of all. Had the real John Lennon been able to do the same, there might have been a happier outcome in the Dakota Building.
But seriously, the doubletails are my fav and I always have one in my tank. When they croak, I typically get another one of the same or similar colors, and I name them all Jerry. I'm up to Jerry 7. The namesake comes from the movie "Sphere" so that I can repeat "Jerry" over and over in a Dustin Hoffman voice.
