[Art] Three Bettas as Totems

[moonvoice]

Honestly, I had a lot of complicated feelings doing this series of Bettas. It mostly drew my attention to the awfulness of the pet trade, that linebreeding for aggression has produced a lot of beautiful but overly aggressive pet fish that rarely live out their full lifespans in distress, even when they are kept in large tanks. Looking at the original species, instead of the B. splendens line (which, imho, is the pug/bulldog/boston terrier of the fish trade -> overbred, partly destroyed, beauty-over-temperament, aggression-over-soundness), highlighted how few people know these beautiful species exist, and those who do are often exploiting them for the aquarium trade. Many are declining in their original populations, or even Critically Endangered, exposed to population, exploited.

They are known as 'fighting fish' but in the wild many will live together and coexist with enough room to maintain territories. They are paternally nurturing. They are capable of more intimacy than some other species of fish and they are shy and easily intimidated by larger fish (one of the main reasons 'wild-type' Bettas can't actually be housed with some other species is because they are harrassed and then refuse to breed).

Spending time with these beautiful, but misunderstood energies has been a disturbing, enlightening process. These are vastly misunderstood animals, that are in their natural state, not inclined to fight to the death, and prefer to keep to themselves, in their own territory. They are shy, easily intimidated, and prefer dark places. For most people, the Betta that you have been raised to understand, is not the Betta you'll find in nature.


Betta smaragdina as Totem || Available at Etsy

KEYWORDS:

Bubble magic. Murk magic. Exploitation. Powerlessness. Vulnerability. Paternal instincts. Misunderstandings. People don’t know who you are. Assumptions and first impressions. Different manifestations of masculinity. Exploited beauty. Aggression and powerlessness. Exploitation. Confinement. Small spaces. Adaptation. Integration. Filling every niche. Every place has purpose. Guardian of decomposition and decay. Dark energies. Grounding your emotions. Shyness and intimidation. Needing a place that is only yours. Understanding the necessity of the labyrinth. Flashes of insight. Intimacy. Needing a certain social order. Hierarchy and authority.









Betta raja as Totem || Available at Etsy

KEYWORDS:

Finding wisdom in the dark. Nurturing. Paternal instincts. Unfussy. Don’t be discerning. Make do with what you have. Murk magic. Exploited beauty. Aggression and powerlessness. Exploitation. Confinement. Small spaces. Adaptation. Integration. Filling every niche. Every place has purpose. Guardian of decomposition and decay. Dark energies. Grounding your emotions. Shyness and intimidation. Needing a place that is only yours. Understanding the necessity of the labyrinth. Flashes of insight. Intimacy. Needing a certain social order. Hierarchy and authority.











Betta channoides as Totem || Available at Etsy

KEYWORDS:

Paternal instinct. Nurturing. Social instincts. Sensitivity to chemicals and pollution. Streamlet magic. Exploited beauty. Aggression and powerlessness. Exploitation. Confinement. Small spaces. Adaptation. Integration. Filling every niche. Every place has purpose. Guardian of decomposition and decay. Dark energies. Grounding your emotions. Shyness and intimidation. Needing a place that is only yours. Understanding the necessity of the labyrinth. Flashes of insight. Intimacy. Needing a certain social order. Hierarchy and authority.

Comments

[redsixwing]

Those are so so beautiful! As always I love your spiraling backgrounds and the energy markings flowing along with the fish.

B. smaragdina was a species I strongly considered keeping, until I saw something about the usual collection and handling practices, and just... no.

That said, they're wonderful little fish, and I hope people come to their senses about Betta species in general.

[alias_sqbr]

I didn't know that about betta fish, that's terrible. But these are all lovely.

[katherine]

Lovely work, with fascinating and sad framing.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

very pretty, and very sad.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

So pretty!!

[8bitamanda]

Beautiful artwork. I knew the pet trade could be terrible, but I had no idea wild bettas were so different than the "prize fighters" most people see them as. Yet another case of humans screwing over something for their own amusement.

Anyways, your Betta smaragdina pictures are my favorite of the three. I love the dark red contrast against the lighter blue.

[white_rabbit]

When I'm working again I definitely want to buy either Betta smaragdina or raja as a gift for the friend who's been letting me stay with her in Toronto for all my medical stuff. She has 7 beta fish and one of these would really be at home with her. <3333

[silverjackal]

I find all of this gorgeous, but I particularly love the background (and the power spirals) on B. channoides. It's an incredibly powerful piece.

[moonvoice]

Thank you so much!

And yeah tbh I have always been captivated by Bettas, or more specifically, pet-trade Bettas, since I've never seen a single wild-type in my life. The more I learn, the harder it gets to justify personally. But I hope the love of them will translate to conservation.

[moonvoice]

I knew some, but I had no idea that the aggression was just completely linebred into them ruthlessly to entertain like...an emperor a long time ago. And we just never stopped. :/

[moonvoice]

Thank you! And yeah, normally working with animal energies isn't quite like this (even when they are Critically Endangered).

[moonvoice]

*nods* It is really sad, I was glad to spend some time illustrating them though.

[moonvoice]

Thank you! :)

[moonvoice]

I knew the pet trade could be terrible, but I had no idea wild bettas were so different than the "prize fighters" most people see them as.

This was where I was at, before I started this series actually. Like I knew that bettas are often treated badly and need a really decent tank to do well, but I didn't realise that *all* pet trade bettas are just damaged in terms of stress levels from the outset unless they happen to be an outlier and have very little aggression (i.e. more normal levels of aggression).

A problem as well is that many are being reintroduced back into the wild in some parts of where they originated, meaning the aggression is being filtered back into the wild-type populations and I just... *flails quietly*

[moonvoice]

There's time! The shop is so quiet these days, because I don't update very frequently anymore (and also original art is never cheap). <3

[moonvoice]

B. channoides ended up being my favourite out of the bunch (which I wasn't quite expecting), it's the smallest Betta species in the world!

[halfmoon_mollie1]

these made me think of my late LJ friend baritonejeff. He would have loved these.

[8bitamanda]

*winces* Yeah, reintroducing that aggression back into the wild is probably not good.

[redsixwing]

I haven't seen the wild-type ones in person either. But the pet-trade beauties are so remarkable!

For a while, I was known around the office for approaching people and suggesting they treat their desk bettas better. (We've since moved, and are not permitted them any more.)