Beta fish and Seahorse, dream by cosmos -- Feb. 2, 2014
I woke up Saturday morning feeling like a truck hit me. It took forever to fall asleep, and when I finally did around 3am, I got woken up three hours later while in the middle of a perplexing dream! I recently got a fish tank with wheat grass growing on top (https://backtotheroots.com/shop/aquafarm). But in my tendency to anthropomorphize, I was feeling guilty that Tiger (the name of my Beta fish) was lonely. At first, I would put the iPad on one side of the tank and put on peaceful fish music so that he could have company. But then I thought that maybe I was traumatizing him more by exposing him a few hours a day with this virtual fish community and then taking it away. So, I stopped doing it. But I guess that I'm feeling some guilt over it because I dreamt about adding a Seahorse to the tank to keep him company. In my mind, I thought that a Seahorse would be strong enough to withstand the aggressive Betafish (apparently, they can only live alone with no other fish). And I was so happy that I had solved this "problem," relieving me of the guilt of "abandoning" him for most of the day as I went about my business in the human world. I think also the guilt came from the fact that this tank and Tiger gave me such joy. In the beginning, I just sat or lay in front of the tank for hours, reading, sleeping or just lazying away the day, which was easy during the holidays. In my dream, the whole world agreed that a Seahorse was the perfect companion for Tiger. I have no idea where that came from. I know that in the Chinese calendar, 2014 is the year of the Horse, so maybe I was somehow joining the two ideas - year of the horse and the sea because I'm feeling guilty over a fish? But, helas, this is not to be. The other day, I checked online to see if they were really compatible, as if my dream was "teaching" me or "giving me answers" on how to live my life. Unfortunately, the Seahorse is a salt-water creature, whereas the Betafish is a fresh water creature, so the Seahorse would die in a few hours in the comfortable underwater world I created for Tiger. But I was so sure that these two creatures were compatible. But I wonder if you can even have Seahorses as aquarium pets?
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Comments
by Sab
Feb. 6, 2014, 11:01 p.m.
what a strange and interresting dream ! you're a sort of Dr Frankenstein trying to control nature , by mixing pets that are not made to be one with the others. the beta fish who's supposed to live alone and the sea horse who can't survive in unsaltwater. loneliness, guilt, virtual company, real company, uncompatibility...here are to me, the major themes in your dream. But why this social pressure to find company for Tiger? The seahorse is an interresting choice in your dream because its sexuality and reproduction system are quite unusual; the male is the one that is carrying eggs and most of the seahorses are bisexual. And yes, I double checked ( thanks to your dream, I am now more knowlegable about these creatures ) seahorses can be kept in aquarium but only a saltwater one. |