Fishing for a spot in City Hall

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- City Hall has a group of new inhabitants -- bettas.

The little blue, red or gold fighting fish have been spending their

time swimming around in vases, nibbling algae off plant roots and

generally brightening up the city employees’ days.

“That’s Buddy,” said Ruth Delaney, administrative secretary for the

city clerk’s office, pointing to her betta. “Everybody loves [the vases]

here. They are beautiful, and I love Buddy. About six weeks ago, I saw

him up there in the recreation area, said ‘I want him’ and took him right

out of there. He’s so cute! He’s so much fun! I look forward to coming to

work because my fish is here.”

The City Hall trend began about six months ago, when Julie Stroud sent

a number of the mini-ecosystems -- containers with one betta each, water,

colored rocks and spathiphyllum, a low-light plant -- with her husband to

work.

Glen Stroud, the city’s recreation supervisor, said the first one was

sold before it even got to the counter.

“Then it was word of mouth,” he said. “People would just come and get

them, although some had special requests for a vase size. The trend is

still going on. It’s just an easy, low-maintenance thing to watch.”

At one time, more than a dozen of the fish lived at City Hall. Now,

that number fluctuates while city employees continue to order the

ecosystems and take them home as gifts for others or as pets for

themselves.

Stroud and her partner, Bonnie Schmidt, began experimenting with

different kinds of water, rocks, and container shapes and sizes after

Schmidt received an ecosystem as a gift a year and a half ago.

Vases are the most popular shapes overall, Stroud said, while bowls

are the most prevalent in City Hall and candy jars are her personal

favorite.

Julie Stroud said she plans to send another group of bettas to City

Hall soon.

“These ecosystems are interesting because you are not only seeing the

fish, but also the plant and its root system, which you can watch grow,”

she said. “You get the animal and the low-light plant. The fish don’t

need a lot of room, and they eat the algae that grows on the plant’s

roots.”