Bettacats (Closed Species)

Species info:

Bettacats are friendly, playful, and sentient creatures. They enjoy befriending different species, including humans, housecats, wolves, and more! They are also VERY food motivated, as housecats are, so if you ever want to befriend one, try sneaking them a snack! ;)

They often resemble house cats with beautiful, long tails, though the colors of their tail can sometimes affect their fur color. This is typically rather rare, making colored fur on a bettacat a highly sought-after variation. The rare colored fur variant is often much more shy, reserved, or observant compared to their natural pelted cousins.

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Bettacat tails come in four variations: Classic, Petal, Smooth and Dragon. There also two rare subtypes for scales/colors, known as Glow and Ghost/Glass. Classic tails are the most common, along with Smooth, then Dragon, and Petal. The rare Ghost/Glass and Glow variations can come on any tail shape, and are more of a color/texture variation of the scales and membrane itself. It is rumored that Glows and Ghost/Glass tend to come from the deep depths of the ocean, with Glows only coming out at night, and Ghost/Glass types preferring colder weather.

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Typical bettacats are often a bit territorial (As betta fish are) towards others of their species, except for their mates or litter siblings. Very rarely, bettacats can befriend other bettacats, but this occurrence does not happen often enough to be studied as to why those two bettacats manage to tolerate each other.

Bettacats cannot breathe air, so please keep this in mind when adopting one. They can breathe in any water type, but need one month of adjustment before they can traverse the new water type safely. They also prefer warmer waters, though cooler preferring types are rumored to exist.

Breeding

Homosexuality is found in this species, in about an average of 25% of all mated pairs.

Females of this species are incredibly rare, and are often known as 'Queens' because they often travel and mate with several males over their lifetime. This is to provide a large genetic variance in the kittens, and to ensure that future litters are strong and healthy. Females are found in about 1 in 5 of the general bettacat population.

This low female population is partially why many males often settle with another male to be permanent mates.

In the rare occasion a female bettacat does come by a homosexual male pair, they will often fertilize one litter, then the female will move on to lay the eggs in a safe and warm location, then move on.

In some instances, a bettacat female pair may also become mates, and will travel the oceans and rivers together. They will often temporarily stop to have a litter or two fertilized by a non-important male, then continue on their way.

Instances of a male carrying young, or a female becoming a sire are extremely rare but not unheard of.

Bettacat eggs take 4-5 weeks to hatch in litters of 3-6, and kittens start out a murky brown color to provide camouflage from predators. Upon reaching 6-7 months of age, males will begin developing their colored scales and pelts, while female young take as long as a year to fully mature and develop their colored scales.

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LORE

Long ago, in the ancient city of Atlantis, the bettacat's ancestors stood alongside the ancient inhabitants as companions and hunters. However, when Atlantis sank, this killed off everyone who lived in that city.. or so everyone thought. The magical gems embedded in the center of the city shattered, scattering magical particles and shards among the drowning inhabitants- only to be swallowed by a pregnant cat during the event. The magic, enhanced with the mother cat's wills to live and the surrounding ocean gave her (and her future kittens) the gills and tail fins needed to survive in a brand new environment.

Since then, bettacats have been traversing the seas, creating more of their new unique species, and exploring their new home.

However, bettacats never forgot their owners lost in the storm that destroyed Atlantis, and they will often travel to the surface or to new regions to make new friends in an attempt to replace the deep longing they feel for their lost owners.

The average lifespan of a bettacat is 100-200 years old, though it is rumored that the original bettacats still live somewhere in the deep, dark ocean, or in some forgotten lake. These ancient 'originals', known to the younger bettacats as 'Ancient Ones', and are rumored to have special powers that they can use to grant wishes to young and troubled bettacats, for a price. Ancient Ones can be identified by a glowing shard embedded in the chest, paw, eye, or forehead of a bettacat.

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