# The Koi Betta Journey Journal



## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Well, it's about time I started one of these! 

A little bit about my background: 10+ year fish keeper. Decent success in saltwater but I have transitioned to freshwater and have found it far more affordable/rewarding/enjoyable. I currently maintain 4 planted freshwater tanks all less than 10 gallons in a small room I am renting that I never intended to keep so many tanks in. But hey! lol 2 of them are dwarf shrimp tanks: a colony of painted fire red sakura shrimp and the other tank is culls/wilds. I sell and ship my fire reds all over the country and have almost made all my aquarium hobby money back! 

So I am celebrating by setting up a Fluval Spec V AND Finnex light I received from my mom for Christmas. (No matter how old we get, moms know what we want! haha) And instead of establishing another shrimp colony (I was really debating getting Blue Velvets) I want to get my first high quality Betta! No more impulse Petsmart rescues for me! Koi bettas in particular have STOLEN my heart. Despite the unpredictable marbling gene, I think they're amazing and each one is a unique snowflake. This tank will 

I'll add pictures later, but as of right now, starting my betta journey, I have the following equipment:
-Fluval Spec V (5 gallon tank)
-Finnex Planted+ 24/7 SE (light)
-Seachem Prime
-Dragonstone & Spiderwood from my LFS
-Mr. Aqua Soil substrate
-Fluval Pre-Filter

I've set up the substrate and hardscape and am loving it already. I'm debating about introducing new varieties of plants or just seeing what I can gather from my other tanks. I'll post pics of it all soon!

Oh! As for the fish... I bought a lovely male Koi HMPK betta from Betta_Mafia on ebay who happens to live a city over from me! So I'm picking up my lovely boy tomorrow morning and I have a temporary tank set up for him until his real house has finished cycling. I bought him with Christmas money too so other than the hardscape and using things I already had, this has been a free set up!  I started a time lapse video for the aquascape too so I'll be sharing that once it's complete. 

Stay tuned for more. :thumbsup:


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

The two male koi bettas ive purchased and my Christmas’s gifts. The second male betta I purchased from a small betta breeder in Florida and he is currently in the mail! I didn't intend to buy both, but I bought one and then won the other on ebay. *shrugs* Oh well! I'll happily make room for them both. lol


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

Lovely boys :shock: Can't wait to see your setup!


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

Yay! I can't wait till you get your boys! Your red boy matches Daria. <3


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Aww thanks guys! Update time: yesterday the other koi from the Florida breeder arrived. Safe, sound, and active! I’m so glad he made the journey quickly in just 2 days flat! I also got a random female with him when buying. I have no idea what betta type she is but she’s kind of white with blue marbling? But not the prettiest... hopefully I’ll get some clear pics of her soon for opinions. She went in my 10 gallon Planted Dwarf Shrimp cull/wilds tank for now. When the new boy from Betta Mafia arrives, I’ll have to rearrange everyone. 

Oh! And I finished setting up the new tank! I almost completely forgot that part. Lol I LOVE the Fluval Spec V. A breeze to set up and I am a fan of the engineering/design of it. If I ever have more room and want another small tank, I’ll purchase that one again. 

I kept the lights dim at sunset or midnight for him so he could adjust. So the one decent picture I got of him looks super pink. Lol I’ll get better ones soon. I’m also considering getting a micro lens clip for my iPhone 6 to get better photos. Thoughts on this anyone? 

I also need name suggestions! Hehe


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

Looks great! I like the half black/white sand mix ^.^


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

Oh he's so pretty! I'm looking forward to seeing the new girl too! My name suggestion for him is Tom. lol Boring I know. hahah


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Beautiful boys. Some Ebay sellers sell pairs of fish, some include random fish in case one is "DOA". The little girl is cute but IDK what's going on with her head/spine.

As for the macro, I'd simply put in the cash to buy a nice camera. I could never get a nice picture from my phone, no matter how hard I tried. They would look good from far away, and get fuzzier the closer you looked!


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Yeah, Im not super wild about the girl. lol If I ever attempt to breed bettas, I don't think I'll use her. She's adjusting for a few days in my "jungle" planted 10g tank by herself, but soon she'll be moved into my 10g community tank with tetras and corydoras. No other bettas there so she'll have run of the place. lol They've both adjusted very well and are eating! The male even blew a pretty decent sized bubble nest within the first 24 hours! It's like they both have no clue they were just shipped across the country! haha

I like Tom! How cute. hehe I'll observe his behavior a bit more and see if any other names come to mind too.

Officially picking up the Betta_Mafia koi boy on Wednesday, yay! 

And oh you think so about the macro lens? Hm, yeah that makes sense. I have a Canon Rebel T6, but I don't have a good lens for close up shots. And looking at those lenses online, they run several hundred dollars! Just for me to take hobby photos of my fish? Nah... lol Are there other options? All my iphone pictures turn out terrible and blurry!


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Just sharing some photos of my boy Ive finally named! Meet “Sapporo”. Yes, like the Japanese Beer. He has quite the personality and has been eating very well. 

Also, I picked up my other new koi HMPK betta from Betta_Mafia last night! (he lived much further than I originally thought; round trip drive was about 1.5 hours with horrible so Cal traffic but oh well. Next time I’ll happily take free shipping lol) That guy hasn’t a HUGE betta opperation at his house. Mine and my boyfriend’s jaws dropped when he opened his door. WOW.

I put the new guy in my “Jungle” 10g tank and moved the female to the community tetra/Corydora tank in the kitchen. I’ve kept his lights off and only got a few glimpses of him this morning with the “sunrise” automatic lights before I had to go to work. I’ll get better pics of him another time. He was originally named TsingTao per my boyfriend’s suggestion but he redacted it to keep the name for his future betta he said. So I chose Kirin! Like the Kirin Ichiban beer company. Hehe I see a theme here, do you? The only decent pic I took of him is the last file attached.

Overall, everyone is doing well! No more betta shopping for me though. Lol my room is very full and I’m lucky my boyfriend has tolerated my aquarium hobby thus far. 

And last note— I drew a cute little pixel signature of them both for my time on the forum here. One perk of being a graphic designer!


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## Evil Seedlet (Jan 4, 2018)

Sapporo is so beautiful! And I love your pixel art <3


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

So beautiful! I looooove the names too! Kirin beer was one of my favorites too. The pixel art is so adorable! I've been wanting to do some for my chillins too.


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Thank you everyone! This update isn't big, but I watched some YouTube tutorials about photographing fish in the aquarium and tried out some different settings on my DSLR camera. I think it worked! Not super amazing shots, but hey they're in focus! I didn't really use a mirror or anything to flare up Sapporo. I just didn't have a little mirror on hand. 

Sapporo is so energetic and would barely hold still as most betta's would. Over 200+ photos and I only got a handful of decent ones! I also realized he has more of a "back hump" than I first noticed. I was like "oh yikes" in Photoshop. haha I probably won't ever breed him due to his form but hey he's still pretty! 

I attempted to photograph Kirin but he was very shy and hid in his plants. :/ Another day!


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## giobelkoicenter (Jan 16, 2018)

I thought you will tell us bro what are the original parents of koi betta so that we will have an idea what to breed to produce koi fish betta offspring


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Beautiful boys and tanks! I have never been able to take good pictures of my tanks. 

I'm guessing if you ever get another betta, its name will be Asahi...? ;-)


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Nice lookin' shrimp. Especially like the berried female. Are those your Painteds? They look lower grade, but it could be the pictures. Beautiful boys. What moss/plant is on the shrimp tree? It doesn't look like moss but seems to be growing like it. Subwassertang? (sorry if I spelled it wrong lol)


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

ThatFishThough said:


> Nice lookin' shrimp. Especially like the berried female. Are those your Painteds? They look lower grade, but it could be the pictures. Beautiful boys. What moss/plant is on the shrimp tree? It doesn't look like moss but seems to be growing like it. Subwassertang? (sorry if I spelled it wrong lol)


Thank you! They aren't top grade for sure but I think the lower quality ones came out for photos as well as my camera is not the best on the macro-scale. I have some nice ones in there, but I've been culling to keep their quality high as possible. lol I constantly have berried females and babies hatching though so they do well! 

And yes it is subwassertang! When I first glued it to the tree, it looked terrible. I still wish I had used a different type of moss, but it turned out better than I thought. The little pieces of subwassertang fall like confetti all over my tanks and drive me crazy. lol


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

ryry2012 said:


> Beautiful boys and tanks! I have never been able to take good pictures of my tanks.
> 
> I'm guessing if you ever get another betta, its name will be Asahi...? ;-)


Thank you! And yes, Asahi will be the next for sure! lol


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

...Ebisu will be your fourth betta...lol

I'm interested to see how your boys's colors will change or stay.


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

ryry2012 said:


> ...Ebisu will be your fourth betta...lol
> 
> I'm interested to see how your boys's colors will change or stay.


Oh me too! I really hope they keep their colors as long as possible, but their marbling gene is inevitable. 

Side note: my coworker and I both have little 3 gal aquariums at work now. (The addiction is real) I just set mine up today and started the cycling process. Not sure what I’ll keep in it. Maybe just bring in the one female I have at home in my 10g community tank? Rescue one from my LFS or petsmart/petco? Undecided!


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

aefeather said:


> Oh me too! I really hope they keep their colors as long as possible, but their marbling gene is inevitable.
> 
> Side note: my coworker and I both have little 3 gal aquariums at work now. (The addiction is real) I just set mine up today and started the cycling process. Not sure what I’ll keep in it. Maybe just bring in the one female I have at home in my 10g community tank? Rescue one from my LFS or petsmart/petco? Undecided!


 Oh! I so badly want a fishie at work! I've been really tempted since I have a 1G airstone filtered tank and a 2.5 tank that I need to piece together. I was just unsure about the water changes and how that would work.. Please let me know how it goes for you.


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Lots of photos to share! Nothing major to report; all my tanks are chugging along nicely. First 3 pics are recent pics of their progress. The Fluval Spec V has almost been up for 1 month! 

















And I love my tank at work more than I thought I would. Water changes were a challenge, but I manage so far with a red solo cup and a ziplock bag. I pour in fresh tap water (with Prime) from a gallon milk container. I was going to bring a female from home to put in, but my coworker was ready to KILL her betta because “he was ugly”. Which I couldn’t let her do, so I now have a rescued, older Crowntail male.... Lol 

















The rest of the pics are some macro shots of everybody. I got a cheap $5 macro lens clip on for my iPhone 6 on Amazon. I’m so impressed! The details are killer on these high res images.









































Lastly, I sold 50+ Dwarf shrimp locally last weekend, yay!


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

Beautiful! Loooove the close ups.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Did you sell shrimp off craigslist? I sold a large portion of moss yesterday for cheap. The buyer was happy. I was happy. My betta has more swimming space now. Win win win situation 

You have beautiful shrimp. I'm glad to hear that you saved your co worker's betta. He will be so happy in the tank!


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Yes, craigslist! I am always happy to recoup some of my money spent on this hobby. lol Great about selling your extra moss! Now I have more space for more shrimps to grow too. Win, win indeed.

And thank you!  I really hope so. I've been taking pics of his progress.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

What a dramatic change! I bet he will look prettier in another month  To be honest, I like the way he looks now though -unique!

Shrimp are awesome. I really enjoy my RCS although mine are not as red as yours though. I bought them (low - sakura grades) off craigslist. I love CL!


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Just some random progress updates-

10g jungle: not much going on. I swapped bettas so Sapporo lives in there now. He loves exploring the jungle. My culls and wild brown shrimps are berrying fast. Not sure what to do with all these culls lol

7g Fire Reds: thriving! I’ve been doing local shrimp sales and trades for plants! Check out that giant, amazing anubias plant I got for a few shrimp!! Trying a new bee pollen-based food made by a shrimp breeder on another forum. 

10g Community: got a major make over! It’s always been a hot mess so I haven’t wanted to share it. Lol I finally added more Fluval shrimp/plant substrate and planted it properly. I totally forgot the hardscape tho (duh!) so I have to work on it more. Added some black neon tetras and a Kuhli loach over the weekend. Other stock: 4 Harlequin Rasboras, 2 neon rainbow tetras, 3 green corydora, and 1 african bumblebee catfish. I may throw some of my shrimp culls in here because why not.

Fluval Spec V: Still in progress. Tested water params a few days ago and cycle is nearly complete. Still a few ppm’s of Nitrates left. Added that big Anubias plant here. May consider ripping out all the Christmas moss which doesn’t appear to be doing well. My boyfriend built me an AMAZING custom stand/light hanger that I love! So sleek...

Work tank 3g: my coworker decided that Crowntail is pretty again and wanted him back. So with an empty tank, it worked out well because I won a baby koi HMPK female on eBay and picked her up locally for $6. Ain’t she cute? She may be too small for the community tetra tank so she’s keeping me company at work. She quickly became one of my favorites! So cute.

That’s about it for now.  ....I have too many tanks please help me


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

You are good at aquascaping! The new girl is cute  I think she will get more red as she grows...? 



aefeather said:


> ....I have too many tanks please help me


You just explained why I have only two tanks... :-D


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

ryry2012 said:


> You just explained why I have only two tanks... :-D


LOL Right?? I think I need to downsize... The addiction is real.

And thanks yes I hope her spots come in nicely. We will see how she marbles. The downside to koi bettas....


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## aefeather (Dec 19, 2017)

Introduction time!! 

So I traded some graphic design services to a betta breeder in Florida for a few nice bettas. (Who wouldn't? lol) So I picked out a gorgeous HMPK Giant koi betta male who I've named Asahi. (Im keeping that Japanese beer theme going, hey! lol) his body is about 3” long. I got some nice macro shots of him. And 2 koi HMPK females. One of which jumped out of the breeder's tank before they were mailed so a replacement will be sent in a few months once his next batch of koi bettas are old enough. So the koi female that did arrive I have named Poke. 

All are doing well so far. I had to move some bettas around and divide a 5g to make everyone cozy, but hey free fish!  

Im also attaching an updated pic of Sapporo since he is marbling so fast, noo! lol But I still think he's gorgeous.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

I knew, I knew, you would name him Asahi...lol
He is a pretty boy with nice eye shadow  Poke is pretty too. 

Kirin is coloring nicely. I like bright blue and yellow on his back. My betta was koi when I bought him. He marbled too much. Now he is just a regular blue and red bicolor betta...


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## LeviTheFish (Dec 19, 2017)

Asahi is sooo beautiful!


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