# Krycek and Tooms



## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

Meet my two bettas, Krycek and Tooms. I have had Krycek for about a month now, and just got Tooms today.


This is Krycek. He was labeled as a dragon scale crowntail at Petsmart, but he looks more multicolor to me. I'm hoping his fins will grow out a bit as he gets older, he is pretty small yet.









This is Tooms. He is a halfmoon double tail. Any idea on his coloring? Dalmation?









They were both just put in this divided 5 gallon today, hence the bubbles. They seem to like it so far, and I think I was successful in making my divider a bit harder to see through. They can see each other, but not really clear enough to flare at each other. Here's a couple photos of them checking each other out.


















And yes, I like the X-Files. My two previous bettas were named Scully and Fox Mulder.


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## tromboneplaya (Jul 7, 2010)

They're both really pretty!! Can't be of much help with the colors...not really good with that kinda stuff. I love the rocks too....where did you find them???


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

tromboneplaya said:


> They're both really pretty!! Can't be of much help with the colors...not really good with that kinda stuff. I love the rocks too....where did you find them???


My mom had a whole bunch of pieces of slate that she used in other aquariums...I'm not really sure where she got it, but it's kind of fun to make bridges and stuff with! Tooms really likes swimming through it too!


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## RaptorX8 (Sep 7, 2012)

Next up should be Langly, Frohike, and Byers. :lol:

They are really great looking. I love both of them. Can't help with the color on Tooms, don't know enough about colors.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

don't make any big decisions based on that second one's colors, he looks like he's lost a lot of his pigment due to stress. i doubt he'll stay silver like that, probably will be more of a blue metallic with some red marbling.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

homegrown terror said:


> don't make any big decisions based on that second one's colors, he looks like he's lost a lot of his pigment due to stress. i doubt he'll stay silver like that, probably will be more of a blue metallic with some red marbling.


Oh, exciting! How long does it usually take for their true colors to start showing? I'll have to update this thread when he starts to look different.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

RaptorX8 said:


> Next up should be Langly, Frohike, and Byers. :lol:
> 
> They are really great looking. I love both of them. Can't help with the color on Tooms, don't know enough about colors.


YES!!!!
And thank you!


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

A few more pictures, just because I can't help myself. 

































I think Tooms's colors are starting to darken up, but it's kind of hard to tell. I know it took Krycek a few weeks to get to where he is now, but he is also under a different light so that might make a difference. 
Just for kicks, here's a picture of Krycek the day I got him (in his old tank, before he had a heater):








He just looks so much happier now!


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## Aqua Betta (Oct 13, 2012)

They're both beautiful! The tank looks great too! Good luck with them Carbon!


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

Aqua Betta said:


> They're both beautiful! The tank looks great too! Good luck with them Carbon!


Thank you! I am really excited about them!


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

Hey your bettas are beautiful and l love the tank. How you going to do water changes for them?


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

sunlight said:


> Hey your bettas are beautiful and l love the tank. How you going to do water changes for them?


Thank you! So far I have been doing water changes using a gravel vacuum. My last one was 50% and I took 25% from one side and 25% from the other side. It seems to work well except both of them just want to attack the vacuum!!


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

awww so cute.If you don't cycle your tank i would do more water changes. Usually for 2.5-3 gall you need 1-50 and 1-100% water changes. Some people will even recommend 2x50 and 1-100% water changes a week. Since you have 2 of them in 5 gall ,it like you have 2.5 for each i would really recommend more water changes to prevent future problems


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

sunlight said:


> awww so cute.If you don't cycle your tank i would do more water changes. Usually for 2.5-3 gall you need 1-50 and 1-100% water changes. Some people will even recommend 2x50 and 1-100% water changes a week. Since you have 2 of them in 5 gall ,it like you have 2.5 for each i would really recommend more water changes to prevent future problems


Yep! I'm working on cycling so I am doing 50% water changes two to three times a week. I do have some live plants in there (pothos pieces and a Marimo moss ball) and the tank was started with half of its gravel and water from established tanks so we're on our way! I was planning on doing only one 50% change a week once it's cycled, but do you think I should do two water changes because I have the two fish??


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## beacon (Nov 18, 2012)

Your fish are beautiful! What a huge difference in appearance from when you first got the CT. You take great care of them! Nice pics.


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

Um... your CT might be mine's twin! Holy cow! Here's mine for comparison:


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

rmarkham said:


> Um... your CT might be mine's twin! Holy cow! Here's mine for comparison:


Oh wow, they really are almost identical!! I hope mine's fins grow out like yours, he is so good looking!


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

carbonxxkidd said:


> Oh wow, they really are almost identical!! I hope mine's fins grow out like yours, he is so good looking!



I bet he will! Mine was very pale when I brought him home, and I saw such a drastic change in under a month! Here's the tread showing the change I saw: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=118843



We have good taste in fish


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

rmarkham said:


> I bet he will! Mine was very pale when I brought him home, and I saw such a drastic change in under a month! Here's the tread showing the change I saw: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=118843
> 
> 
> 
> We have good taste in fish


It's funny, because before getting Krycek I'd never seen a betta that looked like him before! 

You did a great job with yours, he looks amazing now compared to what he was when you got him.


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

Wow. Tooms is such a neat color! I've never seen a betta that color before! Very neat.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

fgradowski said:


> Wow. Tooms is such a neat color! I've never seen a betta that color before! Very neat.


That was exactly my thought when I saw him at Petsmart! I just had to have him, he was so unique looking! Thanks


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

carbonxxkidd said:


> It's funny, because before getting Krycek I'd never seen a betta that looked like him before!
> 
> You did a great job with yours, he looks amazing now compared to what he was when you got him.



Thanks! I stupidly did a massive water change and gravel vacuum . now I'm stuck with daily water changes until the cycle recovers.. ... First I had a nitrite spike... (which I haven't seen in 2 years in any tank) and now an ammonia... good thing water changes are easy in 5 gallon tanks...


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

carbonxxkidd said:


> That was exactly my thought when I saw him at Petsmart! I just had to have him, he was so unique looking! Thanks


I had an all silver male king plakat before I got my CT... but he decided to find the small hole in his mini bow and jump out  We really do have very similar taste in fish!


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

rmarkham said:


> I had an all silver male king plakat before I got my CT... but he decided to find the small hole in his mini bow and jump out  We really do have very similar taste in fish!



I have had bettas my whole life, and they have all been your standard red or blue VT until my betta before these 2, Scully, who was an Orange VT with a little bit of marbling. I had seen CTs before, but never noticed all the other tail types at Petsmart/Petco before! It's kind of fun to have something new and totally different!


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

Totally! I have a plakat (who is sick with an eye thing at the moment...has been for a few months and it won't go away!) and this CT... and I always want more! But... until I get a house.. no room... every surface I have is covered in a fish tank... or a gecko tank.... even thought I could find room if I had too.....


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

I felt the need to update this thread with a couple pictures from today. Tooms's colors have darkened up but he is still basically silver with red marbling on his fins. He does look copperish at certain angles though and when there is a light shined on him - it's kind of neat. I've attached a photo (with flash) so you can sort of see what I mean. 


















Here are a couple photos of Krycek...he is much harder to photograph! Tooms poses like crazy and Krycek just wiggles around too much begging.


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

Gorgeous!!!


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

Just took a couple videos of Krycek and Tooms. Krycek has been flaring like crazy all night, and he usually doesn't do that so I just had to film him. Of course my good camera won't focus on the fish (doesn't have manual focus) so I had to use a different camera that isn't nearly as good of quality as I'd like...but you get the idea. It was hard to tell if I was in focus or not with the tiny screen on the camera so this is the best I could do...sorry 

I'm pretty sure Tooms has been doing a little bit of tail biting, but good news is he seems to have stopped (it's not getting worse). I also noticed a hole in Krycek's dorsal fin that I don't think was there before (hard to tell because he usually doesn't flare as much)...not sure what that is about. 

Video #1
Video #2

(I just rewatched these videos on YouTube and I sincerely apologize for the terrible quality! I will try again with my other camera at a later time...for some reason it just really has a problem with the autofocus and focusing on the fish  )


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

with tail biting you just need to keep water super clean, may be do extra water changes to prevent infection. Otherwise they act pretty healthy. Never had 2 bettas in one tank so not sure if they will used to each other and stop flaring then.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

sunlight said:


> with tail biting you just need to keep water super clean, may be do extra water changes to prevent infection. Otherwise they act pretty healthy. Never had 2 bettas in one tank so not sure if they will used to each other and stop flaring then.



Unfortunately they aren't flaring at each other  it's their reflection in the front of the tank. They only seem to do it at night when their light is on but the room light is off. Other than that they seem happy, I'm crossing my fingers for my first bubble nests soon!


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

See the hole in his dorsal? Too much flaring?









You can see where he's been tail biting here. It hasn't gotten worse in almost a week so I'm thinking positive.

They are both jerks, although pretty ones. Lol.


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

Lol i agree. Tail bitters are crazy. You never know when they will do it again. I am lucky one of my betta did it may be 6 times in his life. He is almost 3 years old. But again i like to do more frequent water changes because it scares me when i see literally half of his tail bitten. I know a lot of people recommending to use stress coat, but so far my betta didn't get any infection yet.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

I kind of think he started when I added a few ghost shrimp into the tank...but he really doesn't seem to mind them, especially now that he's realized he can steal food from them, lol! So hopefully it was just a tiny bit of stress from that and now he's over it...fingers crossed.


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

I hope so good luck Give us update.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

The hole in Krycek's fin is not there anymore, as far as I can see...that healed fast!


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

I forgot to ask. You wrote that they flaring at each other at night when their light is on but the room light is off. I don't think you need to keep light in the tank at night. This way you will resolve the problem and also i think it can be stressful if you keep light all the time. 

I am glad Krycek's fin is better.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

Their tank light is on from about 7am to 10pm most days. If I have the day off, I sleep in and it doesn't go on until about 9am or so. I don't mind turning the light off a little earlier in the evening but I like to watch them and I can't see them otherwise since it gets dark so early now!


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## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

It cute.


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

I read that in most cases they will stop after a couple of days as they get used to their new surroundings. Occasional flaring i guess is normal and healthy behavior. If he still flares and get stressed

Often the easiest fix is to adjust the light. The reflection is caused by the angle at which the light is hitting the glass. Often turning the tank or moving it to another location will fix the problem. Also , the background color outside the aquarium can enhance or reduce his ability to see his reflection. Darker colors show the reflection more than light colors. Keeping the tank away from walls or nearer light colored walls will be better then keeping it against a dark wall. Most fish stores carry aquarium backdrop images you can tape to the outside of the tank. While a solid blue or black backdrop will worsen the reflections,images of aquarium plants or rocks will hide the reflection..
Adding live or silk plants is a great way to break up th sightlines between your betta and his reflection.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

Thanks for the good info! They don't seem to be constantly flaring, just more than usual...maybe because I am doing more water changes and they are feeling happier? I do have a backdrop and lots of plants in my tank - they seem to only flare in the front of the tank, so maybe they are just showing off for me when I'm watching them? Unfortunately my light isn't bright enough for more live plants, and it is not replaceable unless I get a whole new hood which I don't really want to buy. I bought a kit at Walmart with an LED light, and it's great but the light could be better.


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## sunlight (Apr 24, 2012)

lol may be. It funny my bettas don't flare a lot so i show them the mirror sometimes, just to make them exercise


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