# New Betta (Adventures) Log!



## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

Hello everybody! I am going to start journaling my adventures with my new little female betta. A little bit about myself first I guess, I got my first betta in 2011, I'm very academic and even started completing first year level science courses since grade ten and literally sign myself up for every single elective I can fit in along with volunteer work. 

So basically my life is pretty hectic. I don't know about you guys but I know that having a betta in my life definitely keeps me sane. It is just nice coming home and knowing that you have a little fella waiting for you and is all excited the second they see you and greets you as they beg for food of course. Bettas inspire me and provides motivation for me to keep pushing myself beyond my limits and keep striving until you're over achieving and even then keep going. It is simply amazing how strong these little guys and gals are. Even physically they can survive barely livable conditions and are fighters until the very end. I just simply can not put in words how much I love bettas and I truly owe it to them to helping me develop as a person in general. 

First betta (Sept. 1, 2011): Blazer, red crowntail. My first ever betta friend. Introduced me into the world of bettas, a spontaneous choice for me to buy a betta but one of the most important decisions that I would never regret making. I was lucky and blessed to have spent those nine months that I did get to spend with him, he passed away from metal poisoning due to a heater. 


Second Betta (Sept 1, 2012): Tarris, peachy halfmoon. Tarris here on the other hand was the first betta I had that I was absolutely prepared for. I made sure I had taken every ounce of knowledge I had from experiences with Blazer to making sure Tarris would never get harmed or fall ill. We had an amazing journey throughout those two years. As I was introduced into the "real world" and the transition of growing up Tarris was with me every single step of the way. Whenever I felt as the world was too much I would come to Tarris and after awhile I would calm down and be refreshed with motivation to keep going once again and have the mind set of staying positive and making the best out of everything. Tarris unfortunately has always been a more sensitive and skittish fish who got nervous easily. He fin bited 3/4 of his tail by the second month which was fine until paint started bubbling off one of his caves frompetsmart and he got sick and literally suddenly semi pineconed. Dont remember what I did exactly but I know kanaplex eventually was used and he seemed quite recovered afterwards. Following winter 2013 though there was a heater malfunction and he had a temperature shock which led to him getting ill. He never showed obvious signs of exactly what was wrong but slowly started deteriorating. He battled ick, sever fin rot and other "mysterious illnesses" after that. Eventually he just couldnt take it anymore and had fibrosis gill damage. He was a strong boy and kept fighting for almost two more months after his gill damage got to the point where he could barely swim. He did pass away in May 2014 and is now swimming up by the rainbow bridge with Blazer to accompany him. I will always try to keep the mindset of celebrating his life and being glad he was in my life and thankful for those 2 years we spent together but every now and then I might break down from everything being too much and really start grieving for him all over again. It is a lot tougher coping with the rough times in life when he isn't there physically with me. 

August 29, 2014: I got up the courage and went to Petsmart to look around at bettas and grabbed new supplies. It was about time I got up the courage to have another betta companion. I did not realize how much I NEEDED a betta in my life until I noticed how happy I was looking at every betta and talking to them at the store oblivious to everything else around me. So it was then that I knew for sure I needed a betta to accompany me along my senior year at high school. (That plus the rational reason of me giving a better home to a betta than those cups or a little girl throwing them into a bowl would ever do) So after literally standin there for over and hour I decided on this tiny female that was 1/3 the size of the other females. I thought it would be really cool to watch her grow up. But i wasnt prepped yet so just had to cross my fingers she would still be there. I knew this would be the start of an exciting adventure since I only had male betta before. I don't know how females and their eggs and everything works. But I have heard they are quite active compared to males and that would be quite interesting since I honestly think the males aren't that lazy anyways haha. 

DAY 1~Sept 1, 2014:I ran home from work (PNE Fair) and screamed at my parents to quickly get into the car before petsmart closes early because it was Labour day. My little girl was still there though she was just slightly clamped at the bottom, a lot less active than friday but I still got her hoping she'll perk up when she's used to her new large, heated, well decorated home with lots of hiding places. Acclimated her for six hours, ended up freaking out before I thought she we t into temperature shock when I floated her cup into my tank and she stayed really still. But after two hours I realized by that point she was literally just sleeping. Sooooo.... That gave me a good scare lol. I tried feeding her one new life spectrum pellet and she happily gobbled it up. She was really sleepy, when I finally placed her into the tank, she swam right up to a leaf near the surface and continued sleeping! Didn't even bothered to snoop around. And i woke up every 4 hours that night to make sure heater was calibrated properly. 

DAY 2~Sept. 2, 2014: Woke up (again) and when I went to tank I saw her dart away. She is quite scared of me and stressed out in general. She has had stress lines basically the entire time. Though at one point yesterday during acclimation had those breeding/aggression lines. Anyways I fed her two pellets an she went right for it then hid right away again. She clearly wouldn't come out with me in sight so I hid behind my bed and peeked at her for a good hour. It was cute watching her hesitantly leave that one leaf and swim a bit out into the open then rushes right back to that leaf. Then swims out a little further than last time and rushes right back to the leaf. Five hours later I caught her kinda glass surfing! Though she stopped right when she saw me, but hey I still saw that! By diner at 5pm I dropped food into the open area and she actually came out to get it. After diner she even stayed out there in the open and asked me for food. She freezes up when I approach but thats an improvement from darting away at the sight of me. Pretty sure by the end of the month we'll be besties!!! I will upload pictures tomorrow. But keep in mind my ipod has horrible quality but at least you can see what the tank and my little girl looks like. Oh and her name is Brey. 

Thank you to anyone to actually read all this. I know I typed a lot but just keep in mind that it is a very exciting time for me. The journal entries will die down a bit as the days passes, but right now it's a very exciting time as I discover her personalities and get to know her. Feel free to comment so I know that at least someone is reading this haha. This is a really amazing place where most of us all share a passion over bettas so we would all mostly understand each other, especially when it's excited rambles about bettas. Thanks again for reading and I will definately keep updating daily for at least this first month. 

Ps: I am and will be typing on a tiny ipod touch in the middle of the night so please try to ignore all my typos ect...

Have an amazing day everyone! Don't forget to try to add a little spontaneity to your day no matter how big or small!


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 3~ Sept. 3, 2014: Woke to today to be greeted by Brey and she was excited for breakfast. Significant difference from yesterday since she would freeze up whenever I approached. Overall ate four pellets and pooped at least once. Doesn't seem to have any internal intestinal problems or anything so that is great! Gave her first water change(40%) which she temporarily had stress lines turn into aggressions lines during water change. She seems to be warming up to her new habitat since she is willing to be hanging out in the out in the open area. Hopefully stress lines disappear soon.


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## Ian Tepoot (Mar 28, 2014)

Wow. A very detailed record of your experiences. I'm glad to see you are having a positive experience with your aquarium companion.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 4~ Sept. 4th, 2014: Today Brey was quite excited for breakfast as well. Noticed that her stress lines would disappear during meals, hiding in her plants, and glass surfing. She's also been doing a fair amount of glass surfing from what I can see. There seems to be some red colouration coming in for her dorsal and anal fins and sometimes she's just a chameleon with all the manipulation of skin pigments, especially with her stress lines. Diet wise ate 4 pellets, I didn't find any poop. She is definitely getting more and more use to her new habitat!
Ps: I will be using these logs for my owm references too so I will be stating what she ate, and if she's digested her food, sooooo just a heads up in ur case wondering why I keep mentioning if she's pooped or not on a daily basis haha. Just trying to keep record so I can use the logged info as an idication to her health. 

@Ian Teapoot: LOL Thanks for actually reading all this ramble of mine! i am literally typing this at like 2am most of the time so I dont even know what I am sayin half the time.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 5~Sept. 5th, 2014: Brey was excited for breakfast. Still has dark stress lines but it does go lighter when she glass surfs around. Gave her a 50% water change using the gravel siphon for the first time, she was really curious and swam right up to it and I had to pikt it straight down so she wouldn't get sucksd in but the sight of flying rocks just intrigue her more... But afterwards she seemed quite stressed afterwards and took some time getting used to her tank again since her plant moved a tiny bit. Seems as she has been digesting her food but it either comes out in little "crumbles" or she tried putting it into her mouth and spat it out. Overall she's just still trying to get familiar with her habitat, though the water changes every other day (planning on just for first week) is throwing her off a bit and just adding stress. Hopefully her stress lines disappear within a week or so.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 6~Sept. 6th, 2014: Woke up to her excited for breakfast as usual. Ate two pellets for breakfast but no diner as a little "fasting", well that and it was quite late. Appears to be getting more comfortable in her habitat. 

DAY 7~ Sept. 7th, 2014: Brey was definitely getting comfortable with her new habitat. Stress lines were lighter and sometimes weren't even there! She got frozen brine shrimp for the first time and didn't even hesitate eating it or even wondered if it was food. (Ate three and I stopped since her tummy started getting bigger trying to digest it.) At night though I gave her a water change which stressed her out, but I found out she was pooping quite regularly in pretty big chunks but it almost is disintegrated after sucked into siphon. Afterwards tried turning on her filter for the first time which honestly was quite disastrous. She was completely freaked out, and the water change shifted her plant from that perfect position where there was this leaf that was right by the surface. She even jammed herself into the makeshift water bottle baffler.... So yah nevermind about the filter. Maybe I'll try slowly turning it on daily for a little bit per day and use some classical conditioning pairing it up with some food. She literally went quite dark with aggression lines on body, stress lines still remaining on face then once aggression lines went away super dark stress likes and she seems paler than ever. Well that definitely stressed both of out and now I know to refrain from trying something new with her so suddenly.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 8~ Sept. 8th,2014: Brey seemed to have somewhat recovered from the stressful previous night. Tried turning on filter again and she was more calm about it, though at night I noticed she refused to sleep even at 1am if the filter was on so I have to turn it off at night which really defeats the purpose of the filter's functions but at least this way she will be getting more used to the filter hopefully. She seems so upset when she's trying to sleep on her top leaf but it's awkward with the filter on or something. Poor little girl haha hopefully she comes around with the whole heater situation. 

DAY 9~ Sept. 9th,2014: Pretty much same thing as yesterday with the filter situation. Ate four pellets, and dark stress lines are back from all this filtering. She seems quite chill during daytime about filter but loses it when it's still on at night and she's trying to sleep.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 10~Sept. 10th,2014: Didn't see Brey much today, but turned on filter in morning as I fed her again and left it on until midnight. When I got back home from Camp Mad, Brey didn't have stress lines even though filter was on! (well she did once I was there but I still saw that she was pretty calm). Ate four pellets as usual and didn't notice anything unusual.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 11~Sept 11th,2014: Wow it's almost been two weeks since I brought Brey home! Last night I actually left her filter on overnight for the first time ever and she didn't seem too stressed in the morning. Trying that again today. She got four pellets once again and I gave her a good 50% water change. She clearly is digesting her food, but she also is still losing a bit of scales or scraped herself or something of the sort. But i can't see that on her actual body so it's probably not too serious, she does get stressed easily but recovers after some de stressing so it should be under control.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

It's amazing what can be accomplished with a little bit of training.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 12~ Sept. 12th,2014: Stress lines went down today, four pellets as usual and she pooped 

DAY 13~Sept. 13th, 2014: Four pellets as well, and her stress lines today were also quite faded for the most part. 

DAY 14~ Sept. 14th, 2014: Stress lines were quite dark for some time today, not sure if it has to do with the heat making water 82'f. Four pellets as usual and also pooped today, though I've noticed her poop is quite long and stringy like sausages and it breaks into little specks once I suction it out, not sure if that means anything but it appears has she's pooping quite regularly and doesn't have internal parasites. Lol wow these posts are starting to shorten up.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 15~Sept. 15th, 2014: Its officially been two weeks since Brey came home! She's definitely not that tiny little girl clamped up at the side or bottom of a tiny cup anymore. Each day she continues to become more familiar and comfortable in her new habitat and is very... VERY active and somehow I still find her awake at 1am despite all lights are off and she is also up at 6am when the sun hasn't even rose yet. It's really cute and relaxing just to sit and watch her weave in and out of her enormous dense fake plants.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 16~Sept. 16th, 2014: When I lifted the aquarium hood up today and there was brighter lighting shining on Brey she seems quite pale... Not sure if she's going pale due to stress, and I'm just wondering if its possible for a betta's natural colouring to just go paler... Though I doubt it. That's just a bit weird though since her stress lines are becoming paler each day and she seems to be more comfortable... Hmmmm. She seems to be in a healthy condition though, eating, digesting and poop looks fine, no velvet and no signs of anything wrong other than this paleness. I'll just keep and even closer eye on her then for now. Anywho, gave her a 50% water change today, she seemed a lot more chill with it for the first time and didn't have crazy dark aggression lines. Though it may be a tad bit anxious about how curious and attracted she is to the gravel siphon because she sees the debris being sucked up and when she investigates she's in danger of being sucked up herself. And she gobbled up four pellets happily.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Some bettas do have a pale natural coloring. I wouldn't panic as long as her behavior, general appearance, and appetite are good.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 17~Sept.17, 2014: Didn't get to see Brey much today, but I did fast her today so she didn't get to eat anything. Figured I might as well do a weekly fasting day to just to give her digestive system a little break, her poop's always been quite long and stringy like. She does have semi dark stress lines though today. And maybe the typical Vancouver weather is just effecting everybody today.

Oh and I was worried about her paleness because during water changes I do siphon up bits of what seems to be her scales, as if she's scraped them off or something.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Hmm, that doesn't sound good. Is there something in there she could be scraping herself on?


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## Nimble (Aug 31, 2014)

If the fish are getting stressed, you may want to invest in a heater if you don't have one already. I mean, you DO live in Canada.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 18~Sept.18th, 2014: Didn't get to hang out with Brey that much today but I fed her our pellets. However I did notice that her tummy seemed unusually big... Which is weird considering I faster her the entire day yesterday. Do female bettas just randomly develop eggs and abdomen area just gets slightly bigger because of an egg sac or something and it disappears after away since it won't germinate or anything?

Ps: As for Brey's habitat, she has a five gallon all to herself, 25w ehiem heaters (one of the best, most reliable ones out there), aquaclear 20 filter (with sponge, biomax and ammonia remover filter inserts that get regularily replaced, following manufactorer's schedule and I know to never swish the inserts in untreated water to keep the beneficial bacteria, she has two silk plants, one really bushy large plastic plant, two caves that have been carefully sandpapered to ensure no sharp edges or anything will hurt her and everything in tank has been carefully inspected to make sure its proper aquarium decor (no metal inside, cheap paint that will come off, all decor is mostly free of paint anyways including gravel), she has plently of hiding places, one half of tank is basically like a dense forest, and the other half os the two caves with open space for whenever she fels like glass surfing ect. 

As for diet, she gets two meals of two pellets of new life spectrum pellets a sher stable diet, with weekly enrichments of frozen foods such as brine shrimp. 

And I have been trying my best to minimize stress the second I picked her up from the store, from covering her cup in black cloth to acclimation for six hours prior to being introduced to her new habitat, all water is treated with prime plus stress coat.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 19th~Sept.19th, 2014: Didn't get to see Brey much today but she seemed quite happy about her four pellets. Though I did notice the colouring in her tail has gone practically clear... Other than that everything else seems normal. And tummy isn't big or anything but does look a bit stiffer, and almost whiter from the insides?


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 20~Sept.20th, 2014: Brey seems to be having darker stress lines again when I woke up, but after feeding her this morning they seemed to have disappear. Four pellets once again and she pooped!

DAY 21~Sept.21st, 2014: For the first time Brey didn't get freaked out to the point of aggression lines during a water change! Woot woot making progress right there. She doesn't even have dark stress lines afterwards either! It practically looks like she's grown almost 1/2 cm from when I first got her :') they grow up so fast!


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 22~Sept. 22nd,2014: School started for me today (Bc. Teachers strike finally ended) so the logs will probs be shortened. Brey seemed quite chill and active on her own, and ate four pellets. 

DAY 23~Sept. 23rd,2014: Ate two pellets for breakfast and four brine shrimps for dinner. She happily gobbled them up though her tummy once again swells up quite a bit the first hour-ish after eating it, might try another brand later on but it's not that serious right now.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 24~Sept.24th, 2014: Fed Brey her first early 7am meal, though the lights going on all of a sudden may have brought out her stress stripes for a bit today. When I came home after school to feed her I noticed her claudsl and anal fins had some red coloring again, probably thanks to the brine shrimp enrichments which I might give her three of every other day for diner just to give her a bit more protein since she's still somewhat little. It's interesting watching the transition of slight stress lines before meal to no stress lines during feeding then just darker body after meal but theyre not stress lines. I'm just glad Brey is now comfortable in her new home and isn't scared of me anymore


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 25~Sept.25th, 2014: Fed Brey an early breakfast again. She only got two pellets since I had school all day then training at Vancouver Aquarium the rest of the evening. She seemed quite happy during breakfast, the one time I actually got to interact with her today.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 26~Sept.26th, 2014: I've noticed that Brey has stress lines early in the morning but when theres actual sunlight it goes down to barely noticeable. But at night time it's really dark and she just seems to be semi awake swimming around. Ever since filter was turned on she does that and doesn't just go to a leaf and nap there anymore. Theres caves and dense plants and everything but I guess she just prefers to sleep that way? Fed her two pellets in morning and 3 brine shrimp at night. Tummy didn't get as swelled up as before with initial digestion of the shrimp.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 28~Sept.28th, 2014: Gave Brey a 50%water change today. Once again, she was pretty chill during it, no aggression lines  She definitely pooped a lot this week with her enriched diet of brine shrimp practically every other day. Overall 4 pellets for today!


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 29~Sept.29th, 2014: Fed Brey four pellets, she was just swimming around calmly whenever I passed by her and gets quite perky whenever I come say hi. 

DAY 30~Sept.30th, 2014: Fasted her today so she didn't get to eat anything today... But she'll be getting brine shrimp tomorrow!


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 31~Oct.1st, 2014: Noticed Brey's bottom anal fin looks a bit tattered like she dragged it on something? It's not obvious but when I look really closely at it then I see two little dents. I don't think fin rot starts out at two separate dents? Anywho I'll just add extra water chanes to keep her water extra clean for now. 

DAY 32~Oct.2nd, 2014: Bottom fins are darker red in colour again today, no sure why some days her fins are more coloured than others, might be the change in diet? I think her lower fins get a bit redder after I feed brine shrimp. Fed her four pellets today!


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 33~Oct.3rd, 2014:
Fed Brey two pellets and three brine shrimp. Gave her a water change and swished her filter inserts. Her gravel os becoming a mess, so much chipping and like gravel dust grinds? Her lower fins are still a bit jagged and seems to be clearer today... Going to keep on eye on her for sure.


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 34~Oct. 4th, 2014:
Still not sure if Brey ripped her fins or if it's fin rot... Its becoming slighter darker by one of the dents... I did just do a water change yesterday so I'll keep the water extra clean for now, maybe a 50% change every 4 days for now. Fed her two pellets and three brine shrimp today. I might try some classical conditioning with putting finger on glass, and if she comes to it and stays fairly still she gets food. I might add a clicky sound or something before food who knows, it would just be nice to train her to stay still just for a quick second so I can examine her more closely, she gets really excited everytime I'm there anticipating food and doesnt ever stay still and I cant see her fins clearly. Im just glad she at least has all that energy haha.


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

I hope she gets better and good luck. Also... Pictures?


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## maggie9059789 (Nov 5, 2011)

DAY 35~Oct.5th, 2014: Fed her four pellets overall today and she's already starting to see a connection between finger on glass and food. 

DAY 36~Oct. 6th, 2014: Today, just four pellets as usual. Also started making two clicks right before food is fed today when she approached my finger that was on the glass. Hopefully over time she'll associate that clicking sound with food as a positive reinforcement it'll be interesting. Though I'm not sure if that will help with the whole purpose of getting her to stay still so I can examine her more clearly... Lol bettas just get extremely hyper over food

DAY 37~Oct. 7th, 2014: Continued with that classical conditioning, she doesn't seem to mind as long as she is fed haha. Gave her a 50% water change (last one was on Friday) just as a precaution to the potential of fin rot. Her fins seem to be better today, don't appear to be darkening by the edges of the two dents which I was worried about, hopefully these water changes will help prevent anything from happening.


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