# The Beginning's of Bettas and Cameras!



## newlndnfire (May 8, 2016)

Well, I haven't been here long, or a part of the betta hobby for long, but I decided that I wanted to start a journal! It may be interesting for some people to read what someone learns, starting from the beginning. Also, I am not only starting to learn the ins and outs of Betta fish, but also my DSLR camera! Well...its technically my boyfriends, but he lets me use it and so far, I have no idea what I'm doing, haha. 

To start from the very beginning, I will tell the story of how I got Chip, my obnoxious little man. 








In March, I was finishing up my second semester in college for Veterinary Technology and one of my good friends in residence (basically a dorm) asked me to take care of her fish while she went away for the weekend. I happily agreed, as I had been living away from my dog for a while and I am a pet kind of person, haha. For a few days, I was over there checking on him and feeding him as much as he would eat in about 30 seconds (what I read on his container of food). Now I know I was WAAAY overfeeding him, as it was probably like 10 pellets at a time, twice a day! While I was taking care of him that weekend, I may have fell in love with him a little bit and I was pretty sad to leave him once she came back. 

A few weeks later, she came to me and asked if I'd like to have her fish as she was leaving Ontario for the summer to work and visit family in British Columbia. I felt guilty for a little bit, as last time I had fish (goldfish), they didn't do so well and I was slightly terrified of killing another fish. But, I agreed as I had been looking at bettas ever since I had taken care of him for a weekend. He came with him little 1/2 gallon tank, food, water condition, gravel and 1 plastic plant. 

I started researching more about Bettas and learned that he needed to be in a much larger tank, but being in a dorm room where we weren't supposed to have fish in the first place and the fact that I was soon moving over 3 hours away, I wasn't really able to get him a bigger tank at that time. So unfortunately, he had to live in the small tank for another few weeks. 

I'm not sure how often he was getting water changes, but I know when I had him he was only getting water changes every week.  








Finally, the day to move back home to my parents came and I had a plan. I was extremely worried about the fish, which I had named Chip by this point. (Fish and Chips, get it? Haha) I figured I would have to put him in his little petsmart cup that he came in, and I would put him in the cup holder for the ride home! But of course, things got complicated when it came to getting keys for our rental house and Chip was kept in that small little cup for far longer than he should have. 

Eventually we made it home and I got Chip back into his 1/2 gallon for the time being, until I could afford to get a bigger tank. I wanted to get a 10 gallon tank if I could, hopefully for cheap off of Kijiji (a Canadian craigslist). Unfortunately, Chip started to quickly decline in health. He was gasping for air at the top of the tank, and had horrible stress stripes. I figured I needed a new tank, and quick! 

My boyfriend and I went to Walmart and came back with a brand new Tetra 10 gallon aquarium and I set it up the next day. After acclimating Chip to the new heated water, I set him free! But the next day, he was still showing stress stripes and was hiding by the filter. I had 1 small plastic plant (the one he came with) in there and that was it...it was very bright and very very empty. 

I quickly figured out that the poor guy needed somewhere to hide! So off to Walmart we go, where we find his cool skull for him to hide in (we sanded some of the sharper edges on the inside and it's nice and smooth now) and a few more plants. Chip was quickly must happier and a few days later we woke up and he built a bubble nest for us! The first one since I got him. 








As you can probably tell from the pictures, Chip's fins are a bit of a mess. I think it was a combination of ammonia as well as fin biting from stress. He is doing much, much better now and is very happy. He loves to swim laps in the tank and flare up at us when we come to his territory - the above picture is his characteristic look. His fins are improving and I can see quite a bit of new growth on them! 

I recently got a good scare because his gills are black and it lead to me thinking he was dying but from further research, I think it might just be his coloring as he is quite dark. 

Chip's tank still wasn't quite finished as it needed a few more plants for him to hide in. We ended up going to Petsmart and getting some more as well as a certain someone....








I'll talk all about Fish #2 tomorrow, as this is already quite long and I should probably get something around the house done today!!

For now, here is a long at Chip's 10 gallon tank in its current glory. It still needs some work, but boy does he love those green plants! 








​As far as the camera...I still have a lot to learn. Lol


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## newlndnfire (May 8, 2016)

For Fish #2 there isn't much of a story. I had been planning to put a divider in the 10 gallon since I got it, because I wanted to get another betta (the addiction has started!). 

While at Petsmart looking for some more plants for Chip, I was looking through the cups of betta fish. I wasn't supposed to get one yet (I was supposed to wait until pay day, haha) but I just fell in love. He was so pretty and had such a lovely tail! 









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While writing about how I have yet to name him, I figured we can name him what we've been calling him! Fish, haha. It goes along with Chip as well, so I have Fish and Chip  Pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

So far, not much has gone on with Fish. He's been in his quarantine tank (the 1/2g that Chip came with) and I've seen no issues. So, he is headed into the 10g! 

Last Thursday, we went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff for the tank to help divide it and fill it up now that there will be two males, and I wanted to give them places to hide. I should have posted a haul, but I was too excited to get working on the tank. 








Just last night we put the divider in the tank and added all the new plants. The divider was a real piece of work because we had to cut it down to fit into the tank and we had to saw off the plastic pieces, omg. But its all good now! It fits perfectly and all the plants and the new decorative piece has really filled out the tank and it looks awesome! We're planning on adding some more plants in the near future, but for now I think it's perfect. 

Right now, Fish is floating in his cup on his side of the new tank. I'm getting him used to the temperature (as his quarantine tank wasn't heated - I couldn't find a heater that wouldn't cook him!) Later tonight, I will be releasing him into the 5g! I'm so excited. 

I haven't taken any pictures of the tank now that it's all filled out and divided, but next time I will.


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## newlndnfire (May 8, 2016)

I don't have any pictures for this update, but I figured I would post about how the introduction went for the boys! 

When I released Fish into the 10g, they immediately noticed each other (despite my efforts to try and block the divider with plants!) and flared up. For a little while, they would flare at each other, then swim away and keep going back to flare again. 

Now that it's been a few days, they seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. They have both built some pretty good bubble nest, I assume marking their territories? 

I added a driftwood log yesterday after soaking it for a couple days, and rearranged the plants that I do have to block the divider a bit more. It seems to have helped a little bit. But so far, they seem to be doing well!


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