# My Life With Bettas



## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Where it All Began*
*Peter*​
I guess starting at the beginning is a good thing to do. My interest in bettas started my freshman year of college. As I'm sure a lot of college students do, after moving away from home I began missing my pets (dog, cat, and horse). And in my case, I was going to school out of state and therefore was a good 4 to 4 and a half hours away from my fur babies. 

Needless to say, I ended up with a little bit of a void as far as things for me to love and adore went. So, after a friend got a betta for herself, I figured I'd check it out. I started to do a bit of research for myself. One thing led to another, I got a tank, filter, and heater, and then I acquired my first betta boy, Peter.​ 











Now Peter was an adorable orange veil tail who I immediately fell in love with. He was very active in his little cup, and wasn't frightened or shy in the least bit. I only wish I had better pictures of him. He always brought a smile to my face when I would return from class and see him with his wiggly butt and little half flares. He got to where he would take pellets from the tip of my finger. 

He was my little buddy for the first year and a half of my college career. Then he got sick. I wish I had known about this forum sooner, cause then maybe he’d have stood a better chance. I’m still not sure what eventually caused his death, but it was a sad day. The loss of the first is almost always the hardest.

But, Peter had started an addiction for me, and I wanted to keep going, I wanted to learn more and more about bettas. And a month or so later, I found a new fishy friend, or so I thought…


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Subbing!


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

Elleth said:


> Subbing!


Well thank you  Hope I don't disappoint lol, I'm not the best at keeping up with journals


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*The Next Step: Part 1*

*Round Two?*
*Viserys
*​
Now, I don’t have any pictures of Viserys (yes, game of thrones lol) they have been lost unfortunately, but he was a gorgeous red and turquoise half moon. I found him at my local Petco, and was drawn to his color combo. He was nice and active in his little cup, and was thrilled once I had him acclimated and placed in his new tank, however things began going down hill from there. 

He refused to eat. At first I wasn’t too concerned as I knew bettas have a tendency to go days, if not weeks, without eating, especially in new environments. Other than his refusal to eat, he looked otherwise healthy. His water was clean and warm, he wasn’t clamping or having any swim trouble, he was still active and seemed happy for all intents and purposes. After the first week I decided to pick up a couple different brands of pellets, thinking maybe he just didn’t like the ones I had offered him.

Nothing. He didn’t eat a single one. 

He would bite at them and spit them out once, and only once, before swimming away and ignoring them. I let them sit in the water, hoping he’d eat them if he got hungry enough, maybe. But after 20 minutes of him avoiding that corner of the tank like the plague, I scooped the uneaten pellets out.I did this a few times a day, trying out all of the 4 different brands of pellets I had picked up, and he didn’t want any of them. What else could I do?


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

Subbing! I can't wait to read your journey into betta care


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

Subbing


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*The Next Step: Part 2*

*The Hunger Strike
*
*Viserys
*​ 


After week two I got some advice from some pet store people as well as google. I decided to pick up some betta flakes and some freeze dried blood worms to try. Same thing. Investigate, nibble once, swim away as fast as he could, completely ignore and avoid that corner of the tank. At this point he had started to be a bit less active than normal as well. Not surprising seeing as he wasn’t eating properly. Once the third week of his hunger strike came about, I returned to the pet store to get some more advice. The lady I spoke with was kind enough to give me a small sample of the frozen blood worms they had. After all, what betta would refuse actual live (once thawed) blood worms? 


Well, Viserys was that betta. After he refused to eat the blood worms, I was sure he would just end up starving himself. I waited though, kept trying different pellets, flakes, and the blood worms throughout the fourth week of his hunger strike in hopes that he’d cave. 

Still nothing. 

He was getting more lethargic now, and his colors were starting to fade. He was breaking my heart. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, why he wasn’t eating. His water parameters were fine, the temperature was a nice 80 degrees.

I had even resorted to sitting at my desk and staring at him through the glass, begging him to eat something, anything while he swam up, happy to see me. Happy until I reached for a food container at least, then it was back to hiding. This behavior was so bizarre to me, and I couldn’t find help anywhere.

After the first month had come and gone, my heart broke into a million tiny pieces. I couldn’t just sit and watch Viserys starve himself to death, I just couldn’t. I placed him back in his Petco cup, and solemnly returned him to the store. I felt terrible, but I couldn’t stand to watch him die. My fiancé (then boyfriend) had to drive me back home because I burst into tears as soon as I walked out of the door towards the car. For the next week or so, I was so mad at myself, trying to figure out what I had done wrong, what I could’ve done differently, what would have gotten him to eat…

Eventually I accepted that there was no way for me to have force fed him, and that he had chosen not to eat any of the food I had provided. That helped a bit, but my heart still broke a tiny bit every time I glanced at his now empty tank, and the small pile of pellet and flake food containers. I went to return all the extra pellets and flakes I had purchased, and that’s when I found him, my little spark of hope, and in Walmart of all places…


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## Starburst44 (Feb 24, 2015)

Subbing!


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*An Unexpected Fresh Start*

*Happiness Returns*
*Dovah
*​ 
A beautiful purple and red double tail, hiding amongst the sad, poorly treated Walmart bettas. And he seemed quite happy considering. I swore to my fiancé (then boyfriend) that the little guy just lit up when I picked up his little cup. I felt like I had connected with the little guy, I felt that click and I knew I had to bring him home with me. Dovahkiin, that’s what I named him, Dovah for short, (I was on a skyrim kick) and he was perfect. He acclimated well, and was super happy with his new tank and his new home. He gobbled up his pellets almost faster than I could drop them in the water, it was a complete 180 from my most recent betta experience. 

He was such a happy little boy, and he was such an adorable fish. I had his tank set up on my desk where I would do my homework, which a lot of times consisted of me highlighting notes and whatnot. This is how I found his first little quirk. He would flare at my highlighters, just the highlighters. If I held one up to the side of the tank he’d follow it along and flare the whole while. I tried holding up a pencil, and similarly a brightly colored ink pen, and he had no reaction. It was only with the highlighters that he flared. I thought it was the cutest thing at the time. 

Another thing I kept at my desk and coincidentally by his tank was a thermos of coffee. This particular thermos was a marvel comic book printed one, and had a myriad of bright and vibrant colors. I began to notice that he would hover around the side of the tank that I had placed the thermos cup at. I began moving it to different spots to see if he would follow, and he did, every time. I eventually retired the thermos from duty to serve as an out of tank decoration for him. I would move it around outside his tank every week and he loved it. 

He was quite the little character indeed. I happened upon a dragon skull decor/hiding hole for him and thought it was perfect (his name means dragon in skyrim video game language). It didn’t have any sharp or rough edges and I figured you could never have too many hiding spots for bettas, so I picked it up. He was adorable when I first added it to the tank. He swam around and around it, went inside and sat for a bit then came darting back out and began flaring at it. I think it was the red jewel eyes on the dragon that he was flaring at, but it was so cute. After the first few hours, he finally figured flaring at it wasn’t getting him anywhere and he went back to swimming around it and resting inside. It soon became his favorite place to sit.










He provided many hours of entertainment and happiness. I would even go as far as to say he was my best betta experience so far (not that I had a lot to compare to, but still). The nearly 3 years that I had Dovah was a little brighter and happier because of him. He just passed away this last month at the beginning of June after going through a move and getting into fin biting. The move stressed him more than I would have liked, and he wasn’t the same afterwards. He wasn’t his normal happy little fishy self, but I still loved him, and I will admit that I cried like a baby when he passed. I’ll also admit that I teared up writing this. 

After a little over a month, that addiction that Peter had started came itching back. I had drained all the water from Dovah’s old tank and cleaned everything before setting it back up. I just wasn’t ready to put it into storage. I kept the filter going and kept up water changes just like he was still there. Three years of habit is hard to break. His tank sat empty for the entire rest of the month, water enticing me every time I happened to glance over. At this point in time I had adopted a new fur baby. The apartment I had moved to allowed pets, and I now had a kitten to chase after. Maverick kept me entertained and distracted, but every time I looked at the empty tank, I felt it, that itch.

I was in Petco getting cat food for my kitten, and I just had to go by the betta section. It’s just something I always do no matter the store (I’ve hopefully saved a few betta lives this way, but that’s a whole other mini-rant). And I saw him, sitting in his little shelf-cubicle thing (Petco has interesting betta storage to say the least). He was fast, swimming in circles around his cup, half flaring, seemingly rainbow colored fins flashing…


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Here we go Again - Present Day*

*Time for Some Luck*
*F**a**lkor
*​ 
The high energy, active swirl of color I had come across was going to be going home with me. He was absolutely gorgeous. His body was a pretty, almost iridescent white, and his fins…Well I’m not sure to be honest. At some angles his fins appeared to be a lovely mix of purples, pinks, and even some blues. Yet, at other angles, his fins appeared to be red and green with bits of yellow even. I fell in love with this gorgeous fancy half moon boy. The store had incorrectly labeled him as a dragon, his scales didn’t have that thick armor look at all, but that didn’t matter to me. He may not have been a dragon scale betta, but I would end up giving him the name of one of the most loveable dragons know, Falkor. 













Falkor the luck fancy half moon betta. Didn’t quite have the same ring as luck dragon, but he seemed happy to finally have a name once I had decided on one. I got him acclimated, and into his new tank in no time. So far his favorite place is the dragon skull. Every time I look over and see him resting in the opening I feel a small twinge of sadness, remembering Dovah’s love of the same resting spot, but Falkor simply wiggles his butt and makes me smile. I still miss Dovah, but Falkor makes it easier every day to remember the good times. I’m hoping this is the start of a long, fun filled relationship with another dragon boy who stole my heart.


I’m going to be heading into town today to stop by my Petco, the same one where I got Falkor, to see if a pretty plakat boy is still there. Fingers crossed. I’ll update later.


Now, for a small barrage of pictures, because since I’ve joined this forum I actually have a place to put pictures.


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

He's gorgeous!


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Such a pretty boy! And lucky to have a good owner.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Meant to Be*

*Two Bettas are Better Than One*
*Unnamed
*​ 
So, guess who was still sitting in his little cup at petco, just waiting for someone to give him a home? That blue/turquoise halfmoon plakat boy I was telling you about. I had seen him last week when I went and found Falkor, and I told myself if he was still there on Friday that I was going to bring him home. I had to do a little bit of searching, and almost gave up when I finally found him. He had been moved to a different section on one of their side shelves. I told myself it was a sign and that I couldn't pass him up a second time. He is the first plakat betta that I’ve had, and I’m quite excited. He’s so cute and he has this eye catching pop of orange on his ventral fins, and a few little hints of orange under his head and on his pectoral fins, and he has the cutest looking little grumpy face ever. The grumpy face is quite evident and easy to see in the second picture.




























Now I finally have a new friend to put in my second tank setup. I’ll start acclimating him as soon as I’m done posting this little update, and then I’ll get some pictures of him in his new tank. I haven’t decided on a name yet, though I have a few ideas. I’ll probably get a marimo for his tank at some point seeing as Falkor has one in his, and they add a nice pop of green (and they’re squishy so yay lol). I’m also waiting for an amazon order for more silk plants so I can have a little stash to cycle through every so often.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

What a handsome guy! So glad that he was still there for you. Congrats!


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Mister Grumpy Gills*

*Home Sweet Home*
 *U**n**named*​
Well, my new addition is finally in his new tank  And he just seems so grumpy about it lol


















He's actually proving to be much more difficult to photograph than Falkor. He just darts around so quickly, most of my pictures just end up as a blue blur. Hopefully he'll settle down after he's explored his new abode and I can get some actually decent pictures. I just cannot get over that grumpy face though, it's the cutest.

I have a few ideas for names, the first few have something to do with water/the ocean, and the last one means autumn rain in hebrew, which I thought could be cute with his pop of orange. 



Nereus
Nerio
Kai
Caspian
Jorah
I'm also open to any suggestions as well.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
 
 
 *What's With all The Noise*
 *F**al**kor*
 
​Mister luck betta has decided that he's gunna start throwing around some of his pebbles, particularly into the sides of his tank, and particularly at 3AM. My guess is he just likes scaring the kitten with random noises. Every time he does it I look over and he just stops and floats all guilty like before swimming away and hiding in his dragon skull cave. He's turning out to have quite the personality indeed.​


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

I can see why you went back for him. That grumpy face is adorable! 

None of my bettas will play with anything, not even their moss balls.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Mr. Playfull and the Meme Fish*

*Silly Boy
Falkor
*​
Well, Falkor was at it again last night, though he only threw his pebbles around a couple times. I'm thinking about getting him a ping pong ball to play with. I've tried ping pong balls over the years with my previous fish, but none of them were ever really interested. Perhaps Falkor will be the playful one. I've noticed that he occasionally will nudge around his moss ball that's in his tank as well, so I have high hopes for the ping pong ball.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*



*Oh, I see you Wanna Take my Picture? *Darts Away*
*  *U**n**named*​
As far as my newest boy goes, he's still too quick to get a lot of decent pictures, and I haven't been able to get him to flare for me yet, but I'll keep trying. I think I'm going to make a simple baffle for his tank filter when I get home from work tonight. It's hard for me to tell, but I think he's having a bit of trouble with the current. Falkor is doing fine in his tank, but the tank shapes are a little different so that me have something to do with it. I'll keep an eye on it after I've baffled it and see if my new boy acts or swims any different. As far as names go, I've gotten some opinions from family and friends and it's a tie between Kai and Jorah. I think I'll ask some coworkers tonight and see if I can break this tie and get this boy a name.

On a side note, he could totally give grumpy cat a run for her money. He is prime meme material lol








​


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

He could definitely give Grumpy Cat some competition. Grumpy cat actually makes a lot of money. I think I read somewhere it's at least a million.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Time for an Update*

*Baffled and Named
Jorah
*​
I put together a super simple and quick baffle for the filter on Jorah's tank. I simply cut part of a water bottle and attached it with a rubber band so the outflow is spread a bit better. Jorah seems to be very content with it. I however have a teeny issue with it. While it works and gets the job done, any time I open the lid to the tank, because of the shape of the tank and the airline tubing from the filter the little plastic water bottle piece ends up moving a bit. I think I'm going to look into getting an aquarium sponge and putting some in the intake tube thing on my filter and seeing how that goes. If anyone has tried this or knows of a different alternative, I'd be more than happy to hear from you 

But, other than all that, Jorah is doing well. He finally has a name so there's that. I got about 6 more opinions on the names and 4 out of the six voted for Jorah, which made it the most voted name so far. So, I went with it (which by the title of this "chapter" and the above paragraph you already know...). I like the name, it's unique and has a meaning which sort of reflects his appearance (autumn rain, rain=blue, autumn=pop of orange lol). I think I was secretly rooting for Jorah for that very reason, though I really liked Kai as well. 

I have still yet to get any flare pictures of him, and it isn't just because of how fast he is either, and boy is he fast. He is the first plakat I've owned, and I knew plakats were fast but dang. Aside from his ridiculous sudden bursts of speed when I get by his tank with a camera, he has yet to flare for me. I've been trying to get him to flare for pictures since yesterday. He doesn't seem to care for the mirror I hold up. He just stares at it and swims away every time, no reaction what so ever. He's just too camera shy I guess, but I'll keep trying. I really want to see that grumpy face flare for me


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Same old, Same old*

*Shenanigans
Falkor
*​
Well, as the title of this section suggests, Falkor is still up to his usual shenanigans, throwing around his pebbles. I did get him a ping pong ball though, and he seems curious about it though he hasn't messed with it much. He gets a bit braver with it everyday though, so I'm sure he'll be pushing it all over the place before long. I'll have to see about getting some pictures up once he starts playing with it. He flares like no other when I hold the mirror up to him, as well as when I turn the light off in the bedroom (I think he has a reflection when the main room light is off but his tank light is on). But other than that, his first week in his new home is going well. I'll be doing his first water change today so we will see how he likes the siphon.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

*What's up With You?
Jorah
*​

Jorah the grump is still refusing to flare for me at all. He did have me a little worried for the last day and a half though. I had noticed that his nice vibrant blue wasn't as vibrant and that he had some stress lines down his body. I've been testing his water everyday to make sure everything was good and keeping his tank at a nice 80 degrees. I'm thinking it was just some stress due to adjusting to his new home outside of a tiny cup, cause today when I woke up he was back to his lovely vibrant blue and the stress lines were gone. He's still getting the hang of where his food comes from, but he's learning that when he sees the food container to swim to the surface. Hopefully I'll figure out some way to get mister grumpy to flare for me. I've never had a betta not flare for me with mirrors, and it's so odd.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Megan1793 said:


> Hopefully I'll figure out some way to get mister grumpy to flare for me. I've never had a betta not flare for me with mirrors, and it's so odd.


Lol! My first boy, Arausio (the one in my avatar) would run away from the mirror and hide. Such a goofball. He was very friendly and happy to have me around, just couldn't stand the mirror.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

Jorah doesn't even swim away, he just sits there and blubs at it, no flare or fear, just no cares. He must be taking his grumpy meme self seriously lol


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

That's how Phil was when I introduced the mirror. Now he flares at his reflection. Such silly fish.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Complete Opposites*

*Happy Boy
**Falkor*

​Well, Falkor is happy and active as ever. He completely ignored the siphon on water change day (yay), and he's started nudging around his ping pong ball. I have tried to get some pictures of him playing with it, but he loves attention, and every time I get near his tank with my camera he hurries up to the side to say hello. His colors seem to have gotten a bit brighter as well, unless I'm imagining it, which is possible. His colors never quite show through right in pictures, but I'd like to think he's getting brighter. 

This was the closest I could get of him playing with the ping pong ball, silly boy saw me immediately and came to say hi.










And some more pictures, because reasons.



















*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Camera Shy
**Jorah


*Now, Jorah is the complete opposite of Falkor as far as basic behaviors go. He doesn't much care for pictures, always darting away before I can get a decent one. He likes to hide and peek out from behind his plants at me. I'm still trying to get him to flare for me too. Just for kicks I tried a ping pong ball in his tank as well and he hasn't even touched it. His face doesn't seem to be the only grumpy thing about him lol. 



















His nice, vibrant blue seems to be back to stay now that his stress stripes have gone, and he hasn't had any major issues in the last few days. Well, other than what he started today. He has finally started to figure out that he needs to swim to the top for food, and that's all fine and dandy, but he has started having difficulties actually eating the pellets. I feed both my boys new life spectrum pellets, and before today neither of them have had any trouble eating them. Jorah has been gobbling them down with no problems since I got him last week. But today for some reason he was having trouble. It was almost like he couldn't get the pellet in his mouth properly. After a few tries the pellet would start to sink and he'd chase it down, trying to eat it the whole way till it hit his gravel, then he'd ignore it completely. I made sure that he was able to eat at least two pellets today, and I'm hoping he was just having a bad day and that he'll be back to gobbling them down with no problems tomorrow, but we'll see.​


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## Julie7778 (Mar 20, 2015)

Thats so adorable that he plays with the ping pong ball :lol:

Both your bettas are beautiful! I enjoy reading your journal.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Mini-Update*

*Om Nom Nom
Jorah
*​
Figured I'd do a quick little update on Jorah. He seemed to eat a little easier today, only had trouble with one of the NLS pellets. I've started to go through and pick out the smaller pellets for him. I may even go as far as picking the small pellets out and putting them in a separate container just for him. Falkor has zero problems gobbling his pellets down so I haven't had to worry about him. 

Still haven't gotten him to flare for me either. I even tried pulling up a picture of a betta on my phone. Falkor flared at it (but he flares at everything so...) but Jorah wasn't the least bit concerned with it. He's stubborn as ever lol


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

You could also cut the bigger pieces in half. I had to do that with Ruby.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Role Reversal*

*Pretty Red Light
**Falkor*​

Well, Falkor has decided that he doesn't want anything to do with his ping pong ball now. He hasn't touched it in the last day and a half. Seems like he's lost interest in it. He does however chase laser pointers, so that's super amusing and adorable. Though I have to make sure my kitten doesn't try and chase the laser pointer at the same time cause that'd be not so great... I added a couple more small silk plants into his tank, which he seems happy about. All in all Falkor seems to be doing quite well.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*


*Turn That Frown Upside Down
Jorah*​

Jorah the Grump is where the plot thickens. Mister-I-Don't-Wanna-Play-With-Anything has changed his mind on the ping pong ball. After it had been floating at the surface of his tank for a couple days, he decided to actually investigate it and started nudging all over his tank. It's like Falkor handed off his interest in the ping pong ball and Jorah accepted gladly. I tried to see if he would chase the laser pointer like Falkor just for fun, but he wasn't interested in it. I'll keep trying though, what with his new found interest in the ping pong ball, he may just need some time to decide he wants to have fun. I still have yet to get him to flare for me and it's starting to feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. He just isn't interested in any mirrors it seems. I'm not giving up on him though, I know he's just waiting for the perfect moment when I don't have my camera ready to finally flare for me lol


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*



*Silly Fluff Ball
Maverick
*​

On a side note, my kitten absolutely loves chasing his tail. Like all the time. Even more so than my chihuahua did when she was a puppy. If you think puppies chasing their tails are adorable, you have to see a kitten do it. Maverick is proving to be the cutest, most adorable pain in my butt ever.


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## LoveMyBettas (Jul 9, 2015)

I enjoyed reading your journal!!  I am glad that I am not the only one who sees that my fish have a variety of personalities!! I said that to my daughter the other day & she looked at me like a grew another head ... I was thinking maybe i just WANT them to have personalities)) lol


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Update*

*Happy Fishy
**Falkor*​
So, after a couple days of completely ignoring his ping pong ball, Falkor surprised me this morning. I woke up to a nice sized bubble nest, one which he decided to build all around his ping pong ball. 










I'll see if he continues making it bigger, but he only has a few days left till water change day, but he may go ahead and rebuild it afterwards. Just have to wait and see what he does.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*



*No Paparazzi Please
**Jorah*​
Finally. Well, sort of. Jorah finally flared for me with a mirror. Of course it was as soon as I gave up trying to get a picture of him doing so that he finally did. And of course I got my camera back up and then he refused to flare for me again. But it's progress even if it's just a tiny bit of it. I will get a picture of mister grump flaring for me if it takes me all week. He still has some teeny tiny issues with about one of the pellets I feed him everyday. It's almost always just one pellet though, the rest he gobbles down with no problem. 

When I changed his water the other day (his first water change in his new tank) he got a bit stressed, more so than Falkor did. Jorah is not much of a fan on the siphon, and by the end of it all he had a couple of stress stripes and hid away in his barrels. He had his normal bright stress stripe free colors back in no time though and was his happy, grumpy-faced self again.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Busy Year*

Well, the last couple of weeks have been very busy for me. I also just started school back up, 5th year of college for me. Unfortunately that means I'm not going to be as active as I was before. Granted like I said, the last couple weeks have been crazy and I haven't had a chance to post much. That being said, I can do a quick update on things.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*

*Falkor

*Not much new with my little luck betta. He did rebuild his bubble nest and has continued to rebuild it after every water change (if it gets disturbed). He has taken to building it up around the filter in the corner, I guess he figured the least disturbed place when it came to the water changes would be best, and so far he's been right. The nest does get disturbed by the filter current, but only a bit seeing as it's baffled. Falkor has started a habit of gobbling down one pellet, waiting about 30 seconds, then gobbling down another, then waiting about 10 seconds and spitting them both back out. He does it every other day and it gets to be a bit annoying seeing as after he spits the pellets out he just watches them fall to the gravel below and ignores them, causing me to get the turkey baster and fish them out myself. I guess he's decided to start being a little butt. I do have his picture in the photo of the month contest, and I'd appreciate it if you'd vote for him.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


*Jorah*​

Jorah seems to have finally adjusted quite well to his new home. He hasn't been having anymore trouble with gobbling down his pellets in the last week and a half which is great. He quickly abandoned his ping pong ball after a couple of days however. No bubble nest yet from him, but he has been much more active when it comes to flaring for me. Still haven't gotten any good pictures of him doing it though. I need to sit and dedicate a whole block of time to getting a flaring picture of him, maybe then I'd have some luck. I'm probably going to go to petco/smart and pick up a marimo ball for his tank. I have one in with Falkor and have been meaning to get one for Jorah as well, but I keep forgetting. I am going pet shopping this weekend though (cat food and litter) so I will (hopefully) remember to peruse the marimos while I'm at it.



*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


* Maverick*​

I cannot believe that Maverick is going to be 5 months old this week. He is getting so big. He's still a pain in my butt, but he is learning (slowly but still) that certain behaviors like biting and jumping on the table are not allowed. He likes to sit and watch my boys swimming around their tanks as well, though he knows not to jump on the dresser or stand where their tanks are located. He's a typical super playful and energetic kitten, and he has his adorable cuddle moments. Though he seems to absolutely love to get in a super cute and cuddly mood in the morning, right before I have to get out of bed. Like I needed another reason to not want to get out of bed in the mornings, now I have a cuddly kitten that wants to lay on me when I need to get ready for class.​


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

You've got beautiful bettas and it's been a pleasure to read about them and your kitten.


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Concerned Fish Mom*

*Falkor*​

Well, it seems that Falkor the luck betta may not be as lucky as I had originally thought. He's sick, which from the replies I've gotten on his emergency thread, seems to be from fin melt. I've started treating him as advised but I'm not sure he's going to make it. He isn't looking too good and I'm hoping he'll pull though but I'm not sure if he will. I've only had him for a little over a month now and he was so happy and active with his bubble nest building, this just breaks my heart.


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


**Jorah*​

On a happier note, Jorah is doing very well. He's starting to flare more often and isn't showing any signs of any illness. He's on the same weekly water change and feeding routine as Falkor, but he is doing great. He's even started chasing a laser pointer like Falkor used to do. I'm probably gunna be extra paranoid with him though and look for the tiniest of any sort of sign that he's sick. Falkor turned around so quickly.​


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## Megan1793 (Jul 21, 2015)

*Swim in Peace*

*Swim in Peace
Falkor

*​
As the title of this chapter states, unfortunately Falkor didn't make it. After posting in the diseases boards, we determined it looked as if he had fin melt. I had started treating him for it and he seemed to be perking up a bit, but then yesterday afternoon when I returned from work and checked on him he had started pine coning. His belly had gotten pretty swollen and with the pine coning it was obvious he had dropsy. After this realization, I purchased epsom salt with the intentions of starting him in epsom salt baths, but I didn't get the chance to see if it would help. He passed sometime during the night hiding away in his dragon decoration. I only had Falkor for a short period of time, just a little over a month, but he had started one of my passions back up. He was a very happy and healthy fish for the most part, and I take some happiness from knowing that I at least saved him from living in a tiny cup for who knows how long. I'm about to get real cheesy here, but hey. He may have been new to my heart, but he will be truly missed and I will never forget the gorgeous flash of his rainbow colored fins.


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I'm sorry Falkor passed. I do hope Jorah is doing well.


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