# Junior's Story



## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

I got Junior on the twentieth of June. He is a lovely light blue dragon scale betta; the moment I saw him in the tiny little cup at Petsmart, he brought a smile to my face. He just seemed to have such spirit and personality. This is the first fish I have ever kept, I've only ever taken care of dogs and guinea pigs. 

Junior lives in a 5 gallon tank where he enjoys curiously exploring, swimming freely, and watching the outside world go by. He's absolutely adorable! I love how he swims up to the front of the tank when he spots me looking at him. I always look forward to feeding time; I feed him frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, or pellets. He LOVES his food; he will often jump out of the water for it!

He reminds me of a toddler; during the day, he's full of energy, swimming around (and he is always up, eagerly awaiting lunch, early in the morning) and when it gets late he calms down and has no difficulty falling asleep on a fake plant or under the filter. I quite enjoy his company and I think he enjoys mine as well. He's made at least two bubble nests in his tank since I got him! 


P.S. Feel free to comment! Thanks for reading


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

Sounds like he has a nice home. Is he the fish pictured in your avatar? He's beautiful!


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Aren't bettas fun?? Before you know it, you'll be wanting more and more. Congrats. on your newest buddy Junior.


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

bettaboytroy said:


> Sounds like he has a nice home. Is he the fish pictured in your avatar? He's beautiful!


Thank you! And yes, that's him  I like the cutie in your avatar picture too!


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

Romad said:


> Aren't bettas fun?? Before you know it, you'll be wanting more and more. Congrats. on your newest buddy Junior.


They really are! Haha thank you!


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

I will be away for the next week, so I'm going to have my best friend betta-sit Junior. I will bring him to her house in his one gallon tank (too bad I can't transport the five gallon aquarium so he'll have more room), along with his favorite silk plant, his filter, and his heater. I'm hoping his water will be fine for a week without a water change. 

I've heard a few horror stories about fish owners leaving their fish with a sitter, and when they return, the fish's tank is completely filthy and the fish are sick due to overfeeding. I'm a little nervous about that but I know my friend has had a fish before, so hopefully she'll properly care for Junior (I also gave her instructions)! I'm also getting a pill box and putting a maximum of four pellets in each day of the week's container to decrease chances of him being overfed.

My friend really likes my fish, too, and she knows how much I love him. It's too bad I'll have to leave Junior for a little while; I won't be able to help but to worry a little bit!


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

I'm late responding to this; Junior's been back at home with me safe and sound for almost a week now. But his week being watched while I was away didn't go as I'd hoped. *sigh* When I got him back, the tank he was in had a lot of debris in the water. I was careful to rinse all the gravel and plant that was in there before putting it back into his normal tank. He looked pale from being stressed out in a different environment, too. :/ 

But everything's back to normal now! He's happily swimming in his 10 gal tank (it's not 5 gallons, I made a typo earlier!) and I know he's glad to be home (I'm glad to have him home too!). 

I'm headed off to college this fall, and until a week ago, I wasn't sure if my dorm would allow pet fish. However, once I found out that they would allow a 5 gallon tank, I got so excited! I'm really glad I can bring Junior with me (if not, he would have stayed home with my parents and brother and I would have missed him!). I've started shopping for my dorm room and tomorrow I'm going to the pet store to buy Junior a new tank that will be his "dorm room"! haha I'm thinking about getting him an airstone, too, because he seems quite interested in bubbles. I sure do spoil the guy! ..But that's what pets are for, right? ;-)


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm glad Junior is home safe and sound. Good luck with college, to you and Junior both. lol


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

dramaqueen said:


> I'm glad Junior is home safe and sound. Good luck with college, to you and Junior both. lol


Why thank you!


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

Today I discovered that Junior does not play well with others. 

I had planned on getting an African Dwarf Frog to add to his tank, and I finally purchased one from Petco today. I added the frog to Junior's tank, and the curious betta immediately faced the tiny little frog. Junior watched him intimidatingly, but began to ignore the frog's speedy dashes to the surface for air. Or so I thought. An hour later I watched them again and tried to feed the new little guy a bloodworm. Junior stubbornly swam up to the little guy and grabbed the worm for himself, then nipped at the frog. This instantly made me nervous and I "shooed" Junior to the other side of the tank so the frog could be left alone. Soon after, I saw Junior flare at the frog and take a nip at him again. :|

I respectfully moved the little frog into his own gallon tank, so that Junior can once again have his home to himself, and that Froggy can be as stress-free as possible. It made me upset seeing two of my pets not getting along; one being overly-aggressive and the other probably frightened half to death.

But now I'll be able to sleep knowing the two are both okay and happy.  In the future, I might get a female betta to keep with the frog (since I'm using two tanks either way... ;-)), or maybe get him some more frog friends..


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## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

Oh, well. At least he didn't eat his tankmates. Lebron did. He ate 4 ghost shrimp. D: Under 2 weeks. Oh, well. BTW, ADFs need 3 gallons per frog. Just an FYI. I <3 Blue Dragonscales.  Reminds me of the AB Blue Scale I found on AB. Didn't get to buy it. :-?


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## jeremywadejunior (Jul 11, 2012)

LebronTheBetta said:


> Oh, well. At least he didn't eat his tankmates. Lebron did. He ate 4 ghost shrimp. D: Under 2 weeks. Oh, well. BTW, ADFs need 3 gallons per frog. Just an FYI.


Oh no! I guess our fish are just more aggressive than most and want nothing to do with those silly community tanks! 
Thanks; I've actually done some reading on that and I plan to upgrade soon!


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