# Tanklyfe -- autojoy's journal



## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Hello!  I really enjoy reading the journals on this section of the forum, and wanted to start my own! My tank has finished cycling (EEEEEEEeeee!), and so I thought this would be a good time to start. Here's a little bit about my tank:

- Hugo Kamishi Simplicity 42litre with lid
- Eheim 45 Pickup filter
- Hydor 50watt heater
- black gravel by Aqua One
- matt black background made from clear plasticard sprayed w/ paint (couldn't find any normal black plasticard at the time, lol)
- four marimo balls! They are called Moss, Roy 1, Roy 2 and Roy 3.

I've been collecting the pieces together slowly. My next purchase will be the HKS led lights that snap into the lid, and more plants! I am planning to get anubias/javafern/java moss/some kind of floater -- I'm very excited to get the plants. We had goldfish when I was a child, but I would not consider myself experienced at all in fishkeeping (and sadly we listened to pet shop advice for our goldfish, who lived for 10 years but not very well.... it sort of broke my heart to learn only now about the things we did wrong), this is my first "real" tank set-up, so I wanted to go about everything very slowly. I've been researching and collecting tank parts since... er, not sure, actually! About four months?? Maybe five? I also have a ceramic cave on order, which should arrive in the next week or so, too. It's cute! 

It was actually pretty fun doing the cycling process! And so exciting whenever anything changed! Even though there was nothing visible happening, it was fun to log the progress and use the testing kit and see the colours in the tubes go through all the different hues. I tried to imagine all the tiny bacteria having fun and eating away at stuff in there, hahaha. Our tap water nitrate is naturally 10ppm (this is the standard for England according to the government websites -- it is there in at *least* this level to reduce a particular bacteria which can affect very young infants, apparently -- I have seen some people in England listing their tap nitrate at 80pp and over) so I need to keep an eye on it. Hopefully the plants -- especially the floater -- will help.

Here is a terribly unexciting picture of my bare tank.










I was cycling from 19th July. I messed up to begin with as I wasn't used to the testing kit and added wayyyy too much ammonia without getting proper readings, and it took a while to get it back down again, haha. And, I did not heave a heater for quite some time, which definitely stalled the cycle. Once I added the heater, everything kicked off and it was amazing!! If I was to make a graph out of my log-book, it would probably look hilarious -- nothing like the graceful bell-curves that googling "tank cycle" suggests...! :lol: My nitrite eventually dropped suddenly to 0 from 5ppm overnight. I was actually in shock and disregarded the readings initially, but it's been processing ammonia and converting properly with rising nitrates for over two days now, so! :-D

Once I am used to the plants I will get and have ensured they are not going to die on me (it's my first time keeping aquatic plants! I am nervous I'm going to kill them! So far the marimo have not died..........) we will get our male betta!!! I am terrifically excited and a little nervous. It will be our (mine and my partner's) first betta, and I hope he will enjoy his future home. I would rather like a red VT, I really love them. But I'm not terribly fussy. 

Thanks for reading ^_^


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

Welcome! I love the journals section, too. 

I think you'll love having plants in your aquarium. I look forward to following your progress!


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## niQ (May 28, 2014)

Goodluck with your betta searching! Post some more pics when you get him & when your tank is all setup with the new plants and decor


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@DaytonBetta* Hello! Thank you for your welcome. I will check out your journal, too!! I have ordered my plants finally, and I'm so excited, haha.

*@niQ* Hi! Thanks for your encouragement! I will definitely get some more photos up!


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

My cave arrived! It’s so cute. I kept on calling it a “fish jar” while it was shipping, and the term stuck in my head, lol. 

I had a hard time trying to find a good hide that was smooth enough for a betta’s fins. Everything at the LFS and the LPS was sharp and rough… and I was wary of buying online in case of the same problem. I ended up googling “ceramic cichlid hide” and came up with a range of cute terracotta-style hides, that, if rough, could easily be dremelled/sanded down due to the material (so I didn’t have to worry too much about them being too rough, without prior handling!) This is the “large” size. I got it from eBay here, and I’ve seen them for sale in other places too. The shipping was pretty quick! It was not dirt cheap, but I am pleased with it and I feel that it is safe, so that is a worry off my mind and that is priceless, haha!

Exciting news is that I have ordered my plants, and I also have a light!!!! I'll get a picture of them all together, once everything is here ^_^

Thanks for reading!


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

*stares* That is a wonderful hide. Gonna have to find a few of those for myself. 0_o


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## Jonthefish (Jun 16, 2014)

Totally agreeing !! I want one for my Goldie !! Can't wait to hear more :3


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@hrutan* yeah! They're really lovely! There's a slightly smaller one, too. 
*@jonthefish* Your goldie is SO CUTE 










Okay, here's my tank right now!!! Not a great photo, haha! My phone doesn’t pick it up so well, and I suck at balancing photos in Photoshop, sadly. But yeah! I had a lot of problems with my original plant order, a lot of which were made worse by the fact that I am a total newb at aquatic plants, and didn’t realise when something was actually dead and hoped it would just revive itself in the tank, etc.


Original floaters were DOA, pretty much, I tried to recover them in a separate container but in the end they weren’t really having it. I did have an anubias, but it came with rhizome rot which got progressively worse, which I didn’t realise at the time was a thing until I googled it. I’m sad, because I like the leaves and colour of anubias  Maybe I can try again sometime. Most of the moss I got on the wood I had to *SCRAPE OFF* in the end as it was just brown mush and was polluting the water. Ugh. So, I was basically left with one small wrinkly java fern out of the whole order. My partner suggested phoning the company, but as it was weeks after my order I just didn’t feel confident doing it, and I was worried I was going to be berated for not knowing enough ^^; That was all from AquaEssentials, btw, who have a glowing reputation. I guess I was just unlucky.


Anyway — I purchased some hygrophila difformis from a seller on eBay who had flawless feedback, and I was incredibly happy with it. I then went back to them for two (HUGE) java ferns and a red lotus bulb. I put the two new ferns either side of the smaller one from my original order. They’re like twice the size and were about half the price, so ^^; I hope I have planted the bulb the right way up!!! I’m anxious for it to start growing! The seller is "injaf" on eBay. Takes about a week to have the plants shipped, but I've been very happy with his service! (Possibly UK-only).



I went to get a nerite from Pets At Home on saturday (am working all weekends at the moment and wanted to do something nice!) but I wasn't allowed to take one home as I was walking, and the walk was 15 minutes  I guess they were worried about the temperature drop being too severe? I'm more worried about ordering animals online and them being sent through the post, which I would imagine would be more stressful? Maybe I'm wrong?



After that, I found a good seller online with awesome feedback. They also sell Amano shrimps, among other things. I really, really, really want to add some Amano shrimps to this tank! But, as the plan is to house a betta, I think it would be a bad idea? Internet seems to say Do Not Do This. Ugh, I love shrimps though 
Hoping to fetch our betta on 1st November!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really really hope he will like the tank, I’m a little anxious. I’m trying really hard!


Thanks for reading! I hope everyone is well!


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Turned out I had put my poor bulb in upside-down! (It’s hard to tell, really!) I switched it around, and this happened in like 12 hours! Go, little bulb!!!! :-D


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## Schmoo (Oct 3, 2014)

I really like your tank set-up! :] And I have zero experience with shrimp, but from what I've read on the forums, it's doable. If I've read right (check the compatibility subforum) Amano Shrimp needs lots of hiding places, but it's totally doable. You also just have to be careful about the betta's temperament.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@Schmoo* Hello! ^_^ Thank you very much, I am happy with it too for the moment! Crossing fingers it's "full" enough for a betta, with enough to explore and so on. I did a lot more reading around on the Amano subject. I don't think my tank is heavily-planted enough for shrimps at the moment... I'm not sure I want to risk it. I love shrimps a lot, I would be pretty heartbroken if they ended up being terrorized/stressed or killed needlessly  

I would still like to have some floaters. I really like the look of dwarf water lettuce, though I have heard it is hard to maintain? Perhaps when I have a bit of extra cash I will try it...

Oh yes! Haha, I had a dream last night that I was looking at my tank, and then I looked away for a minute and when I turned back, the tiger lotus bulb had sprouted into a HUGE plant!! Haha. Not really that far off in reality... the little stem is already twice the size of the photo I took the other day!

One more 70 hour week and then I get a day off to go and pick out a fish!! I hope the LFS will let us take it home in a taxi... I might have to ring first and check, bit nervous after being turned away at Pets At Home!! :/


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Yeeeep! Sudden realisation that, after all this time, we will (hopefully) have a fish this time next week! :shock: I realised I don't have any food in yet!!! The LFS we'll be going to only sells Hikari pellets, which I read are not so good. So, I tried to find New Life Spectrum, or Omega One... neither of which are in any Aquatics store (brick&mortar OR online!) anywhere. I finally found NLS on eBay, and it's like £9 for 50g! Gosh!!! But I guess it'll last for a long time, and if it's the better type, then that counts, right! No luck with Omega. 

I want to get some Frozen foods in... I read that Hikari is the trusted brand for frozen foods this time, but I cannot find Hikari frozen ANYWHERE. Online or off. 

My tiger lotus has GROWN!!!! Super fast! I should get a new picture...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I cannot believe there will be a fish here (hopefully) next week aahhhhhhh.... I'm nervous?


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## Innerbeauty (Jul 31, 2014)

Beautiful so far.... I love it!  It makes me want to go get black gravel, which I've never had.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@InnerBeauty *Thank you, that's very kind! ^_^ I was after black sand, but was unable to get any at the time. I like the colour of the gravel, though this brand is a bit sharp. I hope it will be okay.










... at least, that's what I think when I look at it right now, haha! I did not realise it would grow so quickly, it's very exciting. The leaves are a lovely colour!!!! :-D Just seen the state of those leaves on the bottom of the Wisteria. They look very sad, ahahah... those are the older ones. The ones at the back and top are much nicer and lacier! ^^;


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

It looks like your future betta is going to have a lovely home! I can't wait to see what lucky little fish gets to live in your tank.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@LadyNightraven* Thank you!!!!! I got my boy! He is still settling in but he's doing okay!

Okay, I have failed to get any other good pics of him because he is very wiggly, haha, so... here is a..... pretty rubbish phone pic of our new boy, *John McClane*!!! 










This is from when he was still in his bag and acclimating. I acclimated him for about two hours, and tried to remove/balance out as much of the water he came with as possible. It wasn't water from his store tank (i.e. it was fresh water he got bagged with), and I tested it (it came out as .25 Ammonia)... I wanted to tip the bag gently rather than net him out, as I saw him being netted when he was at the store and I could not bring myself to do it again to him, and I didn't have anything else to transfer him with. 

It's pretty hard to tell what he is from the picture, I know! He's a blue butterfly HM, with some green irids along the back parts of his body. He is super stunning and like, the OPPOSITE of what I was planning to get! I am a little worried about the long-term prospects of an HM betta; I'm worried as he gets older his tail will be very heavy for him, etc. ... he was the healthiest betta that they had, though, and very pretty, and stared at us cutely while we looked around.

Many of the betta there had velvet or ich, I think (I find it hard to tell the difference, but it was sort of goldy-coloured?), and some of them were in pretty bad shape. There were three boys that I would imagine came from the same spawn, which were all the healthiest, and he was one of them. Many of the fish were so very cute, but I thought for our first betta, it would be best to get the healthiest we could find, rather than risk trying to cure a sick betta when I am not that knowledgeable.

I was nervous to put him in the tank!!! I was scared he'd hate it or be very stressed!! For the first 24 hours he fought the tank walls -- not flaring, just kind of attacking them. After that, he settled down a lot, and stopped darting away when we were near, though we tried to move gently! Now, he does a lazy flare if he catches his reflection now and then, for a second or so. He uses the whole tank and is getting bolder!  I did my first fish-in waterchange yesterday and he came up to snuffle at my hand  He started on a bubblenest yesterday, and it was very cute to watch. He made little popping noises when he was gulping -- it was quite funny!! It wasn't totally destroyed with the PWC so today he continued on with it. It's getting bigger!!

I actually forgot to ask what they are feeding him with at the store, but there were piles(!) of bloodworms at the bottom of some of the betta cubes. I think they just chucked like a half-cube in with them. So, he is NOT keen on the pellets! I'm trying him with New Life Spectrum Betta formula. He chases them, but they are too big for him; even smashing them into crumbs he is still spitting them out :| I read that this is common and he will probably accept them after a week or so. I do have frozen bloodworms and daphnia, but I am reluctant to give him the worms until he will eat the pellets... I would guess it's better to try and wean him onto the pellets first, right? Or he might never learn...? 

Tank params are great, I'll be keeping my eye on them for the first few weeks.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

I Vined John McClane yesterday! Let's see if I can get this to embed... nope. I can't! Here's a link to the Vine... 

See how he has those transparent bits on the back of his tail? I don't know if that's just how he is, or he suffered damage somehow and it's growing back. Time will tell, I guess. It does kinda look like damage...?

I'm pleased with how that tiger lotus is growing! JM really likes pushing himself under various leaves and roots, it's terribly cute!!! We basically realised their behaviour reminds us of ferrets... it really does! Tiny water-weasels :lol:

He's started to eat the pellets a little more... I'm soaking them and then mashing them for him, and he's mostly keeping them down. There was also a poop on the bottom this morning! Not sure how often betta fish poop... so I don't know if it was the result of his stay here or if it was the remains of his last meals at the store!

In tank news, I took off the black background. I know it was a risk anyway, but I wanted to try it. He was obviously being unsettled by the reflections it cast, and I did not fancy trying to wait it out. I do want a background, though, so me and my partner are trying to come up with more ideas. Something with a lot of pattern on it, I think, to disguise any reflection... luckily, because of our jobs, we have a massive printer, so we can try a few homemade things.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Hnghhh, I caved and fed JM some frozen bloodworms. It's been 9 days, and I wasn't sure how long before that he was fed in the store. I also wanted to just check that he hadn't developed some kind of problem where he literally could not keep food down! Of course he hadn't... ^^; He sure loved those worms. 

I'd tried the soaking-in-garlic trick with pellets cracked down to 0.5 mm (using two teaspoons in "spooning formation" (lol) to grind them) and he wasn't having that; neither was he having them soaked in bloodworm blood. 

I've probably "reset" his pickiness back to zero, as it were, and I expect we'll have another couple of weeks of fighting over pellets. Sigh. But I have to admit I've been quite anxious over him, and I just wanted to see him eat to make myself feel better. I'm sorry JM! I was just overly worried about you ;_;

Oh yes! I got some water lettuce. I learned that there is apparently no such thing as "dwarf" water lettuce; it just doesn't grow to its full size in aquarium setups. The floating roots kept JM entertained for hours! He really seems to love them! The delicate roots got a bit battered in transport, and as much as I tried to swish off the broken bits before I put them in, there's still more scattered around the tank. It's okay, I need to do a PWC tonight so I'll siphon all this stuff up!


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

I *finally* got a relatively good photo of John McClane! Here he is... I'm beginning to wonder if his translucent tail parts are in fact just his natural colouring, rather than damage? 










Haha, he looks super grumpy! He is a real sweety, actually. Super keen on following me about if I'm messing in the tank. He tried to lie on the filter when I was taking it out to swish the media the other day :lol:

This morning he finally ate two pellets, for real! I started him off again on the garlic-soaked pellets, but he still wasn't having it... so on a whim I plopped in the smallest pellet I could find in the tub. He ate it! Then ate another one...! Maybe the garlic was just too strong for him? Crossing fingers it wasn't a fluke and he will eat properly tomorrow too...


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I have a white betta with some red in his fins and clear fin edges, its a leftover trait from a cellophane somewhere in the family (possibly parent or grandparent).
BTW.. your marimo balls.. if they were tied like that when you got them, they are fakes. Real marimo don't look like that (yours don't have the longer fuzzy stands evenly going in all directions.. it looks very compressed, a sigh of man made balls), nor need held together. I hope you didn't pay too much for those.


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

My Yurei has a transparent spot in his tail despite the rest of it being white streaked with blue. He's had it since I got him almost two months ago. I was thinking the same thing as Aqua Aurora that maybe it's from a cellophane gene he inherited somewhere down the line.  Regardless, JM is a gorgeous fish! I just love his blue!


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## AlwaysAnimals (Oct 21, 2014)

Great setup and handsome betta!​


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## Schmoo (Oct 3, 2014)

What a handsome fish!


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@AquaAurora* Hi! Ahhh, that's interesting news about the cellophane. That does make sense!! Cellophane betta are so pretty. He also has a tinge of pink in the white sections of his fins (only seen in some lights) that at first I wondered if it was ammonia burns from the store... but they're spreading and my ammonia is always at 0, so I guess that must be part of his colouring too!

Naw, no worries about the marimos! I split a large one and rolled it back up into a few pieces myself. It's definitely a legit marimo. I think I rolled them maybe too hard, they have not regained their floofiness ^^; I heard tying the thread around them helps keep the shape? Is that not so good for them...?

*@LadyNightraven* Ahhh Yurei sounds so lovely. Is that Japanese for "ghost"...? If so, sounds like it suits him! What a lovely name! The cellophane gene must give some awesome results to a lot of fish! 

*@AlwaysAnimals* Thank you  JM likes it, I think, too... he is *obsessed* with the floating plants, still! He really loves them... I must try and get a pic of him hanging out in them...

*@Schmoo* John McClane says thank you!


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

It is Japanese for ghost! He was white when I got him except for a few tiny spots of color in his fins and the little transparent spot at the end of his tail, but he's marbled pretty dramatically over the last couple of months. His body is more blue than white now, and the blue looks to be bleeding into his fins as well. He's not much of a ghost anymore, but that transparent spot is still there.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I've never ripped one up and remade a ball, only re-rounded whole ones, so can't say. if the string will do any harm or if it will hold its shape on its own. Either way in a year or so the string should be hidden by new growth (if not a little sooner).
Also my body Alastor with the cellophane fin edges also looks pink (body and fins) in certain light angles, in others it looks more like pearl or mild opal. Hate it when he looks pink, he's not pink, it just the way the light refracts off his scales and fins sometimes.


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## Littlefin (Oct 18, 2014)

He's really pretty! I love marbled bettas ;-)


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@LadyNightraven* He still sounds really lovely! Marbling is fascinating!!! ^_^

*@Aqua Aurora* I hope they regain floofiness! They look so cute when they are fluffier. I did read that betta tanks, due to the temperature, are not so great for marimo, which prefer a much cooler temp... like, I heard they appear in scottish waters, which are hella cold, haha. I hope it'll be okay. If not, I'll move it to a jar/glass!

*@Littlefin* John McClane says thanks!! :lol: Hey, do you reckon he might change colour?? That'll be interesting!!! I love his white face, if I'm honest, so I hope that doesn't change... but if it does, I will still love him loads!!

In fish news, JM is now *obsessed* with NLS pellets. What a turnaround! :lol: Now he's eating properly, he's got boundless energy and spends a lot of the time attacking the tank walls again... he's not actually flaring, just sort of being aggressive at them. Usually in one spot. I assume it's reflections on the glass, but I cannot figure out a way to reduce them at all (even if that's truly what's causing his attacks!) I've tried light-on, light-off, room-light on, room-light off, paper on the glass here, paper on the glass there... and any combination of the above over the past week or so to see if it makes a difference. Nope -_-;;; Perhaps he's just incredibly terratorial...? He's been here 20 days now, you'd think if he was going to settle down he might have done so by now O_O; 

I was worried at first he may have actually been scratching himself due to velvet or ich, as about 25% of the betta in the store we got him from had velvet. I've been checking him carefully since we got him for signs of these on his body, but I'd expect to be able to see something by now if it was the case, and he's still doing this behaviour! O_O; Am I needlessly worrying...? We've never had a betta before JM, so I don't know if his behaviour is okay or not, really.

Tank params are 0/0/10-20, and he has plenty hiding spots (ceramic jar, floating plants for cover, large stem plants & ferns) & now I've layered up a few IALs to make some tunnel-structures too. He explores everything, but never goes into "hiding" as it were... always comes up and wiggles excessively at us when we enter the room, etc.! No clamping, normal poops, and he *does* relax, but every few hours he'll have a massive go at the walls for a few minutes at a time...

Well, I hope he's okay...


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Oh, no... well, I think his behaviour is glass-surfing. I thought glass-surfing was slightly different to this, so I didn't realise. I read that it is related to boredom or stress. I am so very sad right now... not sure what to do for him... ;_; I tried so hard to make a good environment and I've ended up stressing him out terribly somehow without even realising it... oh man. I feel awful.


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Don't beat yourself up, autojoy! My Yurei is a glass-surfer, too, and he's oddly fascinated by a certain spot on the wall of the right side of his tank right now. He started leaving the wall on the left side alone after I put a plant up against it, so I'm going to do the same on the right side when he gets a water change tomorrow. I try to add new decorations or plants or move things around with each water change, and I also put things, such as PC game or console game cases, next to his tank for him to look at in the hopes of keeping him entertained. Some bettas just need more stimulation and variety than others.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Hey, *LadyNightraven*, thank you for your words of encouragement. I do feel pretty helpless right now, and still pretty sad.... I need to snap out of it as it certainly won't help! 

Yeah, I bunched up some of the IALs on one side and it interrupts his "flow"... which meant he started doing it along the front, which is bigger and harder to sort of adjust (paper over, plant up against, etc.) Sometimes he's okay with stuff outside his tank, but it's hard as a lot of it causes reflections that he just flares at continuously, so I have to take it away after a few minutes... sometimes he just totally ignores anything I try! 

What was awkward was that this behaviour totally stopped (that I could see) when we were still battling over pellets. I think basically his temporary lethargy drove him out of doing it, and he was constantly grazing the wood and leaves in the hope of finding food, too... I thought he'd settled in properly, but it's got so much worse again ;_;

I'll try moving things around next time I do a PWC. Sooooort of restricted a little with this as it's a partially-planted tank, but I can move the jar and the ferns and the logs a little, so I'll see if it helps!!! The best time he (appeared) to have was when I introduced the water lettuce. He was occupied with checking that over for days!!! O_O;

Again, I dunno if he's just chasing his reflection... for all I know he might be having the fish equivalent of fun!! O_O;;;

I need to calm down -_-;


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## Littlefin (Oct 18, 2014)

I didn't know what glass surfing was, so i watched a vid and it turns out my betta does it all the time! lol
But you could try entertaining him, if he still doesn't stop it's probably just for fun.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@Littlefin* Hello ^_^ I've thought of a few things to try that might count as entertainment. I started by switching up his tank as much as I could, but that made him way worse, actually... and super grumpy. He ignored me for 24 hours! (Still ate, but would huff right off!) I wish I'd not switched his tank up now ^^; I have some more plants coming in and I'm going to need to rearrange again to do that, so I expect I'll be making stuff worse once more...

He's not bashing into the gravel any more, but is literally stuck to the front of the tank for much longer than he used to be, only breaking off now and then to look through the water lettuce roots. I had paper up for a few days, but it's not making any difference that I can see. 

I might try changing his feeding spot... I see him hanging there for quite a while, sometimes!

Everything I try seems to make it worse 

I spoke to a few people on the forum who told me not to worry, and that it wasn't necessarily an indicator or anything like stress or boredom... but I feel like it's getting worse for him, and it's not nice to watch because it looks so uncomfortable! I know I shouldn't really anthropomorphize, but it's easy to do... *sigh*


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## AlwaysAnimals (Oct 21, 2014)

autojoy said:


> *@Littlefin* Hello ^_^ I've thought of a few things to try that might count as entertainment. I started by switching up his tank as much as I could, but that made him way worse, actually... and super grumpy. He ignored me for 24 hours! (Still ate, but would huff right off!) I wish I'd not switched his tank up now ^^; I have some more plants coming in and I'm going to need to rearrange again to do that, so I expect I'll be making stuff worse once more...
> 
> He's not bashing into the gravel any more, but is literally stuck to the front of the tank for much longer than he used to be, only breaking off now and then to look through the water lettuce roots. I had paper up for a few days, but it's not making any difference that I can see.
> 
> ...


I'm no expert so I could be wrong, but some of these new developments sound maybe promising. Like, the fact that he eats and darts off again... I might take that as he has some exploring to do. And the fact that he has stopped bashing into gravel is great! And maybe just hanging out at the front of the tank means he is content. It means he is not glass surfing. Of course I have never met your fishy but some of this sounds good


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Hey *AlwaysAnimals* thanks for your support! Sadly, he has just started tail-biting as of today. I *literally* said last night to my partner, "I guess at least he's not biting his tail...." I really stressed him out, it seems, with this tank rearrange. I can't wait for these new plants to get here so I can give him even more cover. I'm not sure what else I can really do for him other than that. I feel like everything I try just either increases his surfing behaviour or makes him more anxious. I'm so sad. I still feel like I've wrecked him. He seemed to settle in after a week, then we had this week of him being great and seemingly content, but after that it's just gone downhill...  

Because being around him seemed to make his surfing behaviour worse, I tried not really interacting with him for a couple of days (other than food) just to check if *I* was the one who was making him stressed out (worth trying everything, I guess!), and we're still blanketing his tank at nights so he can get proper darkness (sometimes we need to get into the kitchen at nights & turn the room lights on, etc.). But yeah. I guess leaving him alone for a day or two didn't work, either. Maybe I should try playing with him again and just ignore the surfing??? I just don't know.

This is our first betta, and I feel so rubbish that I can't look after him properly...


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

I just noticed my boy glass surfing too. He can see his reflection but wasn't flaring. Until this morning when he looked super agitated. I put a paper up but he stayed there on the lookout. I already know he gets stressed when I move things in his tank and he has no interest in things outside of the tank. I'm not sure what to do to entertain him.....


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Hey *Tealight03*  How long has he been in this tank for? It could be he will settle down after a while, you never know. He sounds very territorial, like JM. The glass-surfing thing is interesting. Your boy can see his reflection -- when JM glass-surfs he can clearly see his reflection too, it's very obvious (and gets worse when he feels he has to defend his territory). So, in these cases, at the least it is not really "boredom"... so at least we can rule that out, which is good. That's perhaps why JM and your boy aren't always bothered about stuff outside the tank, etc., when we try and distract them, as I guess to them, they're already "doing" something! (Chasing the "other" fish!) Let me know how your boy does!! We can try and think of things to do for our twitchy fish!!! 

Well, me and my partner have come to understand John McClane a little more these days, which we are glad about. He takes a LONG time to adjust. You may remember it took him 14 days to eat pellets properly. After the tank rearrange I tried (to combat what I thought might have been boredom), which he hated and sent me into a panic, he did in fact begin to really settle down. It took 13 days for him to settle completely, and spend the majority of his time exploring rather than surfing/defending. When he surfs, you can see from his behaviour that he can very clearly see the "other" fish in the glass, and he will spend his time chasing it. No flaring. 

I am as yet unsure of why and how he decides which fish is good to chase, and which fish is good to flare at -- and he *will* flare if he catches a particular type of reflection? For instance, a mirror -- FLARE! Or, if someone is up against the tank wearing very dark clothes, which causes reflection for him -- FLARE!

On that note! I noticed that the top part of his caudal doesn't seem to reach 180 degrees, though his bottom part does! Does this mean he is in fact a super delta, rather than an half-moon? His beard doesn't quite flip out all the way like some betta I've seen too... perhaps he did not do enough stretching exercises as a baby :lol: But I think he has cellophane in his beard? I'll try and get a picture of him doing it one day, but when he flares for reals he goes basically into hyperdrive and won't stay still at all.

Those plants I ordered seemingly forever ago finally came in. I got 10 Ambulia and 5 (very small!) straight Vallisneria. Of course, he'd JUST settled back in and then I had to go and shove stuff around again to plant them! So, he is in a huff again. I am sorry, John  But I can deal with it better this time because I know he will, eventually, settle. And I know he will love the amount of plants in there now. It doesn't look "pretty" at all now, lol, it's approaching "jungle" status... but that's kinda what I wanted and I suspect John will like it too. Once he un-huffs.

I made another background for the tank, after I had to take down the black one. He is fine with it, no flaring etc. Here's a picture when I was cutting it out:










I didn't realise it was so blurry, sorry 

You can't really see it in the tank... which I should get a photo of now I've planted it up a bit more. I got some new IAL teabags and they have made the water darker which is nice but they have made it CLOUDY which is really annoying!! I googled this -- apparently if the leaves aren't dried in a particular fashion they may retain a lot of gum? Resin? Which can make the water cloudy. Ugh, it looks like I don't clean my tank...!! :evil: Not sure I'll use them again... JM prefers the large leaves anyway.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

John McClane has a split in his tail  Poor little guy. I'm not sure if he tore it himself, or if he caught it on the wood, maybe. I hope he will heal fast. I started doing my PWCs every third day instead of every other day as it seemed to stress him out less (he just HAAAAAAAAAATES anything being done to his tank -- other than food being given, lol), but I will go back up to every other day for a week or so, just to make sure his tail doesn't get worse or infected or anything. I'm as gentle as I can be with PWCs! 

Tank params are 0/0/under 20 as always. I would like to get some of the tests that determine GH and kH one day as I feel a bit weird for not knowing what ours is 

JM is still stressing and surfing after the planting I did on monday. He is way less huffy than when I did the re-arrange, though. He will come up to the front and play with me, which he didn't before. We have this game I called Fog 'n Go. It's very simple. I fog up the glass with my breath, and he will move to the side into a clear spot. I will fog up where he moved to, and he will move to another clear spot. Repeat! I have no idea what he's thinking when we do this (probably something along the lines of "WHERE IS WORMS???111") but I think it's incredibly cute. We can go on like this for several minutes. Usually I get bored before he does, hahaha!

Here is something my partner had the idea to do for the tank lid:










It's padding that's used inside PC cases to reduce noise. Because the lid rests on the tank rim rather than sitting heavily into place, the internal filter rattles it a little bit. Putting the padding on the top bits helped to reduce it.

Also, it took me a while but I figured out that doing this would be reaaalllly useful:










Yep! Very useful...!! I have the "light" plug labelled too (not sure why it's not in this picture!) I also bought an auto-timer for my lights. Super useful if we need to go away!


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Omg  well, the last PWC I did uprooted ALL the stems, so I had to replant everything and it basically set JM back to square 1 in terms of stress. Also, my vals seem to be dying :-( :-( :-( I'm going to wait until they're pretty much totally dead (if they're truly dying) before taking them out as it'll upset him further. There were more chunks missing from his tail after the re-planting, and he's started gravel-crashing again in one tight spot in the corner. Yep, definitely back to square 1. Argh. I can't tell if it's him or me who's the most stressed-out right now.

Seriously. Please tell me if it's normal for betta to be unable to cope with *anything*?? :-?


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Sometimes vals leaves melt and adapt to environment changes then sends up new leaves. As long as there are still white roots they are alive, give them time. If roots are completely brown the whole plant is dead and will not recover.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@Aqua Aurora* Omg, I was really hoping that was the case but had it in my head that it was just crypts that did this!! I have hope for them, then...!! Thank you


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Aaaand JM has calmed back down again. Took 12 days of hyper-aggressive glass-surfing, up and down in one spot, but now he's done. It's like he just snaps off doing that immediately after his allotted 12/13 days!! He is back to being a sweet little curious guy again, wafting through the plants. 

My vals are still sad-looking, though the roots are still white and good (that I can see), so hopefully they'll be okay! The ambulia is finally starting to root, so hopefully that will help keep it down. The stems on it are just so tiny and delicate, I just can't get them to stay in the gravel well while trying not to disturb/mess the environment up too much so as not to upset JM!

I tried taking a couple of pics of him yesterday, but I'm terrible at capturing fish, haha! They're mostly blurs but they're kinda cute... I'll process them when I got time. Nearly done with my books for the year, phew...!


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## Nautilus splendens (Nov 28, 2014)

Hi there autojoy!!
I really enjoyed reading through your journal and I'm glad that JM has returned to his calm little self!
When I saw his picture it made me instantly think of my little Nebula hahah, they look so much alike! They're both rocking the blue/black/white marbling

thanks for sharing and I hope your vals get better; I've got a crypt going through the whole melting process too.. 

disregard the finger, it was the only way I could get him to sit still for a moment lol


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@Nautilus splendens *Hi! Oh, Nebula is really pretty! Thanks for putting up a pic of him here!!  Have your crypts got better...? My vals are not doing so well even now, but they aren't dying off properly... eeek.

Sooo! I just got so busy before and after christmas with travel and finishing off about three/four projects in a massive rush and had my birthday (for which we went away for a night! Very extravagant!!), that I had no time at all to either write in or check people's journals!!!! I hope everyone is well? Let me know how you are doing ^_^

My tank news is that... I got ramshorn snails. Madness? No really, I had a reason! Since John hates anything disturbing the tank, and I was having to pull out dead leaves now and then and even though being gentle as I could, it still upset him... I wondered if snails could help gently remove the dead stuff without me fiddling with it. Basically, I am not at all good with aquatic gardening and I expect that some of the dying stuff was due to my lack of experience in keeping an underwater garden!!! Soooo.... yes, the snails are really helping out and keeping everything fresh and clean. I ordered them off eBay. The funny thing was I put "two" in the order number box, and then twelve arrived... I think it must have been for two "lots" of a number of snails, whoops. Here's how they were packaged, simply in wet kitchen paper and inside a stiff plastic box:










One of them was a little crushed and sadly did not survive.

Another got stuck in the back of the filter the other day, and when I took the filter out to get it back out, it fell into a tiny crevice at the back and both me and my partner spent like 15 minutes trying to shake it out again/using tweezers to try and reach it. These little orange guys are very dramatic. 

Sooo..... I can't quite tell, but I think JM may be suffering a little bit of finrot. I noticed it about 13/14 days ago. At first I thought it was his fins changing colour, but now I'm not so sure as part of his dorsal do look very "thin"? It happened after the plants stopped doing so well and had a bit of a die-off. Honestly, adding those ambulia and vallisneria were probably a bad decision... even though it was with the best intentions to give him even more cover. 

My cleaning regime is pretty thorough (I think). I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but I change 8litres every second day and get through approx. 50% of the gravel with the vacuum like that. (I was doing every third day because he doesn't like changes, but snails, so I upped it to every second day again). I find gravel vacuuming tricky!! D: A lot of it comes up the tube into the bucket, and it takes ages to sort of "sink" back out of the tube so I can move to another area... I wish there was a more effient way to clean the gravel. Unless I am handling the vacuum wrongly? Anyway -- since I noticed this thinning and darkening of his fins I switched up to changing every day -- which he hates. The water comes out clear, apart from snail poops. I use the turkey baster to suck out fish poops daily too (so easy to spot on the dark gravel!!!) I've stopped giving him frozen food for a while too as I do notice that when he chews it some of it squirts straight out of his gills or mouth again; it's just not as clean.

Here's a photo I managed to get in which I have highlighted the suspicious areas. He has always had that pinkish tinge to the pale areas. He has also had a *lot* of new growth on his anal and dorsal fins (doesn't seem to be much of any on his caudal) and perhaps some on his ventrals, they look a little wider to me. You can see a lot of the transparent growth still:




























What do you think? He spends a lot of time dragging his fins over the gravel as he likes searching around the bottom as well as the top of the tank, and they seem to be a bit ragged because of this. Luckily there don't seem to have been more biting incidents since the last time which I am glad for. Those chunks are starting to heal back up too, I think. Tank params are same as always, 0/0/under 20.

Anyway, I dosed the tank with aq. salt following the instructions, and kept a close eye on everything to make sure nothing got worse (i.e. plants, snails!) Nothing changed at all. I read up on salt and it seems that the consensus is to have a "salted" tank for 10 days, and then give 14 days "rest" and then begin again if needed. That said, I see a lot of people keeping their tanks "salted" at the package dosing all the time. I also read about salt baths but I literally cannot imagine JM hating anything more than this, and I wonder if I should reserve it in the case that his fins get very bad. I still am not sure if he is even going through finrot, so. 

I did switch my de-chlorinator to Stress Coat Plus, which I saw some people saying was good with a double-dosage for a) stress and b) helping heal fins. I also saw people saying it was an utter crock and was just marketing gimmick, so. But I have to say I have been double-dosing for about 3x water changes now and I feel like he is displaying less stress behaviour (for him this is his hyper-aggressive glass-surfing that he does at the drop of a hat when things don't go his way). I will keep an eye on this. SC+ is not as cost-efficient as Prime but if it helps him then I will use it. 

Let me know about your experiences with Stress Coat Plus! Is it really magically stress-relieving? Or am I imagining things...?

Also let me know about your salt experiences! Do you keep your tank dosed up all the time...? 

I've removed most of the salt thru changes now, so I'll give it another 15/16 days and then start salting back up again... the salt has done nothing for his fins, I should mention. They have not got better or worse. I *HAVE* seen a lot of discussion on whether salt even does anything for finrot (suspected or no). Some say it will only help open wounds, some say it really does kill off the bacteria that causes the rot. 

Fishkeeping is confusing. :shock:


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

The ramshorns are eating the fish poops! :shock: 

JM poops in the night and I usually suck it out at lunchtimes, but on occasion it had been mysteriously missing. I had wondered about the snails but google told me *nothing* eats fish poops. Then the other morning, I spotted his nightly poop in the back corner, and at lunchtime went to use the turkey baster AND. There was a snail munching on it AND. After another half hour or so there was NO MORE POOP. :shock: Totally gone. Now I try and make sure I get to the poops before the snails do... I'd prefer just to suck them out rather than let them be re-digested! 

This poopy message brought to you today by the letters R and S (ramshorn snails, lol).


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## Nimble (Aug 31, 2014)

That's how my snails were sent to me... and none of them made it here alive. I don't understand why people insist on sending snails like that in the mail.


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

*@Nimble* wow! I didn't realise it was standard practise. Did they ship them in stiff plastic boxes to you, as well? Or just in the wet papers...? Curious, anyways! I wonder why people don't just send them in normal water bags.

Poor John McClane has chomped on his tail a bit! I keep looking back at those old pics of him and I'm amazed at how much it's grown, still. I wonder if it's just that he can reach it if he spins around fast, like a puppy chasing its tail, and has a go at it! He wasn't in a very good mood early this week, as we had friends over at the weekend and there was a lot of screaming and stomping and general noise, which I imagine he did not appreciate. He seems a little calmer today, so perhaps he'll stop chomping on himself! (It started at the weekend).

In terms of his potential finrot, it's not changed a bit. It's exactly the same as when I first saw it; no worse, no better. It's been a while now, so, I am beginning to wonder if it really is finrot??? O_O; I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take to get better. I have been holding off feeding him frozen foods to try and keep everything cleaner. As nothing appears to be any different, I shall treat him to some worms tonight ^_^


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

Wow, I did not manage to post for quite a while! How is everyone? ^_^

I took a couple of photos of JM a couple of weeks ago, as my partner and I were going to be away for a whole 6 days and I was super nervous about leaving him. I made the tank SOOOO clean before I left, and took out the snails and placed them in a separate tub as I knew they'd make the water quality worse while I wasn't able to clean up after them! I also spent some time fattening JM up before we left, so, as it was, he barely lost any weight at all over those days! He was really fine, but did ignore me for about 48 hours when we got back, haha.

Here's those pics:



























JM has also changed colour quite a lot, even since the ones I just posted! He is losing his speckled head and pretty much just has white cheeks now, whilst his chin is turning black. He looks all Rorschach-test under there, haha, that's the only way I can describe it XD I will try and get some more photos for comparison sometime. His fins have grown so much. He rests a bit more than he did when he first came home, though is still just as inquisitive and friendly. Such a puppy! I love him! And so glad he calms down a lot quicker these days


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## autojoy (Jun 16, 2014)

No new pics (I'm on SUCH a tight deadline right now, tbh I shouldn't even be here!!) but I gotta get some as JM's changed colour so much! I really reckon in a month or two more he'll be totally blue!!

I also figured out something important, which I'm pleased about. So, he always got back to surfing for a while, sometimes quite badly, after a water change. I always did my water changes in the evenings. I had to do one in the morning recently, and he seemed fine... so, I've switched to doing them in the daytime rather than the evenings, and he's MUCH happier with it! Not seen any surfing for a couple weeks now!  

I have also gone back to doing PWCs on every third day (like, Tuesday PWC, Friday PWC, Monday PWC and onwards) as this seems to suit him much more. 

I'm glad I've been able to help him out in this way, but I'm really confused as to why he hated it in the evenings! O_O; Never mind, it's over now!


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## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

It's so funny how every betta has his own unique personality and likes and dislikes, isn't it? I'm glad you figured out a way to keep JM happy!


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