# MissLibby's Betta Fish Journey: Every Fish Deserves a Second Chance



## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

Hello, everyone.
I figured after a few months on this forum, it was about time to start a journal. To introduce myself, I am the proud owner of two betta boys, Buddy and Alex (I will be introducing them in more detail in other posts), and have had over two years of experience with these critters. I absolutely love bettas, and find them intelligent, incredibly interesting, and full of personality. I believe that any pet should be treated kindly and humanely, and I strongly disagree with the practice of keeping bettas in cups and inadequate homes permanently. I think that every fish - and every animal, for that matter - deserves a second chance in life, and while rescuing individual fish may not solve the problem of inhumane treatment completely, it is still a contribution to the issue. Before we start, I'd like to share photos of my two current betta boys.










This is Buddy, my purplish-pinkish veil tail male betta.










This is Alex, my red and turquoise half sun male betta (sorry for the bad picture, the only one I had was from when he was having problems with fin rot).

Enough rambling, let's get this thing started!

-MissLibby ;-)


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

AHHHHH!!!!!

Big scare today!!!

I gave Alex his last salt bath today, because his fin rot is now clearing up (yay!). I added some clean water to his tank and put him back in. After about 15 minutes I found out I had never added water conditioner and PH Down to his tank. :shock:
I was like: _Libby, how could you do that?_ *facepalm*. I immediately added water conditioner (maybe a little too much  ) but I think he is going to be fine. No wonder he looked so sick and shocked when I put him in.

This journal should be called "The Many Misadventures of MissLibby".

Gosh....

Poor Guy :roll:


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

31 views! And only two posts!! :-D

Thanks, everybody.


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

I've got a minute.

My betta journey starts in June 2013. I wanted a pet, but wasn't ready to commit to a reptile or other "larger" pet (don't get me wrong, bettas are a handful!:roll: ). I started looking into fish species. I thought about goldfish for a while, but once I did the research, I found out they were the messiest little things (or rather big things - even the "fancy" varieties get huge by my standards). As I kept doing research I stumbled upon these interesting little fish. Extremely territorial, must be kept alone, beautiful colors, long fins, can be happily kept in a quart size jar, I heard all the norms. Within about 5 minutes of searching on the topic, I figured out that bettas were not made out to be what they really are.
*Sigh* So long to the quart jar idea. (Just kidding, bettas are great just the way they are). Anyway, once I learned about them and found out what wonderful and unique personalities they had, I was hooked. I didn't _want_ one, I _needed_ one. Ha ha! I'm so glad I did my research, and I am so glad that this site was around even back then. Even though I wasn't a forum member yet, I still could learn from it. I mean, would I have gone and got my betta a quart jar with no heater, filter, and never had properly taken care of it without research?
I was out one day in August, and decided to stop at PetSmart. I wasn't planning on getting a fish, I was just there to look at the bettas and goldfish (I still hadn't completely let go of the goldfish idea). Of course, I couldn't leave without a fish. I ended up snagging ten gallon and four females in hope that I could set up a sorority. I hadn't fully realized that sororities are more for the experienced aquarist. I don't remember all of the names of the fish, but I do remember a pinkish Cambodian female named Judy, a small white crowntail female named Elisabet (the Norwegian equivalent of Elizabeth - a friend suggested it), and I also remember another Cambodian female, a greenish blue female, and two more females from an awesome LFS. I'll let you guys know if I remember the names. Unfortunately, the reason I can't fully remember them is because they only lasted a week. Yes, Libby, you didn't know the importance of quarantine. *Sigh*. The Cambodian female that I can't remember her name ( why can't I remember? She was the most eventful :roll: ) got worms. Yes, internal parasites. Needless to say I had no idea what to do. I found out that this kind of parasite could be passed onto humans and my cats, so I euthanized them along with the two honey gouramis and the corydoras catfish that were in there with them. I really didn't want to take any chances. Little did I know that flushing them down the toilet was inhumane. Oops.  I'll never do that again. 
Anyway, after the sorority incident you might think I would be discouraged from getting any more bettas, but, well, you would be wrong.  I got my pinkish-purplish veiltail male betta Neil (not to be confused with Buddy) a few weeks later from Petsmart, but he never ate, unfortunately, and died 2 weeks after purchase. S.I.P. Neil. :-(
I got an Aquafarm for Christmas, and that started up my fascination with bettas again. Next came Benedict Arnold, the shortest lived of all of my fish (I don't think he even lasted 24 hours - poor thing) He was a blue veiltail male from a LFS that was actually quite far away! He died from temperature shock when I realized his tank was too cold. I tried to warm it up with some water. Boo. :-( His two corydoras catfish and his poor snail were gone too. 
About a week and a half later I got Dragon from the awesome LFS I mentioned before (he has a very interesting story, which I will tell in detail in his individual post). This was in January of last year. He was a very feisty blue crowntail male betta. He died two weeks before Christmas last year. Poor guy.  He was with me for almost a year. He is now buried in my backyard.
On August 4, I brought home my first betta in over six months. Buddy is my very affectionate Petsmart rescue boy who is such a big beggar. He is a purplish-pinkish veiltail male betta (not to be confused with Neil, one of my former fish). He's such a small, feisty little boy who can be just crazy. He's so sweet, I've actually never seen him flare!
On August 25, I brought home another boy. Alex is my red, turquoise, and white (I like to think of his body as being cream-colored) halfsun male betta. He came from Petco, and has been battling with fin rot the entire time I've had him, but I think I've finally got the upper hand with it. He is almost the polar opposite of Buddy, because he is quiet, skittish and a bit shy, but builds the most impressive bubblenests ever. He's such a flarer, too.

And that's where I am now.

Well, this is my betta journey so far, and I've created this journal to share the next phase of it with all of you.

Thanks, everyone.
-MissLibby


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

I made a stop at the office store last night and decided to go to Petsmart while I was out. Petsmart's bettas are always in bad condition, and I don't know why I keep going back to tempt myself.

*Sigh*

Anyway, long story short, I saw a spunky little half-moon girl who was just so cute! She's the only female I've ever been flared at by.  I was seriously thinking about leaving the store with her. but then I convinced myself not to. I thought to myself : _Look, you need to focus on getting Alex's tank set up again and setting up your new 10 gallon community_. I also saw a tiny tiny little female (maybe even a baby?) that swam up to me and looked at me and i was like "Awww! What a little cutie!" and all that kind of thing. I've got a soft spot for baby bettas. She was all white, maybe even platinum, and she was clearly having problems with fin rot. :-( Poor thing. Oh well, I guess you can't save em' all, even though I wish I could.

I need another betta.

I seriously don't need another betta.

I need another betta.

- Libby ;-)


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

Alex has finally figured out how to beg like Buddy does... took him long enough.

LOL


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## MissLibby (Jul 8, 2015)

Ha ha! Guess my empty ten gallon is haunting me. 

I had a dream last night about cycling the tank, and boy, I wish real life was like this! I just had to test the ammonia once and it was cycled! 

I want more fish.


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