# Knottymare's Beautiful Bettas!



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

I'm so excited to have found this forum. I have kept at least 1 Betta most of my life along with keeping all kinds of other pets. I want to say that the education on this forum is stellar!

Right now, I have a 5 gallon Fluval Spec V that has live plants with a sand substrate that I eventually want to plant with real dirt, thanks to the great info found here on this forum. I've already posted this picture but since I plan to keep this thread up to date, I'll post the resident of this tank here. His name is Skye! He's gotten quite a bit bolder and will now come to the surface for food. He is not a very aggressive boy - only flared once the day I got him! 

Skye









Then, I have my Petco "babies"... 

I believe this is a female. She has stayed SUPER small, has a badly kinked spine, but is spunky and healthy. I've had her for about 6 months. She currently shares a 2.5 gallon tank with live and silk plants with another baby and I've added a divider 

Ming









Ming's tank mate, Frodo









My most recent guy was purchased yesterday. I was at Petco getting some more plants and a thermometer for my office tank that is yet unoccupied. I had plans to move Frodo into this tank when he is a bit bigger but when I saw this guy, I had to have him. Now I'll have to get Frodo a tank of his own... LOL... This one is an older Eclipse 3. I have always loved this tank... now it's ready for this guy. This picture turned out super strange... looks like you can see two evil eyes but it's really his mouth and I think a scratch on his temp home LOL... he doesn't have a name yet but OMG-he's so handsome and VERY aggressive. He flares at everything! I believe he is a copper and a full HM.


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

All of your bettas are so cute 
I love your new guy, good luck with him


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Sabina88 said:


> All of your bettas are so cute
> I love your new guy, good luck with him


Thanks! He'll come to work with me tomorrow. I wanted to set the heater up and make sure it held good before bringing him in. I will get better pix as soon as I can!


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

I cant wait to see the photo he must be gorgeous in person


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Got home yesterday and found Skye making a bubble nest! He's still not very aggressive but it was fun to watch him working away!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Not to be outdone, little Ming, my stunted little kinked body Petco baby (who is apparently old enough to want to nest) made her (?) own nest!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Lastly, my new guy, now named Poseidon, is happy in his new tank on my desk at work... he had quite a bubble nest going this morning but my water change this morning destroyed it before I got a picture.


----------



## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 where are all the pictures?


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Can you see them now?


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

Poseidon looks amazing


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Sabina88 said:


> Poseidon looks amazing


Thanks. I was lucky to find him. The light died on my tank so it's hard to get a decent picture right now. Thanks for Amazon Prime, my new bulb and starter should be here tomorrow. Meanwhile, I lowered the water level and took off the hood so my plants get a bit of light.

It has always amazed me how much difference in personalities these fish have. Skye is mellow. He swims around in his tank and seems quite happy but he is just such a mellow guy. Poseidon is flaring at everything... the rocks, the plants, the background... it's funny. It took Skye weeks to figure out that I was to be trusted. He will come to the surface for food now but he used to hid behind his driftwood. Poseidon, on the other hand, swims right to the front of the tank as soon as he sees me moving near it. 

Fascinating!


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

I love how non of them have the exact same personality, How are your babies personality wise?
I have a betta simaler to skye, he was and is still a bit skittish, but now that he knows I dispense food it seems that im interesting to him lol

People who say fish don't have personalities haven't meet a betta yet lol


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Can't resist posting more pix!

I got a marimo ball for Poseidon's tank!

















Poseidon looking handsome


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

I love the color contrast of him agiants the green of his tank


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Sabina88 said:


> I love the color contrast of him agiants the green of his tank


His color is so variable! Sometimes, he is very coppery, sometimes purplish... it's really cool. The water in the tank is a bit tea colored still from the mopani wood... 

I liked the little moss ball so much I just went and got another, lumpy one at the LFS - going to divide it up for my other tanks!


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

They are cool 
I don't know why but when ever I see them I always picture them rolling around like tumble weed lol


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Picture time!

I got Skye some shrimp!









Skye's tank is growing in nicely


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

The tank, Skye and the shrimp all look awesome


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Ming got a new house today. It's a Marina version of the Tetra Crescent Acrylic Aquarium Kit. For an inexpensive version of a nano tank, I like it. I didn't have the budget for a more expensive tank. I planted based on what I've read here (low/mid light plants) so I'm excited to see how it does. My other tanks are doing so well with the plants, I don't know how I ever got by without plants before. They are so awesome.


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

I really need to get some Java Moss!


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

Wow it looks awsome


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Finally got Skye to flare yesterday and wow, did he flare. I took about a jillion pictures and didn't get a single really good one of him flaring but I thought I'd share some of the series. He's such a gorgeous fish! He's a Petco boy and I just love him.


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

one more, because even though it's blurry, I love this picture!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Girl's tank filling in nicely...


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

My "Girls Tank" had a catastrophic breakdown. I suspect the driftwood - it's from our local creek and even though we cleaned it and prepped it I suspect it released some toxins into the tank. I lost almost all of my fish in this tank  

Completely overhauled it... will post pix soon. Meanwhile, I have some pix of Poseidon. He's such a ham. He is clearly happiest alone. Tried a few shrimp in his tank and he literally was "climbing the walls" of his tank. As soon as I removed the shrimp, he was back to his happy self. Love this guy...


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

It's been a while since I've posted any pix to this thread so I thought I'd update a little...

After the crash of my "girl's tank" (pictured above), I completely overhauled it. New everything! Here it is:

















This tank is home to 2 survivor C. trilineatus which seem pretty happy and stick together like glue









... a super cool slate colored Mystery Snail











*http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LE...atus.htm/RK=0/RS=7ExCLJr_TNyb95Q30uqr3HwGhKM-*


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

... continued 

also home to a few ghost shrimp










... 3 tiny fish that are supposed to be Dario dario aka Scarlet Badis. Not sure yet if I have 3 females, 2 juvenile males and an adult female or 2 SBs and 1 unknown Badis sp. as 1 is quite plainly marked but does get to be a rosey color:

















and 2 that are smaller and show the red banding but not nearly as vibrantly as I've seen pictures of:


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Continued...

and last but far from least is the QUEEN of the tank, Freida, who was a tiny, nondescript Petco baby who survived the tank's earlier meldown. She is now fully grown and a fat happy girl. She's a deep burgundy color with metallic green glitter on her sides. She's VERY hard to get a picture of.


----------



## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

knottymare said:


> Not to be outdone, little Ming, my stunted little kinked body Petco baby (who is apparently old enough to want to nest) made her (?) own nest!


Ming has the same coloring of my Peechee. They are so adorable..I love the name Frodo!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Islandgaliam said:


> Ming has the same coloring of my Peechee. They are so adorable..I love the name Frodo!


Aww, thanks! Frodo is now Freida! Ming, sadly only made it to 8 months. My tank had some issue and I lost her and 2 of the catfish (which were supposed to be dwarfs but turned out to be C. trilineatus! They are really too big for this tank but everyone is happy so I'm leaving things alone. I just have to be hyper-vigillant about my water.


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

While I'm at it and posting oodles of pictures, I'll add some pix of my other Petco babies who are living in a new Spec V with a tiny school of_ Boraras_ _urophthalmoides_. Neptune, the larger of the two, will remain in this tank while the other one will be leaving Saturday to a new home. They currently coexist nicely but I know soon they will not and I don't want to come home to carnage!


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

The tank looks awesome.
I love neptunes coloration


----------



## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Can't resist posting more pix!
> 
> I got a marimo ball for Poseidon's tank!
> 
> ...


I love his little lip


----------



## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Blue lips! Just like my CT. Gorgeous bettas.


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Thanks, everyone  I can't stop taking pictures of them all!!! That way, when I'm at work, I can look at them. I'm ridiculous!


----------



## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Haha! It's great to take pictures and cherish memories though. I've had some fish that I regret not taking enough pictures of. I ended up only having 4 pictures of my first male halfmoon who was a blue marble. Changed so much within 4 months! I got one picture for each month, but now I wish I had more ...


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

knottymare said:


> ... continued
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, if anyone is following, the mystery fish has been identified. Sadly NOT a female Scarlet Badis... Dario dario. It would appear that I have a male Dario kajal aka Jaintia Hills. Pretty cool fish


----------



## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

That cool, im glad you figured it out


----------



## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Very neat! These guys are interesting. How much were they?


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Kiara1125 said:


> Very neat! These guys are interesting. How much were they?


$4-5 each... LFS is getting some in tomorrow... Hoping to find some females. I am pretty sue I have 3 males which means they will be moved into other tanks


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203462813668231&set=vb.1149824875&type=2&theater

SUCCESS! I found a female, as evidenced by the reaction of the male that I put in with her! He's quite happy, as you can hopefully see in the video. Now, do I pull out Neptune and give them some privacy??? hee hee...


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

New Pix!

Frieda's tank on the bar in my kitchen


















Frieda has turned out to be so beautiful! She was about 1/2" long and clear when I got her as a Petco baby


















One of the C. trilineatus - he/she has her barbles, just tucked under in this picture.









Skye - looking quite fat!









My kitchen sink is set at an angle between 2 windows - so there is this large area for the tank and my orchids. It's hard to get a decent picture because the faucet gets in the way! I have been trimming this tank a lot because the growth in there is amazing - I'm sure due to the amount of natural light it gets from the windows. This is the only one of my 4 tanks that I still have any anacharis in. In my other tanks, the anacharis doesn't grow as well and it makes a big mess when it falls apart and drops leaves.


----------



## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

I totally love your tanks!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Thanks! I love to garden but because of a health condition, cannot do as much as I used to so having my little aquatic landscapes to fuss with really makes me happy!


----------



## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

Wow, your tanks are amazing. Remind my to look at this later when I redo my tanks


----------



## Netti (Apr 25, 2014)

I`ll echo what the others already have said, your tanks are absolutely beautiful. Those plants look amazing, you must be having a green thumb, or is it `blue thumb`since they`re aquatic plants :-D


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Thanks you guys! I just fuss over them a lot! I try to only get low to mid light plants, use Flourish weekly with water changes and that's pretty much it. I spent many years snorkeling in lakes and the ocean so I try to recreate little things I used to see under water... my own little aquatic worlds.


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

*Neptune's tank*

Neptune is no longer a tiny little clear Petco baby! He's still small but has colored up and become quite the little hunter in his tank he shares with some microrasbora, a pair of Dario dario, a few ghost shrimp and snails. The plants are doing really well, also.









I love how the tips of his pectoral fins are white. Makes him quite flashy!


















Hunting!










The female D dario is really a character for a fish less than an inch long!


----------



## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Poseidon is just such a beautiful fish...


















His plants are doing really well!


----------



## sillyseverus (May 7, 2014)

View attachment 351234



my little toby being a sassy little poo and swimming away from the camera


----------

