# Baby Betta Journal (07/04/13 - Mystery)



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Hello everyone 
So I wandered into PetCo today and happened by the betta area...okay, okay, I purposely poked my nose in over there :-D, and sadly  noticed a lot of the babies and even some adults were dead. I had been thinking of getting a baby, and after about half an hour of kneeling on the floor and searching through all the cups, I saw this one, and instantly I knew he/she was the one. Just couldn't leave him/her to possibly stay there and die in a cup. So home with me he/she came! So very energetic, he/she was bumping into his/her reflection, following my finger and looking at me like "I didn't do it" with those big round eyes. So I set up a small (temporary) 1 gallon tank, heater, few hiding spots and let him/her acclimate for a while before letting him/her loose into his/her new home and boy was he/she off and running! Zooooooom he/she went! Already had two successful feedings today, I crushed up some Hikari betta pellets and he/she went right for the biggest piece first! lol. Anyway, I'm starting this journal so I force myself to steadily update about his/her growth. I'm very excited to watch our journey unfold together <3 Anyone have any guesses on the gender? I'm not good at figuring that out, not one bit. I keep wanting to call him/her a she though.

Here are some pics...quality isn't the greatest, had to use my phone he/she was not fond of the camera lens. 

Meet Mystery!

(Preparing for the car ride home - made a little stow-away compartment in my middle console, was terrified he/she would slosh around too much!)


(Whew! We made it!)


(Reflecting)


(Meeting my new big sister! Although I think she was more interested in the bag full of treats.)


(Is it ready yet?!)


(...How about now?)


(WHAT IS THAT?! o_o)


(Home <3 ...for now)


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

Glad you decided to get one! Sadly, I can't see the pictures!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Oh good grief, I totally brain-tooted last night and moved all the pics after posting. That'll teach me to post things half-asleep.  I can't seem to edit the first post, so here goes again. Sorry for the mess!

(Preparing for the car ride home - made a little stow-away compartment in my middle console, was terrified he/she would slosh around too much!)



(Whew! We made it!)



(Reflecting)



(Meeting my new big sister! Although I think she was more interested in the bag full of treats.)



(Is it ready yet?!)



(...how about now?)



(Waiting...is not going to be my strong trait )



(WHAT IS THAT?! o_o)



(Home <3 ...for now)




Also, little update for today: 
Woke up, he/she was staring at me from my bed side table like "Gosh you sleep too long!" I'd love to put him/her on the computer desk, but I don't want the constant drawer banging to keep sloshing his/her water. Seems to be doing well, still zipping around. Ate a little breakfast, seemed happy about the food. He/she seems most interested in the thermometer. He/she just sits and stares at it then squeezes his/her way between the tank and thermometer before turning back around and doing it again. I assume it's some sorta game...fine by me! :-D Oh yea! Also saw him/her use the cave last night, that was nifty. Exploration! I do, do the nylon test and try to nail file any rough edges, but eh, I'm going to buy a smoother one maybe today or tomorrow. I need to baby proof the tank a bit better, silk plants, smooth hiding log, etc. But I didn't want him/her to have an empty tank last night. Wanted him/her to have something to hide in if he/she needed to feel safer. We're having a baby frog migration outside today, so if I can help it, I rather not use my car, I feel AWFUL running them over.  Anyhoo, new pic!

(<3 Thermometer)


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

So cute! I'm really happy you have a good, active betta! And I'm happy yours is willing to eat.
He's extremely cute!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Mar Thank you!  I'm glad too, except when it comes to picture taking time. So hard to get a good shot as soon as I focus in he/she is already zoomed out of the frame, haha. 

As far as the baby goes...I woke up a few times last night and he/she was swimming around. I hope he/she got at least a little sleep. I actually had a dream about betta fish lol. I think I'm spending too much time reading up and creeping around the forums. :lol: He/she seems to like the new silk plant, he/she is swimming in and out from between the stems. I took out the cave ball and the fishy is liking the extra swimming room too. But he/she is still completely in awe with the thermometer, I think he/she thinks the tiny balls on the bottom are food or something. So when I cleaned the tank earlier, I pushed the bottom into the gravel, now he/she is trying to bump the top where he/she sees his/her reflection, lol. Whatever, if it's entertaining for him/her, have at it. :lol: I also caught him/her 'eating' the tiny air bubbles forming on the tank walls, figured that might mean it was time for breakfast! Found 3 of the tiniest little chips I could in the handful of pellets I grabbed. Soooo cute to watch him/her take one in mouth and swim around with it poking out before chowing down on it! 

I'm really considering heading over to Petsmart later and buying the 5.5 gallon they have on sale and splitting it for the baby and the other betta I have who is currently in his own 2.5. Not 100% sure what I want to do. One big tank for the two or 2.5 of their own. I kind of like the idea of having separate in case something happens in one tank it doesn't affect the other one. Although one 'big' tank to take care of seems easier? Decisions, decisions!

Anyhoos, onto the pictures!

(Food? Food? IS THIS FOOD?)


(Just swimming around enjoying the fresh water...does he/she seem like he/she's darkening in color? Maybe it's the lighting)


----------



## mybabyjets (Jun 4, 2013)

omg so cute, i never have baby bettas in my area (although that seesm like a good thing, less being killed) but i so wish i could just buy on baby betta and raise it...


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Aw! So cute! Glad you picked up the cute little one!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@mybabyjets, Thank you! Hopefully someday you'll be able to find one to raise. 

@BettaLover1313, Thank you! 
​


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well, sadly my 1 year old betta died last night.  Not really sure why, he was swimming around then what seemed like all the sudden dropped to the bottom of his tank on his side and couldn't get back up. I moved him over to a little cup that had just enough water to keep him submersed but where he could move his head and breathe at the top. I saw him trying to swim up even in a bit of water and he couldn't. So I watched him for a little while, walked into the other room to get something, came back and he was still. My poor little Zen.  I tossed the idea of burial or flushing and I just couldn't put a fish into the ground...it just seems...not right to me to bury something aquatic in dirt. Hopefully he's having fun swimming around in little betta heaven.
SIP Zen <3

So I guess nature decided for me, as the baby has now made a new home in the 2.5 gallon. (After I rinsed everything 3-4 times in hot, hot water and let set over night) He/she seems to be taking to it very well. He/she went right into the log, zoomed out and yep, you guessed it went right for the thermometer. Big shock, lol. And now he/she even has two to play with. My only concern is I know the actual heater on the bottom gets pretty warm, I don't want him/her to get burned :/, I may have to make some sort of fence in front of it since he/she keeps going behind it. I swear, there's plants, a nice floaty log, a log on the floor to play with but oh no, we have to play with the thermometer and heaters. lol. Just like my dog, bought her tons of toys and she rather play with an old soda bottle or one of my hair scrunchies. :lol: Oh and I wanted to call the baby Mystery, seeing as I have no clue what he/she will grow up to be, but I keep saying he/she...someone suggested I call him/her Heshi (he-she) to make it easier...I juuuuust might!

(Getting ready for our new home)


(Oh hi there o_o)


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

So sorry to hear that you lost Zen 

Good to hear that the baby is still doing well though.


----------



## mybabyjets (Jun 4, 2013)

Huffle Puffles said:


> Well, sadly my 1 year old betta died last night.  Not really sure why, he was swimming around then what seemed like all the sudden dropped to the bottom of his tank on his side and couldn't get back up. I moved him over to a little cup that had just enough water to keep him submersed but where he could move his head and breathe at the top. I saw him trying to swim up even in a bit of water and he couldn't. So I watched him for a little while, walked into the other room to get something, came back and he was still. My poor little Zen.  I tossed the idea of burial or flushing and I just couldn't put a fish into the ground...it just seems...not right to me to bury something aquatic in dirt. Hopefully he's having fun swimming around in little betta heaven.
> SIP Zen <3
> 
> So I guess nature decided for me, as the baby has now made a new home in the 2.5 gallon. (After I rinsed everything 3-4 times in hot, hot water and let set over night) He/she seems to be taking to it very well. He/she went right into the log, zoomed out and yep, you guessed it went right for the thermometer. Big shock, lol. And now he/she even has two to play with. My only concern is I know the actual heater on the bottom gets pretty warm, I don't want him/her to get burned :/, I may have to make some sort of fence in front of it since he/she keeps going behind it. I swear, there's plants, a nice floaty log, a log on the floor to play with but oh no, we have to play with the thermometer and heaters. lol. Just like my dog, bought her tons of toys and she rather play with an old soda bottle or one of my hair scrunchies. :lol: Oh and I wanted to call the baby Mystery, seeing as I have no clue what he/she will grow up to be, but I keep saying he/she...someone suggested I call him/her Heshi (he-she) to make it easier...I juuuuust might!
> ...


your tank seems bigger then a 2.5gallon, i have a 2.5gallon and it looks 10times smaller haha..and i have a floating log too..my betta loves them, and thank you for the earlier comment


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@BettaLover1313 - Thank you, it was very sad to lose him. Hopefully he's perched in a little log in fishy heaven.  That was his favorite place to spend his day. 

@mybabyjets - It does look pretty big in the pics huh? lol. I swear it's only a 2.5. The baby probably thinks its huge, he/she looks like a tiny little blip in all that space. :lol:

Speaking of the baby, he/she is doing wonderful. The tank is now on my desk, being bigger and sturdier I'm not as worried for the water sloshing. Every time I look over there and think "hmm where'd he/she go" its like the baby senses it and comes running to the front of the tank like "HERE I AM!". I don't think there's an inch of the tank he/she hasn't discovered. Taking pictures was not an easy task, out of about 25, 3 are good enough to upload. Yes, we decided to be a pain in the tushy today.  Also I had my finger above the tank steadying the camera when the baby swam over, backed up a little, considered for a moment and jumped up from the water to "bite" my finger before quickly darting under the nearest leaf and staring up like "Woah! That was NOT food!" Also, it seems like he/she is developing a sort of dark patterned band going around the middle part of the body with dark flecks as well. Perhaps a marble of some sort? I'm so anxious to know what the adult coloring is going to be! Still no clue on gender, does anyone have an idea/guess?

My camera decided to kick the bucket, just as well, he/she got very mad at the lens. So yea, they're camera phone quality again.

(Playing hide from the camera)


(A moment of vanity? - excuse the water spots)


(o.o oh poo! you caught me!)


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well, the little fishy gave me a bit of a scare last night. After getting ready for bed I wandered over to the tank to check on him/her and he/she was wedged in the corner by the floating log, unmoving. So I poked the water, nothing. Wiggled my finger around infront of him/her, nothing. Moved the log, still nothing. My heart sank. So I stood there, waiting for him/her to take a breath and finally we got head movement. WHEW! Don't scare me like that! Guess I must of woke him/her up. 

First thing I did when I woke up was rush over to make sure he/she was alive. Yep, relaxing by the moss ball.

Debated on putting in the new filter today, but figured the water needed a changing and might as well give it a shot. Ended up doing a nice full water change this morning since I bought a small Whisper 1-3 internal filter last night. I keep getting a film on the surface of my water, drives me bonkers, even with small every other day water changes. So I thought, hm, maybe I can do something to get a small current going so the water surface has movement. Yea, didn't quite work out. The baby didn't mind it, I don't think. He/she swam around, swam behind it, under it, through the current, but then I saw the water pouring down knock him/her around a bit and out it came. But not before the baby tried to swim into it 2 or 3 more times. Typical kid, they want to play with the stuff they aren't supposed to. lol. Anyway, it's just as well, this air pump's noise was sorta driving me batty. Maybe I'll just get an air stone/bubble wall sort of thing. This little fishy seems to like bubbles, maybe it'll give him/her something else to play with besides the thermometer. 

What else is there to report...hmm...OH! I went to Petco last night. Almost came home with another fish...almost...might just go back to get him. Poor little gorgeous white male suffering from either finrot or ammonia burns? The fin tips were all blood clotted looking.  I might just go rescue him. Was surprised to see that within 2 days that about half their betta stock was gone, I'm hoping to new homes and not because they died. I just wish I could figured out the gender of this one so I knew if I could house them in a 5.5 together (divided of course). Anyway, got the baby some freeze dried bloodworms, came home, dropped a small one in the tank and watched. Expecting him/her to grab it and carry it around like it does with the tiny pellets and chew happily, I was quite surprised when in one gulp it disappeared into his/her belly! I swear after he/she chewed it up he/she did a sorta "ooo that was yummy!" wiggle. Maybe it was my imagination. Either way. We had another little one this morning for breakfast and quite enjoyed that too. 

He/she seems to be in a relaxed mood today. Just hanging around on the plants or in the log. Caught him/her gazing at his/her reflection earlier. Its cloudy outside today so I just have the shades half open, no lights on aside from the computer screen. Keeping it sorta dark in here incase he/she needs sleep. Can't be good for a baby to zoom around 24/7 without some sorta rest. 

(Just hanging out by the moss ball. *pic with flash)


----------



## mybabyjets (Jun 4, 2013)

awe this is cute


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks! :-D


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

So cute! I want a DT! Your's looks like a black/white marble right now, beautiful!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! I hope so, I'd love to see either a dark blue or black/white marbling. Total sucker for those. :lol: But I will love him/her no matter how he/she turns out of course.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Glad to hear that you're having fun with your little betta! 

Dragoon has scared me like that several times where he'll be sleeping (Mr. I Never Stop Moving) and motionless and I thought he'd died or something was seriously wrong, but then he'd move and look at me as if to say "What?".


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@BettaLover1313 - I am having fun, as well as a few anxiety attacks, lol. 
Right!? The faces they give us sometimes! I was on the phone with my friend and I'm all "OMG my fish is dead!" and he's like "just leave it, it's late, he/she's probably sleeping" and I'm all "yea well *I* won't be able to sleep until I know that for sure!" >.> *pokes fishy*

He was actually doing the motionless thing a little bit ago so I leaned on my desk and put my face near the tank and he swam over and started talking to me, so we just had a little conversation. I asked him what else we could add to the tank and he went and did a parameter check, came back over to the front of the tank and moved his mouth as if to say "well I'd like another plant in the corner and uhm how about another thermometer! can never have to many of those!"...yes little fishy, yes you can. :lol: I need to see if I can find some little local pet stores rather than the big chains like Petsmart and Petco, I'd like a different variety of decorations. :| I know I can order online, but I'm one of those "I must touch it before I buy it!" people. 

Oh and I think my fish is a he. I was noticing him head-butting his reflection so I held up a mirror to the tank and it seemed like he was doing that sorta pacing bettas do when they flare. Do females do that? I don't know, but until told otherwise, I shall refer to him as a he. 

(checking out the plants. I seriously need to go buy a new camera >.<)


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I believe I've read in different topics that females do flare and pace, but my memory might not be serving me properly on that one since I mainly read about boys since I have two of them XD.

Dragoon likes talking too! He claps his mouth constantly at me whenever I'm near the tank (I think he's trying to tell me that I need to feed him again XD). It's a cute little trait he has though!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

*Huffle Puffles' Baby Betta's Journal*

@BettaLover1313 - Yep, you're right, I looked it up and they can flare too. Hm...there went that theory! :lol:

Let's see, let's see, what did the lil' stinker do today. I think he's starting to understand feeding time. When I shake the pellets jar in front of the tank he looks up and waits now. So that's pretty cute.  Right now he's playing hide and go seek in his log, goes in one end and pops out one of the random 4 holes only to go back in and pop out a different one. Wonder if he thinks he'll end up someplace different each time. :-? Been watching his tank and thermometers. I turned the heater up, I think with my fan on and the ac going it's not letting the water hit the right temp. But it's a 50 watt in a 2.5, I'm worried I might end up cooking him. But so far, the temp is only slowly going up, seems to have stopped around 77ish. I wanted to pick up a little 25 watt Hydor heater, Petsmart had them on the site but of course not in the store. :| Oh well. Guess I'll have to order online. 

Went over to Petsmart today to pick up an air pump and some bubble stones. Also snagged a cute little log with silk plants on it they had on sale that I'm going to rig the airstone in. Hopefully it'll work out well. I have to hand it to this particular Petsmart, they never have a huge overstocked selection of bettas, they all get their own row, no stacking the cups and none of them are dead in the jars and when they sit for too long, they discount them greatly. They had all their female bettas on sale for 99 cents and $1.99 (I think) for the crowntails. If only I had a sorority. The cashier asked how my betta was doing. I guess you know you go to a store too much when the cashiers start to remember you. 

and on to the pictures! 

(Oh hi! Don't I look naked when the flash shines on me?)


( I can TOO fit this whole thing in my mouth!)


(No more pictures, please)


(It was storming today and my fur-child is not comfy with that, so I sat her on the desk so we could watch the baby fishy together. I lol'd when I saw the pic and the fishy in the background looking all "WHAT IS THAT!?")


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

You have a very cute dog! 

Yeah, the Pet Smart employees know me for my dog, Lucky. I think they forgot that I bought a betta from them XD.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@BettaLover1313 - Thank you, she's pretty much like my kid. Probably more so in she gets more attention than an actual child probably would. :-D Funny thing is, I didn't even buy my betta there, I was just buying a bunch of supplies and the cashier had asked what sorta fish I had. Now she remembers. lol.

It's been one whole week with my baby! I'm so excited. I was so worried he/she wouldn't last 24 hours and here we are one week later still going strong. Did a water change today, rearranged the tank, put in all the new goodies. My moss ball fell apart :-( so I tore it into pieces and used some of it to line the floaty log and the other I stuffed into the opening of one of the logs so the baby wouldn't swim into it and get stuck since the other end has the bubbler. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the tank. I try to make one corner very full so if he wants to hide he can and the other side I try to leave sorta open for swimming space. It's a big change from where I started with bright purple/blue/pink plastic plants. I would really love to have real plants, I had bought five and killed them all within 2 months, so I gave up on them for a bit. But, the baby seems to really like it, he's been doing laps exploring everything. :-D 

My old camera decided to cooperate for a bit: 

(I love his little eyeballs)


(New tank setup and a happy baby - piece of paper was temporary for the pics)




(Checking everything out)


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

Your baby betta is actually so adorable! Can't wait to see how it grows up!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Your tank looks great!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Awesome tank Huffle! The baby is so cute, I lvoe how curious they are. Mine would insepct the driftwood constantly and pick little pieces of food off of it. The other would hunt around for snails...she still does =p


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

*Day 09*

@Viva - Thank you. They do have quite the personalities for being such itty bitty lil' things!


@BettaLover1313 - Thanks! I'm actually really glad I took a picture because today I took it all apart to clean it, and couldn't remember how I had everything. Tearing the moss ball apart and using it for liner was a baaaad idea, had floating particles EVERYWHERE -_- 

@Mar - Thank you!  Me too! Can't believe it's already been over a week.


So I decided to clean out all the floating particle stuff from the tank and while the baby was sitting in the cup with me waiting for the water to heat back up I snapped a few, okay a lot, of pictures. I was noticing that all the dark spots, what I thought was going to be marbling, seem to be disappearing, even the ones on the lower fin, there's only two little specks left. Will be quite interesting to see what the final color shall be. :shock: I did a rough estimate on age today, using http://www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm, estimated he's about 5-6 weeks old, leaning towards 6 since he's a good 3/4 of an inch. 

Color on third day: http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums...ysterys Journey/HangingAround_zps11387bb6.jpg

Now: 
Picture Time!

(Hey, hey you! Is my tank ready?)


(Got some decent shots of fin/head details)
.face.


.top fin.


.back fin.


(Vanity)




(U-turn!)


(Can we tell what gender yet? Still no clue, still referring to him as 'he'.)




(Fishy kissies!)


lol, as I am writing all this I looked over to check on him. Not in the floaty log, not in the dark log (which I positioned so I can now see inside), not by the thermometer or the heater, hmm, where'd he go? *Out he pops!* Removed the moss from blocking the entrance to the new log with silk plants on it...he was hiding in there -_- I tell ya, he finds everything! :lol:


----------



## AltheaGlyndwr (May 12, 2012)

One thing you can look for to tell gender as he grows is look behind his stomache area and if you ever can see a triangular yellow organ inside that is the ovaries and will show that he is actually a she. Also, though not very reliable until they are more mature, is a white spot on their belly, that's an ovipositor. My baby is a girl and her ovaries are the only part of her that is still see through enough to see inside, lol. I'm pretty sure your little guy is indeed, a little man, but he could surprise you! Just keep looking for them ovaries and if they never come and the fins start getting longer then you know you've got a little man 

I got my girl at about the same age yours is now. I've had her for just over 3 weeks now. She has grown so much! she was somewhere between 6 and 7 weeks when I got her. Your baby is so cute~~ <3


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@AltheaGlyndwr - Yes, I keep looking for them but I don't see any. Poor little 'guy' probably wonders why I keep trying to look at his junk. :lol::lol: But yes, I think he's a little boy too. But time will tell. And yay, I'm glad yours is doing well!  Thanks!

Also, I noticed Photobucket broke some links again, so if anyone is wondering what those pics are in that post, here: 
(Oh hi! Don't I look naked when the flash shines on me?)
http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w575/Huffle_Puffles/Day 06 - Baby Betta/IMG_1609_zps7440f720.jpg

( I can TOO fit this whole thing in my mouth!)
http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w575/Huffle_Puffles/Day 06 - Baby Betta/IMG_1561_zps337de985.jpg

(No more pictures, please)
http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w575/Huffle_Puffles/Day 06 - Baby Betta/IMG_1632_zpsfae0e811.jpg

(It was storming today and my fur-child is not comfy with that, so I sat her on the desk so we could watch the baby fishy together. I lol'd when I saw the pic and the fishy in the background looking all "WHAT IS THAT!?")
http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w575/Huffle_Puffles/Day 06 - Baby Betta/IMG_1579_zpsd13562eb.jpg


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Just a quick post of pictures today. I wanted to have a bubbler for the tank just to have a bit of water aggitation, but it was causing too much current so I got a big ole piece of pvc pipe stuff and rigged up a little bubble arch. Oh my god, the baby is having TOO much fun with it! He keeps swimming under and over and "riding" the bubbles up the pipe. Then he goes and sits on the bottom and tries to eat them, I keep seeing him bump his nose against the pipe. 

(Bubbles! O_O)


(Hey you! Lady with the camera! Why can't I get the bubbles!?)


(...bubbles..come out and play! *nose bumps*)


(*stares at camera lady* so NOT cool)


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I love all the antics Mystery gets into! Definitely adorable with the bubbles!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

LOL! Omg cutest thing ever! She's just staring at the bubbles in amazement...so cute!


----------



## AltheaGlyndwr (May 12, 2012)

That is freaking adorable


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@AltheaGlyndwr - Thank you!! :-D

@Viva - Thanks hehe. :-D Yea, he/she was very into the bubbles. Discovered they come out the top of the pipe and make a little play area, so he/she was swimming through them all evening. Shut them off before bedtime so there would be calm sleeping water though.

@BettaLover1313 - Thank you, yes, definitely gets into some antics alright! :lol:


So apparently we want to be a cranky pants this morning. During feeding time, I plopped a pellet on the water's surface in front of him and I guess he didn't notice because he swam to the front of the tank to watch me close the jar, so I used my finger to get his attention and lead him back over there, well, he bit my finger about 5 times! Grumpy pants, guess someone isn't a morning fishy! :lol::lol::lol: Aside from that, it looks like the last two dark spots on his lower fin are gone. So now he's completely white/see thru color, aside from the blushing cheeks and the little dark spots on his forehead, looks like freckles! You can sorta see it in the first pic. 

Fun part, picture time!

(Freckles)


(Dark spots all gone)


(who YOU lookin' at huh?)


(Shiney)


(Can you find meeee?)


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Fiesty little one today :lol: got to record him nipping at my finger a bit, and yes he attacked the bubble at the end too. 

(click me for video)


(I rinse my hands really well before letting him do this and my nail is super filed down on that finger so I don't have to worry about him hurting himself that way.)


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Not a lot to report today, I was gone most of yesterday and today I woke up sick as a dog, so I've been laying around being a lump, however I started to feel better and cleaned out the baby's tank. I bought a small glass bowl to put him in while the tank warms back up and he was going around and around and around, it was making ME dizzy! So I put my finger to the bowl to see if he'd stop and caught the reverse on camera! :lol: 



As for yesterday, I went out to Petco since it was restocking day to check and see what they had for bettas and my aunt decided to go with me. There was this really pretty boy we both liked there, but he wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I didn't wanna leave him there either. He was this really awesome white/gold/green/rust mix, which turned to pink/purple/bright red when we got outside. So, after nudging and whispering "he liiiikes you, he wants to go home wiiiith you" lol, she adopted him! I'll be watching him for the next few weeks though since she left for vacation. Got him a little 1.75 gallon critter keeper "hotel" and I used some decorations I had left over and he's been happily swimming around today. At first he was pretty grumpy, wanted nothing to do with me or the front of the tank, so I said to him "that's fine! I'll gain your friendship somehow!" So, I broke out the bloodworms ;-) Today he's been more social, comes to the front of the tank, he's settling in nicely. 

Grumpy face!


Colors 1




Colors 2


(What YOU lookin' at?)



Side note, the baby just did a little poo in the holding bowl. Hehe it's so little and cute! - did I just call poop cute!? :shock: 

Also if you like the videos, this one is from yesterday:


----------



## sushiisaboss75 (May 19, 2013)

Looks like he/she could b a double tail!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Cute log! Just wanted to pop in and say that Mystery is a boy :-D and yes a double tail, very uneven but a DT nonetheless ;-) Love the new Dragon boy too!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@sushiisaboss75 - yup! :-D

@lilnaugrim - Thank you! Yay, it's a boy!! lol. Yea, I noticed it was a pretty uneven tail when I got him, but it's okay, I love him as is, I think the "flaw" just adds to his quirky little personality! :lol: 
And Harley (Davidson) says thank you, I think he knows he's a handsome boy, he's got a very smug look as he saunters through his hotel/tank. 

It's been two whole weeks with the baby! He's so smart, totally recognizes his food jars, me, we play hide and seek, where I take a q-tip and run it outside the tank, pull it out of his eye site behind a plant and he goes to look for it. Do they make bumper stickers that say "My Betta is smarter than your honor student?" :lol: As for him physically, it almost looks like he's getting a golden sheen to his color...might be the lighting though. Just seems he went from dark, to that really clear, or pearly white color to a slight golden hint. As I keep saying, time will tell! I know, I repeat myself alot.  He's almost a full inch in size! But still absolutely hates when I put the tape measure up to the tank. :| And what a lil poop face today, out of 39 pics, two were usable, he was just too excited and wanted to play chase the fingers. He seems to really like to chase pinkys the best. 

(New toy!)


(Body Shot)


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol! I had named two of my Nerite Snails (which I don't normally name inverts or school fish) Harley and Davidson! haha too funny!

Oh geez yeah, I took 279 pictures today and got maybe 10 good ones XD that's normal with most animals unfortunately :-(

Mystery is growing really well though! Glad to see great improvement! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@ lilnaugrim - that's cute, perfect naming for a pair! ^_^
That's a lot of pictures! But you are quite right, it's like they pose, wait for you to get all focused in and as soon as you hit that snapshot button, ZOOM they go! 
And thank you, I'm so happy he's doing so good!


Sooooo I wandered into Pet Supply the other day to pick up some dog treats and they put all their bettas by the check out counter, so I'm standing in line looking over there...take a step closer...a step more...next thing I know I'm full on sitting on the floor with cups all around me. *face palms*. I'm not normally a fan of veil tails, but they had the most gorgeous baby or sky blue boy with the longest fins that literally shined metallic gold. He was gorgeous, I may just go back to get him when I return some gravel I bought. My mom's sitting room is blues/tans and he'd match quite nicely. hehe. But after digging towards the back and pulling forward this beautiful solid white veil, who seemed quite happy to see some light (gave it a new home on the top shelf), this super cool looking little plakat looked at me. Looked at him, looked at him again, himed and hawed for a while and decided to put him back since I had more shopping to do and it was like 98 degrees out. Well...guess who went back and got him on my way home? :-D He gave me this look when I went back like "oh sure...you gonna leave me behind AGAIN?!" Nope! you're mine little one! The sticker says he was born on (I'm guessing that's the birthdate) 2/13/13, kinda nifty to know the date! Picked up a 5.5 gallon set Petsmart had on sale, thinking I could divide it, but the space seemed so small and the filter is just so strong, even with a lot of baffling. He really does not seem comfy, so I took out the filter and am just letting him be in there until I get something else. He was laying on the bottom completely unmoving last night, I thought he was dead until I stuck something in and nudged him, I think he totally exhausted himself. So, since Petco has 25% off everything, I ordered him a large (3g) Critter Keeper, hopefully he will be happy in there. Got one for the baby too, give him an extra half gallon of space. Ordered two extra too *coughs*. Normally I'm a fan of glass tanks, but after using the one for Harley, I'm sort of a fan. I thought they'd scratch too easily, but it's held up through two cleanings already. Also snagged a few plants and heaters. I mean 25% off everything, how could I not?

The baby is doing so well. All he wants to do is play! Every time I'm even near the computer table he swims over like "play with MEEE!" and swims back and forth all excited. Even as I write this he's staring at me like "EHEM! ME! ME!" It's hilarious though, if he's swimming around and I sit and stare and he doesn't notice, when he turns around and sees me, he like stops dead, his dorsal fin perks and freezes, his pectorals flutter like a humming bird's wings and he gives me this wide eyed surprised look before zooming over. I got him some new gravel since he's finally big enough to where I don't need everything dark just so I can find him. He kept staring at it like "what is THIS?!!" So cute <3 Makes for very hard photo-shoots now though, he keeps ducking around the camera lens so he can see me like O_O "HIIIIIIII". *Shakes head* perhaps I should have named him Spazz. I'm actually thinking I'm going to change his name once he is grown more, he's got so much personality I just do not feel like "Mystery" suits him. Maybe as a one month anniversary we'll have a little renaming ceremony.

(*poke*)


(chillen by the log)


Meet Koji - 
(Arrived home safely - please excuse all the junk floating around, I'm guessing he didn't like the food they gave him)


(One dark eye...)


(...and one light)


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Koji is gorgeous! I just want Mystery to hurry up and grow so I can see what he/she will look liiiike!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Thank you!  
I know! I can't wait for the baby to be all grown and then at the same time, I'm enjoying documenting the "baby" weeks, lol. He's totally staring at me right now like "I know you're talking about meeee!" :lol:


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Koji is awesome with his two different colored eyes!!! 

Mystery is of course, very cute still! I agree with Viva! I want to see him grown up since I know he'll be just as interesting and cute when he's older!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

*taps on the baby's tank lightly* Ehem, you see that? Viva and BettaLover would like to see you all grown up, so eat your Wheaties...er...Bloodworms!

Just a few pictures to share today:
The baby!
I swear he seems like he got bigger over night.




Harley
Took the lid off to do a small water change and...
look at what Mr. Fancy Pants made!
(did the change very carefully so I wouldn't disturb it)


Koji 
He's already learned what it means when the hood flap opens...FOOD!
And every picture I got of him was this pose...it must be his good side


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Cuuuute! Love that bubble nest picture, so cute!


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

Koji is quite a stunner! Can't wait to see Mystery grow even bigger xD


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Thanks  I was surprised to see such a big nest when I unlided the tank! He seems quite pleased with himself, he's been laying in his little floaty staring at his nest area all night. 

@Mar - Thank you! I know, few more days it'll be the baby's third week with me!  He's grown so much since he was that little half an inch speck I brought home.


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

very cute ^_^ what's the water temp for the baby?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

It's about 78F, I know it should be more like 80Fish, heater is set to about 83F but I'm really terrified of cooking him.


----------



## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

How cute. 

Koji is beautiful! Mm.. Mystery will have something in common with Koji soon. ;-)


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

heehee, it seems its growth is a little slow. Usually my petco babies start coloring up dramatically within a week at aroud 86F, don't be afraid to hit the 80s ^_^

here's one that started out just like urs!
clickie!

It's fascinating to watch them grow up!
Looking forward to your updates


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mystery is looking as cute as ever! Love Harley's bubble nest photo! Koji is also very adorable just showing you his one side!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@LebronTheBetta - Thank you 

@aokashi - You think so? Hmm, okay, I turned the heat up a little this morning, I'll be around here all day and monitor the thermometer. I ordered a 25 watt that I'm waiting for in the mail, I'll be a little less worried with that in there instead of this 50 watt one. Less of a chance of fishy soup! But thank you for your advice! :-D

@BettaLover1313 - Thank you!  

I think Harley was working on the nest more while I was laying in bed, I could hear little water blip sounds. He gets so excited when I wake up, he swims back and forth rapidly, like a dog wagging it's tail, he wags his whole body lol. Gonna miss Mr. Fancy Pants (as I call him) when he goes home. :-(

Well, when I turned the heater up, I rotated it a little and the baby keeps swimming to it, then back to the front of the tank, looks at me and swims back like "what'd you do lady?!" :lol:


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

It's adorable how curious your baby is! I think you're really helping cultivate his personality! Now all thats left is to play some classical music next to him when he sleeps xD nonon jk


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Mar - He is quite the curious one indeed. I spend a lot of time with my animal friends, people think I'm nuts because I treat and speak to my dog as if she's a 2 year old baby. But she's smart and I swear she understands everything I'm saying. And I did play some classical music the other day! Speakers are sorta near the tanks, so I turned the bass up just a tad so they could feel the vibrations and the baby was swimming back and forth and side to side, I could be imagining it, but it looked like dancing to me!

Whew, lack of updating, the past few days feel like a blurr. Yesterday was only about 63 degrees here in Massachusetts, a MUCH welcomed cool down from the high 90's we've been having. So I spent the day in the kitchen making dog food and banana bread. Hey! I gotta treat myself too, right? Then my Petco order came! Yay! Still waiting on the new heaters though. :|

I've debated as to whether I want to update about Koji, Harley and whoever else in here because it was supposed to be the baby's journal, but I think I rather keep it all in one place. After all, they're family now. ^_^

So, onto Koji! Poor little guy finally has his permanent home. He's been tossed from a holding bowl, to a 5.5 he didn't like, to a tupperware bin to now his own little 3 gallon which I've managed to fit on my desk too. He seems pretty happy, a lot more curious about his surroundings, it's like he knows this is home.

Harley is a lean mean bubble nest making machine. After a day I ended up doing a full clean on his tank and the next day he made a whole new bubble nest. I've let the water go for about 2-3 days now, it needs a clean once the water I set aside finishes getting up to room temperature (as you will see in the pics, there's a bit of film on the top of his water now, yucky) But geez, what a huge nest he's got going on now! I feel so guilty taking it away, everytime I go over he swims to it and glares at me like "MINE! DON'T TOUCH!" He even pushes his little swim thru up to the corner there, no matter where I move it in the tank, it ends up there, and there's no current, so he's gotta be moving it there, right?

And the baby, gosh, what a little squirt he is. I swear I spend half my day playing finger hide-and-seek with him. He never fails to come to the tank and look excited to see me when I sit down here, how can I not give him attention? Although, he's not so thrilled right now, he's in his old tank while I wait for the water to heat up in the new one and he has nothing to play with. It's funny, if my finger is hovered above the water, he bites the heck out of it. But when I put my hand into the tank to grab some stuff today he kept swimming against it or through my fingers, never once did he bite. Curious little fellow. I keep trying to measure him but he does NOT like the tape measure, he refuses to come close enough for me to get an accurate reading, but it looks like he's sliiightly over an inch now. It's been three weeks with me too! :lol:

Pictures!

Koji:






Harley:






The baby:






Setup:


My Bailey napping and giving me time to set everyone's tanks up


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Mystery is a girl!! I see the beginnings of ovaries there! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

! Is that the yellow patch?? I mean the area behind the silvery part that looks shaded more golden/yellow.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yup!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

*It's a girl*

@lilnaugrim - That's so cool! Thank you for pointing that out! I was sort of wondering what that was. :grin:

So, you heard it folks, our little Mystery is actually going to be a little Mysti!! :lol: Maybe that's why she's always nipping my finger "I'm not a boy! I'm not a boy!" When I bought her I originally kept calling her a she and picked the name Mystery in thoughts that if the baby turned out to be female, I could shorten it to Mysti, so that totally works.

She's loving her new tank, granted it's only a half gallon more, it looks a lot bigger dimensions wise, she's been swimming all over. But I swear, don't they ever sleep? I woke up at 6am and she was already staring at the front of the tank waiting for me. Then again, so were Koji and Harley. Harley is next to my bed, he's always staring at me when I wake up like "Well look who FINALLY decided to get up." Yea, I don't know why but I take his personality as being very sassy. I think its because his long/full fins make him look like he's just sauntering across the tank. Plus, look at the bubbles nests, you know he thinks he's hot stuff. :razz: Koji, I don't know, I hear him as a hyper "must swim, must swim, must sw...WHATS THAT...must swim, must swim..." That's all he does, from one end to the other, stops and all his fins go alert then he turns around and starts again. :lol:


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Mysti gets curse everyday. She looks yellow or gold now! So cool! I swear my baby bettas never slept either...they would just constantly be roaming the tank looking for little bits of food or staring at me waiting for their nomnoms.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Thanks! I know she does sleep, I've caught her a few times, but normally no matter the time I wake up, she's there, staring at me. :lol:


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

I just noticed cuter autocorrected to curse in my previous post...smh.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I assumed that's what you meant - I speak autocorrect very well!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Just a few pics. I got Koji to flare for like a second at the mirror today. Wish the picture would of come out a bit better, but at least I got to see his fins spread out, they're normally narrowed cause he's zooming around the tank. :-D 

Mental note: Order him the freaking cave already. I've had it sitting in my shopping cart on Amazon for like 3 days now. >.<





Mysti!
Someone ate like a little piglet today. I didn't realize I had a few extra pellets on my finger and they got into the tank, she ate them before I could even think about scooping them out. 


Edit: added more pics >.>


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

AWWWW! Mystery is just too adorable!!! Koji is also awesome!


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

teehee too cute! I feed babies ALOT XD as much as I would feed an adult and sometimes more 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@BettaLover1313 - Thank you :-D

@aokashi - Thank you :-D I usually feed her 4-5 times a day with 2-4 little pellets and I sneak a bloodworm treat in there once a day, usually after we play a round of 'follow the finger'. :lol: I know I do need to get more of a variety in there though, for her and the boys.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Koji and Mysti got their tanks cleaned today. After I filled Koji's tank up I realized there was still dust particles coming off his new gravel so I emptied it and refilled it, waited for it to heat back up and plopped him in, then had a mini heart attack when I realized I forgot to put water conditioner in the second time. :shock: But he was only in the water like 5 minutes before I realized so I don't think there was any harm done, thank goodness. His new heater finally came today so hopefully I can get his water a nice steady 78-80 degrees rather than the 74-76 it's been at, seriously, those "pre-heated" heaters just do not work (for me at least). It was a temporary one anyway. 

OH! I really noticed that Mysti has an egg spot now. I kind of saw it in a picture the other day, but it's really noticeable now. My baby's growing up!! :-D And she's so SHINEY. I really do think she'll have some sort of golden/yellow in her coloring when she grows up. I keep speculating, I'm just anxious to see! :lol:

Harley is going home one day this week. I'm really going to miss him, we've kind of bonded. But my aunt has decided to put him in the office at work, so I'll see him when I go in, it'll be a new part of my job to clean his tank, ha ha. But now I'll have an empty spot on my nightstand...

...and I'm headed to Petco tomorrow, I have to return a dog grooming table and paw trimmer I bought online, both items came defective, kind of annoyed by that. AND the third Kritter Keeper I purchased, you know, for uhm, just incase? *coughs* arrived completely scratched up. Sooo yea, gonna head there and since I know they restock bettas on Tuesdays, I must go have a little peeksies at what they got in. I really do find it relaxing to lay in bed and watch Harley's tail just swaying around in the water. I think I'd like to get another longer finned boy for there. That way I'll have a rounded family, a girl, a short plakat boy and a boy with fancier finnage. I guess we shall see. 

Geez I typed a lot, I'm just trying to pass the time waiting for Mysti's water to heat back up, takes forever to hit 80. She's just swimming around and around in her waiting bowl again. I still don't understand how she doesn't get dizzy! She only stops to get mad at the towel I have wrapped around the bowl. I can almost hear her yelling "HEY, HEY YOU! You're blocking my view!" Anyhoos, onto the pics...

Take a breath.


Can you see my egg spot?


You can see it here too!


Up, up and away!


IMA BITE CHU!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Mysti is the cutest baby ever! I just LOVE her coloring!! She's growing up fast


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Thank you! It seems the past few days I've really noticed some changes!

Speaking of changes, I noticed tonight that there's some darkening in Mysti's fins. Are we finally starting to see some real grown up color changes?! :lol:

Ended up at Petsmart to pick up some dog treats, I don't dare come home without a bag with something for her. She inspects my bags upon arrival, full on nose in, rummaging around, so I make sure there's something for her to find. Anyhoos, poked my nose into the bettas section, noone really caught my eye until I moved the second cup in, there it was, one lil black polka dot sticking out from 4 rows back! I knew as soon as I saw him, he was coming home with me! He would be my new nightstand buddy...or at least that was the intention for him...however after my aunt stopping by tonight and me assuming she'd be taking Harley home, she informed me she was gifting him to me since he looks so happy and she's scared he might not be as happy someplace else. So looks like Mr. Fancy Pants is mine now (no, lol, that's not going to become his name, just my nickname for him). So we have Mysti, Koji, Harley, and Skully. Family picture night!


Meet my new little boy, Skully!




Mysti - can you see the darkening? Her eyes are also getting darker, but not sure if that's just poor lighting.




I'm just soooo cute


Lookies, I match the gravel!



Harley - Nobody better go near his nest! 


And Koji...doing what Koji does best, acrobatics, I gave up trying to get a clear shot


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

Wow! You have an amazingly beautiful collection of boys there  Skully is awesome!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Rosencrantz32 - Thank you so much :-D


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Lol Koji being an acrobat...hilarious! I love the new boy, he is definitely not one I could leave behind either! Mysti looks like she definitely be yellow...maybe a solid yellow! She will be soooo gorgeous!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Yes, he's so active! As for the new boy, he's settling into his new home nicely, caught him sleeping in his floater last night. :-D I think Mysti will have some sort of golden/yellow tone for sure, but her tail is getting really dark and her eyes are almost all black or really dark blue now, so I don't know if solid yellow will be in her future. I admit, I sort of miss being able to see her eyes. 

It's been 4 weeks with the baby today! Comparing photos from the first day to today I see a difference, her color has gone from stripey silvery to the goldeny color, her eyes have darkened and she's gone from about a half inch to just barely over an inch, her body has certainly filled out too! And her personality, it's always been there but it's growing more and more. Who knew you could love something so tiny so much! I really am happy I decided to take the chance and bring her home with me that day. :-D

Kinda blurry, but I needed to shut flash off to get the darkening to show better


Only way I seem to be able to get her stop these days!


Love that little face <3




She slammed on the brakes lol

----------
First day:


Third Day:


1 week:


2 weeks: 


3 weeks: 


4 weeks:


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti sure has changed since her first day!

Skully is an awesome betta! Love his coloring!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@BettaLover1313 - I really can't believe it's already been 4 weeks! Where the heck does time go!? And thank you


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

oh wow! I just realized I've also had my baby for 4 weeks today lol 
Yay us for keeping the little ones alive and healthy this long! 
Mysti is adorable. I love watching her grow up!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Rosencrantz32 - Yay! Congrats on your baby too! :-D Thank you, yes, she's my little cutie!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Ah I see the darkening a little better now that before. In day three she has black on her anal fin and looks like dark marbling on her body..interesting. CAN SHE PLEASE BE GROWN UP ALREADY!? They are so cute when they're small though


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Yep, when I first got her she was pretty dark, had guessed maybe she'd be some sorta black marble, must of been baby coloring, because within a week or two all her darkness was gone and she was that pearly white then started getting golden now her caudal fin is getting black again and I can see a slight tint to the dorsal as well and her little eyeballs are black too. Such a female, can't make up her mind what color fins she's wants.  I knoooooow, I keep saying GROW UP, no no no wait, nevermind stay little, no...GROW UP...no...wait...just tell me what color you are gonna be! :lol:

Mysti is NOT sitting still this morning unless I hold my finger to the tank and even then she stops for a second, bumps it and skitters off. I got her a new little plant too. It's funny, I always try to make her a path to how I could see her swimming through stuff and then she does it. Up, down, loop and around. 

Cleaned out the tanks last night again, switched Koji's gravel to Skully's tank and gave him one of the plants, he seems to be so much happier, not so skittish now that he's got some stuff to hide/play in, also put a big glass fish bowl in there so he could have something secure around him, he keeps dipping in and out of there. :-D So he'll be set until I find decor I really want for in there. 

Koji got new deep blue gravel, looks really pretty with his coloring, he seems to like the plant gone too, he's a swimmer so more space! He was playing loopy-dee-doo through the thermometer and up around the heater and back this morning. 

Harley is...being Harley, patrolling his tank, coming up to stare at whoever comes close. He's such a little ham though, if I come near with the camera he comes RIGHT up to it, and slightly turns, like "I'm ready! Get my good side!" 

Mysti: 
HI o_o


Look at meeee, I'm growing up, but my mommy should of wiped the tank before taking a picture.


Skully:
Ho-hum


Sup 


Koji: 
Loopy-dee-doo game


Full speed ahead!


Harley:
I want a close-up!


Check out my pecs ;-)


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Omg Harley is so cute! Mysti could very well be a marble, that would awesome!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@Viva - Thanks, I've really grown attached to Harley, I'm glad I get to keep him and I think he's happy about it too. :-D I would love it if Mysti was a marble. I don't mind them constantly changing at all. 

Mysti - Ohhh my goodness! She's got the cuuuutest little black speck on her dorsal. Her Caudal is even darker now and I can see some black speckling starting to form across her body. Her eyes are definitely a very dark shade of blue. It looks like her body is reverting back to how it was when I bought her. I've been inspecting her under a desk lamp today, lol. She's being super playful and it almost looks like she's pouting when I lean away from the tank. She puts her head down towards the gravel and it seems like her little mouth is pursed and I saw her do something that looked like she huffed (in reality she was probably just spitting something out), tee hee. 

Koji - He built his first bubble nest! I had no idea he could sit still long enough to blow that many tiny bubbles! So proud of my little boy. :-D

Skully - He's no longer afraid of my finger, yay! He just comes right up and eats rather then grabbing a pellet and darting off to the bottom of his tank. I definitely need to get him some more plants though, I think he's the type that likes a lot of areas to just relax in or swim through. Oh how I wish I was able to keep real plants alive. :shake:

Harley - I think he might be enjoying the sunshine, I've had the shades pulled back since the weather has been cooler here and today I saw him swimming through the strip of sun, dipping down and swimming back through it. I'm still debating if I want to get him a bigger tank or not. He's still in that 1.75, I do a 100% clean every three days and he's always got a huge bubble nest, he's not a real swimmer, usually he's chilling in his strawberry jar or hammock, he seems comfy, but would he enjoy more space? I dunno, I have an empty 2.5, but when I hold it up to the 1.75 it actually seems smaller width wise. I rather give him room then depth. I shall have to think on this. 
I'm also considering moving him to my desk, I moved Koji & Skully over to my craft table next to the computer desk so that Skully wouldn't be the only one over there, so now there's an empty space, thought of moving Harley here next to Mysti, even though I love having him to watch at night, thought maybe he'd like a more active scenery. He perks up and dances every time I go even near the table. I can always lay on the opposite side of the bed and watch all 4 of them. 

Mysti
Pic is a little warped/blurry but it shows the caudal coloring


Posing by her log


Swim, swim, swim


Koji's Bubbles


Harley


Skully


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well my mom came in here today and goes "Oh my god! Your fish changed colors again!" She got so excited/intrigued. Lol she's so cute. Anyway, yes, Mysti has gotten even more color as of today, her right ventral has a black ombre effect, the dorsal has more blackening and it looks like someone shook pepper on her head. :lol: I'll try to take pictures later, during the day I have four windows in here that just kill me with glare on a sunny day like today. But I wanted to make note of the changes at least.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Went to Pet Supply Plus today to look at their clearance fish section to see if anything was left and standing in line again...yep, the bettas called to me. So I sat on the floor and pulled all the cups out and there he was...that boy I passed up the last time I was there when I got Koji, at least I'm pretty sure it's still the same guy. His tail color doesn't seem as golden, but his face sure looks the same. Anyway, he's now sitting downstairs in the tv room. He might have the onset of fin rot, his ventrals are looking a little gnarled. I'm hoping just some clean water will help, I rather hold off on salting him, going to keep my eye on it. But, he took to the tank right away, wasn't scared, even flared at his reflection. So I'm happy I could give him a new home. BUT!! UGH!! There was this goooooooorgeous black and white boy there too that had this incredible blue, like the kind that made him look like he was glowing under a black light, marbled across just his body. I wanted to take him, but I felt the other little guy needed me more. And I only had one spare tank at home. Can I go back and get the other one too? I mean...that would make 6 fish...6 is a nice round number, isn't it? Right? :-?

I'm fighting with names in my head right now until one just 'clicks' but here he is:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Why do you stores have all the cool dragon scales??? All we have around here are VT's and some occasional HM's lol

He's gorgeous though!! I bet he's almost a MG when he colors up a bit! :-D I love the blue/orange colors ^_^ if that isn't apparent from my avatar haha.

:nicefish:


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@lilnaugrim - That's actually a big portion of what they seem to carry. I think 2 out of 3 were dragon scales. I'm a sucker for them too! They had a gorgeous creamy colored one, who had a slightly mint green iridescence to him with a reddish/peach trim around his fins too. They get some nice boys in and none of them are over $14.95! Which are usually just the EEs. I seriously see a wall of tanks in my future. :hmm:

Thank you! :-D He was metallic gold in the store, but under a camera flash his tail grabs a more greenish iridescence though. I agree with you, I like the blues/orange/gold too or black/white. And yes, I noticed ;-) your fishy is quite the handsome fella!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha, thank you!!!

Yeah our DS around here go for usually 15-20 dollars  PetSmart has some for around 8-10 dollars I think but they're all PK, not that I mind but I just like to look at the pretty fishies! lol

And how is this possible when we live one state over from each other?!?! Granted I'm on the south coast of RI but seriously! lol Bring them puppies down to me! XD


----------



## cowboy (Apr 14, 2013)

Look at the big eyes lol. He is really really cute. I would love a baby but have never seen any in our pet stores in canada. I'm calling a breeder!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Be thankful you don't have them cowboy. It's actually rather cruel to be selling them at such a young age, even if they are culls. If they were sold on forums like this or to people who knew how to take care of them, that's one thing but to a huge chain store where more than 90% of them die in their cups? Yeah, that's not cool.

They're adorable and amazing to watch grow but it's still a big task to take on and most people don't know this and it's sad because they're babies will really never grow up. One water change a week ain't gonna cut it lol but yes, yes they are cute.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@lilnaugrim - Our Petsmart is the same, all DS are PK, too. I will make sure to tell the lady at Pet Supply to send the next shipment of DS's your way though! ;-)

@cowboy - Thank you, I love his little face.

I agree with what lilnaugrim is saying. They are a lot of work. It's heart wrenching to see them all tiny and dead in the rows of cups at Petco.  Hence why I now have one that demands my attention all day long!

I swear, if I'm not giving attention to Mysti, it's going to my dog Bailey, the boys, they just swim around, chilling. Must be a girl thing.  Really, dog is nudging my knee asking for more treats while Mysti is pushed up into the corner staring at me like "ITS HIDE AND SEEK TIME, BRING THE QTIP!" :lol: All the while I'm trying to sew up a hammock for the new guy to have something to sleep in tonight. Why don't we come with extra arms/hands?


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol noooo!!! I can't have any more males!!! I already have 8! I don't need any more lol And soon I'll be full up stocked on girls too! Yikes, that seems weird to say since I never thought I'd reach that time so quickly! I actually have to downsize my male section, two of them (Mercury and Jarvis) will be going to one of my good friends and that leaves Ditto, Aero and Gambit. I hate saying good bye to them but if we move, I have to... :-(

But either way, yes it is sad seeing the babies at the store and that's how I also ended up with Tony and Steve ^_^ and idk, my two little boy's demand for attention just as much lol same with my boy cat, the girl cat just sorts of does her thing and only demands attention a little bit out of the time that the boy does. In fact I was trying to pour water into the 5.5 yesterday which is underneath my 33 so it's near the floor and he came over and bumped his head into the bucket trying to self-pet XD Of course the 5.5 has sand so I can't pour much in at a time so I don't make the sand fly everywhere. But that's hard to do when your cat is demanding your time >.< lol silly cats!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@lilnaugrim - loooooool, ok ok ok, I'll keep them up here. 

Awww, :-( it's sad having to give pets away but at least you know they will be going to someone who will love and take care of them.

lol, that's so cute! I love when cats do the self-pet-bump thingy. We had an office cat where I work, he recently passed, and whenever I would come in if I didn't give him snackies he'd come over and bump my arm while I was turning the computer on. ^_^ Cats really are silly ones. He also liked to sit on the toilet and stare at you like "No! MY throne!" when you'd walk in. :tongue:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol that's adorable! I wish I had a pet cat where I work! But alas, that won't ever happen! lol but that's okay though, it wouldn't get treated well here because there's hardly no one ever here!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Aw! You got another cute little guy!

The PetSmart near me is the same way. All DS are PK, but man do they get some lookers! (Even the PK that aren't DS!) They have some HM and Double Tails as well, along with the usual mix of CTs and VTs


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

@lilnaugrim - Yea, he was a stray they took in and it's a giant warehouse, so he had the office area set up all nice with his food and bed and then he had the run of the warehouse to hunt and run around. :-D 

@BettaLover1313 - I did! lol

I'm seriously considering going back to Pet Supply and getting the other guy I saw there. I'm trying to think of where else I can go while I'm out that way to be like "Oh well, I had to go to (whatever place) anyway, might as well stop and get the fishy too! LOL


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Cleaned Skully, Koji & Mysti's tanks today. When I had all their waiting bowls on the desk Mysti and Skully bumped into each other and they immediately started just staring, they sat their with each other almost the entire time I was cleaning. However she was not having anything to do with Koji when he was put there. She swam to the other side of her waiting bowl and that was it. 

Mysti


Mysti body detail


Skully being a grumpy face


Hey, woah, who are you??


Staring contest


*stares at camera lady* so uhm, where did HE come from?


hey, wait, come back I wasn't done with you!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mystic and Skully are so cute!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

They said thaaaaank you! *happy fishy faces*


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Omg this is sooooooo cute!!! Love it!



Huffle Puffles said:


> Staring contest


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! !


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh my goodness! She's gotten so big!!!! So cute :-D lol love those pictures! Especially the second to last XD hahah love it!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

She has, hasn't she!? :-D Thank you! I couldn't believe how much they took to each other. They just stared face to face then they would lean against the glass the long way. If I wasn't so attached to having her on my desk, I'd consider putting them next to each other. Guess she'll just have to wait to see her boyfriend on tank cleaning day.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Ugh, I feel guilty even thinking like this, but I really do not think the new boy, who I've decided to name Ramses, is who I originally thought he was. The more I'm looking at him he isn't the blue/golden boy I saw last time I was there, he's got red/green tints to him. Probably a sibling though 'cause they have the same face. Kind of bummed since I REALLY wanted that blue/white/black boy but decided to get this guy since I thought he'd been there a while. I should of shined a light on him. Oh well, my fault, not his. He will still be loved and taken care of. <3 He does have the cutest little face. 

In other news, cleaning Harley's tank. Silly boy, seems like he's trying to cover all his bases with that bubble nest. :lol: So, curious, I held him in the waiting tank above Mysti's tank, omg he went crazy flaring at her, however, she just sat there for a minute, staring, and BAM! she lunged at him to take a bite. (Don't worry she only bumped her nose on his little bowl). OMG, I laughed so hard. He's like triple her size and she wanted to beat him up. Sibling rivalries. :lol:

Bases covered! I think I'm just fascinated with how many bubbles they can blow


Ramses


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Ramses is adorable!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you 

Edit: wanted to add to the post, I'm sitting here at the desk and I hear little water blip sounds and I look over and Harley is swimming back and forth building his bubble nest. Really neat to actually catch him in action!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I got a kick outta this, so I figured I'd share  She gobbles down all her food and when I give her the bigger pellets, she'll save the last one and carry it around for at least 5 minutes.
(please excuse the protein film, haven't gotten to cleaning it yet today)

click me for video!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

LMAO! She almost looks Guppy-ish with her new colors! It looks sort of like a blue grizzle, quite interesting!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

You caught that blue shimmer huh :-D I just noticed it yesterday! It matches her eyes now. 

And speaking of eyeballs, Koji no longer has one light and one dark, they've both become dark now. 

And Skully's body is getting a very heavy pink/purple iridescence, noticeable even without a light shining on him. 

Guess the "color enhancing" food really works?


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

So Ramses is still super skittish whenever I go near his tank, so I decided to move him over between Skully and Koji in hopes they will bring him out of his shell. Plus, I go over there more than where he was, so he can get used to the movement faster. Seems to be working, he's already flared at both of them. Skully is NOT having it, he's flaring then patrolling the tank before returning to flare again. I'll let them all have their fits for a little bit and if they don't calm down, I'll put screens up. They already seem to be not caring though. (Incase the wording of this is confusing, they are all in their own tanks)

I'm still waiting for all the stuff for Ramses to come in. His color is really starting to grow on me! Kinda looks like a rainbow fade. But his face is what gets me. I love when they have the colored ring in their eyeballs and he always just gives me this sad puppy eyes look. Hopefully he'll feel better once he gets a nice fully decorated tank. I'm really considering trying a small planted tank...just a few so if I kill them it's not a big loss, lol. I just don't know who I should give it to. I'm thinking Ramses, he keeps trying, well he actually succeeded, to weasel his way under his moss ball. Seriously, I could not see him last night and all the sudden I just see the tail end of his fin sticking out from under it. :lol: Something tells me he'd be overjoyed to be in with some real plants. 







Finally a good pic of Koji!!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I just can't believe Ramses is a VT! A Dragon VT no less! I've seen some pretty amazing VT's pop up, unfortunately none around here >.> lol They're all so handsome though! I'm glad you got all of them ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Hmm, are DS/VTs a mix not seen often? :question:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I haven't seen many on the forum and definitely not around my area whatsoever. We get everything boring, all solid colored VT's which are nice don't get me wrong but I love all the "oddities" :-D We hardly get anyone that looks like Skully either, or Koji for that matter XD lol we really don't have much a selection in any of our stores around the state.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I've seen some VTs in my area with scattered iridescence, but I've never seen a DSVT either. Most I've seen is some VTs with scattered irisdescence (Merlin & other VTs where he was sold at). All the interesting colored fish near me are HMs, PKs, or the females at PetSmart, definitely not the VTs, and maybe a couple CTs.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Awwww, well thanks for letting me know that!  I agree with you, I like the different fishies as well. I'd say hopefully your area gets in some funky fish, but you said you have enough, so I wont say it! *zips lips* XD! I actually go to a PetSmart in CT and the Pet Supply is right on the border of MA/CT. And there's a Petco in CT where we got Harley, they have a nice variety. Where I live there's really nothing, so I travel a little ways.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah there's two LFS's down my way in Westerly and then occasionally I'll visit the Petsmart/Petco in Warwick, half way up the state. I haven't gone into CT for stores but I know there is a Petsmart not too far away in Lisbon. That would be quite the drive for you lol, but I'm just rambling ^_^

But either way, there's really not many that are interesting. We don't get marbles around here....hmmm, maybe I should breed some....anyway and our DS's are very limited only to PK's and occasionally a HM here and there. All our girls are CT/VT and extremely boring, all are blue or black, rarely a yellow or a cellophane. I mean, they're nice colors except for when you're trying to make a sorority with not many twins in it lol, I've already got two sets! Thankfully one will be shipping out soon to her new home but, yeah, it's difficult to not get two of the same type of fish basically.

How I wish I could get new boy's, perhaps one day after we move and I'll be down to three boy's at that and the sorority on top. Maybe I'll find room for another special one  then again, we'll be breeding so I don't think I should get another lol. It's crazy how I still have this horrible case of Betta Envy when I know I have plenty of good looking ones myself! Ugh, it pains me!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Hehe, yea I know the betta envy thing! It really seriously irked me about that white/blue/black boy I left behind, so much that I couldn't enjoy Ramses. But I went back 2 days later and he was gone and then I knew that it was ment for me to of gotten Ramses. And then I gave him lots of bloodworms cause I felt terrible for even thinking like that. I gave him his very own photo shoot today (still have more photos to post!) just to let him know how handsome I do think he is. :lol: I said I would allow myself 6, and I'm going to wait until I find a really special boy and that will be the end of my betta buying (*coughs* for a while). I've decided to concentrate on learning how to do a planted tank, then from there, if all goes well, I have plans to get a 10 or 15 long tank and learn to cycle and all that. I've considered a sorority, but Mysti is aggressive, seriously, she attacks your finger until you take it away and when I put Skully in a bowl near her tank, she lunged at him. So I'm guessing she'd probably bully anyone in her spot. Which is fine, she can be my little anti-social girl. <3


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, I said that about number 2, number 4 and number 7 >.> yet somehow I'm still at 8...for the males at least lmao I'm racking up girls left and right it seems though! But soon I'm hitting my tank limit and I like to keep it understocked so I have some wriggle room if anything goes wrong or anything.

I think half my problem is that all my boy's look very similar, either their some type of MG or they're some shade of blue....literally all we have is BLUE....I love blue and it's a problem since I would just get everything blue and then not be able to tell anything apart lol it's an issue. And then the other part is I'm not with them all the time so I don't get to stare at their pretty faces and I forget how beautiful they are lol. I find I do most of my online "shopping" when I'm at my mom's and aren't around my tanks, so that's an issue too XD

Can't wait to see all the handsome pics of Ramses though!!! He's so gorgeous!! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I am half asleep but here are some pics! :-D

He was flaring/showing off for Mysti!


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

I love Ramses' eyes.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

He's so beautiful! I'm fairly certain he's second generation of either a DSPKxVT spawn or a DSHMxVT spawn judging by his extremely straight anal which leads me to think PK and the fact his tail get's to almost HM status except he's not in full flare so he could very well reach full HM status. And his tail isn't too long which makes me think PK again. Sorry, I like to analyze fish apparently haha


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Gosh is he pretty! I agree with Mar about his eyes, they're beautiful! They really stand out!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Analyze away! I'm not good at the trait thing, I always just go for face/color. I would not doubt if it was a PK mix in there, they had really gorgeous DS/PK mixes with his lot, not too many HM there though, those were all EEs. And thank you all for the compliments. :-D 

Went to Petco today and picked up a few plants, not before leaking hand sanitizer all over the floor though.  Ugh. I was standing there for like 20 minutes staring at all the tanks like :shock: ....what do I get? When the aquatics guy was all "excuse me but you're leaking..." DOH. I have it attached to my keychain and I have no clue how, but the top completely popped off! I quickly cleaned it up and apologized. I hate when stuff like that happens!  So I ended up getting a prepacked "assorted anubias" and a aquatic combo that includes 3 plants plus a small "lucky" bamboo, so I figured I'd have a 1 in 4 chance of getting one to survive. I know the bamboo will, if I see it start to rot, I'll pull it and stick it with my other bamboo I've had growing for over 10 years now. So Ramses got all that, except for the bamboo, that's in Koji's tank now, got him a little swim through too. So yea, aside from a new heater for Harley and one for Ramses, a few silk plants for Harley and maybe Koji, I'll be done. Yay :lol:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh geeze, that sucks I'm sorry! Oh, I'd be embarrassed too! I often wonder how the heck things like that happen! Just crazy!

Gratz on the new plants!! I love Anubias and funny enough, I only have three! lol but they're growing super well and such a hardy plant so I'm sure they'll do just fine! They don't really melt so that's a plus :-D


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

You really have an amazing collection of bettas, Huffle! I'm also having betta envy right now


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks! :-D

So it's been a Koji photo day, so happy, I never get really good pics because he's so fast and 99% of them end up in a blur. But I cheated a little and took the screen down between him and Ramses and oh my, my does he get into a tiffy!







haha this was him "yelling" at Ramses


Flare!


Nice profile shot, I simply LOVE the dark coloring of his underbelly and how it fades up into the brighter colors. I actually saw a pic from aquabid(?) someone posted on here of a female like that and I loved it, so excited he turned out that way!


Compared to the first day I got him


Video of him fussing about, he knows who's on the otherside of those books :tease:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Holy mackerel! What a difference from day 1!!! that's crazy amazing! I love his little flare ^_^


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Koji is really so cute and handsome! What an awesome fish, the transformation is crazy too.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Wow! That is a huge difference, he looks so much better now! (Plots how to steal Koji & Skully away-joking!)


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks everyone!! I couldn't believe when I compared to the first few days photos, I was like "nuh uh, someone switched my fish!" lol. But, yea, I'm really impressed with his transformation, it's only been like 3 weeks!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Not a whole lot to say, she's still doing very well, still changing colors. Some updated photos of Mysti:

Her eye is getting light again!


Almost have all the paint of that log...almost. I scrub it with a toothbrush every time I clean her tank. 


Look at my fins!






Skully




I loves my hammock *dreamy look*


Ramses
He was watching me take pics of Skully


Fussing at Koji


Harley...will have his photos tomorrow, his tank is too full of bubbles for my camera to focus on anything else :|

"My" baby birdies, we feed the birds and squirrels all the time, so they like to nest in our trees/my mom's flower arrangements she puts outside lol. Found these darlings in our front tree. We also have a fox running around who I had the pleasure of running into this morning at 2:30am when I took Bailey out to potty. I SO wish I would of had my camera!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

OMG Mysti is looking so amazing! She has a nice blue iridescence and it looks so cool with the black. Her eyes are definitely getting lighter again, they're a pretty golden color right now! She's so cute!!!!!!!!!! Also I really really love Skully, he's so amazing looking.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you!!  I really love how much she is coloring up! And the more I look at Skully, the more he reminds me of a painting, a few paint splatters here, a few flicks of a brush stroke on the fins. XD


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

On another note, I came home from work, fed everyone and noticed that everyone's tanks dropped down atleast 3 degrees. UGH! I have Mysti's heater set to about 86, her tank usually idles at about 81ish. Koji and Skully are both set at about 80 and idle around 78. So I turned everyone up by about 3 degrees, hoping to even it out. I know it was super cold here today, but geez. :\ Going to have to think about all this. Would I be better off to get a 10 gallon and split it for the three boys over there, get a filter to push around the heat, maybe put a heater on each side (they are 25watts) and hopefully keep the water moving and more evenly heated? Thinking out loud sorta. I've actually been thinking about this all day and coming home to a temp drop just made me think it all the harder. 

Anyhoo, Mr. Fancy Pants is Mr. Grumpy Pants tonight. I was all "Hey! It's your turn for pictures!" and he flared at me and did this:


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Figured out a temporary solution to Ramses being left in the cold, I split Skully's tank and housed them together. One, it'll keep Ramses warm until his heater arrives, seriously did not think shipping took this long and two, it'll give me an idea of how stressed they would be living next to each other. 

Mysti's changing colors, AGAIN. A good portion of her dark spots that were appearing on her body are disappearing. Now she just has a vertical stripe of it down the middle of her body on the right side as well as a stripe under her right eye, looks like she's got a black eye. :dunno:

Psh, talk to the fin!


Stripe


Look at my 'shiner'


...wait...weren't there leaves here before 




Come out, come out, wherever you are!


I'm hiding from that crazy guy next door


Why he no wanna play with me? 


*sniffles* fine, I'll just go eat all the bloodworms myself


Wait, wait, let's talk about this a minute...


NO!


Dum de dum


Oh hai, you wanna be my new friend?


Aww come on...I was only kidding!


Muahaha, I knew he'd come around 


Just because I'm cute


Peek-a-Boo!


I SEE YOU! (stupid suction cup mark -_-)


clearly I have too much time on my hands today :shake:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

LMAO! I died laughing, seriously!! Love the part where Skully is hiding XD :rofl: :lol:

Love these pictures!!! Mysti looks too cute, I love the black and the green irid combined! So beautiful! I can't wait to get my marble girls! It's so exciting! Considering I have all solid girls or bi-color, it will be nice to switch it up ^_^


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I agree with lilnaugrim about that lovely green and black iridescence coming in on her tail!

Your captions of the boys got my loling!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks guys!! I admit I had fun captioning them. I lol'd when I found the one of Ramses "shouting" at Skully. Pretty happy that they seem to be okay in the same tank though! As for Mysti, it's so cool to watch all these color changes she's going through and that her iridescence has that greenish color, but if you look at her without a flash it's a deep cobalt blue and black! But unfortunately my camera doesn't like to focus well without the flash since she moves so much!


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

I love how Ramses\s body colour creeps into his anal fin. So gorgeous.
Cute baby!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! 

Happy to report the boys survived the night without any complications, my crappy mesh divider stayed up! lol. However Skully is still "hiding" from the crazy neighbor. It's pretty hilarious, he swims at full speed, flares then scurries back as fast as he can to his corner. But I did wake up in the middle of the night to check on them and they were both asleep in their little mesh tunnels. 

Good morning!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol that's adorable! I wish mine would use the mesh tunnels when I put them in there :-/ none of them ever did though! I think mine were spoiled from floating water sprite :-/ oh well haha

They seem to be doing well though, being so close to each other! That's great ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yep, every single one of the boys sleep in their meshy tunnel, even Koji stops to lay in his if they aren't sleeping behind the heaters. But yea, I think I would rather lay in soft water sprite too.  Maybe someday they will have that option. My plants are still alive, no rotting from what I can see yet. Keeping fingers crossed.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

They sound like Merlin & his betta log! Dragoon just sleeps on his leaf hammock, on the filter lip (-.-'), or where ever he decides is comfortable! 

It's good that they're getting along so well and mostly ignoring each other, from the sounds of it!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well, they _were_ getting along. Woke up this morning and Skully was in the corner bent over like he was dying.  Found Ramses wedged as far in the corner near Skully as he could get, like he was taunting him. So I quickly pulled them both out, washed out Skully's tank completely, threw in a little extra stress coat and an IAL and plopped him back in. Ramses is back in his tank, the weathers a little warmer and his heater should be here tomorrow, so he'll just have to deal. The waters at about 76 degrees, not ideal, but not freezing. 'Tis what he gets for being a meanie face. :| I had to leave so I told Skully to feel better and hoped for the best. Made sure to leave the dividers up between tanks and left my blinds down so it would be dark and they could rest. Came home and Skully is zooming around his tank like "ITS MINE, ALL MIIIIIINE!!!" He also ate like a piggy. SO RELIEVED!!! So, 10 gallon split tank idea, OUT THE WINDOW! Which is fine. Now I'm thinking trying a 5.5 for Koji again, he was terrified of it when I first got him, but I think going from cup to big open area would terrify anyone. He swims like crazy so maybe he'd enjoy the space now. So that would leave his tank open to upgrade Ramses from the 2.5 to the 3 gal Critter Keeper. Considering a 5.5 for Mysti too, she's a swimmer and an explorer. She seriously uses every inch, plant, decoration in her tank. So then I could put Harley in her 3 gal Critter Keeper and tada, everyone would be in 3 gallons or more. Thinking out loud again! :lol: LOL, is anyone else this indecisive? *face palms* 

Weeeee tank is all miiiiine


Oh crud...you aren't gonna put that weirdo back in here, ARE YOU?!


Seriously...


I'M A CREEPER!


Becoming such a photogenic boy


I caught a bloodworm and it was thiiiiiiiiiis big!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Omg I love the comment: "I'm a creeper!" lol and Mysti's comment omg, I died laughing! That's so cute ^_^

That's okay, I think out loud as well, especially when I'm starting up the Betta Shuffle >.< always interesting!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Lol, thank you! haha. He really IS a creeper though. That's what he was doing to poor Skully. XD

Good to know I'm not the only one! ^_^


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

lol loved the captions, especially Skully's of "You're not putting that weirdo back in here?!" and Mysti's "It was thiiiis big!" Loved it!

Glad to hear that Skully and Ramses are okay after their little freak out. Sometimes it just doesn't work when you put two bettas in a divided tank :/.


----------



## Inkwell (Aug 11, 2013)

O my mysti's "this big" is adoraaaaaable!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yea, I'm glad that I found out before I went and put a 10 gallon together, that would of sucked, lol. 

Thanks! When I saw Mysti like that I just had to laugh. I could totally hear her fibbing to the boys about how she caught the biggest worm! 

Story that has nothing to do with fish:
Stopped by Pet Supply today to price out some tanks and as I'm driving home I look out my back window and see what I think is the biggest pile of bird doodie ever. Well, next thing I know said bird doodie jumps! It was a poor little tree frog that hitched a ride. So of course I start looking for a place I can pull over but I didn't want to leave him on the highway area like that, so I just drove as slow as I could and kept looking out my rear view yelling "hold on little froggy don't jump!" Found a parking lot and I saw behind one of the buildings a grassy area and what looked like a water run off or a small pond if it rained. Grabbed a CD sleeve and tried to coax him onto it and he wasn't having it, he kept jumping away from me, so finally I got in front of him, sternly told him to get on the sleeve and to not jump in my face. He looked at me with such eyes of relief like "OH THANK GOD YOU STOPPED THE CAR". So I said, okay, take a 30 second breather and get on...and funny enough...he got on shortly after. But of course...wouldn't be one of my stories if it didn't have a catch. He got on the sleeve for a second then jumped on my arm, curled up and just sat there. I ended up shrieking from just the surprise of it. Haha. And of course!, there was a construction crew on the side and they came over to the fence I think to look at me like "what in the world is that crazy lady doing" hahaha. Oh well. I got him to a nice fluffy patch of grass, said farewell and came home. I really hope he's able to live his life out there happily. I don't really know where he hitched the ride from, but if it was from the previous place he was at least a 20 minute ride away from where he started. And I was very relieved to find a stack of antibacterial wipes in my car. :lol: Told my mom about it when I came home and she replied with "I'm surprised you didn't get another tank and bring it home too!" LOL she knows me well.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Aw! The froggie sounds so cute!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

She/he was! I'm just happy the froggy held on. :-D

So...Mysti looks like she's changing colors, AGAIN. She goes from lots of color, to barely any, to lots, to barely, maybe I need better glasses, but I swear she's lost color again. Even the dark spot on her ventral is gone. But there's no denying it now that the color she does have is a beautiful cobalt blue. Could she be a very undecided marble? lol. 

8-13


8-15


Today 8-19


Under light, no flash


Just 'cause her face is cute


Still a green sheen


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah marbles do that, it's called a jumping gene for a reason XD lol she's so cute though! Frog story is as well ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm fascinated. I knew they could change a lot, I just had no idea it could be this quickly, this young! So very cool. I mean I can totally understand it, I change my hair color almost as often as she does.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti is adorable as always! I still love the color on her fins, just so pretty!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you BL1313!



All the fishies are doing well. 

Mysti, no new color change today.  Noticed she's been using her second hideaway log now that I chopped off the plant parts. She's been beating up her moss ball again too. 
*Mysti stares at the moss ball* ....*waits for it*....*charges and takes a bite* HIIIIYAAA! take THAT!! *repeats*

Skully is back to normal. Well, he's relaxed until I go near the tank then he swims over and gives me that "YOU BETTER NOT!" look. haha. Don't worry little buddy, I won't. 

Ramses is good too, however he seems to be on the prowl, he searches every inch of the tank all the time. I don't think he's realized he's alone again. 

Koji still swims and plays a lot, but if I go near him with the camera he freezes for me now! Like he actually will hang out in the corner by the lens and pose for me. I love it!

Harley is, well, Harley. He's by far the calmest. But very social. He comes right up to the water edge and will almost bump the camera lens if I get too close. ^_^

Now my thinking out loud/ramblings:
Soooo, got my Dr Fosters order. Some of the silk plants are really cute, others, not so much. But for under $2 I'm not complaining. They'll make nice filler plants. I like Marina brand plants better than Azoo, that's for sure. 

Also, got a digital thermometer because I'm curious just exactly what the temps for the tanks are. Mysti's tank, the heater is set to 85 today, her glass one reads about 80 to me and the digital reports at 83.3. Decent enough range. 

Placed an order for some IAL off Ebay. Should be here sometime in September, lol. Guess I'll have to keep picking the small packages up from PetSmart for now. I really do love the look of the amber colored water!

Noticed that some of the real plants have some mushy roots. :\ So keeping an eye on that. I know I need to purchase a light, but I can't seem to find any desk lamps that can support a 6500K bulb. So that's next on the shopping list!

And next-next on the shopping list is a 5ish gallon tank. Been eyeing the kit at PetSmart, waiting for them to have a $25 sale on it again. The price keeps going between $29.99 one week and $31.99 the next, why do they even bother? lol. I'm not 100% sold on the filter it comes with so I'd really be buying it just to get the tank/hood, since a hood alone seems to be that price. Otherwise I'd just buy everything separate. Bleh. 

-end ramblings!-

-begin pictures!-

wait...what was that...


what the...


uh oh, it fell down!


maybe I'll just pretend I didn't see it


what o_o it wasn't me


-------------------------------------
it's a bird!


It's a plane!



It's super fishy! Zooooom!



But seriously still...do not put anyone back in here.


-------------------------------------

*looks towards Skully next door* What the ...


Yea, uh huh, and he calls ME crazy.


Can I read this book over here?


Do I blend in?


Do de do de dooo


-------------------------------------

TADA I SHALL HOLD STILL!


This is my best side, get this one again!


Okay, that's enough!


-------------------------------------

I can't believe you have me in the same room as all these crazy fish.


----------



## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

such pretty fish! skully is such a cutie


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you, Mar


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Just cleaned out Mysti's tank. Put all my live plants in there since I can monitor them better and she's at least got a desk lamp on all day. I'm just going to divi-up the new silk plants amongst the boys. Anyhoo, snapped a few photos of her in the waiting bowl. Love how close of a photo I can get when she's in there. 

Helloooo


Dancing through the water


Hey! Can I have some of those pellets over there?


Profile pose!


Other side!


Head on


Going up for air


Take a breath


Love the rosey 'cheeks' and her whispy fins



Also, LOL, dunno how I missed this the other day.
Skully practicing HIS "creeper-mode"


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lmao love Skully and his creeper-mode! I loved all the comments from the last post of pictures too!! They're hilarious!!! haha


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Love all the pictures! Especially the one of Harley with "Why do you have me with these weirdos?" That gave me a good laugh!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks Lil & BL1313! I have fun trying to come up with the captions and piece the photos together. That is when I'm not half asleep uploading pics. Haha.

So I guess I'm just gonna spam my own thread today. I'm tired and sore from moving furniture yesterday and my brain won't allow me to concentrate on work. So I'm just slowly getting everyone's tanks clean and having fun taking pictures!

I present Ramses in a bowl :tongue:

Stop taking pics and put me back in my house -.-


I'm waiting! D:


Ugh, this would of been so perfect if only his face would of been in focus too!


Ramses' home...can you find him?  That middle plant arrived in the worst shape, tried fiddling with the leaves to make it look less pathetic, lol, I dunno, looks better in person than how it's laying in the pic



And Mysti's home, at least until the next time I clean it and forget where everything goes.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Picture spam, picture spam, I have no life, la la la :tease:

Skully's turn. He wasn't really feeling picture day. He just wanted to stare at Mysti.

Curious about the pink coloring


Chillin'


Him and his little buddy. Seriously, if I knew anything about breeding/if I had homes for possibly hundreds of fishies/if Mysti's tail wasn't deformed, I would totally of given these two a go. lol. I think I saw her flare at him today. Could of been my imagination as it was sort of out the corner of my eye. But really, I swear I saw her gills flare and she was being all sassy.






MY house!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Mysti is changing like every day! It's so cool to see a marble baby grow up! I think she really likes Skully


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

She really does!  Although I haven't noticed any changes today, lol. I love her little blue spot on her dorsal, hope that stays a while. I think they've got a little crush going on for sure. If I could fit them next to each other on my desk I would. But she requires too much attention for me to put her over on the boy's table. I think she'd get sad if I didn't poke her tank and play as often as I do. ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Avoiding work right now, figured I'd clean up Harley's home. I got sort of good rotation cycle going on with tank cleaning.

(Tootsie Roll Song)
To the left, to the left...


To the right, to the right...


To the front, to the front...


To the back, to the back...


Now slide!


slide!


slide!


Whew! Breather!


*stares* Hey that working out is really paying off!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

lol Harley is so cute! Love the captions!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! I'm sitting here eating M&M's for breakfast and listening to "old school" 90's music. Yeeep, just made myself feel old right there. XD But yes, I blame a sugar high and nostalgia on Harley's little dancefest. haha.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OMG that is SOOOO adorable!!!! :-D made me smile for sure!! I love his pectorals!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! Glad it made you smile too! I was giggle-fitting the whole time. :lol:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

hehe, I do that all the time when I write my captions XD


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

As of yesterday, I've had Mysti for 7 weeks! I was staring at her today and noticing her anal has a soft iridescence coming in now of a light blueish color, kinda like Ramses' body color. Before it was green. Dorsal and caudal are picking it up too. At first I thought it was white, but it's definitely a baby blueish color. The flash on the camera really picks it up but it's even noticeable now under my desk light. It's also starting to creep up the back half of her body, very faintly, but I can see it when she turns and catches the light. It's like someone sprinkled glitter on her. I dunno, maybe the colors aren't changing and it's different lighting and what not, but I'm gonna post the observations and see where they go. 

She also loves when I make kissy faces, she'll swim over and notice me and play along the front of the tank, but if I start to make kissy faces, she starts to move her mouth like "I can do that too mommy!". 

Hey! How'd that get back up there?


Haaaaiiiiiii


Don't I look like a little teardrop with eyeballs


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Wow! Just noticed that her side is really yellow! Very interesting to see that along with all her other color changes!


----------



## Phantom Miria (Mar 17, 2013)

Lol Mysti is adorable!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

BL1313, It is interesting. She's always been kinda yellowy in that area, I figured it had to do with the fact her ovaries are near there and she's sorta see thru so the color pops out :dunno:

Thank you, Phantom 

Here's my little squirt swimming around after a nice house cleaning this morning:
(click for video)


She still loves bubbles...I actually need to get her bubbler back into the tank, the air pump was starting to get really loud though. 


She totally looks like she's sticking her bottom lip out in a pout!


Clear shot of the color creeping up her booty. And to answer my question, the coloring I saw yesterday does seem to depend on how the light hits, because today, green tones again. Good to know.


I moved her log and she was just staring at it for a few minutes like O_O WHAAAAT



So, ever have a total senior moment? I've been experiencing them more and more lately! Drove all the way to Petsmart to get some IAL and got all the way home only to realize, no IALs. :frustrated: I even walked by the area 3 times! Luckily I sort of have to go back to the area to return something to Michaels, bought a cute vase, got it home and realized the bottom was cracked. Just ugh! 

Funny story, my dog is really well behaved, she never just takes food that she knows isn't ment to be hers, even when she does take food from your hand, she's so gentle, sometimes she even drops it because she doesn't grab it enough. Like I can leave my plate on the floor and I'll come back to her staring at it like "its on the floor....but I don't think its mine...so I've waited, NOW GIMME!" Well, I was super tired when I got home, ripped open a bag of treats, gave her one and threw the bag back in the other bag and plopped it on the floor before going about my business. Came back a little while later and she was nosing through the bag, which she always does, but this time she grabbed the treats bag and started trying to shake it! Intrigued, I stood there and watched. I really wanted to grab my camera but I didn't want to interrupt. That little stinker pulled the bag out, shook it around and threw it a few times before turning to me like "WHY YOU NO HELPS!?" so I watched a bit longer and she finally got her nose into the bag, but couldn't reach the threats I guess, so she plopped the bag down right side up, sat in front of it and looked at me. So I gave in, turned it on the side and wiggled one just to the front so she could grab it and feel like she had victory. Silly me, I just left the bag there and went downstairs to get a drink, came back up and she was laying with the bag. I said "aww poor bailey, still trying to get them o...*picks up bag...feels nothing inside..* what the...did you eat that whole bag!??!" :blink: Yeeeeep. Guess she figured out how to get them out. :doh!: So I was like "Bailey! Did you eat them all!?" and she's not one to bark unless we talk, I can get her to "answer" me. She exclaimed in her loudest little bark. "YEP!". She was quite proud of herself. But how can I even get mad at this little face?


Please excuse the dent in the top of her head. I've learned to groom her myself after too many horror stories at groomers and sometimes we still have little "oopsies, I took too much off there" accidents. :lol: I figured it's better to have her furcut a little imperfect and know she's not being hurt.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah that really yellow triangular area IS her ovaries, that's what they look like! As she get's bigger, they won't grow much so right now since she's still on the smaller side of things, basically her ovaries are too big for her haha. It will all balance out as she grows up more!

Lovin those pictures of her though, really really nice looking! Your dog is too cute too! ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Ah ha! You're so smart when it comes to all that, lilnaugrim ^_^!

Thank you!! And Bailey says thank you...by sitting up on her butt and snorting at me to give her, her vitamin XD!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Just things I picked up over the last few months ^_^


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti is looking so adorable! Love your dog! Her haircut gives her character ;3


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks, BettaLover1313! LoL that's a cute way of looking at it. *tells Bailey her haircut just gives her character and gets the stink eye in response* :lol:


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Alright, I think Mysti has been playing in the Miracle Gro. Tried measuring her like two days ago and she seemed to be barely hitting the 1.5 inch mark and today she is well over the 1.5 inch mark, almost near the 1.75 mark! She just seems so big today! And she's darkening up again! Starting to get a heavier, grizzle(?) all over her body. 

The boys are all doing well. I should be cleaning tanks today, but I was blow drying Bailey this morning when she hit a metal step ladder my mom left leaning against the bathroom wall and it came toppling down on top of my leg. Helloooo black-n-blue. Ugh. Just glad it landed on me and not her. I'm accident prone I tell ya, even when it's not my fault. :lol: Anyway, kneeling by the bathtub to rinse tanks out just doesn't seem like a good idea. So, they probably will be happy about that considering Harley, Koji and Skully have all built big bubble nests. I can hear them all day long doing it, especially at night when I'm laying in bed, *pop* *pop* *pop* it's so cute. I used to always know it was Harley, but now I have to look to see which of the three! :-D

I seriously love her little pout <3


Get ready...


Get set...


and twirl!


now swimming away mad because it was just a bubble and not food


spotty


I can't get over how dark his face has become


Koji bubbles!


Skully bubbles!


Harley bubbles!


----------



## PonyJumper101 (Mar 23, 2010)

wow! those bubble nests are HUGE!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Ha, yea, funny enough that isn't even the biggest one Harley's ever made. He's filled the entire right side of his tank before. ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Don't have much to ramble about today, got everyone but Skully's tank cleaned up, he did NOT wanna get into the cup so I said fine, I'll come back later. So just a few pictures, cause well, pictures are fun :-D

Took out the second log in her tank, it had a small loop hole area and I was starting to worry she may get stuck in it. Pretty soon the other log may have to go too. Which is fine, I'd like to get a nice real piece of drift wood with some hidey areas. 


Finally a clear shot today, everything else was a blurr


Exploring hidden treasures



Koji's eyes are BOTH going half light now. A rare glimpse of him without a flash. How different his colors are. 


The red on Harley's fins is starting to spread...or has been spreading...it just really caught my eye today
(no flash)


(flash)


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

If Harley, Skully, Ramses, or Mysti go missing, you may want to check my tanks first lol. They're all so beautiful!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well at least I know they'd be in another good home.  hehe. Thank you!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I really hate holidays where they have sales, ok I mean I LOVE them, but I hate them because they make my brain hurt. Pet Supply sent me a $5 off a $30 purchase coupon...and they're having a $1 a gallon sale plus 20% off Aqueon filters, which I think I read are pretty decent, starting tomorrow. It's like they are pushing me to go buy more fishies and tanks! I've decided I'm going to go for a 10 gallon...I want a full on planted tank. I know, I know, I've said this before! But, my envy of all the beautiful ones I see on here is getting the better of me, haha! :lol::lol: Plus, I need something new to fuss around with. 

My thoughts are that I think I'm going to put Skully and Mysti together. He just watches and stares at her like she's the best thing since sliced bread. She flared like crazy at him for a few seconds today then was like "oh..its YOU...HIIIIIIIIIIIIII, my bad" *bats fins all ladylike*. I can fit it perfectly on the side of my desk where Mysti is now if I inch my monitor over a bit, so I can still see her. And I know Skully will love the extra attention, he gets so jealous when I'm over there taking pics of Ramses or Koji, he presses against that side of the tank and stares at me until I come back over to him then he swims around and poses. If that doesn't work out, I'll try Ramses and Koji maybe, they seem to get along in the fact that they'll flare, go about their business, flare, go on...but neither seems to be affected by it like Skully was, hunkering in the corner. I don't really want to put Harley in something with a current since his favorite thing to do is build bubble nests, I don't want to take that away from him, even though I think him and Skully would get along, both are chill. However I will upgrade him to whoevers 3 gallon becomes empty. Just saying the heck with it and starting a sorority in there is out, Mysti will bite the crap outta everyone in there. XD Then again, I may change my mind completely about it all, I do it so often. I dunno! But these are my thoughts for now, making note so I don't forget. :tongue:

Ramses is starting to get some light green flecks on his body. At first I thought they were white and it was ich, but after closer examination, they're definitely a green/tealish color. The dark blue spot on his back has gotten bigger too. Thought that was a booboo from rubbing on his vase at first, but comparing to older pics, its always been there, just smaller. It's funny how one day you just look at your fishy and think "huh...has that always been there??" 


"oooo there's a boy over there mommy!"


I was thinking of trying Harley's exercise routine...


Full speed ahead to Mysti's window!


I shall hypnotize you with my ruffly tail


Zoom, zoom


I see you eyeing my vase...don't even think about it


Swishy, swishy


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

So yea, I finally did it! *stares at 10 gallon on the desk* Spent the last 5 hours setting it up and playing musical tanks with everyone. I am exhausted! - but happy. I got the gravel in, the filter going, heater on, set up Skully's side with some temporary decorations and put him in. He seems to be doing well so far. The current from the filter isn't bothering him. I keep watching and his side seems calm, no plants moving, he can sit still and not struggle, so that's good. The other side though seems to have a bit of movement so I'm still working on getting that down before I put Mysti in there. Skully will be my "fishy in" cycle. He's super good about getting into the waiting bowl so if I need to get him out of there in a hurry, I know he won't fight me. Mysti is currently hanging out in Harley's tank and Harley is now living in Skully's. I cleaned them out and put their own decorations in there first though. Tomorrow I'll move Ramses into Mysti's old one and we'll be set. Harley, Ramses and Koji will be living in the 3 gallon keepers on my working/crafting table. Mysti and Skully will be in the divided 10 gallon on my computer desk. I gave Mysti about an extra inch on her side since the filter is there and she darts around a little more than Skully does. He's more wander, look, wander wander, look. She's ZOOM ZOOM STOP LOOK PERK ZOOM ZOOM. More on progress later, now I shall go eat!

hello, welcome to my house, please wipe your feet


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Skully looks content in his new setup!


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Your fish are so pretty!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you, dramaqueen! 

I think he is content, BettaLover1313. I know Harley is looooving the extra space in the 3 gallon. But he's mad at me since I disturbed his bubble nest. I tried to scoop them back under the new IAL, but he sort of just looked at me like ..."REALLY...you think that's gonna cut it??" *grumpy face*.

I sorta rattled the 10 gallon today. I noticed the side without the filter wasn't getting any current and the water was getting filmy, so since he is the only one in there I yoinked the divider out. Oh boy, is he having fun in all that space. lol. I know how to fix the filter problem, either cutting the filter to fit over the divider or putting it on the opposite side so it hits the divider. But for now, he can have play time. I think I've baffled it pretty well, did the soda bottle thing then added a piece of craft mesh so the water comes out the tiny holes before hitting the plastic. Might add one more piece. 

I'll probably post some pictures later, I just got home from a 6 hour trip to the mall! I can't believe we were there that long. But I had something custom airbrushed for a friend's birthday and they said it'd be ready in 2 hours...wasn't ready when I went back. The kid who took the order didn't even tell the airbrusher guy about it! -_- Oh well they did a great job, so that's all that matters. I also got some "fall scented" candles from Bath & Body. Yay!!! So ready for the cooler weather! Cider, pumpkins, fresh air. Who else is ready?!


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

ME!! I'm soooo ready for cooler weather. It was 84 F in my apartment last night T.T and opening a window didn't help at all...


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OMG pumpkin pie!!! Dunkin just got pumpkin flavor shots back! I was wicked excited about that since most of the year when they still have pumpkin I do 2 Mocha and 2 Pumpkin, cream only and it's the most delicious coffee ever!!!!!! Of course Iced, not hot ;-)

Whew, 6 hours?!?! Hot damn! I don't think--well I probably could, depending on which mall we go to and which stores we go to lol. I'd always wanted to get something airbrushed, never have though so I think that's cool :-D

And yeah, the rain we had last night didn't help the temp at all :-( still humid as ever here. Can't wait till I can just wear jean's a tee shirt and be comfortable in the chilly weather lol. However I'm not looking forward to snow, cold fine, snow...no ;-)


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Mystery is so freaking gorgeous! I'm in love with her colors!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Rosencrantz32 - Oh my goodness, that's warm for in the house, I'll will some of my air conditioning your way! :-D

lilnaugrim - I'm not a pie fan but, I am a pumpkin roll with cheesecake frosting person. Ugh, yep, now I've got a craving, lol. But that coffee sounds delicious! I looooove the way pumpkin spiced coffee smells, yum yum!

Yep, no idea how we were there that long, lol. Well kinda do, took me forever to decide which candles I wanted from Bath & Body, haha. I was amazed watching the guy airbrush. No idea how they can have so much control over spraying paint. But I needed something as a present for a friend I know he wouldn't already have. 

I agree, no snow! Well maybe just a light dusting so its white for Christmas, but that's it. :lol:

Viva - Thank you!! I think she's the cutest darn thing ever. ^_^ Maybe not the happiest thing since she was downgraded to Harley's 1.75 while I get the 10 gallon ready for her...but she'll understand why soon enough!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ah yes, just a dusting for Christmas and then bye bye snow! lol if only! We haven't had a white Christmas in years! I think I was 9 last time we did or something around that age.

Pumpkin and Apple are the only pies that I like and even then I like them cold and not hot. I'm not a fan of frosting however what you described sounded pretty darn good! lol, never had them before. We should meet up for around Christmas, exchange one of those pumpkin rolls for my pumpkin/mocha coffee and voila, Merry Christmas! lol


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm not a frosting fan either, but it's more like a whipped cream/cream cheese filling, not that sickly sweet frosting, if that makes sense. Sounds like a plan to me!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ahhh yes! Yeah my Memeire makes that kind of frosting and it's soooo good! So yeah, I would definitely love one of those lol. One of the reasons I hate regular cake is because the frosting is just too much and I can't stand it but a home-made one with that cream cheese frosting? Mhmm! :-D darn, now I really want some cream cheese frosting....


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

lol geez you guys are making me hungry!! lol

I'll gladly accept your air conditioning! At least until ours gets fixed  And I'll even take your snow! When you get some. This desert I live in desperately needs it


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I love anything with a cream cheese frosting.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Cream cheese 'frosting' is the best, especially with a really moist, rich red velvet cake. Nom Nom Nom.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh nom nom nom!!!! that sound Ammmmmazing!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Geez, been a few days since I've actually done a good update. Time just flies sometimes!

I took the 10 gallon apart, it's sitting outside drying in the sun that's how 'apart' I took it. The filter started making a knocking sound and no matter how I tried, it wouldn't fix. I have the worst luck with filters. So I packed it up and will return it later this week. So I figured since I had to start all over again with the filter, I might as well just start really fresh when I actually have _everything_ I need this time. 

So that means Mysti has been hanging in the 1.75, which has been nice and much easier for me to clean so often. I think she kinda likes it too, it's got more of a jungley feel. I put Skully and her side by side so they can get used to seeing each other while I take my sweet butt time actually getting this tank together. 

Mysti's still growing like a weed, her color changing has cooled down though from what I've noticed. I think I forgot to feed her - her meal last night because when I went to feed her this morning she jumped up and snatched her pellets outta my fingers then just looked at me like -___- YEA! Forget me will ya, HMPH!. Lil stinker. 

Koji has new decorations for his tank...found some small ruins at Petsmart and thought he'd enjoy swimming around them since he's not really a cave dweller like the rest of them. So far, he has. Although he's really taken to blowing nests and flaring at Ramses, lol. All three boys blow bubbles like crazy now, I think being next to each other they're trying to out-do their neighbor. :lol:

Harley was upgraded to the bigger keeper and he's now got an actual cave instead of his beloved strawberry jar. I watched him closely hoping he wouldn't freak out since I changed it, but he seems to really love it! He went right in and poked his head out the small window like "What ever you're selling, I don't want any!"

*looks over at Ramses to see what to update about him and sees him flaring at Harley who's too busy bubble nesting to notice* 

Patroling


Typical Ramses pose


Though Shalt Not Pass!


Bubble?


Buubbbllless !


Look how ridiculously green I'm getting ^_^


Do I blend in?


Wait...what's this...


PATOOEY! *spits* That's not FOOD!


Look! I can be my own Ying Yang!


Hey Skully! Hey! I can do that too! Look!


I don't like you!


Yea well feeling is mutual buddy!


And keep your bubbles on your own side of the desk!


*yells from down his way* Well I don't like EITHER of you!


HEY! *hides* who said that!?


Finnage


ho hum, thanks for noticing me


Weeee


I really, really love this shot of Harley!


Ugh! Boys! I can't even look at them.


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

LOL the captions are so ridiculously funny, haahahaha. I love the one where Mystery is spitting out what she thought was a piece of food...hehe!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! Haha. I know! I was so happy I caught the shot of her doing that!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

hehe, yeah they all do that as well and I just facepalm each time XD Captions are great! Why are Mysti's ovaries so BIGGGG :shock2: lol, crazy huge!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks!  I dunno, but hopefully she grows into them/they don't cause any health problems. :\


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I don't think they will, they just look so big lol. I think ovaries are different for each girl though because some of mine have big ones and other's have nearly non-existant ones....so it's just a thing I guess ;-)


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Love the captions! You really do have some beautiful fish!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

lilnaugrim, maybe that's why she's so huffy all the time, too much female hormones running through her system, hahaha. 

BettaLover1313, Thank you very much ^_^ 


Well! I killed all my plants but one (minus the Lucky Bamboo, that doesn't count). LOL. But the one that is still alive actually has two baby leaves coming out, so something is going right there! The other ones just melted right off their stems/roots. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to try again! This time with plants that I actually know what they are. 

Went all the way to Petsmart yesterday to go pick up a new filter and they don't stock the one I wanted in the store. Ugh. Was going to try the FluvalU1? I think that is what it's called. Tried the Aqueon Quietflo, WAS NOT QUIET! Tried the Topfin Power Filter 10, started to make a clackety sound after a week. So yea. Wish this Petsmart was bigger, they don't carry much, not even live plants aside from the prepackaged ones. I hope they at least get in the Halloween tank decorations. The little candy corn hideaway is too cute!

Cleaned out Mysti & Skully's tanks today. I really do think they will do well in the divided. They're so calm with each other. Just staring, watching, then they go about their business. Unlike all the boys, I take down the screens for even a second and it's a flare fest! Koji's actually in a tizzy right now, I didn't pull the screen out enough and he can see Ramses and he's darting around all puffed up. hehe. 

So I freaked out because the temperatures here have dropped and the boys tanks are all reading low 70's, I have their heaters at 87 so I'm sitting here like WTF? Used Mysti's digital to get an exact reading, Koji's is around 74. Harley is at 72.7. Ramses is 72.0. I dunno what to do, there's only one more click to the heaters before they are maxed. That's a 15 degree difference. I even have the windows on that side of the room closed with my heavy drapes pulled over that half. I mean it's not THAT cold in here. *face palms*

(Edited to add pictures)

Hey! Who forgot to pay the heating bill?!


Nope, not posing today


WOULD YOU JUST POSE SO SHE CAN STOP FLASHING THE LIGHTS!


Nope, can't make me! *grumpy faces*


I can too fit in that hole if I squeeze my fins reeeeal tight! (excuse the poo)


Hey, don't gimme that look, you'd rest your fins too 


Hiiiii *waves fin*


Lookie! Baby bubbles!


Peek-a-boo...


*zooms under leaf and pops out* I found you!!


ok, ok, my turn, I hide and you find me!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

lol the boys are all grumpy and Mysti is still her usual perky self! Love it! I can't get over her gorgeous eyes! They're just so pretty!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

I know she's the lil brat of the pack, always sassing around and looking at me with those doe eyes like "FEED ME", "PLAY WITH ME", "ME ME ME, STOP PLAYING WITH THOSE STUUUPID BOYS". XD


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Cleaned Koji, Skully and Harley's homes today. Also organized all my beads. Woo! Feeling accomplished! We're having a yard sale this weekend, so I wanted to have their tanks done so I wouldn't have to worry about it for the next few days. :-D

OM NOM NOM (wish this would of been clearer)


Classic Mr. Fussy Pants face 


BURP!


BUUUURP!


BUUUUUUUUURP! I WIN!


Holy cow...what'd you eat o_o


Ew.


Excuse me Mr. Pebble but my pellet fell under you


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

lol with the burping contest and then the remarks from Mysti & Skully were awesome!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

LMAO! Loved this and needed that for my day, thank you! :-D


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Lol!!!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Glad y'all enjoyed my, ehem, classy boys XD!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yay! It got warmer here again and my tanks are keeping steady at about 80, got Mysti's up to about 83.8 today, I'm happy for now. 

My two new decorations for the 10 gallon should be arriving tomorrow, yay to that too. Just need to get a filter, clip-on light and my plants, and then I can try it again. 

I can't believe it's only been a little bit over 2 months since I've gotten Mysti! Feels like we've been on this adventure so much longer. Maybe because I'm so attached to her sassy lil' self. Yes, sassy, Miss IMA BITE CHUR FINGER, had a nibble fest on my thumb instead of getting into her cuppy today and when that no longer satisfied her she jumped up and 'bit' the side of my hand. It's okay, I put a pellet in the cup and I won. ;-)

Koji's underwater ruins


I can has noms?


Glittery


That better be an EXTERNAL thermometer! D:


Nom Nom Nom I like to eat my feets while sporting some major bed head


aaaaand back to sleeps


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Noticed that as beautiful as Koji's scales have grown around his face...they're now starting to paint over his eyes. I really, really hope he doesn't end up blind, I'd be so sad for him because he just loves to swim around and explore everything. But if he does end up that way, I'll just take all the ornaments out and line the walls with silk plants and give him a sort of padded room so he doesn't have to worry about bumping things. It's just a bit right now, so hopefully we have a long ways until that would actually happen.

Ramses may have the start of some fin rot, I'm not 100% sure. But with their tanks fluctuating with the temps so much I wouldn't doubt something going wrong. I can't tell 100% because he barely leaves his new plant. I even have to feed him in it. But the tips of his dorsal look a bit ragged/brown. I know he naturally has that sort of coloring, but it just looked off today. I'm doing a water change on everyone tomorrow, so I will cup him and get a closer look. This is my note to myself so I don't forget! *shakes finger at future-self*

On the upswing, I received my IALs I ordered today, wasn't expecting them for at least another few days, so that was a nice surprise! Harley has already built a bubble kingdom under one, haha! The two decorations for the 10 gallon came too. Yay! I...think...I like them. I think with some really cool wispy type plants around them, it'll have a neat sunken artifacts sort of feel. 

Had a visit from an alien species today aka a leaf bug. Poor little, well, big guy spent a few hours trying to figure out how to get out of the screened in part of the sliding door. Question is how did he get in there in the first place?! The wedge was too thin for him to squeeze through, he kept trying, backing up, trying a little higher, little lower. I tried moving the screen so he could maybe get out the other way, but nope, he kept hitting his wings. He was quite the trooper, moving about pretty quickly considering he was minus a leg. Finally he finally clung to the glass and I just took the screen door out of the tracks and he got out and landed in the tree by the deck. But not before I got pics! lol. 

Holy cow are these things HUGE


what o_o


Can you see the bit of fin from the busy bee?


Excuse me, I'm trying to work here!


My plant, tra la laaa!


My plant *creeper stare*


Hello! I can...sorta...see you


Uh oh, someone's a grumpy face


Nyah.


Okay all done!


Ornaments


Alien invasion!


Let me oooooout


They're watching yooooou


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Actually it just looks like his eye is turned, that's pretty common in all Betta's but it's usually just more apparent in Dragon Scales is all. When they turn their eye's you'll see more of their "lid" which looks like DS'ing over their eye's but it's actually not 

Love the pics of Harley building his nest under the IAL ^_^ too cute :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Hmm, maybe, hopefully! But I've never noticed it before. I know that he has the scale/iridescence ring around his eye, but this is two areas on each eye coming up from the nose area. Maybe you can see it more so on this pic. I dunno, hopefully you're right! Just the first time I've stopped and been like "huh..what's that?" It looks like someone took a whiteout pen and dabbed the corners of his "tear duct" area when I look at him straight on. More I compare the pics, it seems like it's just the iridescence creeping over the eye rather than thick scaling.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, it's most likely just part of his irid growing in still. Aero's irid has grown in as well and his skunk stripe is almost gone now, still there a little but it's more like dots now, rather cute ^_^ But Koji should be just fine for quite a while, perhaps in his elder year's he might scale over but I don't think it will be any time soon at all.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yea. I just always jump to the 'oh my god what is that?!' side of things with my animals. Especially if I notice something that I don't remember seeing the day before. I'll spend a fortune taking Bailey to the vet if I think something is wrong. Or Google like crazy trying to figure out what a spot is on the fishy. But if something is wrong with _me_ it's always "eeehhh I'm sure it's nothing!" lol...or WEB MD, but if I go by that, I should of been dead ages ago.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lmao, you're the same way as me too XD I'm pretty sure I've had some sort of bad sickness all day but I just chugged through the day like it was nothing, well except for band practice; playing my tenor sax was making me sick so I stopped for a bit. But yeah, I google everything and cross reference things like ten million times and that's how I ended up here! lol


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

"My plant *creeper stare*" made my day!!!


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Hahahahahah the captions for these pics are hilarious. I hope Koji's eyes don't get any worse...I'm afraid that some of my dragonscale girls will get the scaling over their eyes and have to be removed from the sorority. Also this reminds me to order some more IAL, I'm running a little low! I have to replace my leaves every 2 - 2 1/2 weeks in the sorority tank and I put in 6 each time. OMG that green leaf bug thing is scary! I found this big (but small for it's species actually) female black & yellow garden spider over here at my work the other day...I moved her to a bush because she was just sitting on a bench with a white background...not very safe for her or for our guests here at the petting zoo haahaha. I named her Skulltula like the spiders in the Zelda games, haha. It does look like a skull is on her abdomen!!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Hope you feel better soon lil!

Glad Ramses the creeper could brighten your day BL1313!

OMG Viva! When I scrolled down the page that scared the heck outta me! LOL. I have a tiny phobia of spiders, but I find them fascinating at the same time...as long as they are either in a picture or behind the glass of a window and I know they can't jump on me! That's a beautiful photo though!

Well, Ramses has the onset of some fin rot. Comparing pictures from a few days ago, it's certainly deteriorating. :sad: So he got a half extra dose of Stress Coat+, a freshly cleaned tank, he's in the dark corner of the table with the lights off and a big fat IAL resting in the water. See if that'll help. Unless I become desperate, I don't really want to salt bath him. I know, I know, people swear by it, but I'm not 100% comfy with it. 

Now, for Skully...he's got a huge red dot on his caudal and all the white on his fins has a pinkish color to it. I'd say it looks like ammonia burns, but I know it can't be that, I change his water twice a week and I checked and the ammonia was at 0 before I changed it again today. I think he's wrapping himself around the heater and burning himself. Ugh. SO...he got the smaller heater and the same Stress+/IAL/Darkness treatment Ramses is getting and while I was at it, I did everyone else like that too. Might as well!

Okay, not ending this on a poopy note, so here are some baby photos and a video! The lighting goes in and out because the shades were casting shadows/bright spots so I tried to play with it depending on where she was swimming. ^_^

Limbo time!! How low can you go!?


Full belly & a half dead leaf


Hey! I see noms!


I found my very own robo-fishy 


Click for video:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks ^_^ it's a bit better today 

And I don't swear by salt baths  in fact salt really doesn't do much for fin rot, all AQ salt does is invigorate the slime coat into overproducing (making it useful for keeping external parasites off) and to balance out electrolytes but that's basically it. The best way to battle rot is to improve water quality; daily water changes with IAL or some sort of tannins are wonderful and the best way to go about it so you just keep doing what you're doing :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Glad you're doing better ^_^

I just meant that I read a lot of "do a salt bath" when people talk about fin rot. I did the treatment for one of my old bettas and he died shortly after, not saying that was the cause, but now I'm sorta scared of it. But since what I did seems to be the good choice anyway, *pats self on back since she's doing the right thing*!! haha!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah I know  I'm trying to not advocate for salt much anymore since the risks out weigh what it does and it's continuously used for the wrong things; like fin rot. As I've said, it's the fresh, clean water that takes care of rot, not the salt as people would like to think. Sure, balancing out electrolytes is a good thing but, it's usually just not needed. Also the risks include organ failure since you're (not you, but people) are now making the fish's liver work three times as hard to process out the salt since it is not naturally occuring in their environment and that can lead to a liver failure; Dropsy. Of course, it's even worse if the fish is already compromised and working hard to get rid of whatever it's got and then if the fish already has a weak liver; well that won't end well either.

So I just like to just use the regular clean water when I can; tannins when I can get my oak leaves and Stress Coat  Meds when appropriate ^_^


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Dang that stinks about the fin rot...one of my girls who I got as a baby back in January seems to be hating the sorority life. Ever since I put her in there she is stressed and she now has fin rot. Gonna need to set up another tank for her I guess so she can live solo, haha. Hope Ramses gets rid of that nasty rot soon! Also, sorry about the spider pic hahaha!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yes, great info lil!

Awww, sorry to hear about your anti-social girl Viva, but at least a simple life on her own will hopefully make her feel better. ^_^ And thank you, he says thanks too.  and it's okay! It was a cool picture, freaky, but cool!


I woke up super early today, around like 4:30am and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I wandered over to the tanks to try and see from the dim light from the street light outside if everyone was awake before I put on my room light since I didn't wanna shock them. Everyone was actually moving around except for the lil Princess. She was propped against the outside of her hidey log still as ever, probably snoring and dreaming of blood worms and chasing the boys before nipping their tails.  Anyway, I didn't wanna shock her so I grabbed a towel and very carefully placed it over her tank, took a lil looksy under it to make sure I didn't wake her (I didn't) and carried about my business. Few minutes later, I see the towel was lifted a little on the side and guess who was poking her head under it to see what the heck was going on, lol. I could just hear her "Ey! Who interrupted my beauty sleep! Better have food or Ima bite chu! Rawr!" :lol:


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

That's adorable! I love watching my girls sleep as creepy as that sounds, I think some of them sleep-swim! I know Mystique does haha She swims around like a zombie and doesn't really use any of her fins but she's practically drained of all colors including her ventral fins but it's just because she's sleeping. It's not her normally stressed out lines or anything. It's quite fascinating actually! Some of the boy's sleep dead as doornails like Rembrandt and Ditto but Aero wakes up as soon as he see's me moving and I usually wake up to him staring at me from my side table XD Honestly I think it's adorable!

Anywho, yeah I woke up early as well...well earlier than I wanted to. Was up around 7 this morning but tried to sleep until 8-ish and then I got hungry haha.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

LoL, it's not creepy. I enjoy it too. I like watching Bailey sleep too. Sometimes she'll twitch her legs and I just wonder what she's dreaming of!

Ugh, I've somehow managed to get myself on a schedule of waking up around 5 in the morning. This is not cool, lol. This morning I pulled a pillow over my head and tried to make myself go back to sleep until Bailey happened to noticed and fussed until I picked her up and put her in bed with me. She doesn't really like to sleep in the bed, because she gets warm, but on cool days she will come up and I build her a pillow throne so she can lay there and look out the window, like in most of the pics of her I post. ^_^ But, my dad custom made her stairs to get on my bed cause it's high and she will go down them with no problem, but refuses to go up them. Which is odd since with the house stairs, she will go up, but refuses to go down. I have a very silly doggy.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Super happy, Skully's fins seem to be getting less and less red looking. The big red spot is barely there anymore. :redyay: 

Still keeping an eye on Ramses fins. Doing 100% water changes every two-three days. His water is so dark with tannins it looks like ginger ale! Hoping it's helping the poor boy. 

Do be do be dooo *sings into mic*


*swoons and fan girls*


'ey, dumb dumb, that's not a mic!


Hey man, don't kill the dream!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ahaha, love the comments!!! For a moment I couldn't find the "mic" and was very confused but then I saw it! ^_^ I'm glad he's doing better!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Haha, thank you ^_^ Yea it does kind of blend in. Everyone always looks at the thermometer tip like "WHAT IS THAT, BE GONE WITH YOU!" except for Mysti, she's like "FOOD! *bites*" - *face palms*


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lmao! Oh I do love Mysti, she's just so cute!!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti & Skully are wonderful, and I love Ramses kill joy moments!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

She's cute, but she's a little stinker! haha

Thanks, I love them all so much, even Ramses the creeper/kill joy XD


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Guess who's in color change mode again!? She's getting her grizzle(?) back. She also seems like she had another growth spurt. Measured her this morning and she's juuuuuuust a hair under 2 inches long, head to the tip of her tail. I feel bad she's been stuck in the 1.75KK for so long now. :-? 

I figured out a filter I wanted to get, put it in my shopping cart - since I can only get it online, went to check out and it poofed from my cart! Sold out. Ugh! So I guess the 10 gallon will be sitting empty for a bit longer now. I called the company and asked if they'd get anymore in but they couldn't confirm, just told me to keep checking back. Bleh. BLEH I SAY! lol. 

Anyhoos. What else, what else. Nobody really wanted to have their picture taken today. Ramses hid in his bush, Harley kept flipping his backside to me, and Skully would stop and as soon as I hit the button he'd swim behind the heater. Fussy butts. But I did manage to grab a few of Mysti and Koji. So here we go:

I really am impressed with how much he filled in/colored up in just under 2 months. His new favorite thing to do is lounge on the part of the IAL edge that dips into the water. 


Checking for noms


Can you see the grizzle...and the suction cup stains -_-


Nice true to color pic for her dorsal


Apparently it's booty pic day


There's that cute little face


Nice top view


Someone finally poked his head out to see what all the fuss was about


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Mysti is SO CUTE! She looks so innocent and sweet in the over head photos.
I have a little DT male baby who has been with me for a month now (8/18), he says she's cute too


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you! 

*looks over and sing-song taunts Mysti* Pssst! A little DT boy thinks you're cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute. Haha!


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

(and yes I should have been writing up client invoices instead of messing around poorly on paint...)


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

AHAHAHA!!! Quinn, that's too awesome!!! lol too adorable as well!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Oh my god, LOL. I seriously needed that laugh after a long day at work. haha! thank you so much! And your little boy is too cute!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Quinn that picture is adorable!!!


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

:-D Glad I could amuse!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Updates:
I ordered two filters for the 10 gallon, one better work *shakes finger*. So Mysti & Skully's tanks you see are still just temporary. I'm sure they can't wait to be able to get out and spread their fins! :lol:

Mysti is going light again, I'm starting to wonder if the darkness she gets is stress striping since it comes and goes so quickly. Noticed a little triangle patch of a lilac irid on the side of her body, you can see it for a second in the video below. She's doing well. Her new favorite past time is jumping though. If my hand goes anywhere near the tank she starts jumping for it and when her pellets hit the water she dive bombs them so hard she ends up knocking half of them off the surface. So I've taken to only putting in two pellets at a time, she'll lunge at them then start doing circles until I put in two more. 

(click me)


Skully ...well the spot is gone on his tail but now the edge of his fins are bleeding. I've taken everything out of his tank but his hidey tunnel, heater, moss ball and IAL. So I can rule out scratching/burning it on anything but the heater. I check the ammonia, it's always at 0, plus I do 100% changes twice a week, sometimes three. Trying to nip it in the bud before his tail starts to rot away. Other than that, he's fine personality wise, plays, eats, etc. 

(click me)


Harley is his usual cranky self, you'll see in the video. His colors are still bleeding throughout his fins and I swear he's gotten bigger. He's having a hard time with turning, he has to shimmy his fins in order to control himself. So I messed with his decor so he'd have more room to maneuver and a nice plant cluster if he needed to rest. 

(click me)


Koji is still darkening, the scaling/irid is creeping over his eyes even more, but he's still getting around fine. I do notice he rests a lot more than he used to. But his appetite is good and he rests at the top of the water near his IAL, not the bottom, so I'm not worried about that. I think he's just finally relaxed in his environment. He's been with me for two months now as of Saturday!

(click me)


Ramses is getting better, I think. His fins still look tattered, but I don't see the rot creeping up any further, so that's good. Still keeping an eye on him, his tank cleaned every two days and extra IAL/Stress Coat dosing. But he's got a better appetite than ever, and he's VERY protective of his green bush, as you will see in his video. Seriously, he LOVES his bush. I'm glad I kept it, I was going to return it 'cause $10 for one 'lil plant seemed like a lot, but then I figured ehhh I could use the camo for the tank wall. He's very happy I did. 

(click me)



And a few photos:





Poor boy, you can see his boo-boo towards the bottom.


I love the blue the lighting caught


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

All the videos were awesome! The music really fit with each of your gorgeous fish! I hope Skully gets better soon!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you!


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

OMG I love the black and white one! I used to have one like that but he died a few months after I got him.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you dramaqueen  but I'm sorry to hear that yours passed so quickly 


Whew, it's been a while since I've updated! Where to start...

No pictures today unfortunately, I let my aunt have her camera back when we went to NYC on Saturday and I forgot to grab it back. I still have yet to buy myself a new one...I'm so slow when it comes to pulling the trigger and just buying new electronics/cameras/etc. 

Mysti, boy has she gotten biiiig. My mom always says "That's not the same fish!!" lol. She's staying consistently lighter now. Poor thing is getting bored in the small tank I think. Which brings me to the 10 gallon...

...UGGGGGGHHHHHHH. I gave up on it. I bought some Flora-Max substrate, rinsed it for a good hour until it was pretty much running clear, put it in the tank, set up all my plants, the decor, filter, was quite proud of myself at how it came out, then it all went down hill, slowly poured in the water and first my hair grass popped up and no matter how hard or deep I tried planting it, it kept popping back up! Then the water just got dirtier and dirtier, but I figured if I put the filter on and let it settle over night when I woke up it would be better...nope...not even close. My divider came unglued too. Plus this filter vibrated the tank like an earthquake was going on. So I called the pet store and asked if I could return the stuff and they said no problem. So I packed everything up and brought it back (aside from the plants and substrate, I'm determined to make that work). I had too many problems come up with that, I feel it just isn't ment to be. So with Petco's 30% off sale, I ordered Skully a large Critter Keeper too and he'll reside in that, just need to figure out where to put it. I'd really love to get one of those tall cubicle type bookshelves and just stack them up, but I'm not sure if they can withhold the weight. I tried looking on the box but there's no like "this will hold blah blah maximum weight" on there. Mysti will be getting a 5.5 to herself. I love, love, love the decoration I had gotten for her side of the 10 gallon and I refuse to give that and the plants up completely, but at least this is a smaller scale if things go screwy, I'm not dumping out 10 gallons of wasted water each time. 

Skully has recovered nicely from his boo-boo. It doubled in size but I just kept up with the water changes and within a day it went from red/bloody to brown to now having white edges where it looks like regrowth will start. yay! 

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Ramses. His fins look terrible. I'm trying to give it a little more time without medicine, but I think I might have to resort to that if he doesn't show improvement soon. I'd like to let things take their course and heal naturally, but I also don't want the rot going too far up his fins. I might try changing his water 100% everyday for the next few days and see if I can really knock it out. So far it's been like 100% every other day. So could be my fault for not really attacking it. 

Koji is getting darker and his eyes are changing color. He's become so calm, I really think it's due to him liking his setup now. He still explores all day, but he doesn't surf the edges anymore. He just slowly swims around the ruins, through the plants, in through his floater, flares at Harley then goes back around. 

Harley, oooo he's being a fussy boy lately. Lil' stinker has taken to spitting out his food then looking at me like "MORE!" so I point to the bottom of his tank and tell him "there are starving fishies in Petco that would not waste the food they are given!" then I usually give him just two more pellets and he eats them. Think he sometimes needs to be reminded of that.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well, Skully's new Critter Keeper arrived today. Set it up for him this morning and with his tail nicely healing in he went. He's been swimming around all day, I think he was happy to have the expanded space...

...and I hate to write it but I'm worrying and need to 'vent'. I looked over about 10 minutes ago and noticed that he can't stay upright. Poor guy keeps struggling to not flip over or be on his side. I gave him a bloodworm earlier as a treat, I know they can have bloating effects, but it's never bothered him before. I just hope to goodness that I rinsed everything well enough before it went into the tank and nothing toxic was in there. I stress coated a gallon of water and poured some into a cup, floated it in the tank to keep warm and he's resting in there now. I put the cover of the Critter Keeper in there since he's flipped around so much I don't want him to toss himself out onto the floor. I hate not knowing what's wrong. Why can't animals talk!? Just when they're hurting so they can tell us how to fix it.  I feel terrible that I put him in the cup, my first thought is if he dies, he'll die in the place I tried to give him a life away from. But I don't know if it's something in the tank affecting him and with him struggling I don't want him to have to swim too far to get air. And I don't have any plain epsom on hand right now. If he's still alive and flipping, I'll get some in the morning. Until then I'm just sending all my good thoughts over towards his cup. <3 Good or bad, I'll update in the morning.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Got the 5.5 up and running! I've let it run for a day or two to make sure everything was settled and running and Mysti got plopped in today. I'll do a fish in cycle and just keep a close eye on the readings. I want her little 1.75 hotel for Skully's epsom treatments. She seems to be having fun, kept purposely swimming into the current though and it was knocking her about a bit more than *I* would like, so I took a red solo cup and some mesh and made a baffle so the current shoots to the left along the edge of the tank. I like the solo cups better than the water bottle method cause they're a bit sturdier and hug the side more. Used pantyhose around the intake so it wont swallow her fins, and it doesn't seem to yoink her in when she swims by, so that's good. She's able to hold completely still and relax in quite a few spots, which is also good, wanted to make sure the current didn't force her to constantly struggle to move around. So, she's just exploring like crazy, doesn't quite know what to make of the log, she keeps going to the edge, looki....OMG SHE JUST WENT IN!!!! haha. Sorry, I've been waiting for her to finally go IN, she just keeps resting at the edge, looking in and turning around like "NOPE nuh uh, it's dark in there!"

Anyhoo, I got the Flora-Max substrate to stop being a dirty mess and I went to Petco and grabbed some anubias, wisteria, some cute little oval leaf plant, something else I forgot the name of and some hair grass, which I've figured out how to keep down! Yay! Plants are looking a little worse for the wear, they were out of water for a bit while I was setting things up and I'm not sure if the plant in the right back corner will make it. But that's okay, it's the initial setup, I'm sure I'll replace, move and add more in the future...plus there's a reeeeaaaaaaally cute guy in aquatics at Petco, trust me, I do NOT mind going back there. I mean, you know, I totally need more plants, maybe a snail or shrimp, uhm, more ferts...aaand now I sound like a stalker.  

My mother and I are having a debate on what the log in my tank looks like, she says alligator I say turtle...more I look at it, I think she's right, but I won't admit it!  

Skully is still floating on his side, but he's got fight so I'm hopeful he'll pull through. Started epsom yesterday - 1tsp per gallon to start, dissolved and slowly acclimated into the water. He's resting in it today, tomorrow I'll do 100% water change and re-add more salts. 

Initial set-up


Mysti explores her new home


Hello and welcome to my house


Checking out the heater area


Examining the heater and wisteria


Cool triangle irid


Nice updated body shots



Peek-a-boo!


Chubbykins <3


Look! I'm a log too!


You don't gotta go home, but you can't stay here! Byyyyeee!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

It's with a heavy heart that I type this, but I just went to check on Skully and he's no longer with us. At least I know if he was hurting, that he's found comfort as he swam to the big fishy pond in the sky. SIP Skully. <3

The day I brought him home


Color Progression 1


Color Progression 2


Gruuuummmpy facing


His favorite place


Skully meets Mysti <3


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

Oh I'm so sorry to hear about Skully  He was beautiful and I know you did everything you could for him! He was so lucky to be with you  SIP little guy. You'll be missed.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I'm so sorry to hear about Skully S.I.P. he was such a handsome boy and full of personality!

Glad Mysti likes her new tank though!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

:-( Sorry to hear about Skully, that's really sad :-( his progression was amazing though, it's always just simply fascinating watching a Betta change colors!

What a neat little triangle on Mysti! I thought it was a glare at first until you got the other pictures with the triangle irid! Interesting and very unique!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you Rosencrantz32 & BettaLover1313

Mysti is certainly enjoying her tank, I've yet to tell her that Skully passed on, but it's like she knows, she swims over to the side where his tank was and looks around. 

...although right now she's very, very intrigued by a piece of gravel, she's straight up and down with her nose on it, staring at it awe.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks lilnaugrim. It is very interesting to see, he really got soooo much darker, even started to pick up a blueish scaling over the black the past week or so from what I noticed. 

Yea, I thought it was too, but then the other pics confirmed it. It's like she gave herself her own little tattoo. haha.


----------



## Chachi (Sep 22, 2013)

Sorry for your loss!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you Chachi


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Aww, I'm sorry about Skully. He was so pretty! He had a good life with you with lots of love and tlc.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you dramaqueen. 
I do appreciate everyone's kind words.

On a lighter note, doing Skully's little progression pics made me want to do one for Koji, since really, if I didn't know for a fact that no one switched him out, I wouldn't believe it's the same fish.

Day I brought him home




roughly a week later


roughly one month 


one month and a week 


roughly two months


today


(click for video)


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

So sorry about Skully  But wow what a change in Koji! Totally different. He's very handsome.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Wow! That is quite a change in Koji, but it's good to see him looking so good!


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

What s change and what a gorgeous fish!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

He certainly did change, I had bought him because I liked the white scaling, light blue and copper for his colors, had no idea he would end up so deeply colored but I love him, I think he turned out very interesting.

And here are a few pics of Mysti today, she's decided she would like to be dark again, I think even more so than last time








Poor Ramses with his tattered fins, we're still fighting it, but after having Zen pass away a few days after AQ salt treatments on his fin rot and now Skully passes after I try epsom for his bloat, I swear I am never putting another fish in any other "salt" product ever again. If it gets to where I NEED to, I will try a fish safe medicine, but right now, still just fighting with water changes, warmth and IAL.


And a couple of Harley


----------



## madyjane (Aug 10, 2013)

sorry to hear about skully he was my fave because he looks like he belongs in the band kiss cause it looks like he's wearing black lipstick


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

lol.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

thank you madyjane and yea, I guess he did, lol. I always sorta considered him my little gothy boy. <3


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Just a note for myself, because I know once I throw the packaging away I will stop and think "huh...now what was the name of that plant again!?" Just bought a Topfin prepackaged Telanthera Cardinalis plant today. I'll probably end up killing it, but it was too pretty to pass up. ^_^ Also, picked up a bottle of SeaChem Flourish. I have root tabs, but this seems easier then sticking my hand in the tank all the time and stirring up the substrate.

Also exchanged my filter for a new one since the one I had DIED ALREADY. Seriously, less than a week and it pooped out. When it comes to filters, I have the worst luck ever. I just changed out the filter because there was no way I was going to tear down the entire tank since it came in a "kit" and I kept the filter media too, since it's already got 5 days worth of 'cycling'. 

One of the Petsmart employees brought a gerbil to the front with a 'free to good' home sign. Apparently he'd been there a while so they wanted him to get a home. I was so tempted to rescue the little cutie, but my mother is deathly afraid of anything "mouse like" I hope he finds a home soon!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Sooo, I made a big mess today. Wanted to add the new plant I bought yesterday in the tank, and ended up moving everything around and stirring up the substrate so bad my tank got super cloudy. Ugh. It's finally starting to settle for the most part. I finally gave in and added some of the clarifier it came with. Had taken Mysti out of the tank while all that was going on and let it run on high for a half hour before I let her back in. Twisted her log around and she's using it more, yay. Picked up a two pack of 6500k daylight bulbs so hopefully they help. Oh! I also put a root tab under each plant. Noticed that two of the stems of wisteria were dead. Bleh. REALLY hoping that my new plant, which I've forgotten the name of as I knew I would, survives. It's so pretty. Oh, lol, I also had to add a bit more substrate as my dwarf hair grass got loose again and tried to float away. 

It's a start


You can see her struggle a bit with the current, I moved the cup a little since the water is cloudy I wanted it to filter a bit more tonight. I'll move it back tomorrow. 
(click for video)


----------



## Catladywithafish (Oct 2, 2013)

How is the fry doing, I also got fry from Petco. One has been home 4 weeks and the other two a week. What color did your guy become, and ideal on the sex. Sorry for your loss on the big one. It never easy. Ok, I see the photos,


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

The fry turned into the female posted in the video above. She's doing very well


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti is just too cute!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you BettaLover1313 


I went and purchased two little ghost shrimp today. Cute guy was at Petco again. Ugh. Seriously, he's so adorable. Anyway, Mysti and them have been playing hide and seek all day long. One of them (Batman) jumps off things and quickly descends into the depths of a hideaway spot, the other (Joker) likes to hide where Mysti can't see him then lunge out at her, taunt then jump outta reach. She's been patrolling the tank like crazy since I put them in there, hope they all get used to each other in a day or two. There's plenty of hiding spots, but I noticed they like the back corners so I bought a teeny tiny terracotta pot and made a shrimp only hideout so at least they will have one no fishy spot.  Fed Mysti a little extra tonight so hopefully there's no all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet.

Water is still super cloudy so I also snagged a gravel vac tonight and I'm going to suck the gravel and all the dust off the plants and maybe reduce the water by about half...*sees a shrimp dart across the tank out the corner of my eye, followed by a too slow fishy*...tomorrow and see if it clears up a bit. 

Plants feel good. Gave them a little tug while I was putting the pot in and nothing felt melty or broke in my hand, so that's a plus. Guess the tabs/ferts/light are helping. ^_^

Tomorrow is tank cleaning day for the boys, so if I think of it, I'll take a few piccies and update on them.

Mysti: *swim, swim, swim* la de da
(Maniacal shrimp laughter in the background)
Mysti: *Stops*  what the heck was that....

Can you spot Joker?


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha, I found him ^_^

She's so cute ^_^ yeah, hopefully the buffet will be closed as long as they're in there ;-) I find though they don't go after ghost shrimp as much as like RCS or the smaller shrimp, Ghosties are small compared to like Amano's but they're also very good at hiding :-D so hopefully they can stay out of Mysti's way! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

They really are good at hiding! :lol: At least one made it through the night, I see him wedged in a spot partially under the log...and apparently Mysti sees him too. She just stopped to look at him and he jumped out and *poof* gone again. Not sure where the other one is. But, at least it gives her something to do.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Guess I spoke too soon. She just killed one of them -_-


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Aww well darn :-/ guess it's good they're less than half a dollar, but still sucks.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Been a while, again.

Mysti is a certified killer. She killed the second shrimp while I went to shower, right after I had decided he would get a new home in the morning since she seemed to be getting more aggressive towards him. I figured he was hiding in his pot and would stay there until morning. Guess I thought wrong. She's such a stinker, when I came back in, she picked him up and started throwing him around like "LOOK MOM! LOOK WHAT I DID!" -.- B-R-A-T. So now what? I'm thinking maybe a snail...at least those can retreat into their shell, and I'll perhaps go for a larger one. 

I ended up killing the "pretty plant". Don't know why, but it just turned to mush. The other three plants are doing well, one of them has already sprouted twice. But they are covered in a brownish algae? It comes off when I wipe it, which I've been trying to do while sucking things up with the gravel vac...but it'd be nice if I could get something living in there to eat what I miss, like a snail. 

Mysti is doing good otherwise. She's gotten SO big. Her knew favorite thing is to wedge herself at the top of the heater and let the baffled filter water run over her. Strange lil thing. 

Harley is still being fussy with his food. I have to feed him one pellet at a time otherwise he puts them in his mouth and spits them out one by one. 

Koji has gotten even darker. I thought something was wrong with his mouth at first, but it's just that it is completely black now. 

Ramses is finally starting to get better I think. I'd been tannin soaking him, cleaning his tank, etc etc and his tail got worse and worse, so I finally pieced together that his tail seemed to take a dive for the worse after I got him that new plant, took it out two or three days ago and it seems that his tail has stopped shredding. So hopefully it was just that. It was a silk plant, but the little nubs holding the leaves together were a little hard, not sharp, just hard. So I stuck it in Koji's tank after boiling it (just incase). He doesn't lounge in it like Ramses did, it's just a good divider between their tanks. 

Relaxing


Exploring


Now the other side


Full speed ahead


Guarding the log


Darkened


Down we go


Getting better


Anti-social


Go away


She gets me out of bed, so she can do this


Freshly bathed


Gave Bailey a bath yesterday and she had, had enough of laying on the bathroom floor while I dried her, so I plopped her on her pillow throne so she could look out the window. She was being all cute so - a little video of me drying her. She LOVES the hair dryer. She will actually fuss if I'm drying my hair and don't give her a little bit of time with it sometimes. I was trying hard not to get her ear/face too much, but you can see her rub her face cause it tickled. And yes, that's her "What!? No more?!" face at the end. :lol:
(click for video)


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

Omg mystery has grown into a beautiful betta, she looks amazinggg!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you, Viva


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

A certified killer, now she's REALLY a girl after little Tails' heart! (He STILL doesn't have a name so he may be stuck with Tails, as I called him that as a baby before I knew gender, personality, etc). Tails has also had some fun with shrimp. He ate the eyes off of a cherry shrimp a few weeks ago... And then once the poor thing died he had tons of fun playing with the body after stealing it from a snacking Mystery Snail. Much to my dismay of course. I am DETERMINED to make him behave darn it, I want my shrimp! 
Your boys are very handsome too. I really wish I had the space for more tanks and more prettttyyyy fish!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Mysti is just adorable! Love the video of your dog! That was way too cute!


----------



## erinbirdsong (Jan 16, 2013)

Ok so I just sat here instead of working and read all 29 pages of your thread... Your captions and pics are hilarious. You have some beautiful bettas. You are an awesome fish mommy and your doggy is precious. Now I better go get some work done before I get in trouble...


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Quinn - OMG. At least we know what their first date would be. Shrimp huntin', lol. She did the same thing, she was throwing the dead shrimp's body around like a toy. I let her eat a little bit then I took him out. So at least he became a bit of food and didn't just die so she could have fun. :| I like the name Tails. He looks sorta punk rockery to me with his colors and finnage. So Tails sounds like a stage/nick-name sorta thing. :-D

BettaLover1313 - Thank you :lol: Bailey just loves to get fussed over. I'm a little OCD about being clean so she knows what "Lets wipe your bum bum" means and goes and runs to sit by the potty to get cleaned. "Lets sit under the dryer!" and she runs and waits then jumps in my lap on the floor. She knows "bath time!" too and if I say "shower time" she grabs a cookie and lays in front of the shower and waits for me. It's adorable. :lol:

erinbirdsong - Wow! You deserve a cookie or something for reading all of that!! Thank you so much for your compliments and kind words! :-D!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Is this time change killing anyone else? I know it's only an hour difference but man, it's thrown me completely off. 

Got all the boy's water changed today. I've decided that when all the holiday sales start, I'm going to purchase them a 15 long tank if I can get one on sale. They've all been living next to each other for a while now and the flaring isn't bad at all. I think we will all be happier in the long run. Poor guys get taken out of their tanks twice a week. I'm planning on redoing my bedroom and I think a nice 15 gal and a pretty stand will look great right under my window. So for now, that's the plan. 

Tomorrow's plan is to go to Petco and pick up a few more plants for Mysti's tank and a snail or two, if they have any black ones. I was there on, hm, Saturday? And all the snails in the tank were dead but one, I bought it since I felt bad he had to live in a tank of all his dead family...but he never came out of his shell, so I took him back. They said they'd get a new shipment in on Wednesday. I've got a slight bloom of green and brown algae going on. I try to scrape it off the plants with my fingers when I vac, but it comes back reasonably fast. But Mysti totally beat on the snail's shell so I will need to beef up the plants and hiding spots for them. 

Harley is fine. 

Koji's eyes are starting to color over even more. One of them has a thick piece of scale even. But he's getting around still, so I assume there's no problem with sight. 

Ramses...my problem child. His fins seem to be doing alright, but now his back is torn up? Where his dorsal meets his back the scales are raised like he rubbed against something. There's also a lump on his back. So I'll be keeping an eye on those things now. His scales also seem to be getting thicker? If that's possible. Posting pics down below. 

MY cave, no stinky boys allowed!


Hmm...what's in here...


and what's over here...


Greeeen


RAWR! I don't like you mirror image!


Contortionist!


Buuuurp.


Help! Help! My fins are outta control!


I uh, I ment to do that..


TRALALALLAALALAA!!!!


Oh please lady, don't even look at me like that, I see you dancing around all crazy too. DO NOT JUDGE ME!


Oye. That boy's crazy.


Don't look at me like you're expecting ME to do something crazy.


I SAID IM NOT DOING ANYTHING CRAZY


And the boo-boo pic.  


Growth!!


and now I shall go face-plant into my bed! z.z


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I've been doing reasonably well with the time change actually, this one is so much easier than the one in spring!

OMG, I love love love the picture of Harley dancing! TRALALAL! lol and the pic of Ramses yelling ;-) too cute! Poor baby though, any decorations he could scrape it on? If so, take it out for now to see if he heals up.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

LOL, thanks! I died when I saw the TRALALA one. That moment when you go through the hundred of pics you've snapped and one just jumps out and you have that "yeees!" moment. 

As for Ramses, he has that egyptian vase in his tank, but he rarely goes in it, he likes to hide behind and swim through the handle of it. I think he's scraping himself on the heater holder things. I always catch him swimming through the back of the heater, and wedging himself between the little arm things that stick out of the suction cups and grab the heater. I tried putting the suction cups father apart so there's more room for him to get by. See if that helps any. If not, I may just stick it in the gravel. :|


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh yes! I know those moments all too well! Love them still though ^_^

Yeah, I have the vase thing too but could be anything really. I would try to stick it in the gravel or something, or put them so close he can't possibly get through maybe.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yea, or maybe I'll just use one suction thingie. Ha. I JUST thought about that. *face palms*

Anyhoos! We have two new family members! I bought the two more active snails in the tank. Well, there was one that was really active but it was the size of a golfball! Seriously it was HUGE! I wanted to get it, but I thought it was probably too big for the 5.5. But, I got them home and plopped them in a cup of Mysti's tank water. There was a dead fish in the tank they were in, granted the rest of the fish were healthy looking, I still want to quarantine/rinse them off for a bit. I dropped a few pellets in the water and one of the snails climbed right down and started nomming on them! So cute! The other one is just floating in the water. I hope he decides to stop floating and move around. 

Click for video:


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well the other little guy/gal woke up and suctioned his/herself to the glass. Yay! They're so cute I can't wait to release them into the tank and take some real pictures. I picked up a few more plants today as well to give them more cover. I'll do all that tomorrow. Give Mysti's house a good vac and rearrange some of the plants. 

They're allliiiiiive!
*


*


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Snails! Yay!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yes  And hopefully she does not eat-terrorize-use as a chew toy/frisbee these like she did the shrimps >.<


----------



## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

LOL "Help my fins are out of control!" I can imagine ALL "finny" bettas thinking that, especially when they get caught in the water current LOL!!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

LOL, I know. Some of them have such massive finnage. I know what they feel like, me in a wind storm before I chopped my hair. :lol:

The snails are both alive! But not before a scare this morning. Neither of them had moved the entire night, so I cupped them and within seconds they were crawling up the walls. So, I let them be while I planted and cleaned the tank. Placed Meep (The bigger one) on the log and Blip decided to just float around since he couldn't get a foot suctioned to the wall. Poor lil guy, I shall refer to them as boys since I dunno the gender even though they have neutral names. So I placed an IAL leaf under him and omg he was crawling aaallll over it. That is until Mysti took a go at him. Then she had a go at Meep. He was finally cleaning off my plant and all the sudden I see him go sailing across the tank. Not sure if he jumped or if she knocked into him with her tail. I think she may have given them a tentacle trim or two too. But they're still moving around. Blip has taken to hiding on top of the IAL just out of her reach. Meep is hiding in the log, which I feared may get him beaten more, but surprisingly she's left him be aside from looking. She's actually been going around the tank, stopping to check on Blip then going over to check on Meep. Maybe she's taking a liking to them? *crosses fingers*

Nom nom


more nom nom


oooo missed a spot


and over here


and another


HELLOOOOOOOO


Uhm, am I doing this right? *looks at everyone upside down*


Now where did that little purple thing go...


shhhh...*makes like a moss ball*


nom nom nom gravel nom nom nom


Why yes, yes I do - do windows!


FOUND YOU!


But you didn't find meeee! muahahaha


Okay! My turn to hide! 


Mysti, we can still see you...

Okay how about here!?


Nope...still sticking out..

Meep: Come over here! I shall teach you the ways. 
Mysti: Oh..okay!



Meep: Okay, now back in and make like a rock!


But...I'm not rock like...am I plant like!?


Yeaaa...no...sorry Mysti...

I kinda fail at this.


Whatever! I'm just too pretty to be hidden!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OMG, ALL the captions! I love them! I lol'd the entire time! How adorable!!!! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Glad you enjoyed them !!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Well, Mysti is still biting the snails...she just knocked one over as I type this. I feel really bad that she's just so mean to everyone. However, they are still super active and just keep going about what they are doing despite the fact they may be blind now? At least she doesn't constantly attack them like she did the shrimp. Sometimes she just sits with them, other times she attacks. Moody! I'm just torn if I should leave them or not. They're doing such a good job of cleaning stuff >.<. But I will be super mad at Mysti if she kills them, bad enough she bit off their antennea thingies. :| 

Found them cuddled up this morning


Moment of comradery 


Did someone call a cleaning service?


You're still doing it wrong, Mysti.


I don't do mornings.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh lol, your dog is adorbs!

I'm glad the snails are still alive, maybe I should try some Mystery snails since my Betta's kill off every other type of snail I get...maybe they just aren't big enough to scare them away >.> I really like how purple yours looks though! And love the picture of them cuddling and then Mysti with her head in the grass haha.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

lol, thank you, she's my lil' baby. 

They aren't big enough to scare her, although they had a golf ball sized one there that might have been, she's actually sent them flying a few times, but they seem to be hardy enough to withstand her attacks, for now. I got them at Petco, they're under the Black Mystery snail tag. I wanted to get a few from there first to see how they would hold up. I really would love to have a whole snail army. I'm glad I got two though, I've seen them "snuggling" a few times. <3


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Love the cuddly snails not to mention how cute your dog looks! Hopefully Mysti will start leaving the snails alone.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I love that last pic of your fish and snail. Your dog is cute, too.


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Oh no, poor snailies! Bauer (he finally has a name) is totally fine with his Mysteries thankfully, even the smaller ones I have (they were maybe the size of big marbles when I got them) he hasn't bothered, but it did all start with a fair sized one when he was smaller. He maybe once nibbled an antennae but I'd be SO MAD if he really pestered them. He sometimes has his wiggly flare dance when they are at the water line near his special corner and goes and builds on his bubble nest.
Hopefully she will find that bothering them never really pays off and gives up. She's a tough little nugget!
I just love the Mystery snails so much. Aren't they adorable when they sleep all tucked in <3
Love your dogs funny face too


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you everyone :lol:

So far she's been leaving the snails alone lately, she swims up, does the little motion she used to make right before attacking but instead just sorta stares at them then looks at what they are eating and tries to eat it too. So that's okay! I've been feeding her an extra meal everyday in hopes that if she's a bit more full, she won't want any escargo.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Where to start...

Mysti and the snails seem to finally be okay with each other. She's still curious but hasn't been nipping much if at all. SO YAY!! Her and Meep are actually sharing her log right now. She's coloring up again with her grizzle and becoming quite the chubbykins, lol. But I notice that if I feed her slightly more, it's when her coloring starts to change. *shrugs* Not sure if that's something that can happen or just coincidence. 

Got the snails a little cuttle bone, found Blip hanging out on it within minutes of sticking it in the tank. ! hoping it helps with their cracked shells. I really love my little snails. 

I think I've changed my mind about the split tank for the boys and might go with the 6.6 gallon I've noticed being talked about on here for just Koji. I think Ramses is developing a tumor, that bump I talked about last time is getting bigger and it's got a sort of white head to it now. I could be wrong, but comparing it to pics on Google, that's what I'm guessing. So, I don't want to stick him in the tank with the boys. Harley's pretty content in his Critter Keeper and so doing just the two changes if I can get Koji in a cycled tank, won't be so bad at all. Plus, maybe I can get him a pair of snails too, if he's nice to them. 

I do however need to clean out the 5.5 tomorrow. Gonna try scrubbing off some of the brown stuff on the plants, plus there's a few melted/dead leaves on the new stuff I need to take out. The snails have knocked a few plants out of the gravel so I'll have to shove them down deeper when I rearrange. 

Pics!
Maybe if I clean the space, she'll let me stay...


Inspection!


Okay, you did a good job, you're hired!


Blip likes the grass


Grumpy face


Grumpier face


Grizzling


Frollicing through the grass


Blip


Meep


Mysti


Happy lil family...now


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Changed my mind yet again, lol. I finally just pulled the trigger and bought a 10 gallon with hood from Petsmart. Of course after I got it all set up and put the boys in, I realize the hood opening is on the opposite side. UGH. I'll have my dad cut a slot in the middle since switching the filter won't work for water flow. 

Anyhoos, the boys are settling in very nicely. Harley has discovered if he lays between the heater and mesh wall, the filter water flows over and it's probably the fishy equivalence of a hot tub. Koji likes swimming under the filter current, and neither seems bothered by the flow at all, yay! I'm not happy with the decor of the tank, but for now, I'm just happy to get them cycling and into something I don't have to lug all the way to the bathroom to clean 2-3 times a week. 

Ramses is staying in his little 3 gallon. His lump is getting bigger and his fin rot seems back in full force. I'm probably gonna post pics over in the disease forum to see if there's any opinions on what exactly I can do to help him, if anything. I actually had a dream about him last night being very sick and deformed. The dream was quite graphic and I was disturbed when I woke up. :-? So yea, dunno about the lump. 

Lighter note! Lighter note! Mysti and the snails are all happy. She leaves them be aside from trying to look under their shells when they are sleeping. It's cute, like she's confused as to where they went. However, I think Blip likes Water Wisteria, I see the new growth areas are chewed up. I bought them some algae wafers in case maybe it's because they were hungry. I mean, I don't really care if they wanna munch on it a little bit, it grows pretty well. And I know it's Blip cause that's his/her favorite place to hide out. 

Nice no flash shot


Love how dark the backside is getting


Oooo what's in this cave!?


Meh nothing in here but an algae wafer...and I already decided I don't wanna eat those.


Fishy spa


Koji is better at hide-n-seek than Mysti, shh, don't tell her


I heeeeeard that



Just thought this looked artsy/cool


Guess he/she's looking for some warm food?


Hey...hey...is this new?!


Harley & Koji's (Setup One)


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Oh geez, guess it's been a while since I've updated this. Oopsies. :|

Mysti and her snails are co-existing very well these days. They have their little antenna back. I think they've actually grown alot, I have a pic of Meep down below showing the change in his shell. 

Mysti is continuing to get darker and more grizzled. I'm really happy she hasn't gone back into a "color loss" phase anymore. 

Harley and Koji are co-existing quite well and they don't mind their snail tank mates at all. Well...Harley got a little attitude with me when I first put the snail in the tank but once I explained that he could just consider the new addition his maid he sauntered off quite pleased.  So, after seeing that Harley and Koji could care less about snails, I purchased three more. Originally I was only going to buy two more, because they were cuddled in the corner of the tank at the store, but when the guy pulled them out, they were three, and I didn't want to separate them. Although they are in separate sections of the tank, if they wanted to, they could hop the divider. First one was so happy to have a friend, he/she suctioned him/herself to the new one almost right away as if hugging him/her like "FRIIIIIIIEND". :lol: 

Shell growth?


What's this...


...whatever it is...

I shall nom on it!


Leaf thief!


Pretty purple shell


Oh...'ello there


No no...now go away, I'm camera shy


Chilling by the plant...so I can eat it while you aren't looking


Seems to be his/her favorite place to be so far


Window licker


I find it interesting that the "Black Mystery Snails" have a variety of tones...as this one is quite brown compared to my first two


Nom nom mo-nom-ss...


ba-nom-ll


Nose dive into a PHOTO BOMB bwahaha


Little girl is growing up


Green/teal sheen


Spotty


He's silently judging you.


Aaand now he's quite openly judging. 


This is pretty much how all of Koji's pics come out these days...he used to be such a good little photo taker too. 


At least his scales look neat here


Woosh, swim by. Still so hard to believe he started out that meek little barely colored white and blue fishy.




---Whenever I finish typing up and previewing a post, I always look over my tanks to see if anyone is doing anything interesting to add in a final pic or two...tonight I believe I may have gotten an eyeful...the snail that was hugging the other like "friiiiiiiend" was in a quite more than friendly embrace just now. I might just possibly have some golden snail babies soon! This will be interesting...


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Awwww Mysti!!! So cute! Wow, Meep has some very healthy shell growth there! Kudos to you! :-D


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you!! I was quite excited when I noticed the growth. I had no idea snails grew that quickly. ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday and if you don't celebrate then I hope you at least took advantage of the sales they bring 

Mysti and her snail crew are doing great. The snails crack me up. It's like they have a "NO IT'S MINE" fight with the algae wafers. Last night Bleep wrapped himself around it and wouldn't let Meep have any so Meep crawled ontop of him like "SHAAAAAARE BROTHER". I eventually dropped in a second and Meep quickly claimed it. 

Been having a bit of an ammonia battle with the 10 gallon. I've been changing about 30% or so every other day to try and keep it down. I wanted to go get some live plants to help it out, but we've been promised about a foot of snow, so that will have to wait now. I've been carefully monitoring the boys for any sign of burns or what not, but so far, it seems okay. The snails are all very active as well. Infact, one of the snails in the 10 gallon jumped the fence the other day. Couldn't figure out where the heck it went. Until I finally realized there was a brown snail in two places at once. So I moved the two brown ones together and the two golden ones. So far everyone seems content where they've been placed. Harley even sleeps with his new little friend who is obsessed with crawling into the mesh hideaways. It's so cute! I love my well mannered boys, not even one bit of aggression towards their tank mates...and they are even cordial to each other...sorta. Koji likes to watch No climb around on the mesh divider and Harley will come and join, then he gets bored and saunters off with his sassy self. 

Ramses isn't fairing too well lately. I even went and bought him his very own 5.5 tank with daylight bulb and all that in hopes that the cycling, mixed with a bit of light and water changes would help me get it better under control. I was having a hard time keeping his critter keeper at an even temperature, now it's settled between 80-82. He's got some fin melting/holes, mixed with Lymphocystis mixed with this odd grey/blackening of his scales as of today. He's been very active and eats like a piggy, even enjoys playing in the current of the filter and going through the little mesh maze I have in there. But he's started hiding behind one of the ornaments all day. I posted over in the diseases forum, I just don't have a clue what's going on with him anymore. I feel terrible it's gotten this far now. 

Sorry for the pic spam, I got a new camera and phone for Christmas and my birthday and I've been trying out all sorts of options and what not for taking the photos. So enjoy! 

Hmm...excuse me, who are you?


Shluuuuurpy shlurp on the algae


Playing in the shadows


Psh, I ain't afraid of the dark...


*suctions mouth to glass and blows to make funny face*


'No' the golden snail


Mountain, er, filter climbing


I'm pretty sure this is 'Mo' the other golden snail


-____-


I'm king of the leaf!


At least she doesn't give up trying to learn to hide properly! 


Gruuuumpy face


Her tail fins remind me of peacock feathers


Look I'm so cute there should be two of me!


*le siiiigh* It's like I've got the world on my shoulders...or log on my fin in this case!


I just like the coloring the camera picked up on her 


Whatchu lookin' at foo


I SHALL PHOTO BOMB


Now, take a picture of MEEEE


Wait, wait, show off my kind gentle side as I talk to the other community members...


Ok, now FIERCE, GIMME FIERCE


Now shy...shy Koji show us that cute little pout


...hey...I can do shy too...


ehhh who am I kidding, I'm just FIERCE!


meh...boys...they're strange.


----------



## Phantom Miria (Mar 17, 2013)

Very nice betta's always a laugh reading the descriptions


----------



## KafkaDream (Dec 30, 2013)

NOOOOO!! I fear I have run out of pages to read!! I need updates! I sat and read all 32 pages tonight and am totally hooked on the shenanigans of Mysti and the snail crew and everyone else! It was truly amazing watching the little fry grow up; Now I want to scurry over to my nearest LFS and pick one up! (The petco closest to me has an abundance of baby bettas right now! Even one that looks just like Mysti did when she was a lil' whipper snapper.) Seeing all of your truly amazing and brightly colorful bettas has re sparked the urge to bring another one home! Or maybe another 3 or 8...you know how it goes. Now I just have to find the space....and money..


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, space is my issue lol

Looove the pics! And yeah, yay for impending blizzards >.< I hope the power doesn't go out like at blizzard nemo last year! Cheers to you and your fish, happy new years!


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Loved reading your latest post and seeing the wonderful pictures of Mysti & Co.


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

The boys are handsome and lovely as always, but that Mysti gal just tops in our books. And I totally can't get over how similar her and Bauer have ended up. They really were meant for each other!
The snail growth looks SO GOOD too, it really is amazing the conditions they must have grown up in. The improvement in their condition is just wow.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks Phantom glad you enjoy the captions 

Wow, Kafka, I'm flattered you'd take the time to read all 32 pages of my ramblings! lol! I'm happy that you found it all entertaining...and don't worry I plan to do more updates.  I hope you can adopt a betta, of any age, and bring home a new friend to care for. They really are such a joy. 

OMG, I know lilnaugrim! We had that huge blizzard, was it two Octobers ago now? We were without power for a week, lost all our food and so many of our plants/trees were knocked down. The funniest part? Literally as the storm started my friend from Texas landed and I was picking her up at the airport, we were standing infront of the baggage claim and she pointed towards the window and asked "What's that?" and I just stared in horror as I explained that it was the blizzard that wasn't supposed to come until 5PM that night. THAT was an interesting ride home. But we made it home safe, only to have the power go out a few hours later. I felt so bad her first trip here was in the dark, but she had a wonderful time getting to be cold and see the snow and eating a turkey dinner made all on the grill, haha 

Thank you, Bettalover !

Thanks Quinn! I was thinking that too, that they did grow up with similar colors. What a cute little couple they would be! haha. We always look at your pics of Bauer together since she's right next to my monitor. Thanks! I'm so happy that the snails are doing so well. I bought them all at PetCo and while I commend how clean they keep the tank there, I don't see how that can provide them the right amount of food or nutrients, they don't even stick them in with plants. When I bought Okie, Dokie and No they were all huddled and stuck together in the corner...I only wanted two but when he said there was a third I just figured, more the merrier! 

...yes my snails are named Meep, Bleep, No, Mo, Okie and Dokie

So first off I'm going to post a few fun pictures I took of Bailey playing in the snow. 

*gives the look* can't I just lay in the snow without you wanting to take my pic -_-


I don't think this is what they mean by "powder your face"


Come on, let's go explore!


I'm just as good as Mysti at hiding 




Now, I mentioned yesterday that Ramses has been doing poorly and I posted over in the Diseases forum but I think my post may get a little buried as I know there's a lot of posts over there. So I wanted to post the pics and info here incase anyone reading this has any opinions. They would be GREATLY appreciated. 

Ramses has always given me a problem with his fins, either curling or rotting or tearing them on plants, but as of the last few days they have completely melted and torn apart, especially as of this morning, they ripped right in half. He's got the Lymphocystis lump, that's been forming as of about a month and a half ago and part of it fell off yesterday after it turning partially black. But a few days ago I noticed him dulling in color and looking as if his scales were thickening and then all the sudden he looked as if he's matted and gray. I'll post pics below to better explain. So I'm guessing it's some form of bacteria? fungus? I just have no idea which medicine would be best to treat him with or if there's anything that can battle both the fin melt and the body problems at once? I just feel so bad for him. I did a 50% water change on his tank last night and I turned up the heat a little, he seems to move around more when it's on the warmer side. Past few days he's lived behind his decoration and all day today he's been in his hidey log hanging out, swam around a bit, he eats fine too. The PH is about 7-7.2 and his ammonia is still at 0, I've recently upgraded him to his own 5.5 which has helped TONS in keeping the water at a steadily warm temp. So yea, sorry for the rambling, if anyone has an suggestions that would be wonderful. Thank you in advance 

12-23-13


compared to 01-01-14


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I'm really sorry about Ramses, but that's not Lymphocystis but looks in fact more like a tumor, it's possible that it's benign but it will just keep on growing. Lympho will almost always be white or pinkish white as far as I know and usually doesn't grow out from the scales like that but on top of them or inside the fish usually in the gill area which can prevent them from breathing, eventually choking them. Tumors and cysts will grow anywhere, tumors I find grow more out from under the scales like that, might just be a coincidence but that's what I've noticed is all. There are no cures for any of these unfortunately, it could possibly fall off but it will just keep growing in that spot so it's your desicion to make. 

If you want more opinions, contact LittleBlueFishlet, Sakura8, logisticsguy and mattsbettas if you want, they all should be able to help you and you can refer them to your disease thread for ease.

Oh and that blizzard? Blizzard Nemo was last year, middle of January lol I remember because I only had Remmy for little over a month by that point and didn't want to lose them! I also only had a 10 gallon and a 2.5 gallon so it was a lot easier transporting and keeping fish alive lol Fun times though, yeah must have been great for your Texan friend! I know they get snow down there occasionally but to see a Blizzard? Fun fun! haha Your dog is absolutely darling by the way!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Ohhh, thank you for that bit of information! I was sure it was the Lympho just because everything I had read stated it was a white cauliflower like bump. But I was just going with what I could gather via Google, I in no way have any clue about any of these fishy diseases unfortunately. Like you said, it's not cureable, so I will just let that part run it's course. He's still eating and swimming, so I won't make that decision for him quite yet...and hopefully the lil bugger just goes when it's time and doesn't make me do that !! But thank you again for your response lilnaugrim  

I'm still quite curious about the body and fins deteriorating so quickly as well though. If the lump isn't benign would that maybe be the case? Just sorta throwing that question out there.

I don't remember a blizzard last year...but then again all the snow we all get up here just starts to blend together lol. I only remember the other one because it left such a mess! Snow is beautiful but boy-oh-boy can it be a pain in the rump! 

Bailey says thank you!


----------



## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

Huffle Puffles said:


> @Viva - Thank you. They do have quite the personalities for being such itty bitty lil' things!
> 
> 
> @BettaLover1313 - Thanks! I'm actually really glad I took a picture because today I took it all apart to clean it, and couldn't remember how I had everything. Tearing the moss ball apart and using it for liner was a baaaad idea, had floating particles EVERYWHERE -_-
> ...


If he is a she, you should name her Vanity. (You may already know the gender but I have only red to pg 3). Sooooo.... Back to reading


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It could be secondary bacterial infections. If you wanted, you could treat him with a broad spectrum antibacterial medication like KanaPlex, a combination of Maracyn I and II should work. For now, I would get him his own stuff though, nets if you use them, cups, siphons literally anything that comes in contact with his tank and him so that it possibly does not spread to your other fish. I would also sanitize everything with alcohol and bleach dips as well just to be certain. I would hate to see you have to go through what I did because of some stupid mistakes on my part.


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Oh man, I may have to post some pics I just took of my Great Dane playing in the snow this AM. We didn't get that much here IMO, but the city still made a big deal and closed all public schools and stuff, and the only few clients I had today canceled because of it, so I got a snow day too! 
Your puppers is adorable!
I was living in Boston in 2010-2011, I think we got blizzards/bad storms both years there. Actually I think we moved in November of 11 JUST before a bad blizzard hit Boston and mostly bypassed NYC, but I could be mistaken. I don't mind snow, but I HATE IT IN THE CITY! In cities it just turns into gross slush and inconvenience. Take me out to some nice country land and I'll play in it all day!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah 2010 was the 100 years flood and then Fall of 2011 was Hurricane Irene, August of 2011. I remember that because we couldn't have our first day of Band Camp so it was pushed back until Tuesday and we had a game the following weekend lol. And then Hurricane Sandy was Fall 2012, both were Category 3 hurricanes. And then Nor'easter Nemo was February (sorry, thought it was Jan., just looked it up though) 2013. I don't remember any other big Blizzards though, just Nemo, probably mostly because I found it ironic the first year they name a Blizzard and I have fish....and Nemo is a fish lol

But yeah I agree, country land isn't so bad because of the slush and stuff, I asbolutely hate slush. So I know I would never move into a city lol, partly because I don't know how to city drive, I could probably figure it out easy enough but I like my country roads! I even plowed through half the roads this morning just to make it to work! In my entire building we have about four people in, two are the Dean and his Secretary and then two people in labs....lol and then me. But yeah, I know how to drive in snow even with my balded front tire and light-as-all-heck GMC standard pick up truck! lol


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

BlueLacee - awww geez sometimes I forget just how little the baby used to be! She ended up turning out to be a she and her name is Mysti!  As of tomorrow she will of been with me 6 months!

Alright, I will definitely try those lilnaugrim, it can't hurt to at least try something. Poor lil man is already in such rough shape any improvement will be appreciated. And yes, I learned from reading your blog actually and sadly that it's important to be wary when there's unknown diseases floating around. I really do learn a lot from you  Ever since I noticed his lump forming and opening he's had his own stuff right down to the bucket I use to empty the cleaning water. He's actually a little more active today, he's exploring the other side of his tank right now.

OMG yes you do Quinn. I think dogs in the snow are just adorable. 

lol, that's funny about the Nemo blizzard. XD

Agreed...the snow usually turns to icky muddy muck stuff on the main roads around here, but then again out towards the country here you have to be careful since the snow melts and freezes quickly then you have lovely black ice all over. I sorta live halfway between city area and like farm towns. But either way, out in the country to just look out over the fields of just wide open white powdery spaces is quite beautiful. I just felt bad seeing all the poor cows outside in the freezing cold.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh good! I'm really happy that you've done that for him! Teaching others is what I strive for so I'm happy you did learn something!!! I hope he continues to feel better regardless though ^_^


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Oh my goodness, what a morning I had yesterday. For some odd reason I went into my bathroom and looked out the window into the backyard, to my surprise there was a large tan dog roaming around that I didn't recognize. It being as cold as it is, I quickly threw on my jacket and stumbled out there in my pajamas with a phone and handful of cookies hoping it would be a quick check of the tags and a call to alert the owner. My guess was the dog was some sort of Lab/Pit mix and as I'm not really afraid of any animals, I still know that you need to be wary when approaching an unknown one, so I made a soft sound to get his attention then threw down a cookie, well to my surprise he went into immediate "play" stance then charged at the cookie then around me and started jumping on me to lick the heck out of my face. So, I thought, alright, friendly dog! lol. Anyhoo, he only had a city license and a vet rabies tag and they were from two different towns about 45 minutes away! Seeing the distance and not knowing how long he'd been out in the cold I wisked him into my garage and threw a few blankets down for him to sit on as I cuddled him under my coat, well, tried to, he kept trying to eat my face and knocked me over a few times trying to cuddle ME. haha. Such a SWEET dog. Anyway, after calling the vet, then the city hall for that town, animal control, the vet again, and some wrong number (of a very rude man who hung up on me right away) city hall gave me that was apparently attached to his license number, I was able to make out the number on his rabies tag and called the vet again. They were super helpful and eventually I got the number and called his home. Turns out they just moved a few streets away from me and he had gotten free from his leash not too long before I had found him. So yea, he was quickly reunited. I did however alert them to the tag confusion and suggest getting him a "if lost, call this number" tag since I over heard the vet saying the dog had been lost once already last week. Took me almost two hours of calls to finally get in contact with them. I'm just happy he's in his toasty home tonight. My good deed for the day! 

What else, what else

The 5 gallon is covered in algae, green and this weird brown stuff growing in the filter. Feels really cool when I poke it ^_^. I need to take it all apart and give everything a good cleaning, but my desk has been so covered in beads all week, I make jewelry for work/fun sometimes, that I can't maneuver/clean the tank without getting fishy water all over. I feel like a neglectful fishy mommy...but everyone seems really happy. The snails are suuuuper active eating it AND my plants -_- and the ammonia/nitrates and nitrites all check out at 0ppm.So I guess it's just unpleasant to look at and that I can live with for now. 

The 10 gallon was still high with ammonia even with partial everyday water changes, so with the order of Ramses's medication I threw in a few bottles of Prime since I read that better conditions the water than just the API Stress Coat. I also purchased a few live plants for in there. Took apart the entire thing today and started from scratch. The snails have all been rehomed into Mysti's tank...more on that below. Hoping that without the addition of the snail wastes that the 10gallon will regulate a bit better. Used some of Mysti's tank water to try and get a bit of a jump on the cycle. We shall see!

Harley is having a bit of a struggle with his fins lately, it's almost like they've become a bit of a burden for him to carry. He'll swim for a bit then lay completely on his side with his fins just draped over whatever is closest. I think he's even started biting them more. I know the ammonia has been abnormally high in their tank for a few days, even with 50% water changes/gravel vac, so I'm hoping that if that's what's causing it, he'll quickly recover now that there's super clean water in there. I also turned the filter baffle more towards Koji so there's only a very slight trickle onto Harley's side for now. 

...Well then, he's still sassy at least! (just witnessed him saunter over to flare at Koji before laying in his tunnel).

Koji is having too much fun swimming all around, I barely see him, he's fascinated with the filter flow. He used to be so awesome at getting his picture taken and now, I'm lucky if I get one halfway unblurred one, haha. That's okay little buddy, you enjoy the space. However, I noticed he's got a bump/lump forming behind his dorsal. Greeeeeeat. I'm starting to wonder if the Dragonscales are known to be more susceptible to forming lumps.

Ramses is still deteriorating but in much better spirits. Most active he's been in days, he has barely sat still, swimming through the ruins, plants, up into his log, through the current and back for a short rest in the tunnel. I ordered him some Kanaplex online since when I went to Petsmart to ask for it the lady looked at me like I had two heads then proceeded to try to sell me a bunch of "fix" stuff. OH! I was super happy that the little golden betta that I had seen there since before Thanksgiving was finally gone. I'm hoping gone to a new home and not dead. I told myself this time if he was still there, he had, had enough and deserved a home, even if I got him and gave him to someone. Since really, these three tanks are enough for me. It's wonderful using a gravel vac and not having to lug a bunch of tanks to and from the bathroom all the time. 

Mysti's tail in normal light looks like she's got perfectly matching edges that are all black, then she'll flick a fin and it'll catch the light and shine a gorgeous cobalt blue. I love it. I'm so happy she turned out to have darker colors. It was my hopes when I had purchased her and she had the original little dark specks on her. She's become such a scavenger too. She doesn't leave one single pellet for the snails to find, lol. She's the best little gravel cleaner around! 

All 6 snails have found a home in the 5.5 with Mysti. Meep and Bleep have both taken to Okie and Dokie as they've been mating off and on for the past 4 hours. Still hope for little snail babies yet! The tank's water line is about 2 inches from the top, I was going to fill it back up, but after seeing that I've decided to leave it low, just in case the mama snails do indeed decide to lay some eggs. One of the golden snails is hiding in his shell, Mysti picked on him a little and he's just like "nope, forget that!". The other one pushed Meep out of the way and has claimed the corner by my swords...I think they are swords. 

lol, sorry for the massive rambles today

Ohhhhh how I love my leaf, I shall keeps him and name him squishy


*kisses for my squishy!* ....


...NHAARRMMM YOU TASTE GOOD SQUISHY


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol! Love the snail pics!

That doggie escaped to the right house at least lol, he sounds absolutely adorable :-D oh and the good bacteria doesn't reside in the water, not the kind you want so that won't do much to kick start the cycle. If you want to jumpstart it, you want use seeded material from a cycled filter or decor from a cycled tank.

Have you been substituting fresh veggies for your snails? That will help them not destroy your plants.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks  

He did, we actually get quite a few lost doggies that find their way into our yard. I've babysat a few until an owner could be found. It was funny I kept calling this one dog "puppy" and she would respond come to find out her name was "pandy" they say as long as a name sounds close that sometimes dogs will respond. I found that kinda interesting. 

Oh, yea, brain fart, now that you mention it, I do remember reading that. I'll maybe do some gravel with maybe a plant or two from her tank if that would work. The only decor I have from her is the big log in the middle unfortunately.

I haven't tried veggies yet, I feed them uhm, I can't see the bag from here, but some sorta algae wafers. They really love those. But now that there's 6 of them in there I'll have to try some cucumbers. 

haha side note, I looked over and two of the snails are playing "can't catch me again!" around the tank. Poor girl is just trying to eat and the boy keeps sneaking up on her like a shark in the water. XD


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, plants will work. With gravel you can put it in mesh bags or toes of pantyhose to make easy removal when comes time.

And yeah, algea wafers are okay but fresh veggies are the best. I don't eve blanch my cucumber, it goes straight in fresh. Also there is something called snail jello you can make. Look up 'snail jello for noons without great kitchen' and they've got some good instructions on how to make it.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

First off let me just say that the snails went crazy for the cucumber! Two of them were on it at once and they ate through the middle to eachother. They had their very own Lady & the Tramp moment. haha. 

Anyhoos, I got to have another day of bringing a dog back to it's house. However, I knew who this one belonged to...just no idea how she got outside. I saw the daughter-in-law drop her off and put her in their gated backyard...and then a few minutes later when I was leaving to my car she was running at me barking. So after having a wtf moment, since I saw the closed gate, I put her back in since no one seemed to be home. I was dily-dallying and she was standing in their yard again barking at me. So I called her over and went to investigate. Ugh. They had a few of their fence planks torn out on the other side of their yard. So THAT'S how she was getting out. My mom finally called the lady's cellphone and she said she'd be on her way home in a few. So I played with the dog for a bit. She's a boxer "puppy"...on her hind legs she's as tall as me and SO strong! My arms are actually sore tonight from play-wrestling with her, she was all muddy and I had on a brand new hoody so I kept holding her legs when she'd jump up so she wouldn't tear it either...however she did get a nice gash in on my tummy. Ouchies! But I know she didn't mean to hurt me, she just wanted to PLAY! Later in the day when I was having dinner my mom looked out the window and she was chasing some poor guy just going for a run, so I ran out there and as I was bringing her in they opened the door. I guess the little grandson had let her out. I hope they fix their fence soon. 

So I finally made it out and went to buy Bailey her birthday presents. I can not believe I have had her for 8 years already! I still remember the day I brought her home like it was yesterday. She got two bags of her favorite treats, two boxes of 'cookies' and a bag of chicken strips. Took her for a long walk and let her choose which way she wanted to go, she loves when she gets to do that. She had to come home and get a bath because it was super muddy out though, no fun for either of us. OH! I also bought her a laser pointer for pets...she will play with an empty soda bottle, my socks, my hair scrunchies and my EOS lip balm thingies, but not dog toys, so I figured she'll either go crazy to chase this or not care. She went crazy. She was jumping all around trying to pounce it. So adorable! Especially when I put it on her bed then made it disappear, she stuck her head under the pillows thinking it hid under them. Then tonight when I took her out in the dark I didn't realize just how far those things reach o___O like woah. I pointed it across the backyard and it hit all the way to my neighbors fence and she took off after it, I had a good laugh and she got some exercise, oh yes, this thing will come in handy!

As I type this, she knocked over my Walmart bag, pulled out the actual bag of treats and kicked it around so much that she was able to knock one out to eat. I tell ya, she gets smarter and smarter. Lil' stinker 

Okay, yes, ramblings

Today is the second day of Ramses's Kanaplex treatment. Hoping it helps. I took the filter cartridge out of his filter (since it has carbon and the directions said carbon removes the product) but left the spongey part in, without the filter flow the tanks get so cold. His tank is hanging out at about 83.8 and that's even under the window. Yay for stable heaters! Past few days he's been in his mesh tunnel rather than hiding behind the decor, so it's very nice to see him about. 

Harley is being more and more active, I guess it was being exposed to the high ammonia for too long. I'm just glad he's feeling better. I added a bit of Prime to their tank and one of Mysti's plants. Tomorrow I will do a little water change and check all the readings. 

It's cute, if I put my face towards the tank and make a kissy face Mysti bumps the glass like she's giving me a kissy back. I know she's just trying to bite my face but I can pretend! Mysti and her snails. Boy oh boy. She gets so curious about everything they eat. She actually takes a bite and usually doesn't like it so she'll spit it out and swim off all ticked. Hehe. I usually drop a pellet in there just so she can munch too. I used to do like 3-4 small meals a day, now I do 2 and then a few random pellets through out the day when I see her following the snails. I think that's really helped with her aggression towards them. I also picked up "Tank Nibblers" today while I was at Petco, geeeeez the snails really enjoyed those! There was like 3 or 4 of them clustered around it shlurping in the little bits. Meep seems to be eating really well, he's HUGE. When he is spread out on the glass he's way longer than Mysti. The golden snails don't seem to be growing as much as the "black" ones - I still don't know how they can call them black when they are purple or amber colored. Anyway! I've caught the snails mating quite a few times, but still no babies, that I can see. It's usually one of the purple with the really golden amber female. I would die of happiness if they came out -that- gold color with purple stripings. But tonight I saw Bleep and No (the really golden yellow) together. So that would be another color option. 

I cleaned the tank the other day, I got most of the algae off, yay! I can see in my tank now! 

Geez my last few posts have been sorta long, but I hope the picture portions make up for the ramblings. ^_^

Still trying to get used to my new camera!

Ah crud, there's that camera monster again...


I'm dippin' outta here


Taste-tester


Scoping out what's on the menu


Snail buffet line!


Meal for two


Someone wants to order take-out instead


Glamour shot ^_^


Snail photo bomber


Mysti & uhm...uhm...I think that's ah heck I have no idea at that angle


Checking out the camera monster


Lighting change


Okie ... or Dokie 


Glass cleaner, she's better than Windex 


Saaassy!


Just hanging out in his new mesh tunnel


Just spying on Harley hanging out in the mesh tunnel 


Wax on...


...Wax off


Curious




From today: 

Dinner meeting!



Trying to blend in


I'm an airplane, zoooooooom


By-golly I think she's finally got it! Good hiding place 




I think the birthday girl is pooped out


YAWN...clearly unimpressed with my picture taking skills


Good night everyone!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I love Bailey, she's so cute! Careful with the laser pointer, try not to use it too much because it's actually psycologically damaging to animals. The reason is because they can't catch their "prey" so it ends up discouraging them and making them depressed amoung other issues. It's fine to use in conjunction with other toys and stuff just not 24/7 is all!!

Glad your snails enjoyed the cucumber!! It's all my Oto's will eat lol, I tried giving them Romaine Lettuce since that's fine as well, they didn't give a care about it! I ran out of cucumber so I'll have to pick some more up today. Oh and they call them black because it's more about the color on their foot rather than the color of their shell. So Black refers to their actual body rather than the shell.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you!  Oh yes, I kinda figured not to use it too much and I did make it a "if you follow the red light trail, you find treats" game. I put a few little pieces around the room at one point and every few stops of the light I'd shine it near a piece so she could find something. But she's the type of dog to play with something for like a minute or two then she gets bored anyway, lol. Even as a puppy, I got so excited to get her I spent so much money on toys and she wouldn't even bother with them and then I'd find her tossing around my sock or scrunchy. Silly Bailey. Squeaker toys got the funniest reaction out of her though, she would just look at it like "What the heck is your problem dude?" ! But yea, no worries, I just wanted to give it a try and see if it would be something she'd be curious about. I do think it will be good to give her a run around the yard though, once in a while. I try to get her to run with or chase me but she's figured out that she can turn around halfway and head back to get me. Too smart I tell ya! I treat her like my kid, a very furry wet nosed kid .  

Seriously, they ate the entire piece! I had tried the lettuce and they didn't touch it, but the cucumber was a hit. 

Ohhhh, okay, I guess that makes sense about the color thing, although their feet seem more purple/gray/spotty, but okay okay I'll accept the name hahaha!


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, too cute! Yeah, that's a good idea about the treats though! I'll have to do that with my cats! :-D MC the big boy needs exercise anyway! haha.

Yeah, same, cucumbers are just more yummy I guess! And actually I agree too lol


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Love the pictures! Yay! Mysti finally found a good hiding spot!


----------



## konstargirl (Mar 9, 2010)

OMG! I loe the snail pictures and your little Mysti has grown so much. <3


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

One of the golden snails passed away. People weren't kidding when they said you can tell a snail is dead by the smell. I think that is the most horrific smell ever. I had taken the poor little thing out of the tank and brought it to the sink where I sniffed it and caught off guard by the smell I ended up dropping the shell into the sink where the snail remains sorta oozed out and down the drain. Spent about 15 minutes Lysoling, lemoning and hot watering the sink to get the smell to go away! lmao. And it's not like the snail was even dead for long. A day, two days tops. Just yucky!! And I feel terrible cause I didn't even get to give her/him a little moment/burial. :\ 

Ended up giving Mysti & the snails tank a quick vac and water change after that. 

Started Ramses on his second round of Kanaplex. I haven't noticed any change in his physical condition. But he's quite chipper. Even came out and danced for the camera a bit. He saw me taking pics of Koji and Harley and I think he wanted his time in the spot light. I won't post the pics since he's in rough shape, but I at least gave him the attention. <3

Lonely goldey now



Mysti: *nudges snail* say cheeeeese!
Snail: Algae wafeeeeers!
Me: eh good enough...*snaps pic* 


Wedged - I imagine this is what a sardine must feel like


Weeelllll this is awkward


Snail photo bomber in the back


Peek-a-boo, we found you!


Love how clear her eye is here


Flash colors


Natural colors


Koji likes to be a creeper peeper. He sits in the shadows and watches Harley through the divider. 


Harley playing in his new tunnel system


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah....snail stink is NOT a nice smell :-( It's not even a smell I'd wish upon my enemies if I had any! lol

Love Mysti, she looks like she's gain some more color as well as weight ;-) haha but shhhh, don't tell her I said that! too cute, I love the pics of her with her snails ^_^


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

So many cute pictures! Love seeing Harley in his tunnel system!


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

OMG the peek a boo pic in the log. Ahahahahaha! She looks like a lil blimpy! Toooo cute. And sorry bout your snaily. Ugh stink!


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thanks guys 

So I just went to tuck everyone in for bedtime (shut lights off, etc etc) and I was staring at Mysti and I noticed her side sorta looked funny and on closer inspection it looks to me like her scales are pine coning...what do you guys think? Her eyes even seem a little buggy. I dunno...I hope I'm being a worry-wart, but I don't think I am this time. :\


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh no, I'm so sorry, she is pineconing! Get her into Epsom Salt right away, 3 tsp/gal but acclimate her slowly of course. Also if you can put her in some KanaPlex as well that would be good since that helps if it's bacterial Dropsy but if it is Organ failure the only thing you can do is make her comfortable. I'm really sorry, I hope it's just something bacterial and not failure.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you lilnaugrim. As soon as I got home from work tonight I set up her old critter keeper with a heater and a floaty log, all fresh water with a bit of extra stress coat, a full dose of kanaplex and so far, 1/2 tsp of epsom. I haven't had good luck with using salts before with other fish, so I'm kind of uneasy about it, but I will do it. I'm hoping it's bacterial, really, really hoping and that it will go away. Either way, for as long as she's willing to fight it, I'm willing to keep medicating the little booger. 

My question is what do I do with the 5.5 she was in with the live plants, snails, etc. Do I need to rip it apart and bleach the tank and start over? 

I can just hear her down in the hospital tank going "DON'T LIKE THIS! WHERE ARE MY TOYS?! AND THOSE LITTLE CRAWLY SLIMEY THINGS I LIKE TO BITE!?"


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

No the 5.5 should be fine, I mean you can clean it if you want to. I'm not entirely sure about bacterial Dropsy and if it would stay in the tank or if it's something more like a one time thing. I would probably err on the side of caution though and do clean it, bleach it out, give the plants a bleach dip and put the snails elsewhere for that and then reset it up. An hour soak in bleach should be fine, I would get new filter media for the filter if you do decide to bleach it out.

How does she look tonight?


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Okay will do, I rather be on the safe side. I'll clean out the 5.5 tomorrow. Stop at the dollar store and buy buckets and cleaning cloths and bleach so I can just throw it all out when I'm done with it. I guess it will give me an excuse to finally throw my wisteria out. It's so snail bitten it's getting ugly, lol. Actually Meep is sitting on it eating all the new growth as we speak. Even with the addition of the cucumber and other stuff, it's still their fave. 

Anyway!

She looks the same as last night, she's still very active, she's playing dip and swim through with the thermometer cord right now. Like if I hadn't noticed the pine coning, I wouldn't think anything was wrong with her.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You should get some Rubbing Alcohol as well to help disinfect since it kills other things that bleach doesn't. It's pretty cheap at Wal-Mart, a dollar or two for a good sized container. I also got a spray bottle in the cleaning section so I could spray it rather than squirt it from the bottle, makes applying it easier is all. Just make sure you mark it as Alcohol if you do do it. I prefer the 91% but 70% will work just as well.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Yes, I always try to keep rubbing alcohol on hand. I actually wiped down the heater and her little tunnel with a good alcohol/HOOOOT water rinsing before putting it in her hospital tank, just cause, I dunno, didn't wanna bring too much from her tank over there. I want her to have a really good rest in some clean medicated water. I was just laying on the floor with her - she's on my floor by the heater because I'm having a very hard time getting her tank to stay warm without a filter circulating it. I've got the heater on about 86, saran wrap around the top, the cover on and a towel over it, with just the front vent area open for air flow. Figured since she can't be on the desk next to me, I'd go down there with her.  I'll update again tomorrow on how she's doing.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I do that with the 5.5 under the 33, I'll lay on my floor and watch whatever fish is in it, right now it's just Hawkeye.

Actually I found out with the Alcohol you're supposed to let it sit in the alcohol for roughly 20 minutes for it to effectively kill all the bacteria, it will still kill some but if say you're trying to get rid of Mycobacteria, bleach dip/bath for an hour at the least, I like 8 hours though and then 20 minutes with the alcohol. And then for Myco it should sit under the sun for about a month to really kill everything. But you're not dealing with Myco, figured you'd should know though ^_^


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Oh no! Not Mysti! I'm so sorry 
I definitely do see the pineconing, and her eyes look rather buggy in the first pic.
I'm not experienced enough with ailments (thankfully) to offer advice, but I certainly will keep my fingers crossed for her pulling through. Bauer's got his fins crossed, too, for his little love muffin.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Okay, that's all good to know, lilnaugrim! I went to dollar tree and grabbed buckets but passed on the bleach and alcohol since theirs seem to be very watered down. Tomorrow I'll go to the grocery store and get the stronger stuff.

Thank you Quinn  I told her that Bauer is routing for her speedy recovery, then I teased her that he called her his love muffin and she swam off like she was all "aw shucks!" embarrassed! 

Mysti is still in the hospital tank, we're working on 4tsp of epsom, two gallons of water, 1 full dose kanaplex for that and I'll slowly be adding the other 2tsp throughout tonight. I'm doing it 1/2 tsp every few hours. I let her sit today and partial tomorrow in there since the Kanaplex is still active today being the secondish day (I ended up putting her in the medicated tank sometime yesterday evening). Then tomorrow evening, I'll clean her out and do it again. I think that sounds about right?

She's still pine coned and sleeping next to her mesh tunnel under the lamp light. I've got my desk lamp on over her tank and it's at about 76.8 degrees. Not ideal at all, I know. If it wasn't for the snails not being able to have the epsom I'd put her back in the original tank since I can keep that at a steady 80+. Actually, tomorrow morning when I take her 5.5 apart, bleach it etc etc, I'll put just her and the meds in there with the filter running without media and then set up the snails in a critter keeper since they can stand the 'cooler' temps. Yea...that might work out well. I did buy a pack of new filter thingies  ya, I'm great with technical terms.

Speaking of snails, one of them is trying to climb into the filter. Silly thing keeps scratching her shell on the piece of water bottle plastic I use to buffer the filter. Kinda neat looking though, she's actually scratched a cross shape onto the middle of her shell. At least I can tell them all apart now. The rest of the snails are healthy and alive. I purchased a bottle of Dasani water for Bailey when I picked her up from the groomers (which will be the last time I ever try that. But that's a whole 'nother story.) and I realized it's got a great piece of plastic for the filter baffle, so going to give that a try. :-D

Harley and Koji are good. I need to clean their tank out but now I think I might go buy another gravel vac since I used the non-Ramses one with Mysti's tank.

Speaking of Ramses, I don't think he's getting much better. I've been dosing the second round of Kanaplex for the odd black stuff on his body and his tail. His lump on his head has actually gotten bigger. I thought it was getting better, it had turned black and fallen off reducing by like half the size. Tonight it looks like there's one growing on each side of the original. I might give it one more shot and tear his tank apart with Mysti's, bleach it all down and put him in there with nothing but a super soft silk plant and his mesh tunnels. Cause seriously even aside from the lumps his tail looks like a war zone. And in case it is actually an ornament doing it, I'm going to just rule that out. 

These fish are seriously going to give me gray hair! XD


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

How is Mysti doing today?
And Ramses?


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Mysti is still pine coned and not eating very well. She's had just a few bites of freeze dried bloodworms the past few days and everything else she snubs. Today I witnessed her going potty, I believe, and it was either blood or diarrhea but it was a lot and it left a trail on the bottom of her tank. Sorry if anyone finds that graphic. So, not sure what that means. She's just been resting in the corner of her tank by me with her head resting on top of her mesh log. I'm going to clean out her tank in a bit and probably lower her water level as I think she's starting to have a hard time swimming around. She'll zoom around then go right back to trying to lay on top of the mesh tunnel. Wish the report could of been more upbeat. 

Ramses is social, active and eats like an oinker still.  But, he's not better physically, not even a little. I don't get it. I've kept up with water changes, Kanaplex and his tank stays at a steady temperature. I removed all the decor from his tank aside from one silk plant and his mesh tunnels. I was really hoping to see some sorta fin growth by now. Only plus is I haven't seen it get any worse, at least there's that.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Mysti passed away sometime between last night and this morning. As sad as I am, I'm contented to know that she's no longer in discomfort. Pretty sure Skully was there to greet her in the great pond beyond. Maybe she can teach him how to play hide-n-seek. 

It was a great experience getting to raise this lil' munchkin. To anyone who has ever read, commented or helped us through our journey I'd like to say thank you. As this journal was meant to follow her story, even though her brothers and sister have snuck into it, I don't think I will be continuing their stories here. Since they're all what I consider "grown up" I think I will be starting a fresh journal for them. As this one began with Mysti, so shall it end. Swim in peace little one. <3

First day at her new home


A baby betta's first love...thermometer beads


Two Weeks


One Month


Mysti meets her brother


Two Months - doing her favorite thing - eating anything that moved 


Three Months


Four Months - Learning to play well with others


Five Months


Six Months


<3


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I am sorry to hear Huffle. I had hoped she would make it through but I know all too well the effects of Dropsy myself. I am glad though, that she is at peace as well. I look forward to your next journal to continue the stories of the others at least! Will you share the link here when it's up and running? I'm sure I could look for it, but I'm lazy ;-)

S.I.P. little girl! You'll be missed for sure.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you lilnaugrim  I had hoped so too, I gave it a good try and just hope that she was as comfortable as she could have been. 
Sure I will share the link once it's started.


----------



## Quinn (Apr 4, 2010)

Ohhhh </3 Swim free lil sassy lady! Bauer will always remember his female counterpart. 
She was lucky to have had such a great home.


----------



## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I'm very sorry to hear about Mysti, but you gave her a wonderful loving home filled with amazing siblings. S.I.P. Mysti.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you Quinn and BettaLover1313


----------



## cheekysquirrel (Jan 7, 2014)

I was reading through this journal yesterday. I'm so sorry to hear she passed, I was rooting for her to get better! :-( I'm sure she had a wonderful life, short though it was, and the two of you seemed to bring such joy to each other. Some people say that fish don't feel happiness as such, but they obviously never saw Mysti! Again, very sorry :-(


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you for the kind words cheekysquirrel.


----------



## Betta Nut (Dec 3, 2013)

I sat down this afternoon and started reading from page one to the end, and I am sad enough right now at the end to feel a little misty-eyed. You shared her personality with us all flawlessly and brought us laughter. She had a wonderful life with you that ended too soon, but yes, I am sure her and Skully are playing a gleeful game of hide and seek under the rainbow bridge as I type this. SIP, little one.


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Awwws, thank you very much for your nice comments and for taking the time to read the journal. I'm sorry it couldn't of had more light hearted ending though.


----------



## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

Oh no! I'm so sorry  I haven't been on in a while and as I was catching up on your journal I read your signature and saw that Mysti had passed  It made me so sad because I got my baby, Gaius, the day after you got her. She had an awesome life and I really enjoyed following all of her antics and your beautiful pictures. I look forward to your next journal!

Swim In Peace crazy Mysti girl! <3


----------



## Huffle Puffles (Jul 5, 2013)

Thank you Rosencrantz32. 

It really has touched my heart reading everyone's comments about her. Her passing hit me a lot harder than I thought it would - although I know it's better for her to be gone than to be suffering.

Anyways...as promised, a link to my new journal - http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=346793


----------



## sourjacks (Aug 20, 2013)

Aw man poor mysti and skully D: I just spent about an hour going through this post. Was trying to find safe plants and decor on here and somehow I got lead to this thread. So sad but you give all of your fishies so much love


----------

