# My hectic life



## itsuki (Jan 10, 2013)

i dont know if i would call it hectic, half the time its pretty boring. Well, as i was laying down on my bed thinking about all my fish stuff i realized that maybe my fish own me instead of the other way around. i say this because i recently got back into bettas, i owned them for a 1 or 2 as a teenager and somehow got the urge to get back into them 14 yrs later. i bought my 1st betta (Nemo, a veiltale) in jan. and loved it had fun taking care of it so i figured i'd buy another and found out as pretty as he (Jiro, a doulbletailed halfmoon) was he didnt have a much as a personality as Nemo. Maybe 2 weeks later i decided i was going to find a fish i liked, unfortunately that day i got rushed at the lfs and instead of waiting another day to get something i impulsively picked out something i later regret getting(still un-named female halfmoon). So my bright idea then is to 1 week later pick out something i did want, minus the fact that the water was soooooo blue when i got home with her (still un-named halfmoon elephant ear female) when i saw her colors i didnt like her either. disliking them and all (the last two) i decided to keep them. the next few weeks, fun ensews (they both got sick), and cash is being constantly dropped for the further needs of upkeeping 4 fish. and thats not including the 3 oto catfish, 2 mystery snails and 5 trumpet snails and then i accept a turtle from a friend whos son didnt care for it (and i know nothing of turtles, well dont worry i gave it to another friend who does know turtles, that little episode lasted about a month and just ended earlier today when my friend picked it up) all this in a span of 3 months. My point is now i just take care of the fish, i dont enjoy it like i did with Nemo, i just DO IT, i havent gotten attached to the last 2 yet; thats why they dont have names and its been maybe over a month and a half now since i got them!! i think im going to downsize back to two bettas (just Nemo and Jiro) and become more focused (hopefuly this journal will help with that, ACCOUNTABILITY!!)with my fish and hopefully find that joy i had in caring for them. i think thats all im going to say tonight, i think next time i'll post some backstory as how i got to this point.


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## GoodMorning (Jan 19, 2013)

Get rid of them, bro, keep the ones you like. Give them away, feed them to the piranhas, the arrowana, or the flowerhorn, maybe give it back to the fish store. Or, just flush em' down, lol. Just keep the ones you are attached to, things will be easier.


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

If you're not enjoying keeping them, rehome them.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I own 12 bettas (and soon a few more) plus fry, and I have found my own system that works for me. For water changes, I use a siphon and a three gallon bucket. All of my males are in divided tanks and females are in a sorority. This means less tanks and less water changes. DO NOT flush them. Feeding them when you could just give them away is also cruel.


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## itsuki (Jan 10, 2013)

dont worry mattsbetta, im not the person who would flush them down the toilet.

crappy day, today, my car was acting all funny. at first it would idle high while i braked and then later on it felt sluggish. driving home from work it died a red light but would start right back up and then die if i didnt keep the revs up. luckily it was the traffic light right around the corner from the house. after taking a look under the hood and seeing a massively old battery hopefully a change will cure the problem.

on the up side a local fish hobbist, xue has taken Jiro and one of my females to mate because he wants to try his hand on betta breeding. he's pretty extreme about it the fish keeping hobby, he has a giant man made pond in his backyard for koi. along with a barrell full of delfia (is that what theyre called?), and another full of guppies and his garage has like 6+ 100 gallon tanks, 2 huge metal tubs with fish and handful of 10 or 20 gallon tanks and he showed me his newest venture, a rack of maybe 30 2.5 gallon tanks for breeding bettas and thats not including a few 30+gallon tanks in his house or the multiple bird houses (maybe they were chicken coupes) and a roster who lived in a dog house  he super cool about sharing info and sells stuff cheap, if not just plain giving it away to help fund his hobby and helping others enjoy it too. i him awhile back and he mentioned his betta breeding plan and i volunteered my bettas and today was the day they went off, i'll check up on them and their future frys. i volunteered mine because i did have an intention to eventually breed but since im not ready at this point i thought i would be return his kindness and offer my bettas. i did ask for a nice looking male fry when he was done.

as for my abundance of bettas situation ive decided to rehome the two females (once the other one gets back). i know it sounds abit odd that while im giving two away i will be getting one more (the fry). ill give the two females them to someone local and hopefully they will be more loved there. its not that i treated them badly, i just dont feel the same for them as the others.

wow that seemed like a breathful!! but i gotta go i have two 2.5g to waterchange and that 10g with the catfish


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

itsuki do not worry I understand that you would not do these things but I must say that GoodMornings suggestions of flushing them or feeding them to other fish is both irresponsible and cruel, if he/she treats bettas like they are disposable rubbish then don't have them because you don't deserve them! Thats my opinion anyway. It is fine that you do not want to keep all of your bettas itsuki and I am happy that you have been able to find new homes for them. Unwanted bettas can easily be given away or sold there is no excuse for killing them cruelly just because you get bored with them!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I agree with Veggiegirl. Flushing or feeding them to other fish is not the responsible thing to do.


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## itsuki (Jan 10, 2013)

ahhh life seems abit easier now taking care of less fish. i havent been able to give them my full attention but i can keep to water changes and feeding and even able to clean out a heavy planted 2.5g tank i had and also try in the soaked soil into the 20g. 

i got a text from Xue about some free plants for my tanks but unfortunately my car is still in the shop for another day or two. he has two of my bettas who are out for breeding are still getting used to their new homes. it shouldnt be much of a transition as theyre going into the same kind of 2.5g tanks before the actual spawning. paying a visit will provide informative and fun, xue really cool about sharing info and free stuff  and looking at his numerous tanks is awe inspiring.

i also finished up a light box, i have no idea what to call it but its basically a small cardboard box i cut out so i can put a 2.5 g tank in it and take pictures. the sides of the box have been cut out leaving only the corners, then i wrapped it in white fabric when then i can point lights at and give a non-directional source of light. it will eliminate all/almost all of the glare from the glass. i saw a video of it on youtube awhile back so i made one myself. i cut it out a week ago but barely got around to wrapping it in fabric. luckily at my workplace my dept. works closily with the photography dept so they gave me a few pointers about taking pics so hopefully i should have some decent pics up soon.

i will begin planting the 20g long tomorrow and hopefully have enough rocks to cap it too, if so i will add water to the top and begin the cycling process. Nemo started in a 10, relocated to a 2.5 and now back in a 10 but i can only imagine his excitement about his new 20g long, he'll have more space to swim and explore. once he gets used to his new tank maybe by the end of summer i will think about breeding my favortie betta.


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## itsuki (Jan 10, 2013)

maybe planted 75% of the plants into the 20 long. plants started to dry up so i added some more water to it. barely had enough rocks to cover it, might want to buy one more bag of rocks to get a thicker cap of rocks on the soil. im gonna call it quits for tonight. time to grab dinner.


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## itsuki (Jan 10, 2013)

busy, busy, tired and sore, hectic weekend being the best man at my cousin's wedding (i was a last minute alternate, literally called me the day before the wedding!!). 2 days after that my 20g long is up and running, last touches were done yesterday (adding the driftwood, 1 cherry shrimp and 2 mystery snails), proud but one of the flourscent tubes burned out/broke so i need to buy a replacement.

nemo was abit terriorital at 1st, going after his old roomates (the otos), but quickly got used to them, he's very relaxed now and yesterday after only 2 days in the new tank saw him making a decent sized bubblenest. this is the 1st time he's been in a tank with gravel and he tends to lazily swim across the bottom intently looking at the rocks for what i dont know, maybe food?? 

reading about the thai method of betta breeding yesterday has gotten me motivated to breed. looking around for materials and doing abit more research. i am very close to ready to breed Nemo with a lucky lady. on the other hand i do feel like slowing down on new fish projects plus ive more work to do on my car maintenance and upgrades  

abit sore from the weekend still. but looking at the tank is so relaxing, enjoy this pic

also able to setup a 10g tank with gravel and a bunch of anuiabas plants for when Jiro gets back from breeding over at Xue's place, he's been having problems getting the couple interested in each other but i think he's figured it out and maybe some good news by the end of the week


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