# A 13-Year Betta Experience



## Lunatic (Jan 23, 2018)

I had asked Russell to close my previous journal due to the feeling that it did not properly reflect my views and stories as I would best like it to, so hence this brand new journal thread.

*Preface Post* _1/22/19_

I started keeping bettas when I was very little at four years old, and I was completely unaware of what I was doing at the time, and the learning curve has been extremely steep since that day thirteen years ago. I kept all of my starter bettas in small bowls with a bit of gravel and a plant, and we liked having a little fish to look at on the counter. They never survived very long, and I can now understand why providing that I did not run filters or heaters at all, we didn't even know those existed. I remember once having a red veiltail in the same small bowl, and I decided to allow my younger brother to keep it in his room for a while because we had considered getting him a fish if he took an interest. Well, on the very first day of having it, he got up one early morning and poured the entire packet of pellet food that we had, into the betta bowl. My mom had to frantically change the water immediately, we scooped out as much food as possible before the betta ate himself to death.

I had aged about three years since that time, and my second younger brother was born into our household, which meant we were too occupied with other things to pay attention to fish at this time, and that marked my break from any pets for a long while, we only had dogs. I gradually started to take the interest again, and my parents decided that I can try again, but with some African dwarf frogs, and they were great. I successfully kept my one frog, the other one had died, in a small tank for over seven years!

When I was fourteen, and still had my pet frog from when I was seven, my dad surprised me with my very own betta for the first time in years. I was absolutely jubilated, it was so exciting to be able to care for a fish again, and I did it properly this time. We got a small two gallon tank, which had a filter, and my blue veiltail Luna, who I cherished very much. I remember making the most amazing memories with this specific betta, we had the best connection between each other, and I would work to take care of him to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, he died after a year of having him, and we still are unaware of the cause of his unexpected death. It killed me to see him go, but I had learned that I would do even better in the future, and continue keeping bettas as I had before, because it was my passion.

Skipping onward, after I had gotten a new betta and lost him as well, came the time when I had joined this forum right after getting a brand new betta, which I have a thread for as well.
https://www.bettafish.com/141-meet-betta-keepers/755537-my-introduction.html

Thanks!


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## Lunatic (Jan 23, 2018)

Today, I have three betta tanks, a veiltail, plakat, and crowntail male bettas.

I was inspired to do up my tanks like this with the pleasant recommendation of @RussellTheShihTzu, which was planting my tanks with a lot of live or silk plants, as bettas are fish that like darker water with plenty of places to duck under cover into. My tanks are all stained with indian almond leaves, and contain lots of plants.

Here's my five gallon tank, which has my male plakat, who I thought was possibly a galaxy, but he marbled all the white spots that I received him with, into blue and black patches to more adequately match his surroundings.

















This is my 2.5 gallon tank with a red male veiltail, which has no name still. I just couldn't think of an appropriate name for this guy!

















Here's my 2.2 gallon tank, which I do want to upgrade in the future, and it has my fin biting crowntail that I fear will never stop biting no matter what I do.









Let me know what you think!


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## Lunatic (Jan 23, 2018)

I got a new light for my five gallon, it looks much better and brighter than the desk lamp I was using. 
It's the Nicrew Skylight, and I recommend them due to their brightness and ability to grow easier plants, and the tank is perfectly lit up.


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## Lunatic (Jan 23, 2018)

I decided to ditch the sponge filter, it was really so hard to keep clean because I lacked the remembrance to take it out and clean it, so now I am using a power filter that seems to work super well.


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## Lunatic (Jan 23, 2018)

I am back on the forums again, after losing one of my betta recently, things have been a bit scattered and busy. 

Nico died from a bad case of dropsy that appeared out of nowhere, and I had no idea he had it until I saw the scales, he was pretty much far past the treatable point, but I treated anyway. We had been doing salt dips three times daily, and set him up in quarantine with kanaplex, but he passed away one of the nights and I saw him the next morning. While I was gone, I took his tank apart, and have recently rebuilt it to accommodate my red betta, Leo. We also put Santiago in a five gallon next to Leo.


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