# BonesMcCoy's Betta Journal/Log



## BonesMcCoy (Feb 14, 2014)

So this is my fourth day of betta ownership. I've found I'm a very worrysome betta owner. Whenever I'm at school or my dad's I'm worried about my male veiltail McCoy, especially because I didn't start out the wisest betta keeper. I mean, I had known people who kept bettas before, but up until the past few days I truly didn't know *anything* about bettas or betta care. So naturally being so inexperience I got the poor guy a half-gallon tank with little to no gravel and no filter or light. I hadn't done any research beforehand because my mother and I bought McCoy on a whim. We had originally gone to the pet store to look at leopard geckos (unfortunately we didn't have the money to buy one yet) but they didn't even have any crickets in stock, let alone geckos. However, the vivarium and aquarium sections were right next to each other and my mother saw the fish and asked me, "Why don't you get one of those?" and I said "sure!" not thinking she was serious. She was. So we looked around for stuff, and well, since they barely even had food they barely had anything else. Luckily, the next day my friend brought my to PetSmart and we bought a nice 3-gallon tank (including a light and filter) and more gravel. I still need to get him better food, but I'm hoping he'll be okay with what he has. Unfortunately, I'm at my dad's until Tuesday, so I'm kind of worried. But hopefully today or tomorrow I'll be able to go with a friend to buy little McCoy a hide and maybe even a plant and then I'll be able to check on him and make sure nothing happened to him in my absence. I'm just very worrysome because when I was younger I had many different kinds of fish and I forgot to feed them so they all died. I haven't owned a fish in years because I was too afraid but now it looks like I'm trying again. Hopefully I'll be much more successful.


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

Good luck, and hi from Ohio! I look forward to hearing about your fish adventures!


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## BonesMcCoy (Feb 14, 2014)

DaytonBetta said:


> Good luck, and hi from Ohio! I look forward to hearing about your fish adventures!


thanks! And wow we actually live pretty close!


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## BonesMcCoy (Feb 14, 2014)

So this whole keeping a journal for the betta fish didnt really work as I planned. I had originally planned to update this every week, but now its a month since the first entry so that shows you how well that worked.
Anyway...some updates from the past month:
I got three cory catfish and put them in the tank with McCoy. He flared at them and chased them around at first but since then he's gotten used to them.
One of my friends has a sorority but she had one fish named Snow that kept picking on everyone even though that's not her place. So as a service to her other fish she gave Snow to me and Snow is now living in a 2-ish gallon. I need to get her a light and a filter which I'll probably grab after school today.
Now for the bad news:
McCoy doesn't appear to be doing so well. His fins have a yellowish tinge to them, his typically black face has discoloration, and he has a yellowish bulge right underneath his gills. He also struggles to stay afloat other than to eat. I'm going to post this information in the illness section of the forum to see if I can get any answers.
So, that's my betta fish update for now, I'll update next week and hopefully the only significant things are my fish feel better.


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