# What a Mess (a Journal)



## pomp0us (Aug 20, 2017)

I feel like I should chronicle my past and future mistakes with keeping bettas :lol:

*Background/About Me:*
I'm 17 years old. I live in an apartment with my mom; we moved here in August, basically across town. After high school I plan on becoming a veterinarian :>
I like animals equally, or at least I would like to think so; I just respect the natures of animals more so.. like I don't hate bugs, I just let them do whatever as long as they aren't trying to hurt me 

I play video games in my freetime; my favorite right now is Overwatch (friend me on xbox and PC @pomp0us and @NoblePanda#1398 (friend's account that I play on))


----------



## pomp0us (Aug 20, 2017)

*My Bettas*

*Apollo:*
Apollo is my newest betta  I got him the other day from Petco; obviously, he is a baby betta. I'm assuming he's going to be a veiltail, but I think his rays are starting to split again? I'm not too sure, since I observed this like just now haha.
He's reaaalllyyy sassy, even more so than Blackbeard. He'll sometimes flare at you if you approach his cube 


*Blackbeard:*
Blackbeard is actually a girl I bought as a baby boy from Petco. She's been a real trooper being my first betta. Little Apollo's cube is actually what I was going to keep and raise her in before I knew that the cube is ENTIRELY too small for a grown betta (0.7 gallons ()
She now resides in her 5.5 tank titled "'Ol Bessie." I think she is currently struggling with a bacterial infection  I researched her abrasions for a while, and not finding anything besides "ammonia burns" which I'm almost positive does not create red pockets on her face and head :/ She's currently being treated with Bettafix (I am aware of the dangers, I am observing her closely). It was the only thing I had on hand; I plan on continuing the full treatment, and then if it does not work, will try another antibacterial medicine, since her tank isn't cycled yet anyway.


Videos are kind of boring, but fun to watch a couple seconds lol. Also at the end of Blackbeard's video you can see her head with the weird abrasions :/
I would just mute and do 1.5x speed lol


----------



## pomp0us (Aug 20, 2017)

I definitely just stressed her out a lot by taking her out and putting her into a cup to take a picture. she DID NOT like it. I really hope I didn't just kill her by making her get that stressed  

why am I so bad at this


----------



## betta33 (Dec 11, 2017)

One of my girls gets super stressed really easily, Im talking losing all her colour and getting very dark stress stripes. You shouldnt worry about it too much!!


----------



## pomp0us (Aug 20, 2017)

Ooof, yeah that's definitely what happened to her, literally black and brown ( It scared me so much


----------



## pomp0us (Aug 20, 2017)

Update 

Apollo has grown into a scrawny, huge-finned adolescent-esque boy. He's still in the cube, cuz I decided against using my 10-gal tank; it was just too big for me and my small room. I feel kinda bad about getting all the extra stuff for the 10gal, but maybe I'll just attempt to trade the 10 for another 5, and maybe it'll fit in my room better. For now, however, I plan on dividing Blackbeard's 5.5 for them both (rip Blackbeard, sorry you gotta share lol).

Apollo's fins, mainly his cadual, look like they're growing in clear. At first I was worried that I might have missed a daily water change or something and immediately changed all of the water (no filter since its a cheap cube). Thing is, he doesn't seem despondent or sickly, so I'm led to believe its not an ailment, but rather his fins growing in? He eats like a savage and flares at Blackbeard whenever she swims by, not caring about him haha. I do put a piece of paper between them when it looks like they're at each other too much though.

Should I be concerned about his fins? I'm not too sure honestly; he seems fine though. Blackbeard didn't really go through this when she was growing; it just seemed like the bone would grow first (with color), then the webbing(?) between the fins would just form almost spontaneously before I examined her again.

Also I didn't post this in the emergencies thread 'cause I didn't think it was too big of a deal, he seems alright haha.

also ignore the calcium buildup, I didn't even realize it was there until after I saw it in the pics lol :// haha


----------

