# LittleDeer's Betta Journal



## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Hey everyone, I'm LittleDeer. I've decided to make a journal to ramble about my Bettas and other aquatic children. There will be no real rhyme or reason to this, and there will probably be a lot of lengthy posts, though many of thoe lengthy posts may have questions in them that I would appreciate if people tried to help me with.

I've only been very seriously keeping fish on my own for about 3 months now. I am still learning and I do make mistakes, but I am doing all I can to take great care of my fish. Making suggestions and giving advice is fine, but please dont get upset and yell at me if you disagree with something I am doing. Calmly making suggestions is a much better way to handle it. 

Now I'll share my Bettas with you. At the time of this post, I have four Bettas total, 1 male, and 3 females. All live in seperate tanks. I have had my male for 3 months, and my females for only about 5 days.

(I apologize for the quality of these pictures, all I have is my ipod camera.)

My male is a Blue VT with red ventrals and some stripes of iridescence in his tail. His name is Benedict, but usually referred to as Benny or just Ben. I believe him to be about 9 months old right now. He lives in a ten gallon tank with a handful of Corydora Catfish.

Benny 1
Benny 2
Ben's Tank (10gal)

This is my multicolor VT girl Gylfie, I got her with Sonata and Alice, she's...turning out to be really rambunctious. She has a ton of energy and is really adventurous. She makes big bubble nests and puts on breeding stripes frequently as well, even though she is alone in her 5gal home.

Gylfie 1
Gylfie's Tank (5gal)


This is Sonata. She's a dark blue VT with some iridescence to her, mostly on her fins. I got her along with Gylfie and Alice. She's has a few issues of SBD that I believe were mostly stress related, as they lasted very short periods of time. She tends to get stress stripes pretty easily, though has calmed down since I moved her into her permanent home in a 3 gallon critter keeper. She's very calm and nervous and a little smaller than the other two. I have quite a soft spot for her. 

Sonata 1
Sonata's Tank (3gal)

And finally, this is Alice. She's a white VT with red ventrals and red areas on her other fins. She also has a bit of iridescence to her. I got her along with Sonata and Gylfie. She has a few chunks of her anal fin missing, but they are healing up very quickly. She has a lot of energy to her, but she's also very very interested in me. Out of all three girls she's the only one who will come right of to the front of the tank and just sit and watch me. I wasn't going to get her, originally, but I'm glad I did. She's becoming a real sweetheart.

Alice 1
Alice's Tank

I'll be posting new things pretty frequently about the Bettas as well as my other fish on occasion. Don't be afraid to post and ask questions about my fish or give advice or suggestions. As long as you are kind and respectful, you are more than welcome here n_n


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

MOAR PLANTS! lol I say more plants in Ben's tank ;-)

I was totally excited when you put the link up haha I'm like a little child sometimes XD

Tanks are looking great so far though!! Lovin' them ;-)


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

haha, I figured you'd be excited.

And yes, he does need more plants. Mostly he needs more tall plants. Allt he silk plants I put in there from the craft store are kind of short x_x Hopefully some day I'll have all live plants in my tanks, that would be incredible. But until then, I'll be looking around for some nice stuff to put in for Ben. I also may end up getting a pair of ADF's to see if Gylfie will be nice and share her space with them. So I may need to get more plant cover in her tank as a priority. Ben is absolutely loving his new plants though. For the couple hours after I put them in when I was home, he kept weaving in and out and around them and resting for a moment on some of the bigger flat leaves. He seemed so happy. It put a much needed smile on my face after my unfortunate loss last night. 

The heaters are working just fine, as well. Though I had to keep playing around and adjusting them to get the temp right. I don't know how I would deal with non-adjustable heaters x_x I need to be in control. I'm also probably gonna check back in at Ocean's of Pets to see if they've gotten their new shipment in to see if I can get a new heater for Gylfie. And then look at all the beautiful Bettas there and be sad that I can't really have another one right now x_x 

Well, since my rat is gone, I do have more space for tanks now. Maybe in a few weeks I'll save up to get another small tank to get a nice dragonscale boy. I feel like no one ever buys the fancy Betta breeds at that place. They always seem to have the same ones. Probably because they are some of the more expensive fish there. I think the dragons are $20 each. But they are beautiful and always very healthy with nice big bubble nests in their bowls.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

What's not to be excited about? It's a place to ramble on about Betta's!!! lol

Aww that's adorable that Ben loves his plants! That put a smile on my face too ^_^ it's been a long day at work so that was well needed 

Yeah my LFS is the same way, their EE's and Dragons and Kings are much more expensive so they don't really sell well :-(


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I'd try to get a picture of him playing in his plants but the minute he realizes I'm looking at him and get within a foot of the tank he comes over to say hi and stops what he's doing. Silly boy.

They have so many beautiful fish, though. They had some nice "Patriotic" CT Boys for 4th of July that I saw when I went shopping on Saturday too. THey had perfect patches of red white and blue. And they used red white and blue gravel to bring them out. I mean, I'm not particularly fond of the color scheme personally, but I was kind of in awe at how perfect and bold their colors were. I should have taken pictures of them. They also have lots of EEs and DTs and at least a full shelf of CTs. Though half of the total Bettas they have are VTs. BUt they do have some decent variety in color. I'm still not sure about the names of certain color schemes yet, but I do know that most pet shops have mostly either Blue or Red Bettas. But they have a lot of variety. Its funny that I ended up with a blue boy (Although he isn't a solid blue and has red on him too.) but I like to let them choose me, and he responded to my presence the most. I almost got a...I think the color is called "cambodian"...boy with bluish green fins, but he didn't follow me around like Ben did. They were right next to eachother though. There was also a black boy I looked at, but he seemed kind of oblivious to my presence completely. So Now I have my beautiful blue boy. And I am very happy with him, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade him for anything. But I would like to get a nice fancy boy at some point. I also can't wait until my girls grow up a bit more. It seems like their colors are continuing to brighten up and change a bit. And they are still quite small. Less than an inch and a half long. So they have a ways to go still. I can't wait until they're big adult ladies. They're going to be wonderful. They already are. And their personalities are so different from eachother too. I expected that, but not for it to be so noticable. I've never had multiple Bettas so I've never thought much of their individual personalities. But I'm really loving getting to know them all. I'm sure they'll open up even more after a few weeks. That's how things went with Ben 

At this point, I don't know how anyone wouldn't want a Betta. I'm a firm believer that everyone can benefit from having a pet fish in some way, and Bettas are probably the most interactive and social (with people) fish I've ever interacted with. They seem to have a different look in their eyes then other fish, too. They make eye contact and you can tell that the gears are turning in their little heads. I've never known any other fish to actually make eye contact with people and actually interact with them.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It's so true! All of it! That's the number one thing that I love about them is that they are so interactive! My friend tried to get me into cichlids but I'm really glad I went with Betta's instead!!

That's great about the pet store! The one near me; Seahorse Pet Shop has very similar boy's to that. They have a whole line of CT's, many different DT's and EE's lots of Plakat's and HM's. They actually don't have any VT's because they wanted to sell other kinds and I kind of like that about them. Well actually I lied, they did get a orange VT and a red/orange VT in who are beautiful but that's it, the rest are all sorts of kinds! It's really neat and I go in usually once a week to see what they have new ;-)

And to be Cambodian it has to be one color but the body is lighter. So the most common is red, so red fins with a pink body. You can also have blue fins with a light blue body and so on and so forth ^_^ those red white and blues were most likely just Tri-color's but if they had colors in bands then they can be considered butterfly :-D


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

My dad had a few Cichlids a long time ago, one of them actually lived for a long time with an American Eel he had for over 15 years. and the only reason it died was because it found a way to escape and did it when no one was home, so no one found him in time. But he was a great eel, and the Cichlids he had were cool fish, but I think Bettas are more to my taste.

I should try to teach myself all the different names for colors and stuff. Like, I could tell you all that stuff about dogs and cats and horses, but I've never really studied fish in that way. Could be a fun little thing to do. Then when I go to the store I can tell my friends who come with me the names of every single color of Bettas they have and feel real proud of myself so they can look at me like I'm crazy XD Haha, well the friend I'm going with tomorrow seems very interested in it when I talk about my fish, though he's more interested in dogs than fish. I just think he likes how excited I get. I've perked up a lot since I got Ben, so I guess my friends kind of appreciate the fish a lot for it.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yup! Same, I knew nearly nothing about 8 months ago and now look at me haha it's amazing how fast you can accrue knowledge when you really want to ^_^

Our sticky of Betta tail types and colors is a great place to start learning colors!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Awesome, I'll check it out. I tend to learn pretty fast too~ I'm still trying to learn how to distinguish all the tail types too. Like how the rays look for certain tail types. I didn't know until just now that the rays actually branch off in some tail types.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Well all ray's branch, even in VT's. VT's only have on branch which means two ray's, same with regular Plakats. Now a HM can branch multiple times as can a DeT and DT. CT's generally only have 2 ray's although there are 4 ray'd CT's too. ;-)

The only thing I still have yet to be able to do is distinguish a regular VT female against a PK female unless heritage is known or it's really beefy, chances are it's a PK.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Haha, well, i'm sure I'll figure out all that eventually. Its just a lot to remember all at once. Plus I don't really have too much exciting at home to work with, mine are all VTs with imperfect colorations, so they're all just basically "mutts", but that's what you get from pet stores I guess. Though its not like I'm showing or breeding. They're all just gonna be companions, so what they look like doesn't really matter much. Though I think they're all beautiful, personally. I like thne look of random markings and random colorations, though those things could also come with problems with their genetics and predispositions to diseases. I'm just not really much of a fan of 100% solid colors.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

usually mutts aren't prone to diseases or anything like that. Color really has nothing to do with if they will fall ill or not, now a bent spine of a DT, yeah that could cause a few problems but nothing really of diseases is all.

But yeah, I've got loads to work with at home now lol, I think I have every tail type now although not of both sexes, like I only have one CT and it's a girl; Raven. Oh, nope I think the only one I don't have is Delta but everything else; HM, HMPK, PK, DT, VT, and CT.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Oh, okay. I just wasn't sure because I know that certain genes that make certain colors appear can be the same gene that makes a certain disease or deformity appear. Though I don't know much about genetics, that was just something I read at one point.

But I guess its a good thing then. I don't mind mutts at all, though. They tend to be my favorites since they're all random and different.

That's awesome, though, I'm envious of your big fish family. It must be wonderful, especially your big sorority.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

So I've realized I'm an idiot. My critter keepers are actually the All Living THings brand ones so they're different sizes. My little tanks for the girls are actually only 2 gallons. Which I am comfortable with I suppose, as long as they are the only animals living in them. I wish I had realized that beforehand, but oh well. They are also still very small, so I think they will be fine in 2 gallons. Though I don't know if filtration would be the best idea in 2 gallons, seeing as they are very small and it would cause a lot of water movement. I'd still get the 3i's if I did get filters, but I'm not sure. I didn't even think about it before, but they do look a lot smaller than 3 gallons should be, and I held my 1gal up to them and they are definitely 2 gallons. I feel like such an idiot, I hope 2 gallons isn't bad. They do have plenty of room to move around and stuff, and I know I can keep up with water changes whether I get filters or not. 

What do you think, lilnaugrim?


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## lovefordebbie (Jul 7, 2013)

i don't understand betta journals?


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Well, personally, mine will just be a place to talk about my own Bettas and update people about them who are actually interested. Just a place to ramble about my fish, since no one seems to care when I do it on Facebook.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

@lovefordebbie, yeah just a place to babble on about fish or upload rediculous amounts of pictures as in my journal haha I take too many pictures so I don't want to make a new thread every.single.day so I made a journal where I could dump all my photos! And talk about what I did with my fish as well.

It doesn't have to be about fish though, dramaqueen has a journal about what she does during the day lol, so literally can be anything (well...almost ;-))

As for the 3i's in the 2 gallons, that seems perfectly fine. The flow will be quite heavy for the first week to two weeks but after that it slows down quite a bit so there's really no worry after a while 

If you want to try them out first and get them running to start slowing them down, run them in Ben and Gylfie's tank first and then once they slow, put them in Sonata's and Alice's tanks


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I typed out a longer response than this but the internet freaked out and I lost it x_x

Anyway, that is an awesome idea, I'll have to try it. But, out of curiosity, how does the flow slow down after a week or two? 

Also, I didn't end up getting the filters today because I wasn't sure about them, but I did end up grabbing some Omega One Pellets which they all seem to love. They're also smaller that the ones I was feeding, which Sonata was having trouble with since she's a bit smaller than the other girls. But she had no problems with these and seemed more enthusiastic about them. She hasn't had much of an appetite for the past couple days, so its good to see her turning into a piggy like the others. And Gylfie is absolutely ridiculous. Every time she sees my fingers she jumps up to try to get the food, then zooms around the tank after she eats a pellet, before coming back for the next one. I have never seen a fish do this before. She's nuts XD


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol Gylfie sounds like my boy Aero, he does the same thing XD and I have to be careful now because whenever my hand goes over the tank, he jumps for it! lol

Ugg I hate when the interwebs freaks like that, same thing happened over at my journal the other day and I nearly flipped a table because it was like 2 pages long >< well not really, but felt like it lol

All filters will slow after a while, whether they get clogged, or the motor/propeller doesn't feel like moving as much, etc. I haven't figured the exact cause for the 3i's the slow down but I have a feeling it's something to do with the pump and how cheap it is, but hey, it still works so I don't care too much. I don't use them to really clean the water as I do to circulate it which it does fine for  Now the Marina C25 internal filter, that one does a good job cleaning and circulating but I wouldn't use it on something smaller than 5 gallons, it's still pretty powerful after I've had it 3-4 months now. Which reminds me....I have to clean that one out soon...lots of algae on it, whoops!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I suppose that makes sense for the filters. And yeah, 90% of my reasoning for getting filters on the smaller tanks is to keep the water circulating, as I have said before. I just don't like the water sitting still and stagnant. That doesn't seem like the best environment to me.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Just gave everyone water changes, including the first water changes for the girls in the small tanks. I wasn't sure how much water to change, so I just did 50% for the girls in the 2 gallons. I used a turkey baster as a siphon and Alice would not get out of the way. I was afraid I was gonna accidentally get her with the baster, haha. 

Whatever it was that happened to Alice's fins when I first got her (She had two centimeter long chunks torn out of her anal fin) they are healing up really fast. You can barely even tell they were damaged unless you look close, you'll see kind of slightly curved indents where it should be straight across. I'm quite happy with that, because that means it wasn't anything bacterial or fungal. I haven't seen any discoloration on her fins at all, so I assume the damage was only physical. Regardless, she's a very confident, but usually pretty calm, girl. She's the only one of the girls who will sit and just watch me. When I stand in front of the tank she stops swimming and just stares directly at me. No flaring or anything, she stays very calm, but she looks very focused, and takes food very gently from me too. She's a sweetheart.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I'm a little bit worried about Sonata. Every time I get near the tank I notice she has stress stripes. She does seem very nervous, spooks easily, and when I feed her she snatches her food but swims to the back of her tank before eating it. I don't know why she's so nervous. Her tank is next to Alice's, but Alice doesn't really seem to pay attention to her, and I have never seen Alice even flare. So I don't know if seeing Alice is bothering Sonata. I don't know if there's something else in the tank that is stressing her out or if she's still getting used to her new home. I just don't want her to be uncomfortable. She has plants, a small ceramic pot "cave", a few rocks, and a heater in her tank (well, she has gravel too). I don't see anything she should be stressed about. There's no filter in there right now, so theres no water movement. And I just changed 50% of her water yesterday. I hope she's just taking longer to get used to her new home than the others. I don't want her to be uncomfortable


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Mystique was the same way when I first brought her home. For the first two weeks she'd get stripes when she saw me and I honestly liked the look of them because she looked really cool lol but after she started to really associate me with food, she liked me 10 times more ;-) just give her time and plenty of food and she'll come around.

Just like with humans, some Betta's are shyer than other's and it just takes time for them to get comfortable.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Okay, I just home she calms down soon. I don't want her to feel like she's in danger or anything


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

So I'm finally done dog sitting for my aunt so I'm sitting in my room relaxing and watching the fish. The girls have grown very slightly since I got them. And I noticed that Alice, who I had originally thought was white, is actually both transparent and iridescent. She's very pretty, though its a little weird being able to see her organs, mostly her ovaries and swim bladder. I think her color would be called "cellophane" but I'm not sure. And my camera is too poor quality to actually get a good picture of her. She just looks white or pinkish in pictures. I'm just not sure if to be cellophane they can't have iridescence. I'm still learning Betta colors x_x but she most definitely is transparent, in her body and fins, though she's not 100% transparent in her body, just enough to see her organs


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

She can still be considered cellophane with irid. here's a male that I'm envious of that has irid but is still cello :-D

He doesn't have much irid on his body but they can have just the irid on the body as well and not the tail, visa versa. As long as the fins are mostly see through it'd be cellophane w/irid is all.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Yeah her fins are completely see through, but she's iridescent over her whole body. I wish I could get it on camera, because its really pretty. I had kinda hoped she'd be white, but that's okay, she's still beautiful and a little sweetheart


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Her iridescence may come in over time as well, that's what happened with my girls Aurora and Stardust, they were sort of pearly yellowish and now Aurora is white irid over yellow body and Stardust is white with purple grizzle! :-D


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Ooh they sound very pretty. Yeah right now her body is kinda pinkish but with irid. Though the edges of her fins have a very very faint tinge of red in the right light. Kinda in the same way butterfly bands go. It's just very faint and still transparent. I can only really see it on the rays.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

So I went pet store hopping with a friend today, and got another 2gallon critter tote. Then I went to Petco and I think I'm in love. There was a big handsome King boy there with beautiful coloring. I told myself to wait and see what I found at Oceans of Pets since I do want another boy. But I realized later that Oceans closed early on Sundays. So I got no fish. But I think I'm gonna go back to Petco tomorrow and see if that King boy is still there. He's $13, but I don't mind. He looked pretty healthy and had good bold color. I've already named him so he better be there. 

I'm not sure how big Kings get, this guy was around 3in. I don't imagine they get too enormous. Would it be okay if I moved Gylfie to the new 2 gallon and put the King boy in the 5 gallon Gylfie is in right now? I wish I didn't have to take such a big tank from her, but I think she'll be okay in a 2 gallon. If I had space for more bigger tanks I would get them. I just really need this King boy, he has my heart right now.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah she'll totally be fine in the 2 gallon! No problems there :-D

Go get your King! Usually they are "half-giant's" so 3-3.5 inches is what they'll get to. But that's including tail and you don't include tails so technically he's probably 2.5 inches at best. Giants would be anything from 2 inches and up. He'll be very happy in the 5 gallon though!!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

That's awesome! I'm so excited. I was telling myself to wait and get a boy from Oceans of Pets because their fish are all pretty good quality and well taken care of, but this King just...gah. I've never seen them anywhere else and didn't think I would so I never looked into them. But he's big and gorgeous. I really hope he's still there. I can't go until later in the day, but I'll be getting everything set up to move Gylfie, so he can go right in the five gallon after acclimation. If I fill the 2 gallon with water from Gylfie's current tank, I won't have to re-acclimate her or anything, right? (I just did a water change yesterday, so its pretty clean too.)

I also got 4 more of those little ceramic pots I found since they were still on sale and such a perfect size for the girls and the little tanks. I'll have some extras, but they were 2 for $1, so I'm sure they'll be handy. Probably a bit too small for the King boy though.

I also have a question, do all King males have short fins? Because I'm pretty sure he's male, I saw no egg spot, but there were three Kings there and they were all short finned. Would that be considered Plakat? I'm just curious and still learning this stuff, so forgive me if these are silly questions.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah you can just take her water and just throw her right in there! :-D

I really hope he's still there!

And most Kings/Giants are Plakat's but there are long finned ones as well but they aren't as common as the giant gene I believe is recessive if I remember right. So they're still relatively new as are EE's so not too much is known about them yet. But yes most commonly their King's are Giant Plakat's and would then yes, have short fins!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Okay, awesome! I do actually quite like Plakats too, so its a win-win. He's got awesome color too he's greenish blue with hints of black and red between the rays on his fins. There was another one next to him that was basically the same colors as Ben, who was very pretty too, but I was more drawn to the greenish one. I'll get up a picture as soon as I get him home and comfy in his new tank. I'll probably get him a cave of some kind, hopefully I can find something with big enough holes for him that will fit in my five gallon. I have a fake stone looking decoration in there right now, but I may take it out. 

I also bought more of the craft store silk plants so I'll distribute those to some tanks. The little tanks could use a couple more.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Sweet! Can't wait to see him and all :-D so exciting!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I don't even know what to do with myself right now I'm so excited. 

It's funny to think this all started with me getting Ben and putting him in a one gallon and then researching about Bettas. Now I will have 5 Bettas in five tanks all in my Bedroom. It's only been 3.5 months since this started. What have you all done to me? XD


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lmao XD that's how I started too! Had Rembrandt in the 1, then a 2.5, then a 3 and then I got 21 more Betta's XD


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Haha, I'm running out of surface area to keep tanks on unfortunately. I'm restricted to my bedroom, so I have to use what I have. I had to physically move stuff around to make a spot for another 2 gallon. I think this King boy will be my last Betta for a while. Plus after this guy I should focus on getting some Better stuff for their environments.

Oh! I ordered some moss balls. They're the nano ones from that seller in Malaysia on eBay, so they will be tiny. But I'll have 6 of them, so its okay. It's something. They'll grow, too. Just slowly, haha.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha, I got those same 6 moss balls XD They're pretty awesome though!

Yeah I'm running out of surface space as well unless I literally got rid of everything on this built in book shelf that's still holding half of my grandfather's...ahem...crap XD

But yeah, 5 is really good though, they'll certainly keep you entertained!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

How many tanks do you have? I know you have all your girls in a 33 gallon, but what are your boys in?

And yeah, haha, I'd have to get rid of DVDs and books and video games to make more space, and that's not gonna happen, haha. I do have an old tv I don't use anymore that's really big and bulky. I can't move it by myself, but if I got rid of it I could fit another ten gallon where it is, haha. 

The 4 I have already keep me plenty entertained and are wonderful company. Plus they're so easy to care for, and aren't messy, and don't eat much. They're literally the perfect pets for me right now. I have really good tap water quality too, its not very hard and the pH is perfect. So I have never had problems with the water for any fish I've ever had. I've never really had to deal with a sick fish (besides when Sonata was having SB problems, but that wasnt particularly an illness, and was very brief) so I must be doing something right, haha. My dad always had fish when I was growing up, too, so I do have decent knowledge of fish husbandry. 

It's not fair how easy Bettas can be for how incredible they are. I could easily keep a whole bunch and have no problem with them. So I keep getting more xD 

Oh, and a side note, my friend who was having trouble with his Betta fin biting and with his water pH is doing a lot better now. He's had his boy in a one gallon doing daily water changes, and he's almost completely healed up. He's working on getting the water in the ten gallon stabilized, and its working. The water is clear and his pH is good. He's been acclimating his boy for a week now just to make sure he's okay with the new pH. And everything seems good. I'm just worried he may decline again in a big tank because of how much he perked up in the 1 gallon. He hasn't put any new plants in yet, but he has some. He's just been waiting for the water to stabilize at a good place. He's been using bottled water too now because his tap water is ridiculous in his town. But he makes good money, do he doesn't mind buying a bunch of bottled water. He's more concerned about keeping his fish healthy. This Betta is the first pet he's ever really had, and its awesome to see how dedicated he is to him.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh that's great to hear about your friend's Betta! I'm really glad that he's dedicated to him, it's really heartwarming to hear about that ^_^ So he's got live plants or are they just silk? If they're live plants they can go in right away and they will actually help stablize the water! Also if he doesn't have a source of ammonia in there, the tank won't cycle so if he has a turkey baster or something then he can take out the Betta poop from the 1 gallon and put it in the 10 to give the Beneficial Bacteria something to eat at and grow. But yeah, plants will definitely help too.

Yeah so all my girls are in the 33. Rembrandt has a 3 gallon Cube, Jarvis was in the MarineLand 3 gallon Eclipse which Ditto is in right now. And then my 10 gallon is split 3 ways for Aero, Ditto normally and Mercury and then Gambit is in the spare 2.5 on my piano bench XD and then the two babies; Steve and Tony are in the split 5.5 so they each have roughly 2.7 gallons ^_^

It really is amazing how rediculously easy they are to care for and love honestly! So much personality stuffed into a tiny package it seems lol And yep, that's why I have so many too! And holy mackerel, the sorority! Their ego's and attitudes literally emanate from that tank. You walk in and are nearly smacked in the face with all their sassy-ness, it's crazy! lol I love it! I'm so glad I got into them, where the heck would I be if I didn't have them?! I'd probably have you know, actual free time lol oh geez, what the heck would I do with free time!?!?! :shock: :lol:


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Right now he only has silk, I'm not sure if he has intentions to get live ones but they would certainly help. I'll probably talk to him about that today. He's gonna be bringing me to get my King boy, so I'll be seeing him today.

Goodness, how much time do you spend with water changes on all those tanks? XD I do my water changes on the same days, but it can take over a half hour sometimes to get all of them done. And I only do the ten gallon once a week. For everyone else I'm I'm doing 2 50% changes a week. The ten gallon takes a while to siphon out, because I do a 50% change each time since I'm slightly overstocked with my Cories. For the 2gallons I use the turkey baster to siphon around the gravel, so that can take a long time. 

Part of me wishes they weren't so great so I wouldn't keep getting more xD but I wouldn't give up my Bettas for the world. They're like my children now.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh great! That's very nice of him ^_^

Ehhh, probably about an hour on Wednesday. Wednesday is the small tank day so the two 3's, the 5.5 and the 2.5 are changed I usually do the 10 gallon as well. Then on Saturday it's the small ones again (two 3's, 2.5 and the 5.5) and the 33 so it's about an hour and a half usually. But it depends on what I'm doing on the side as well and if I get side tracked by the forum lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Yep, he always offers to go with me because no one else really is interested in his fish, so we talk about fish and look at the Bettas together and I teach him new things I've learned. 

Haha, we do water changes almost on the same days. I do all of mine on Wednesday, and then all but the ten gallon again on Sunday instead of Saturday, because I'm usually busy on Saturdays. 

By the way, I'm gonna attach a pic of my shelf with the 2 gallons on it. I'm trying to figure out what to do for some kind of lighting for the tanks, but I don't have much room. I don't know if you have any suggestions.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oooh you could get Under Cabinet flourescent light systems! You can get one at Wal-mart for like 10 dollars! And they come in different sizes and you'd attach them right under your shelf so that it's over both the tanks. And get the plug in ones instead of the smaller battery operated ones, they suck. And then you can get a different fluorescent tube when you want to to grow plants a little better. If you got an 18 inch one, that should be good for the bottom shelf and then for the top you can always get a clamp on light from Home Depot or a desk top light and replace the incandescent with a compact fluorescent light (CFL) which saves energy and lights up better! They don't heat up as much either which is always wonderful!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Awesome thank you! I'm gonna need to get a new power strip, haha. I don't have enough outlets, and the extension cord I have right now only has three. But I think that would work perfectly!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol yeah, I hear ya!

I use the ZooMed timer strips so that I don't have to worry about turning on and off the lights, especially when I'm at my mom's house as opposed to my dad's where my fish are! Keeps them on a nice schedule as well!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Got Gylfie all set up in the 2gal. And added some more plants to the 5gal for my new boy. Still have a few hours before I'll be able to go get him. I'm so excited.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I hope he's still there!!! :-D


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I got him! I also got him a cave that is an Egyptian Vase type thing, and I ended up naming him Ramses. He _is_ a King Betta, so the name of a Pharaoh suits him. I'll get a picture up once he's in his new home. He seems really healthy, though he may have some very mild fin rot on his caudal, but I'm not sure if its just his coloring or not. He's lively and flared twice at my friend, but not at all at me xD I'm already so in love with him.

I also bought an Anubias plant that looked in good condition.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Great!!! I can't wait for pictures!!!!!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Hopefully he'll color back up in the tank. The whole ride home he turned brown and stripey. He's actually like an iridescent blue-green and dark red. He's very nervous. I'm gonna acclimate him very slowly because he seems like he's pretty stressed right now. It was kind of a bumpy ride home which I didn't anticipate.

My friend also got some wisteria for his tank.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Ramses is in his tank now and seems okay. He seems a little confused by the things in the tank, though. And it scares him a little when he touches the plants. He's so big they move slightly when he touches them. 

I'm gonna wait till tomorrow to take pictures to see if he'll color back up.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

His color keeps fading in and out and he's afraid of my fingers, but he ate 6 Omega One Pellets just now. Hopefully he'll be nice and strong with lots of space and good food. He didn't know what to do with himself at first when he was in the tank. He kind of just his in the plants. But he's actually swimming around now. I have a feeling his color will brighten up with good care too, he's a little dull. If he doesn't, though, that's fine with me. I still think handsome as heck.

I also tested the water in the Petco cup out of curiosity. The ammonia was so high it was a color not even on the chart. I want to say it was around 10ppm. The chart goes up to 8ppm. 

So here's Ramses  (sorry its sideways x_x)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Beautiful!! He's a wild type coloration! One of my favorites for sure!!!

Well I'm super glad he ate! That's always a great thing when you first bring them home ^_^ I always count it a success when they first eat in the first day/second day :-D especially after Rembrandt who took a month lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Thank you  he is gorgeous. He also seems to really like the Egyptian vase/pitcher thing I got him. He didn't really understand what it was at first but then I saw him swimming in it and he rested with his head poking out of the spout part. 

Also, when I took out the silk plants to fit in the Egyptian thing, I noticed some rust coming from the tips, so I guess the wire is rusting even though its mostly covered in plastic, so right now I'm coating the tips in some silicone to make them safer. My fish are all grumpy now though because I took all their silk plants out. It's only temporary though. Hopefully they'll forgive me. I just want them to be safe.

Here's a picture of Ramses' Egyptian vase/pitcher thing:


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I just realized if I take pictures in landscape they will post right x_x I feel like an idiot.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol that's okay XD I love that vase thing though! I totally want to do a themed tank but I don't really want to do a Marvel one because all my fishes are Marvel names....I'd have to do like New York City in a fish tank and I like my jungle look! lol But I always wanted to do the atlantis/greek thing because well I love more of the greek style columns but technically it'd be the sunken atlantis which is fine too ^_^ but none of my fish are named after Atlantian/Greek things so I think personally it'd be weird, but that's just me XD lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I think it would be forgivable for their names to not match the theme. It would still look awesome


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah but I still don't feel like it would be "right" but all my tanks are nicely planted so I think okay not having "themed" tanks lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

As long as you and the fish are happy with them, that's all that matters


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Just posting a picture of Ramses' tank. I'd love to get m all live plants eventually. All he had right now is an Anubias. He's settling in well, though he's still a bit skittish when I get close and afraid of my fingers.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Also just found this in the back corner. He's been working hard


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Awwww! Cute little bubble nest!!! Don't worry, by the end of this week, he'll be begging you for food lol so cute!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

His bubble nest has nearly doubled in size now. He's been literally doing it all day. I feel bad, though, because I wanted to take another picture, but I lifted up the hood and the bubbles started popping and it kinda ruined like half of it, so he's been repairing it for an hour or two now. He's so fun to watch. He's very careful and you can see him planning out exactly where the next bubble needs to go. I can't get over how adorable he is.

I really hope he does warm up to me that much quickly. He has been much more active today than yesterday, so I imagine he'll be getting hungrier as he's more active, which will help him to start trusting me more since he has to to get food, haha. I think I may get some frozen food next time I go out. I feel like he needs something meatier than a bunch of pellets since he's so big. Though I'm sure everyone else would enjoy some real food as well, haha.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, that is so adorable! I love watching Rembrandt build his nests too when I lay down on my bed since he's on my side table, just so awesome to watch!

Yeah, I also had gotten some frozen bloodworms finally! all my fish love them except half of them didn't know what the heck to do with them when I first dangled them around XD it was rather amusing---oh holy crap, I look up to find that Rembrandt is staring at me intently....:shock: he's such a stalker haha

No worries, there will be plenty of time to take pictures of him! ;-)


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Ramses is on my desk about two feet from the foot of my bed, and I lay on my stomach pointing toward the foot of my bed when I play video games or use my laptop, so I'm at a perfect angle to watch him.

I wonder what my Betta crew will do once I get the frozen stuff. Probably BWs. Benny is kinda picky, haha. 

And I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to get a nice picture. I need a better camera, though. My iPod has such bad photo quality.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Nice bubblenest. Lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Just thought I would post a pic of Ramses with his nest


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Holy shnikies! That's awesome!!  hot damn, wish my boy's would make their nests that big again! The biggest one I had before was with Jarvis and he made it taller rather then wider but definitely an awesome sight when your Betta makes an awesome nest!! Love it!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Little bit concerned...

I think my girl Gylfie is eggy. She's had a big belly for a few days and I think she dropped a few eggs when I went to feed her this morning (which she promptly ate). She has had breeding stripes almost constantly since I got her. I'm not sure why. She can't see my boys where she is. Do girls just get eggy like that? I'm not really sure what to do. Her belly looks so full, I don't want her to hurt herself.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah sometimes they just do that, that happened with Mystique and I only showed her a male for about 2 seconds because Rembrandt ran away from her the cheeky butt lol

She'll be fine, once she drops her eggs and eat's them, her poop will turn white because eggs are white and just don't feed her at that time is all or at least limit her food intake. But it's all pretty normal


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Should I still be feeding her while she's still got the eggs inside? I'm afraid she'll pop. I gave her one pellet this morning and her belly puffed up even more so I'm kind of scared. I think she may have seen Ben like once for maybe a second when I first brought the girls home but that's it. The girls are on a shelf against the same wall Bens tank is and the sides of the shelf block their view of the other tanks. 

Gylfie is ridiculous x_x love her to death, but she's keeping me on my toes. She almost jumped out of the tank when I did the last water change for the girls. She got excited and thought I had food, and I had fasted everyone the day before so she was hungry. Luckily she wasn't close enough to the edge of the tank to get out. She landed right near the edge, though, so it was close.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh geez! Yeah Matisse jumped out of my hand on day and right on the rug. I freaked out and luckily I had an empty cup in my hand so I quickly scooped her back up and plopped her right into the new cup and she was fine. Just gave me one hell of a scare! lol

As for feeding, yeah keep feeding her something each day. She's going to look like she's going to pop! She's prego with eggs! lol she'll drop them soon enough, that or she'll reabsorb them and she'll slim down just fine. She could also just be seeing her reflection on the wall and thinking it was a male, sometimes they get confused. But she's got breeding stripes which is good. I had seen a case where I completely believed the girl was eggy, turned out she had Dropsy but the difference is that she didn't have breeding stripes like Gylfie. Sorry, didn't want to scare you! But trying to reassure that she'll be just fine, she just wants some babies! lol

It will take a few days up to two weeks or so but she'll get rid of them somehow ^_^


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Oh goodness. I think I'd panic if one of mine actually got out. I don't even want to think about it. I'm glad she was alright though.

I suppose that makes sense though. I know that the right side of the five gallon tank is reflective (Gylfie was in the 5gal before Ramses) and Ramses flares at his reflection occasionally on that side. So maybe that's what Gylfie saw. Silly girl. Hopefully she doesn't explode. I normally give the girls 2 pellets in the morning and 1-2 at night. I think for now ill just give her one in the morning and one at night and maybe one around noon time. Just so she has time to digest so her organs don't get all smooshed up together. I wish my camera was better so I could get a picture of her so you could see how bright her breeding stripes are and how full she is. I dot know how she has room in such a tiny body. She's less than an inch and a half long.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol yeah you'd be surprised how much more she can fit too! She won't explode. Even over feeding Betta's are rather hard to do with the smaller pellets.

Are you feeding NLS or Omega? Either way you can bump up their feedings with 4-6 pellets each (minus Gylfie at the moment) so you end up with 8-12 pellets in a day. That's what I feed mine regularly just once a day. You won't get them to grow much if you don't feed them enough! ^_^


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

That seems like a lot to me for some reason. I'm just worried ill make them sick or something. But I'll give it a try.

In that case, should I be feeding the boys more? 

Ramses has been getting 6 pellets twice a day.

Ben gets 3 twice a day.

I don't want to overfeed, but I also don't want to underfeed them.

I feed Omega One.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It's really not much at all, with Omega I'd cut back so it's 3-5 beacuse they are slightly bigger than NLS.

For Ramses, 12 in a day is great. He's a King that has a King's appetite! And Ben is fine too, you can do 4 one feeding and 3 another and visa versa and then some day's just his regular 6. It doesn't have to be the same all the time, if you notice one day he's looking a little more skinny than normal, give him a few more 

It's actually rather hard to overfeed them, even if you feed like 20 pellets in day, you still really won't over feed them so no worries though  It's a science that really isn't a science. Same thing when it comes to motherhood and knowing how much milk your baby needs, you'll figure it out by trial and error basically or talking to other people who've gone through the same thing lol Sorry for my obnoxious references XD


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I guess that all makes sense. Thank you very much 

I was mostly concerned about Ramses since he's so big, I wasn't sure how much to feed him at first. But 6 twice a day seems like its been working well. Though his belly never really gets round like the others when I feed them. Should I up him to 8 twice a day? I've thought about it before but I have been worried it would cause problems. But if normal sized Bettas can eat what he's getting, I feel like he may need a bit more. And I assume he still has at least a little more growing to do as we'll, and I don't want him to be stunted by not getting enough food. He's also more active than the others and works on his bubble nest all day, and explores when he isn't working. 
Ben takes naps in the afternoon and generally explores calmly and plays with the cories when he's awake. The girls explore or rest on their plants.

Sorry, I'm just trying to rationalize what type of energy they expend to see if they may need more food to accommodate for it.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah you can try bumping up to 8, it certainly won't hurt him to try  

And yeah, no problem. It's really cute to hear about what they do ^_^ yeah, Rembrandt mostly naps and waits for me to come play with him haha


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I just fed everyone their dinner.

Tried 8 with Ramses, and it just rounds out his belly. So I think that may be a good number.

Gave Ben 5 before his belly got a bit round, so I think that may be good for him. 

Gave the girls each 3 for now, since 2 already rounded out their bellies slightly, but I think 3 twice a day may be good for their size. Hard to tell with Gylfie since she's already so full, and is already proportionally a bit bigger than the other girls normally anyway. So I'll give her 3 twice a day for now and I'll see if she needs any more than that once she's dropped or reabsorbed her eggs.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah that sounds great! Yeah, trial and error was the way I went too and now I just sort of eye it, I don't really know even how much I actually feed them now but I just feed until their bellies just sort of round and that's when I stop, but I do that only once a day where you do twice. So I think at the second feeding for your boys and girls, if their bellies are still slightly round then don't feed them as much, a few less then you did the first time and that should be a good way to go by


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Awesome, thank you. Hopefully this will be better for them


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Sorry I haven't been on much this week. I've been very busy. I'm in the process of moving my rabbit into my room and litter training her so I can just let her have free run of my room.

All the Bettas are doing wonderfully, though Gylfie is still looking eggy. But she's acting normal and they are all eating well


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay, if she were eggy then she would have already dropped her eggs by now. Can I get an updated picture of her just to make sure it's nothing else? It's possible she could just be a big girl and that's her normal look, that's what happened with my girl Mystique, she's older than the other girls I have so she's bigger than them too.

Good luck with your bunny!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I'll see if I can get her to stay still for a picture. She still has breeding stripes though.

Looking at her now she's not quite as big as she was before. She may have just looked bigger than normal because I had just fed her and I forget she's bigger and a bit differently proportioned than the other girls. She may very well just be big.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I tried to get the best pics I could. I wish my camera wasn't awful. I was trying to take the pictures while pointing a flashlight at the tank in my mouth and holding up a pellet to get her to stay still with one hand. 

The fish didn't eat last night because I got home late and they were all sleeping when I went to feed them. She ate 3 pellets at 8 am this morning, but her belly is still round. The other girls both had 3 pellets this morning as well but their bellies aren't still rounded like Gylfie's is.

Here's a few pictures. Trying to post the least blurry. I took like 20 pictures. The shot from above has a white dot above her head but I promise its just a bubble so don't get worried, haha.


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

I guess I have to upload them in separate posts


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

And one more for now


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh! She doesn't look bloated at all! At least not to me, she just looks like a bigger, probably older girl!

Here is one of my new girls who was Eggy, You can tell by looking near her tail that her frame is still really small so for her to have a stomach that big was out of the normal.


















And then some girls are just bigger than others. Here you see Matisse in the back, Jewel and Mystique dwarfing them all lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

So...funny story. I just looked in Gylfie's tank and she made a little bubble nest and it has a bunch of little eggs in it. Its such a cute little nest. But there are definitely eggs in it, so she definitely was eggy, haha. She's definitely slimmer now too. Just thought you'd like to know


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Awwwww!!!!! that's so cute!!!! My new girl had dropped eggs and that was the first time I'd seen them, absolutely cute little things!! But of course with the water change, the eggs had to be thrown out too :-( but that's adorable Gylfie made an nest!


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

She did! I'm so proud of her, she did such a good job. She even seems to be protecting them. She gets all huffy when I get up close and look at them. I think she dropped a few more too. the nest looked bigger this morning and there seems to be a little more eggs in it. I think she may still have some more in her belly too. Its too bad I don't have the time or resources to raise a spawn. I feel so bad that she got all excited and laid eggs but none will hatch. And babies are so cute and tiny. Oh well. Maybe someday. Someday when I have lots of space and lots of money and lots of time and places to send the babies where they will be taken care of properly.

Also, I feel like every time I do a water change for Ramses, the next day his bubble nest is even bigger than it was before. He's like a little construction worker. Always at work.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, too cute! Yeah it is sad thinking the'll never hatch though :-( I was sad about that when Asteroth dropped her eggs too. But one day, one day we'll breed! And we'll have amazing fishies!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Some females will build a nest and put their eggs in it and guard it. Lol


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## LittleDeer (May 12, 2013)

Haven't been on here in a while. Just thought I would pop on and let you all know the Bettas are all doing very well. Though Ramses seems very calm and introverted compared to the rest of them. He's very hesitant to take food from me sometimes. He is very sweet but I'm not sure why he's so shy. I guess that's just his personality. 

Oh and my cute little moss balls came in the mail finally  so I'm gonna pop those in the tanks tomorrow (I'm in bed at the moment). 

But yeah, figured I would give a bit of an update.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol yes I like updates ^_^

Yay moss balls! Mine have grown a little bit since I got them so that's nice but they do take forever and a day to grow!

I usually find that it takes almost a whole month and sometimes two depending on the fish to fully be acquainted with me and my fingers mean food. They'll settle in just fine after the first few day's up to a week but it takes them a little bit longer to get used to me myself, so that might be something he's experiencing is all. In time he will get used to you


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