# The Adventures of Mango the Office Fish



## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

So, a few days ago I got a new office fish and I have decided to name him Mango.









I got Mango from a LFS called Fish 4 U on Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, UT. Fish 4 U does a great job caring for their bettas and so I wanted to try them first before I went to some place like Petco or Petsmart.

While at Fish 4 U, I was having a hard time deciding. It ended up being between Mango and a butterfly crowntail similar to this one:









However, Mango just would NOT stop trying to get my attention. He was very active and energetic, his fins weren't clamped, and he was overall the friendliest fish on the shelf.

So I said "Fine. Fine! I will take you home. Sheesh! Now stop wiggling."

So after purchasing Mango I brought him back to work and acclimated him to my tank. I stayed at work for about 45 minutes and surfed the internet while I waited for him to become adjusted. Then I put him in the tank, watched for a few minutes to make sure he was ok, and then I left for the evening. (At this time it was 7pm, and I normally leave work at 4:30pm).

So, this brings me to the official start of the journal entries. I am going to try to post a little something each day, but this first entry will cover Mango's first three days in his new home because I got him on Monday, and today is Thursday.

*Day 1 (Tuesday, May 24, 2016):*

Mango is either very happy, or very bored. I can't determine which at this point. He spent 90% of the day swimming around the tank. And I caught him doing loop-de-loops at least 3 times in one corner of the tank today. Over and over and over again. 

I noticed that he seems to be a bit nervous. I put my hand over the tank a bit too quickly today and when he saw it he darted away and hid. He also "jumps" (I think a better word might be "twitches") every time the door to my office slams closed. On the plus side, he has been nice to the snail and has left it alone for the most part.

We will see what tomorrow brings.


*Day 2 (Wednesday, May 25, 2016):*

Nope. Mango is definitely neurotic. He spent the ENITRE day swimming back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, obsessively along the back of the tank. I was concerned that he might be trying to escape and that the clear back of the tank was making him a bit crazy, so I taped some green paper to the back of the tank to block his view to see if that would get him to stop.

It worked for a little bit, but then he went back to swimming at the back of the tank. I guess maybe he just likes it. So I took the paper away. 

I have a piece of wood decor in the tank that looks kind of like an upside down "y" and Mango amused himself today by swimming more loop-de-loops around the tip of the "tail" part of the "y".

My fish is weird. Why do I always pick the weird animals?

We did make a bit of progress today. Mango is not quite as nervous when I put my hand over the tank to feed him. He seems to coming to realize that my hand = food.

I hope all this swimming means that he is happy and not crazy lol.


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

*Day 3 (Thursday, May 26, 2016):*

So, yesterday I retrofitted my filter. It was just a sponge filter, but I asked an employee at Fish 4 U if there was any way that I could convert it from a sponge to carbon (I'm attempting to lower the hardness of my water and I was hoping that some activated carbon would be able to remove some of the calcium and magnesium in the water).

He gave me a great idea! He told me to cut my sponge filter in half and then place the carbon tubes (Not the small flaky stuff but the larger pieces of carbon that are shaped like short spaghetti) in the bottom of the filter and then place one of the half-pieces on top. That way the sponge will prevent any of the carbon from getting sucked up into the motor of the filter.

So far it is working really well. I don't run the filter all of the time though because I want to be able to watch Mango to make sure that he handles the current ok. So I ran the filter for an hour yesterday and for about an hour today.

Yesterday Mango wasn't terribly pleased because his fins kept getting caught in the current and he would get tumbled to the bottom of the tank. The filter interrupted his past time of swimming back and forth along the back of the tank and he wasn't too sure what to do about this new development.

Today he did a bit better. He discovered that if he squeezed himself up against the back wall of the tank he could still swim back and forth and not get caught in the current. Stubborn fish.

He is still very active but he is adjusting well I think (assuming that the constant pacing at the back of the tank isn't a sign of distress. . .).

I tried to get a video of him wiggling for me. When I waggle my fingers at him he swims straight to the front of the tank and wiggles. Does anyone else have bettas that do that? Is this a common behavior or do I just get the weird fish?

Here is the link to the video. Just a warning: I talk to him and I use my "pet voice".


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## bettafishsam (May 23, 2016)

This makes me so happy!!!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

He's a pretty fish


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Oops, video not long enough... Had to play it twice.  

He is really cute. His tank looks good but more silk plants might male his quit glass surfing. They do like their "stuff".


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

BettaSplendid said:


> His tank looks good but more silk plants might male his quit glass surfing. They do like their "stuff".


Interesting. I didn't think of that. The main plant is actually an Anubias nangi, but there is a single plastic betta plant at the back under the filter. I do have another plastic betta plant that I could squeeze behind the wood decor in the corner. . .

So far he has been too distracted to settle down and try to lay on any of the plants. He has paused for a moment to lay on top of the heater though. But then he goes right back to swimming.

I made arrangements with my coworkers who work weekends so that someone will be there to feed him on Sat and Sun when I am not there.

I think I will probably fast him on Wednesdays; that way he doesn't get too fat lol. Although, this weekend his fast will be tomorrow since no one will be there to feed him due to Memorial Day.


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

Surprisingly, that crowntail was still there when I went back on Fri to buy some RO water to mix with the tap water in Mango's tank. Since he was still there I thought I would take a picture of him to share with you:









Here he is! He's so pretty.


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

*Day 8 (Tuesday, May 31, 2016):*

I came back from my 3-day weekend to find Mango much more relaxed in his tank. He was no longer pacing and he was spending more time at the front with me. I left the filter on for a few hours to see how he did with it and he seems to have no issue with the current.

The snail, on the other hand, made me think it was dead. I looked over and saw the snail getting blown around by the filter. It would get shoved to the bottom and then float back up to the top, get pulled to the filter, and get shove to the bottom again. Over and over. I was seriously concerned. So I picked it up out of the tank and poked it a little bit. When it retracted I assumed it was still alive, so I plopped it back into the tank. 

Perhaps it was just having fun. Who knows.

I went to Fish 4 U on Friday to purchase some RO water to mix with the tap water in Mango's tank. The water here in Utah is VERY hard (like 170ppm of calcium and magnesium hard) and the RO water has had everything stripped from it, so it has a pH of 6.4-6.8 and it is very soft. By itself, the water is too soft and too acidic for bettas, so I have to mix it with tap water in order to make it suitable for Mango. I drained about 40% of the water from his tank and replaced it with RO water. However, I had a bit of an accident:

The 2 gallon water jug I bought to hold the RO water was having some spicket issues so I would have to periodically tip the jug upright to removed the air bubbles from the spicket so that the water could flow freely again. Well, one time I tipped it too far upright and I had forgotten that I had loosened the lid and water spilled EVERYWHERE. All over my desk, my work papers, the floor. Everywhere. 

Copious amounts of f-bombs were dropped.

Thank goodness my office mate had already left for the day.

Luckily, none of the water got on my computer, so there was that. After cleaning up my mess with paper towels, I finished filling Mango's tank, gave him a parting piece of food, and left for the day.


*Day 9 (Wednesday, June 01, 2016):*

Today Mango came out to greet me when I came in to work! He has started swimming to the front of the tank when he sees me looking at him, and I am slowly getting him used to my fingers. Eventually, I want to start teaching him to "touch" for food. 

I even caught him resting on the lily this afternoon.

I am amazed with how adorable this fish is lol. If I wave at him or speak to him he starts to wiggle. I'll have to try to get another, longer, video of it tomorrow.  Also, I left the filter on when I went home today because Mango seems to be handling the current fine and I think I have even caught him purposefully swimming into it. I will have to watch to see if it really is being done on purpose or if it is an accident.


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## PrincessSeyshells (Oct 9, 2012)

Mango is adorable! Looking forward to hearing more about your fishy escapades together.


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

*Day 15 (Tuesday, June 08, 2016):*

Yesterday Mango got bold enough that he actually tried to bite me when I put my finger into his tank. He nipped at my fingernail. I also got him to flare for me yesterday. I carry a little mirror in my purse just for him lol. I wanted him to flare because I needed to make sure that he wasn't having issues with his beard. It looked like his right gill was poking up a bit more than the left and I wanted to check to see if everything was ok. 

Everything seems ok so far. I may be a bit over-cautious with him because of my last fish. I feel like I am a bit hyper-vigilant to the slightest abnormalities in behavior or appearance.

I also think I have finally gotten the water situation figured out. It's going to have to be a ratio of 1:2 (one part tap, two parts RO water) in order to get the hardness to an acceptable level. That's fine for my 3.5 gallon fish tank, but it doesn't bode well for my 20 gallon long at home lol. That's going to get kind of expensive relatively fast.

I'll have to think about this for a bit to see what the most economical option will be.

In parting, I give you a longer video of Mango wiggling. (Again, I have the "pet voice" thing going on here. Sorry).


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm going to say you sound so much like me it's scary xD I'm wondering if you look like me too (that aside) 

Mango is quite a character and it looks like your doing an amazing job with him it's ok to be careful !


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