# Oberon and Puck



## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

Today I made plans to make a divider for my 10-gallon tank. I got the craft mesh this morning at Michael's ($1.26 for two sheets). But I couldn't find any of the plastic report binders to use for the sides, so I made a Walmart run. But when I got to walmart, I of course entered through the garden section, which is beside the fish section, and the betta fish sit RIGHT BESIDE THE DOOR.

So, as these stories usually go on here, I was appalled by the state of the betta (one was already dead in brown water, poor thing) and there were SO MANY! And this Walmart is in a little podunk town where next to nobody is getting fish, so it breaks my heart to leave any of them there. And some were REALLY beautiful, one was definitely a pineapple pattern, another was almost all white... but I figured if any fish were going to find other homes it would be the really pretty ones. I go for the underdogs.

The two I picked had some issues and I didn't think they would last long if left there. One has curled, thin fins, and the other is lethargic, laying in a huge amount of his own waste.

So I came home and went to work making the divider, putting the tank together, and now I'm just waiting for it to heat up so I can get the boys out of these filthy cups!

Oh, and I have a habit of naming fish after literary characters, so I decided on Oberon and Puck for these guys. We'll see if their personalities match their names!

Pictures to come (as soon as I remember how to put them on here...)


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

*Picture Time!*

Both are male veil tales. Oberon has the curled fins, and Puck is swimming in his own mess (it's settled in the pic, but it's awful!)

Oberon:









Puck:









Divided tank (no fish yet):









Oberon's Side:









Puck's Side:









Waiting for this tank to heat is annoying! I want them out of the cups so badly!
Oh, and for a little entertainment: My cat, Lily, was "helping" me make the divider. She sat beside me in the floor and stared at me like I was crazy the whole time. Then she stole one of the scrap pieces of mesh I had cut off and ran around the living room playing with it like a mad cat. I only managed to get one decent pic.


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

It sounds like Oberon and Puck are very lucky you came along! I'm sure they'll love all the room they'll have!


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

Is it possible for a fish to not quite know how to swim? Oberon is having the time of his life on one side, but Puck is having issues. His fins are really clamped and he looks like he's trying as hard as he can, then he sort of takes off across the tank, then he rests on the bottom like he's catching his breath. Maybe he's overwhelmed by the space?


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

With the warm, clean water, he should stop doing that. Did you quarantine them?


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

No, Matt, I didn't quarantine them. I just got them today and wanted to get them in the tank quickly. I didn't see your comment on my other post until later. And I thought warm, clean water would fix their problems.
I did acclimate both of them for over an hour after the tank was at 76* by floating their cups and gradually replacing the water in the cup with water from the tank. The temperature is now at 80*.
He's been at the bottom of the tank for an hour now. I turned the filter off because it's on Puck's side of the tank and I thought maybe the flow was giving him a hard time. At what point should I be concerned that he hasn't come up to the top of the water to "breathe"?
He was lethargic in his cup, but while I was acclimating him it seemed like he was really excited to get out, he just kept swimming around and around. But when I let him out of the cup, he seemed really reluctant to swim out, so I'm thinking maybe he's just overwhelmed, and not in good shape from the bad water, so it's all sort of working against him.
On a brighter note, Oberon (who I was actually most concerned about because of his fins) is swimming all around his side of the tank! His fins have loosened up, except for his dorsal fin, and he looks sooo happy! I mean, as happy as his grumpy little face can look.


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

Ok, he has moved again. I saw him swim to the top for air. Tomorrow I'll work on making a baffle for the filter (because this tank needs move DIY components to be truly complete) and maybe that will help him. Until then I'll just leave it turned off. At least I know he can make it to the top to breathe. I can't see anything really wrong with him, except that he's keeping his fins clamped. I really think he's just overwhelmed.


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## FishCat13 (Jan 7, 2013)

Ok, so Oberon doesn't want to eat the food I have for him. I wait until he's swimming close to the feeding lid, then I drop a piece of food in. He ignores them. He bit one, spit it back out, and now wants nothing to do with the rest. However, once they are on the bottom in the rocks, he's searching like a hound to find them, and I think he's eating them when he finds them. His fins are looking better, his anal and caudal fins are a little tattered, but they're not curled. His dorsal and ventrals are still curled. I can't see any sign of fin rot though. I'm mostly worried about him not eating.

Puck, on the other hand... I have no idea. He looks fine, but stressed. He tends to stay tucked in the corner. He swims up for air (sometimes he swims around a bit) then back to the corner. I've left the filter off until I can baffle it. I dropped a piece of food in, but he just swam back to his corner.


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