# Betta Snuggles



## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

Hello Betta friends! After reading on the forums here for ages, I finally feel like maybe I should start sharing. I have 3 lovely bettas who live in my office. I would likely have more if I wasn't worried that my coworkers would think I'm the crazy cat-lady of bettas! Here are two of my bettas. Blackboard I've had for one year and Ponyo, a small little thing I just got a week ago! They each have their own 2 gallon unfiltered planted tank. I do two half water changes per week. I'm excited to watch Ponyo grow and see what colors she ends up with.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*iCloud*

Here is my third and oldest office betta. He was given to me by a coworker who took pity on him and bought him half dead from Walmart. That was over two years ago! He lives in a three gallon planted, filtered tank. The tank is due for a good scrubbing pretty soon! 

iCloud has been looking a little rough lately, old age possibly. He's been very happy and is a great eater so i haven't been wildly concerned, but his tail is worrying me. It was getting shorter all of a sudden, and a split occurred on it,but there's been new growth the last few weeks.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Brine shrimp treats!*

I brought in a cube of frozen brine shrimp to work to treat my fish: they all loved it! 

Here are some better pictures of iCloud and Blackbeard. You can see iCloud's tail issues and the weird patch of scales on his back. Suggestions and advice are welcome. 

The most interesting thing that happened at work today was a visit from one of the faculty. He saw my betta collection and said I would be the perfect person to babysit his pet lobster while he's on vacation for a few weeks. It was a bizarre conversation, but of course I agreed. George the lobster will show up next week in a large bowl as a travel tank, but I understand he usually lives in a 20g. I have no idea how big he is, but his owner mentioned he's had him for 5 years!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Chubby Tummy*

Just look at that cute chubby tummy!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Good morning Fishies!*

This morning the crew seemed pretty disappointed that I ran out of frozen brine shrimp. I'll have to remember to dole out the one cube slower during the week to get it to last. Here is a shot of the shelf above my desk at work where Blackbeard and Ponyo live. 

I have a huge spider plant in my office that keeps sending out baby plants from the shoots, the bettas seem to love having them poking down into their tanks. Each tank has a cover made of plastic mesh. I simply cut a square out to prop the baby plants in. Once the roots are well established I repot them, give them to friends at work, and set new ones in the tanks. Ponyo especially loves napping in them!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*yummy blood worms!*

I've had baby Ponyo for 2 weeks now. Her red cheek patches are getting a little bigger, and I can see faint coloring coming in on a couple of her scales and a bit of greyish coming in on her fins. It's hard to say what her coloring will end up to be.


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## KatrinaLovesFish567 (Jun 21, 2015)

Wow! Your Bettas are so pretty!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*About to cry!*

I'm almost in tears! Okay, maybe not real tears, but I'm entirely bummed out. This weekend I'm headed to St. Paul, MN for a baby shower, and I was planning on heading into town early just to visit the MN Betta Shop. I've been there once and bought two halfmoom plakats for friends, and I have nothing but great things to say about this shop! 

I went to their website this morning to double check their store hours and was presented with terrible news, they're closing for the entire weekend! Everyone needs a break, but I have a new 10 gallon planted tank started up in my bedroom just for a new halfmoon from these guys.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Babysitting Bill the Blue Lobster*

About a week ago I had a faculty member in my office and he noticed my betta tanks. He said I was the perfect person to ask about babysitting his pet lobster while he and his family headed off on vacation. Of course I said yes! When he advised it was a blue lobster, I assumed it would be a small crayfish-type guy. But no, this is certainly a lobster! He's about 9 inches long from claws to tail. Bill is reported to be a year old and could live up to 60 years! At home he lives in a 150 gallon tank that he has to himself in the summer, and shares with a few koi fish during the winters when they are inside from their pond.

He arrived in a rubbermaid container with his hide-away log and a plastic grate-like tray cut to serve as a cover. I was advised to keep a brick or pot on top of it as Bill is an escape artist. But in the event of an escape, he can make it out of water for about a day, giving you time to locate him. I'm not entirely sure I'm interested in testing his out-of-water skills.

The whole office has been excited waiting for him to arrive and my student worker has already started plans to find him a larger container to make his stay through mid-July a little more comfy. For food I was given these sinking brine shrimp pellets and instructed he needs a pinch of them every 2 days. He should be fine in the office over the weekend.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Serious Cleaning*

I rarely do a deep cleaning of my tanks. I find that frequent water changes and careful feeding keep my tanks doing really well, but it was time to give iCloud's 3 gallon acrylic bow front tank a good rinsing. It's been maybe 9 months since I last really gave the gravel a decent rinse.

I have a lot of plants in my office, and it's the perfect setup for how I do my water changes. I grab my 1 gallon water pitcher and fill it up with tap water and throw in some conditioner and let it sit for a day. Once it's ready I simply take an old water bottle and grab some tank water to feed to the plants and then replenish the tanks with the fresh water. I do this on MWFs, giving new water to each tank. The plants and bettas love the system.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*All Clean!*

iCloud's tank is nice and clean! It had been a bit too close to the window and was growing a too much algae. Here's a view of the whole tank. It's a bow-front acrylic tank that holds 3 gallons. It is heated but not filtered at the moment. I have a simple filter for it, but the suction cups lost their suction and it kept falling into the tank. I should get on fixing it.

The tank is planted with simple office plants pothos and a spider plant. The substrate is only gravel. I am considering upgrading him to a dirted tank.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Cutiepies! Subscribing this.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Mon petit poisson*

Could my journal photos be any cheesier? 

It was a quiet day at work and I snapped a few photos of Baby Ponyo. She's suddenly getting more color. I see more flecks of color on her scales and what looks like blue coming in on her fins. Her tail even has a hint of red on the ends. Her red cheeks are getting to be bigger splotches than before as well.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Aw, she looks like she's blushing.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Camera Shy?*

I put a new light on Blackboard's tank, and WOW, his colors really pop! He's a little camera shy though, but treats fixed that problem.


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

Baby Ponyo is adorable!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Ponyo meets her neighbor Blackbeard*

I'm not sure what possessed me, but I decided to let Ponyo and Blackbeard see each other. I removed the partition between their tanks on the shelf above my desk. Ponyo took one good look at Blackbeard and scooted away as quick as she could! 








It was not one of my best ideas. Baby Ponyo is certainly getting more color coming in on her tail:








And Blackbeard is stunning as usual:


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*New Betta: Yet Unnamed*

In my bedroom a few weeks ago I set up a 10g aquarium: dirted with organic miracle grow soil, topped with play sand (regrettfully, I should have had the patience to get nicer sand from the beach), heated, filtered (for now at least with some seasoned media). I bought a slew of mixed plants from a recommendation made to me from some dude on ebay. The plants are sprouting new growth so fast, I didn't have any melting from newly placed plants. I am not happy with the arrangement, but I am still hunting for the perfect piece of driftwood from nearby Lake Superior.

I contemplated splurging and getting something really fancy, a show quality from the MN Betta Shop (which is about 2 hours away), but I ended up noticing an interesting yellow delta tail at Petco when I was there and brought him home. 

He is very skiddish yet and I haven't been able to get a good picture. I've seen him flare at his reflection once or twice, and he is close to a halfmoon with some beautiful iridescent areas. I like the black flecking on his sides too. 

His name is to-be-determined. I need him to get more comfortable to see his personality. He is certainly loving the plants, he has a couple of hiding spaces already. Of the larger pictures, his color looks more milky than it is IRL. I'm dealing with a tiny bit of leeching from the soil still, so the water is a tad tinged. I'm doing 1/4 water changes every other day.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Cornucopia's Memorial*

I no longer have this amazing betta. I bought Cornucopia around November 2014 from The MN Betta Shop. That was my first visit to their shop and I loved it! It was hot an humid inside the store and although it was below zero outside in the Minnesota winter, the inside felt like 90 degrees! I had to strip off all my winter stuff. 

I visited almost every betta! I was there purposefully to pick out a betta for my best work friend. I bought both of us a HM Plakat. This is the one I picked out (I will follow up with a post about Dawn's betta. I need to take an after photo of him now, he's marbled and changed colors since November). 

I named Cornucopia due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, but very soon after December rolled around, tragedy hit... Cornie was living nicely in a HUGE pickle jar (heated) at home while I was busy moving to my new office at work. This was a giant mistake. I under-estimated the willpower of our cat Marshmallow with climbing shelves. Sadly, I came home, and found Cornie on the floor missing his head. Poor guy.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Bestie's Betta: Bruiser*

Here is the 2nd betta I purchased in November 2014 at the MNBettaShop. He was a Christmas present for my bestie at work. She named him Bruiser and he lives in a 2 gallon bowl, heated, no filter. His color has darkened dramatically. In the mornings when the sun shines in his area of her office, he is intensely purple, red and blue. He's a moody fish and will flare at your finger getting too close to the water surface.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Quartz*

The heat this week is fairly annoying. But in good news, it seems like my dirted tank seems to be taking a turn for the better. I was doubting myself and thinking I should tear it down entirely and start over. Last week I added a bunch of duckweed for floating plants and have been very happy with the results. I am battling some algae still, but the increased plant load with the duckweed seems to be helping. I also have to decide on what kind of snail(s) to introduce. I have what I believe are general pond snails in my 40g so I will find a few and introduce them. From my reading on planted tanks, I think MTS would be a good addition as well. 

The picture is a bit fuzzy due to the algae on the glass and fast fish, but this pic better represents his colors. I absolutely love pastel bettas, and someday when I venture into breeding I will certainly be interested in the yellows, light oranges, and peachy colors! I have a lot to plan before an attempt at breeding would be a good idea, but I constantly read about it and think about how I would attempt it. First step is to get a fish room going! Right now I have fish all over the place. It would be nice to get them more centralized.

I also finally came up with a name for this guy: *Quartz*. I thought of naming him Citrine after his coloring and my birthstone, but the sound of the word is harsh to my ears. Citrine is a type of Quartz, so the theme still works.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*My First Impulse Betta from Ebay*

What did I do? I found myself browsing and longing for another yellow betta and impulsively purchased this pretty yellow girl. I think her ventrals are a little short and the dorsal is a little small, but otherwise I think she looks pretty nice.

In my theme of naming yellow bettas after gemstones, I will name her Opal for the iridescent spots on her cheeks. 

Tomorrow I will tackle figuring out a tank for her. In prep I will throw this extra sponge filter I have into another tank to get some seasoned BB growing...


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

She's beautiful!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Opal's Parents*

I should post pictures of Opal's parents as well, they are a sibling pair from breeder Dodi Haryanto in Jakarta Indonesia.

Although I'm not ready to breed yet, I think when I do, I know my color of choice will be yellows! I still have a lot of planning to do before I could attempt it, including choosing a male. I'm not convinced that Quartz would be a good choice, as I would look to produce quality bettas. Also would I try to sell them or enter any into a show? Lots of fun stuff to think about!


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Opal In-transit*

Opal is in-transit to my house! I hope she arrives safely. She's only coming one state over, from Michigan. 

Tomorrow I will have her tank set up. I have a new dual sponge filter set up and running in my seasoned 40g tank. Its been in there about a week now, so I hope to have her new tank cycled quickly. She will be quarantined in her own giant pickle jar set into the 40g to take advantage of the heat for a bit until I can determine her new tank is ready. 

In a couple of weeks I will be back in the St. Paul, MN area and plan to visit the MN Betta Shop. You never know, I might find the perfect guy for Opal and attempt my first spawning! I am still developing an idea for my breeding goals, but I am certainly in love with yellows and pastel colors of orange, pinks, and reds. 

As for equipment needs, we are going to use a large storage room near the bathroom as a mini fish room. I should head to our Re-Home store to look for shelving ideas. They always have great tidbits of wood and brackets for all types of small projects. For grow-out-tanks I have 2 spare 10 gallon tanks or would move them to a large rubbermaid tub as needed. 

I'm in no hurry to start though, so might work on the plan through the rest of the summer into fall.


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Hey Nerite!*

The planted tank is coming along nicely. I want to add more sand for the cap, but it's also possible that my expectations need a bit of adjusting in regards to how perfect the substrate will look. The water sprite and amazon sword are growing great, and the jungle val is even sprouting baby plants! I've added 4 nerite snails. One of them keeps crawling up over the water line. Is he trying to escape?


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## Heidispice (Jun 15, 2015)

*Tank Update*

Where have I been all this time?

I took a break from the forums, and now I'm back. 

In betta news in my life, my yellow pair are working on a spawn right now but it's slow going. They don't seem to know what to do. Hopefully when I get home from work today I will find that the magic happened while I wasn't excitedly watching the tank. I'll post more on that when I have news to share. 

As for my work bettas, sad news to share: Blackboard, my silver/red dragonscale betta has died. I feel responsible, but how would I know that Marshmallow the cat could make it all the way up on that top shelf? I had brought Blackboard home thinking he needed some medicine. He had been looking tired and in need of some TLC over one weekend. 

So for now at work I have iCloud and Baby Ponyo. Baby Ponyo isn't so much of a baby anymore. I will work on a close up of her, the coloring is so bizarre and freckled looking. iCloud is a geriatric fish who is slowing down in life, but is always excited for food, so my hopes are good that he's going to keep swimming for awhile longer.


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