# Aquarium Adventures: Daily Journals of a first time Betta Parent



## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

The following will be a serialized documentation of my first time experience as a pet owner of a one betta splenden. I'll be doing this as a blog of sorts to recieve feedback from the community to correct future mistakes before they happen. Bear in mind that this will be written retrospectively for the time being until further notice so I'm going to tell it how it is. I will go above and beyond to have the mistakes corrected by the time you are reading this but dont hesistate to call foul on anything that I do that is wrong. We did the research, but that is nothing compared to hands on experience that I intend to draw upon from this forum community. For those not interested in reading long posts but would still like to help out a budding aquarist, please scroll down to the bottom of each of my entry as they will usually have a question that I have not yet found an answer to. And so, without further ado, I give you...Aquarium Adventures!

Prologue

We were at my brother's house during father's day and my girlfriend sees a fishbowl belonging to my niece that housed a fighting fish. During the event I was the designated family photographer, my first hobby, so I didn't hear much of what they talked about. In the end though, she mentioned to me how amazed she was of the fighting fish's resiliency despite poor conditions; that fighting fish are a hardy bunch that are both beautiful and
easy to take care of. After that, for the following weeks to come she kept talking about it and how she is interested in keeping one. Bit by bit her eagerness grew, with me blissfully ignorant of how serious she was about it...
until one day she says she is going to the pet store to look at some aquariums. "Look" she says, but she came home with a 2.5 gallon aquarium, 1 floral decoration (plastic), a dechlorinator, a bottle of pellets, and a filter. Right around this time we had a talk about how far she was willing to go with this. I told her that I will be onboard as long as she does the research and maintenance. I will be the observer.

So we set up the tank encountering our first issue; where to set it up. She lives in a condo where the windows are located at the front end and the back end. Ligthbulbs in between. She wants it in between, where there is a large
antique table in the hallway. Her mom agrees with this location too. I on the other hand say that the back end, where the kitchen and dining area share a countertop will be ideal. Natural light during the day, and in plain sight
where we can view the fish on a regular basis. Without knowing too much about fishes, I knew that having it so close to the kitchen cupboards and sink will most likely cause a certain amount of stress on the fish from cupboards
closing abruptly and dishes clanging. On the other hand, the dark hallway may be calmer to a certain extent, but the fish would probably be lonely as I will not be able to share his company as the chairs in that region are not meant to be put in the hallway and if I did, it would be blocking the way. Also, before bringing home the aquarium, they believed that a 2.5 gallon tank would not fit on the countertop so this was the best place to put it. Their house, their rules right?

Where did we end up placing the aquarium? What did we name our fish? And can a siamese fish do the "puppy eyes" look? Stay tuned to find out.

DISCLAIMER
As I mentioned, for your entertainment, this will be written retrospectively so feel free to speculate, critique, and feedback is still welcome because even if all this has already happened, I still value everybody's input and suggestions will be taken and applied in the present. For objectivity's sake, I will limit my involvement in this post as much as I can until I have enough time to catch up to the present, though I will be checking in from time to time. This format shall continue for as long as the contents of these journals remain PG-13. At the first sign of trouble, I will bring everybody up to speed.

No beta splendens were harmed during the writing of these journals. And we'd like to keep it that way 

Question of the day: How much do I feed the fish? Sounds easy but I'm getting conflicting information. From what I gather it's in the ballpark of how much the fish can eat between 1 to 5 minutes. I'm with the people who agree that those recommending a 5 minute feeding time are the companies looking for their best interest. My best guess is 1 minute. But then there are others who say that the fish's stomach is equal to the size of his eye. If that's the case then they can fill that up in under 10 seconds! I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that, like humans, their eyeball-sized stomachs can, at the very least, double in size which supports the 1-5 minute feeding regimen.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

I will bite and say the dank dark hallway, my fish are in the rooms I occupy the most the livingroom and the bedroom so I can actually see them, the ones in the bedroom are for me to watch while I am trying to sleep insomnia can be a living torture at times but having the fish to watch helps a ton.
Now as far as feeding now that depends on what you are feeding them, all the brands pellet sizes are different omega one and NLS the 2 most popular ones on this site are on the smaller side so 4-5 pellets x 2 a day for most of my fish depending on their actual size the smaller ones 3-4 my giant 7-8 some people feed more some feed less, and usually they all get a treat of frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms 1-2 a week and have a fasting day of no food 1x per week


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

I started writing this one last night but couldn't finish. There was simply too much narrative to cover. So I'm going to pull a Peter Jackson on this one and divide it into three posts. Part 1 is below, Part 2 will be posted soon as I wake up, and Part 3 will be posted after we get home from the pet store.

Day 1

I don't live in the same house as my girlfriend. It's her house and if they feel that the dark hallway is the best place for the aquarium I will not argue, though I have my reservations. Sure it's a nice quiet place, but if I were the fish I would find it very dull. TVs are on either side of the house so nobody would ever be around the area for the fish to see for entertainment, aside from dark shadows passing by without ever saying hello, which would probably freak out the fish even more. Personally I would trade a few years off my lifespan, in exchange for adventure and stimuli. Surely this fish has coping mechanisms and will adapt to a rowdy environment. For the time being, I did win a small victory in that after setting up the tank, my GF realizes that she cannot place the aquarium in the hallway at the moment as there is something called a check valve that didn't come with the filter but is required if the power plug will be lower than the aquarium. So for now, the empty dechlorinated aquarium will be in the kitchen counter. Marbles, decorative plant, a teracota cup laid sideways for hiding spot, sticker thermometer and filter are all set and ready to go.

It was 7PM. To World War Z, or to the pet store? That was the question. We opted for the pet store. Brad can wait. We manage to arrive with one hour to shop before the store closes. We made a bee-line straight to the betta section and immediately I was appalled at their living conditions. It's a cup! Rows upon rows of them. I share Tyrion's sentiments when he said "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things." But this is a topic for another day. Today we had to choose. Veil, delta, crown, blue, dark blue, red, orange, snobbish, lethargic, ADD, hyper, big, tiny...it was alot of varieties and factors. I kept getting drawn to the multi-coloured veil tail while my GF was more inclined towards the light uniformed coloured deltas.

The deciding factor ended up being the look this one guy gave me when we made eye contact for the first time. After seeing the initial batch on display at the front row, we then methodically began sliding the front cups from side to side so that we may peer at the other cups in the second row. We were at about 3/4 of the way down with 3 picked out when I slid this one cup to the side and immediately the fish behind perked up and looked at me. Straight. To me, that one look spoke volumes, both of sadness from part and joy on his. I don't know how long he was kept in the back row. Maybe just that day. Maybe his whole life. All I know is that as soon as I increased his field of view so that he could see a simple store hallway, he seemed very appreciative.

He had that "pick me, pick me" attitude but in a reserved kind of way. I ran my finger across the glass and he followed it but he had me at hello. I felt that this is a fish that appreciates the simple things in life that we take for granted, even as simple as increasing his field of vision simply by removing the cup of his neighbor in front of him. If he was this happy now, I couldn't wait to see how happy he'd be in bigger tank (I know a 2.5 gallon tank is not luxurious; I'm still working on convincing my GF and her mom to greenlight the 5.5 gallon)

_to be continued..._


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

So we left the store with the little guy, predominantly pinkish white with some dark blue scales at the bottom. The fins are dark blue with red tips, but there is a strip of white on the dorsal running from the body to the tip [I'll be posting pics in the near future]. Don't know what that is about. I asked my GF who is the fish expert between the two of us and she says if it's fin rot it would be black. Body length is one inch, not including the fins. Out of the 40+ fishes we saw that day, he'd prolly be in the top ten for being the smallest so I'm hoping he's not that old. I asked the guy helping us and he says he should be no older than a few months. I'm hoping less than six.

So we left the store with the little guy, a fish net, a calcium block, and a package of bloodworms. Apparently the store has been feeding them bloodworms and is the food they are accustomed to. GF wasn't thrilled with the idea, she's a bit squeemish, but I told her that she has to make sacrifices if she wants to raise a healthy fish. Also the little guy will be introduced to a new environment. Might put him under stress. I wanted keep some things familiar to him, hence the bloodworms.

The subway ride was interesting. Crowded, standing, holding a bag of water. Halfway through I was able to snag a chair and held the bag more steadily. Times like these I appreciate that plastic bags are opaque. He was in a clear plastic bag inside the regular bag. Glad that he didn't see all the people passing by. Woulda prolly been more scared had it been clear. Though I worried that he might think that he ended up in a worse place as now he couldn't see anything at all. Every 5 minutes or so I would look down the bag to see how he was doing. Nothing, just chilling at the bottom. I guess he was sad and scared at the same time.

The trip ended 20 minutes later and then it was just another 15 minute walk home, albeit with a stop at A&W for a quick bite. By this time it was 9:30 PM and in my wind breaker jacket it was a bit cold and very windy. I began worrying that the temperature in the tiny bag might be dropping to dangerous levels. Wished I worn my cotton sweater instead and was considering wrapping him in the polyester material of my jacket but decided it would be useless. Not unless his 1 inch body was capable of warming up the water he was in all by himself even if he was wrapped in my jacket. In the end we just decided to briskly walk home.

Upon arrival we dumped the calcium block in the shape of a frog. I don't know why we need this. Pet store attendant says we need it to keep the Ph levels balanced. That I do understand so we dumped it in, though my GF says we don't need it. We dumped it in, though I told GF to research what exactly it's for.

Now for the exciting part; the transferring of the fish to aquarium. And, honestly, I didn't have a clue on how to proceed. I mean, I had somewhat of a clue, we did buy the fish net, but I didn't like the idea of putting something so foreign to the fish that close to him, taking away his freedom of movement, taking him out of his element, no matter how brief. But it was something this fish was gonna have to get used to so I decided to give it a go. Fish bag in the left hand, fish net on the right, and there I was thinking how this was physically impossible. We'll technically nothing is impossible, I just didn't have enough experience. What if I crush the little guy with the fish net on the way down? What if I get the fish net all the way down and he was on the wrong side. How many days off his life am i taking from the stress if I have to keep redoing it just so that he's on the catching side of the net? What if I just poured the bag into the aquarium? What if I poured the bag over onto the sink and my GF catches the little guy with the fish net? What if we miss?

_to be continued..._


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## Ilikebutterflies (May 19, 2012)

From the voice of experience...make sure you put the stopper in the sink first. With that said, fish do enjoy the kitchen. My fish begs just like a dog every time I come in the room. _*Somebody*_ has been giving him snacks when they stop by...


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

On the way home my GF says that we are not putting the bag water into the aquarium. May contain nasty parasites. I told her to do the transfer herself, but she was as reluctant as I was. So I propose that we simply open the bag (forgot to mention that the bag has been acclimating to the aquarium water for about 20 minutes). The idea was to open the bag while it was on it's side in the aquarium so that the little guy can swim out on his own and then as soon as he was clear, the bag would be raised up open end first so as to scoop water out rather than spill more in. Worst case scenario, half the water from the bag ends up in the aquarium, 250 Ml. Best case scenario, a quarter of the water ends up in the bag, half a cup. We reasoned it out between ourselves. If the water is contaminated, then the little guy is already infected. The tank is empty so we aren't putting any other fish in danger. We decided to go ahead just this one time, for lack of any better options. Why did we buy the biggest fish net, to scoop out a tiny fish from a tiny bag? Oh the joys of being green.

So we removed the rubber band and the fish just sat there looking at the open doorway. Was it a trick? Are there hidden dangers? I could see these questions going through his tiny head. It lasted a moment then he slowly swam towards the opening. Right before he reached the end of the bag, there was a fold in the plastic that allowed him a final place to hide (in a translucent bag,  ) where he rested for a few seconds. If the puppy look was what convinced me that this was my fish, the "Point of no Return" moment was what convinced me that fishes do have personalities.

I'd like to leave it here for a cliff hanger ending but there really isn't much more to say...he swam, then he swam, then he swam some more. Did a few circles around the plastic plant, inspected the teracota, swam behind the filter a few times. On two occasions while close to the filter I saw him jerk and dart really fast behind the plant. My best guess is that he felt the preassure from the water fall effect of the filter as the water came down from the surface. Filter was acting like a spout, an inch drop for the water to reach the top water level.

Yeah, day one was finished. All that was left was to give him a name. On the phone on my way home to my house we ran through our options. Daenerys Targaryen? But he's not girl. Viserys? Rheagar? Drogo? Why are we in a song of ice and fire? Ooohh, Jason Mamoa! Flip? Sashi? Last name Mi? Oh that's mean. Timothy? Fish? President's Choice? Little guy? I've been calling him little guy all night, may was well let it stick. Buddy? We can't call him buddy cuz that's what uncle so and so calls grandson so and so. We decided not rush the name. He was gonna get stuck with it for a long time so it had to be something we both agreed on.

All in all it was a fun day. In the days to come we would end up watching World War Z, but ten years from now, I'll probably forget the night we watched this summer's blockbuster and it's plot, but I'll never forget this night (but just in case, my GF kept the bus pass, with date and time stamped on it). My only regret was that we didn't video record his first baby steps as he swam out of the bag and into his new home.

I wonder what happened to that bag?

Thank you for reading the post. I know it was a long one. 

Question of the day: Water change, how frequent is too frequent, if that is at all possible. So I'm thinking we are gonna hafta do 50% water change q2days for the 2.5 gallon. What if I tweaked this schedule so that instead of 50% every two days, I change 25% everyday. I have alot of spare time at the moment, and it's prolly better spent changing the water instead of just watching a fish for hours on end. Also, are 100% water changes absolutely necessary? I'm still hesitant about using the fish net. Might it not be enough to drain enough water so that the little guy can still swim about at the bottom and refill from there? That would be around 80%.


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## Flyby Stardancer (Jun 19, 2013)

There's a handy guide to how frequently to do water changes here. 

For a 2.5 gallon uncycled tank, the recommendation is to do two water changes a week, one 50% and one 100%.

I hope that helps!


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Day 2

First whole day Betta will spend in his new home. First thing I asked GF soon as I woke up was "How's the fish?" to which she said was ok, swimming back and forth up and down. I was pleased to hear that. Buddy must have been happy to finally be able to stretch his legs. When I got there though, he was not like how he was last night. It was late in the afternoon and I spent roughly half an hour looking at him but he seemed lethargic. I asked my GF what happened and she didn't have a clue. He wasn't like that an hour ago she says. It's getting a bit hazy...the temperature was 76 on the first night, this day it was 76 still...yeah it was crummy weather, cloudy. We knew it was below what he is supposed to be used to, but why was he happy in the morning and not in the afternoon? Maybe he just didn't like seeing me? During that time her mom came home from work. That was the only explanation we could thing of, that maybe he got scared of the new face and the racket she made in the kitchen. Or maybe he was hungry so we fed him a small amount of bloodworms. He downed it all in less than 10 seconds.

It was cloudy outside but natural light was pouring in and I finally saw his true colours. He was purple, not pinkish white at all. They must be using non-daylight balanced lightbulbs/leds at the pet store that we bought him from. This irritated and pleased my GF at the same time because she didn't wan't a purple fish because everybody in the family knows that purple is her favourite color and didn't want to be teased for being so predictable. Hey, we looked white in the store...So it was me in the kitchen, him on the kitchen counter, and a sliding door roughly 2 metres away. The effect was the same thing you see when doctors put the x-ray film on those white lighted walls, and looking through his fins like that, I can tell that something is not right with his top fin (dorsal?) The white stripe that I noticed last night was not really white at all but mostly due to lack of any pigmentation whatsoever. Don't know what's going on there but will keep an eye on it. Also his tail fin is raggedy. Again, don't know how he got it. We are just hoping that with frequent water changes, they will take care of themselves. Bubbles around the perimeter of the aquarium, but no nest. Filter bubbles I think.

Anywho, we had to leave to watch a movie, and we didn't come home til late. When we came back though he was up and perky again. While we were out, I kept thinking about the guy, and when I wasn't, i was on my phone on the net doing more research. Anyways, that's when I got all confused with how much to feed him, whether it was based on how much he could eat in X amount of minutes, or equal amount to the size of his eye. We ended up giving him another batch of bloodworms, but this time even less than before since we dont know how much was too much. We did look at some pictures online for comparison and his belly grew to a healthy size, not overfed or anything.

On my way home, we once again discussed his name. We decided to name him Sashi. GF didn't like it initially when I proposed the name last night, but when she told me that her reasoning was because it sounded girly, I LOL cuz that was the intent. Male bettas are pretty. No arguing that. Sashi sounds like an androgynous name, like Tweety bird. Though events in days to come would reveal just how feisty Sashi's personality can be.

No question today, mostly because Day 3 update will be posted rather soon. But, Stone, your answer didn't really help as I am using bloodworms, but then i decided to open up the pellet bottle that we have lying around and I took a look at the size of those pellets. When you say 3-4 pellets, what I did was feed him the same amount, mass-wise, in bloodworms. Seems to do the trick. As for the water change schedule, my question in now N/A. Stay tuned to find out why. But thx for the answer though. It was the same conclusion I came to. I haven't clicked that link but will probably be more useful now that the situation has changed.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Day 3 || 78 Degrees

Bubble Nest!? Lets start at the beginning. Wasn't going to see Sashi today. Got work. Asked GF to buy more supplies: scrubber for the glass and a test kit. I got a picture message at work from her of what she says looks like a bubble nest. It looked like a bubble nest but was real small. Less than the size of a toonie. Happy Canada Day by the way. But back on topic, I doubt that it was a bubble nest for two reasons, it look way smaller than the images posted on the net, and Sashi has only been at that aquaruim for 2 whole days. I simply can't believe that he was already comfortable and confident enough to claim the aquarium as his territory. I was expecting him to be shy and fearful of us for the first few weeks, let alone the first couple of days. Nope, my GF says, he's swimming back and forth as usual, and not scared of her when she approaches the tank.

We had a disagreement bout how much to feed. She says she put in enough, but also says that Sashi gobbled it up in 3 seconds. I don't think it was enough, I was still going with the X amount in X amount of minutes, but since I was not there I can't really say. After much research, we both agreed that bloodworms everyday may not be the best meal for our little guy daily. Heard it was "too rich" and should only be used once a week as a treat. If this was the case, we then questioned why the pet store we got him from was doing this for their bloodworms. We came up with a plan to change his diet. Continue feeding him bloodworms because he was still SUPPOSED TO BE getting used to his new home (although it didn't look like it, if those truly were bubble nests). Continue with that until tomorrow, fast the day after, and then on the following day, when he is at his hungriest, bait and switch him with the pellets. We came up with a plan, but only time will tell if it will work.

Temperature of tank was 78. Summer's finally here. Good thing too because we don't have a heater.


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## jenjen182 (Jul 20, 2012)

Make sure that the temperature doesn't get too high- if it gets over 85 degrees, it's best to get a fan and blow some of that heat off of the top of the water.

Great posts so far; can't wait to keep reading!


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Some housekeeping: forgot to mention yesterday that we also bought a sand vaccuum. Thx for the tip Stardancer, that woulda been bad, but we chose an alternative method, one that I really wouldn't suggest. Also the calcium block was removed yesterday. I've seen no mention of it's use in any forums or articles detailing proper fish care. Hope we didn't upset the PH balance too much. Thanks Jenjen. Glad to know people enjoy the daily updates. Yeah, as for the heat, I did a bit of reading on that. Without giving any spoilers, the issue will be tackled more in depth on Day 6. Present Today (not to be confused with Past today which is the post below which occurred a few days ago) I still have yet to see the temperature, but I think drastic measures will have to be taken.

Day 4 || Ammonia 0.25 || 82 Degrees || 50% Water Change

No more toonie sized bubble nest look-a-likes in the middle of the aquarium. Only those on the perimeter

Wanted to change water yesterday but I was at work. Doing that today but first, to put the test kit to use. Since the aquarium was less than a week old, I figure that the only thing worth testing was Ammonia. Felt like Bill Nye with those test tubes and chemicals. Was pleased with results. Sorta what I was expecting. We then proceeded to do a 40% water change with the sand gravel vacuum. Our substrate is comprised entirely of marbles GF got them from IKEA a long time ago. She says she doesn't want sand or gravel because she would have a hard time or find it impossible to clean them. With the marbles she says she can take them out of the aquarium and rinse them somehow.

By this time I had been doing a lot of research on the net and had heard of something called the nitrogen cycle. Was intrigued, saw all the positives, but also heard that it was hard to do on a 2.5 gallon tank. Especially if GF was going to be taking out the marbles each water change and cleaning out the beneficial bacteria (BB). So today I showed her some vids on youtube depicting how the sand vacuum works. After seeing it, I was finally able to convince her that the vacuum I asked her to purchase yesterday wasn't a waste of money AND that sand/gravel is a better substrate than the marbles, which has so many gaps for debris to get into.

Together we removed 40% of the water based on popular recommendations. At this point, things were starting to make sense in my head. The recommended water changes posted here all seem to support the cycle, even if they don't say it. And each change seems to be timed right before toxicity levels hit dangerous levels. My GF still thinks thinks the test kit was a luxury item that we didn't need but I think that it is us, the noobs in this hobby, that need it most. We don't have the instinct or experience to tell us when a water change is due, except by following the schedule. I believe the test kit gives a more detailed look into what's going on in that little tank so that we can see just how clean the water actually is. In this case, if the results showed that it was 0.25 Ammonia before the water change, it should be around 0.15 after a 40% water change. The kit was pricey, and it could be done without it, but I wanted to play it safe when I have somebody else's life in my hands. Everybody is different, but for those that like "easy mode", this takes most of the guess work out.

Unless you mess it up, like we almost did, hehe. We only planned to remove 40%. We had a 1 litre ice cream container for draining purposes. I was siphoning the corner, where there was a lot of residue we didn't even knew about from the Ca block (curse you giant marble crevasses) and by the time she told me to stop, it was nearly too late. I raised the vacuum out of the water, but the water in the tubing still had to travel down to the 1 litre ice cream container. It was right up to the brim. Three more tablespoons and we surely woulda had Sashi water on the kitchen mat. And that's how we ended up with a 50% water change. 

After gradually refilling the tank, fed him for being such a good sport during the whole process. I was expecting him to be freaked out and hiding on the opposite side, but no, his curiosity was right there beside the gravel vacuum. Infact, I was getting annoyed because I had to take care not to bump into him. I probably would have been able to clean more than one corner if I didn't have to worry about that. Fed him a bit for now while we went out to watch a concert. Plan was to feed him again, but we came home at midnight and didn't want to feed him so late. Think he was sleeping when we came home because he was the least enthusiastic I've seen him since day 2.

Question of the day: Tap or filtered Brita water? We've been using filtered brita all this time but for the next water change I think we'll only use half filtered and half tap, and tapering it down from there. As far as I know, the only thing we don't want from tap water is chlorine and chloramine, easily neutralized . If there are other minerals there, I suppose Brita could be filtering them out. Minerals that Sashi may need. A few days from now I tested the PH of the water. 7.2. I think that's ok. What worries me is that on the first day, he was probably in tap water from the store and when we took him home he was in britta water. I understand there may be huge PH differences between the two, but nothing I can do about it now. At least we haven't seen any adverse affects yet. Fingers crossed.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Day 5 || 83 Degrees

_[Editor's Note: while the following may offend some readers, please remember that this is our first time owning a fish and still learning as we go along. Also, this is written from the point of view of the writer. Bias will be present]_

Didn't see Sashi today but things didn't turn out so well when GF was feeding Sashi. The day before, I fed him differently in that instead of putting the frozen bloodworm cube into the tank and rubbing it there to get a few pieces out (how the pet store instructed me to do) I tried putting it first in a styrofoam cup and letting it thaw before pouring the whole cup back into the tank. We used styrofoam for lack of better equipment; didn't want to use our glasses for obvious reasons, and we had nothing else on hand. Most of the bloodworms came out, but a piece got stuck so I had to do a swish and rinse to finally get it out. GF didn't like that but it was just a temporary measure until we can get a designated cup for Sashi.

So on this day, she was feeding Sashi on her own for the first time and decides to thaw the whole bloodworm cube for 5 minutes or so in open air before rubbing it in the tank. I love my GF, bestest friend I ever had, the only one that will put up with my "eccentric" behaviour, but to say that I was upset would be putting it mildly. It's summer, that cube thawed out nicely. Soon as she put it in the tank and rubbed on it, large portions came out. Very large portions. Over the phone, she would later inform me that Sashi was having the feast of his life that lasted for a good 3 minutes.

In a way, I was glad that Sashi was well fed because we only fed him half of what he normally gets yesterday. The other half we couldn't give because it was rather late when we got home. Also, this would be his last meal because tomorrow was his fasting day and the following day would be the start of his new pellet diet. I was kinda more mad at her method because now that cube has gone through the thawing process. Putting it back in the fridge will help, but I feel that it's shelf life has gone down. Best course of action will probably be to use it one more time before disposing of the entire cube and starting with a new one.

She describes Sashi's abdomen as "really big". He was still swimming normally afterwards as usual, even looking for more that fell in between the marbles. All that made it much easier for me to convince her that gravel or sand was the way to go, so that no food particles will get stuck down at the bottom. Apparently Sashi wanted more and could see more in areas that he couldn't reach. I wasn't there but I'm guessing he eventually got to them because after a while he stopped and was back to his left/right patrol of the aquarium.

In the next entry, we take a trip to a pet store closer to home and we take a closer look at Sashi's abdomen after his all-you-can eat binge (for the first time...with pictures!). What did we come home with, and how feisty can one fish be? Stay tuned to find out.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Day 6 || 84 Degrees || Amonia 0 (post pseudo 50% water change) || PH 7.2

Got this weird feeling as I am writing this. A little hesitant on showing pics of Sashi. I suppose it's similar to how parents feel when their children attend school for the very first time. Will he be accepted? Will he be criticized? Does he look like in good health and what does that say about me as his care taker? Truth of the matter though is that he developed this large lump near the end of his body after his gourmet meal last night, so as much as I'd rather not show him in his best light, it's more important for me to have this condition diagnosed so it can be treated ASAP.

So yeah, that's him. Say hi to our Sashi. This pic will be taken 3 days from now, but not much has changed. Originally it was more well defined and perhaps 10% bigger. GF was alarmed, but I told her not to worry. He had a big meal last night, he has a lot of business to take care of down there. Looking back, I wished I had taken it more seriously, and done things differently, but what's done is done. There has been no change in his behavior or swimming ability. Somebody please tell me it's just constipation.

Anyways, after a quick inspection of him it was off to the big pet store. We were there for almost 2 hours, including a 30 minute lunch break as we went through our options. It was hard to justify spending so much on a $10 fish, but passion won over reason and we left that place with our wallets feeling a lot lighter. Items bought were: 5 gallon tank with LED and filtration system, 2 bags of black gravel, 1 bridge, 1 large plant (plastic), 2 small bamboo plants (plastic), 1 small leafy plant (silk), 1 bridge, 2 tiny lanterns, 1 scrubber, and a bottle of Omega pellets. Items we forgot or couldn't find were a toy mirror, ping pong ball and an extra foam sponge to baffle the filter (more on that later).

When we got home, I spent about an hour setting up the tank for Sashi, while my GF prepared the water we would need to fill the new tank. Got a bit stumped with how the filter actually worked but after a quick search on youtube, got that sorted out. We made sure to turn the water flow to the lowest setting before dropping it to the bottom of the aquarium because while the aquarium that we got received glowing reviews, the one issue with it is that the current is a tad too strong for the stagnant water dwelling bettas.

Once everything was set up, then came the time to transfer Sashi from his 2.5 to his new 5.0, and boy, did we mess it up good. This time however, I blame Sashi for being temperamental and impatient as much as I blame myself for being irresponsible and ignorant.

So the tank was set up, finally on the countertop instead of the kitchen counter. An elevation increase of about 8 inches, doubling his field of view from 90 to 180 degrees. Gravel washed, decorations arranged, 4L of water in place, the same temp as in Sashi's aquarium since they have been sitting in the same room even before we left for the pet store, with another 4L ready to go, and another 4L being prepped. I've spent 6 days with the little guy so far. I've got a pretty good feeling of how he is. Although we had a fish net, I knew that Sashi was not shy around me at all. So we took a well rinsed disposable plastic cup, the ones you get when you order soup for take out, and lowered it gently into his tank and scooped him up from behind. He can't say that he was totally caught off guard because everytime we would wash dishes, he would swim to the closest end of his aquarium and watch as we go about our daily business. This time he definitely knew that something was up because the two of us were there, me setting up the aquarium above him, while GF on Sashi's other side preparing the water and gravel. And even when I lowered the cup into his aquarium, I did it slowly enough that if he really wanted to, he could have escaped. But I did it gently to show him that I meant no harm, and when he showed no signs of resistance, I scooped it up.

The second I placed him down on the countertop, he thrashed in his tiny little plastic cup. My GF and I looked at each other, both in amazement and in confusion...then he thrashed again. "Quick, get me that lid!," I say. Safe from the danger of falling into the sink on one side and a metre drop on the other, I scooped his old aquarium water as fast as I could into his new tank. We were treating this as somewhat of a water change. We didn't want him to be in entirely new water so that was the reason he was staying in the cup while I mixed a cocktail of new and old water in his new tank. It was over in less than a minute, but even in his lidded cup, we could see and hear him thrash several more times during the process. So finally there was roughly 8L of water in his new tank, half he was familiar with, half new (we didn't pour the last bits of his water in which had all the poop). I took the cup he was in, lowered it to the aquarium and removed the lid to calm him down, but it did anything but. If anything he was more determined to get out. That plastic disposable cup had a sizeable thickness. For safety's sake, I wanted to acclimate him in there for atleast 5 minutes just to be sure that there is no sudden temp changes. He couldn't wait 5 seconds. He was back to thrashing, and more vigorously than before. I was afraid he would leap up in the air only to fall hard on the ridge of the container. Gotta love these panic inducing moments. Consulted GF on best course of action. She's got that stern, motherly attitude. She says that if Sashi can't wait to get out and be properly acclimated, well, that's his decision. 

We both love Sashi. We don't want any harm to come to him. And in our line of work, that is our philosophy: we give you the information, you decide what you want to do with it. I understand fishes are different than people, but in that moment, we had to think fast. I lowered the cup and let him go. I don't think any harm came out of it. The water temps should have been similar and even if they weren't, worst case would be is that the 84 degrees would be reduced to cooler, more comfortable temperature.

In fact, that's exactly what I ended up doing as I gradually topped off his tank. It was only at the 60% mark so I had a lot of refilling to do, 1 cup at a time. The first remaining 20% was water acclimated since it's been sitting out for an hour in this summer heat. The final 20% had only been sitting around for ten minutes, but since the temp reading was at a steady 84 degrees and the day was only getting hotter, I had no qualms about putting those in even though they felt a bit cool. Temp still stayed at 84, but because this was going to be the hottest day, my guess is that it would have reached 85 if I didn't take those precautions.

After it was all said and done, we did the water check's, with the results posted above. I was thinking that maybe we should have dumped in the poopy water in the new tank as well, but it just didn't seem right. No need to rush the cycle.

Mental note: get those aquarium bags in the future for transferring fishes. His agitation probably came from his determination to never be placed in a small cup ever again. After spending 6 days in a 2.5 gallon aquarium, that cup probably looked like prison to him, especially since he couldn't see out of it. Poor planning on our part, but I still don't appreciate his temper. It was beginning to dawn on us that we got ourselves one feisty fish, but these displays of aggression was only the beginning...

As for his new home, I'm assuming he does what all fishes do when they are introduced to a new environment. He explored every nook and cranny. There was much more plants and decorations for him to interact with. We both got excited when he went under the bridge for the first time, seeing a slight hesitation before going through that dark area. In the first hour I saw him get blown halfway across the length of the aquarium 2 or 3 times when he ventured to close to the filter outtake. Sashi, being the inquisitive fish that he is, always returned to that spot until he finally got the hang of it and would swim against that one area in the aquarium where the current would be just enough for him to swim against without really gaining any ground. Reminded me of those days in the mall when we would run up the wrong side of the escalators.

I've heard that bettas dont like strong currents but during his first day in his new tank, I was convinced that Sashi does. At this point I'm convinced Sashi is alot of things. Cute, yes. Crazy? Not too far of the mark. I didn't know how long he would find it entertaining but when it was time for me to go home, I took his old terracota cup and placed it open end into the spout that was releasing the current to stillify the water. Wedged it in good with the tall plant. Hoped it wouldn't fall during the night while he slept below.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

hmm...the image I uploaded isn't loading up on my end. here is another source from a different website, hope it works.










if not, please try the link below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelpoetry/9212013900/in/photostream/


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## eden000 (May 23, 2013)

WOW, beautiful photography!


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## jenjen182 (Jul 20, 2012)

What a pretty fish! Like @eden000 said, beautiful photography. Sashi looks fine, so don't worry about any lumps- I don't see any. All I see is a happy, beautiful fish!

Keep writing!


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Thx, someday i hope to know my around an aquarium as much as i know my way around my camera.

As for the lump, thx for the input. We were thinking of fasting him again but dont think we will anymore.

Off to work. ETA on next update is 14 hours. Will be a back to back episode to make up for it.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Quick update

Been in contact with the moderators of the forum. Together we have decided to move this thread from fish care section to journals. Day 7 & 8 will be the last ones posted on here. If you are having trouble finding day 9 in the coming days, please look in the journal sections.

Sorry for the inconvenience.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Week 1 || Day 1 || 83 Degrees

Let's start with the desert first. No sashimi at the bottom of the pool. The terracotta stayed in place the whole night, providing our fighting fish calm waters to sleep in. And the day was much cooler than yesterday; the 3 day heatwave had come to an end. That's a good thing as I was planning to do a drip cool method of hanging some ice cubes over the tank to cool it down, with no idea how to set up something like that. Was thinking of laying a bunch of chopsticks lying around over the narrow slit on the aquarium lid and placing the ice cubes there. Maybe in the future, but the day brought different challenges.

Here comes the veggies.

First the tank was murky. For those that have seen the pics I posted yesterday, you will know that the aquarium rests on the countertop that splits the kitchen from the dining area. From my angle on the kitchen with the sliding door on the far end (DSC_1816 best illustrates this) illuminating every floating particle in the aquarium, it didn't look clean at all. First aquarium, no experience, but I suspect that this is a normal occurrence because the filters are new and are blowing out more dirt than filtering out. Yeah I think I read that some where. So I knew that the issue should resolve itself given another day or two. But I also realize that I stifled the filter last night. The thought running in my head was that there wasn't enough water flow for the filter to do its job properly and that the water was only going to become murkier day by day while the terracotta was cupped against the outtake spout. So I removed it, and a whole can of murkiness came out. Just wasn't my day. It wasn't evident right away, but after 5 minutes, the water really looked murkier. Just great, I thought, but now at least more water would be pushed through the filter. I was hoping against hope that it would clear up in an hour or two, but even when I was about to leave later that night, I still couldn't tell how much improvement, if any, there had been on water clarity. The only thing that helped was when the sun went down and the particles were not being side lit anymore.

Second issue was the excessive water flow. By removing the cup, the water current was great enough that the pretend leaves on the pretend tall, old tree were visibly swaying. It was pretty rough. And what I don't understand was why Sashi kept coming back to it. He would swim left with the current, travel time 1 second, then he would turn around and swim right, against the current, travel time 3 seconds. He would do this several times over. Soon as we left the pet store yesterday, I realized we forgot to buy an extra foam to baffle that spout, but I thought that by placing the tree close to the spout, it would spare the rest of the aquarium from turbulent waters. My unscientific estimate was that 60% of the aquarium held calm waters, while 40% were exposed to the high current. And this crazy fish of mine had nothing better to do than to swim in that 40%! Crazy fish...

Meanwhile, life outside the aquarium involved me helping GF with her essay. If we had finished early, I would have gone to the mall and bought a piece of filter foam to remedy the situation, solving both the high current and murky water, but there was a lot to proof read and in between, I couldn't stop watching Sashi. It was just too funny watching him do what he was doing. So no trip to the mall. I did make minute changes to the angle of the spout and placement of the big plant to achieve the calmest waters several times. And every time I dipped my hand in the tank, Sashi was right there supervising the whole operation. A little to the right, I could imagine him saying. Crazy fish.

When he wasn't running on his water treadmill, he was doing ziz zags on the two bamboo plants we had placed on the opposite end. For reasons that will be explained in the next journal, we had to split the bamboo apart--which is why you don't see it that way in the pictures--but initially we had them placed together to simulate a "bamboo forest look." Fan of Wuxia films and since bettas are Siamese, we thought, why not? In the days ahead, Sashi would cause us a certain amount of frustration, but this day everything seemed to be falling into place. Are all fishes this graceful? I knew I spent too much time staring at Sashi, but I was mesmerized by the way he navigated those tight turns. And when he made a mistake by bumping into a leaf, he would turn back, pause, pretend it didn't happen, then try again. As a dude, I try not to use the word cute too often, but if ever there was a situation that called for that word being used, this was it.

I don't know how these journals will end. I don't know when these journals will end. All I can say is that the entries onward will be darker in nature. So if you like happy endings, well, as I mentioned above, this day was the best we will have with our little guy. For those who wish to read on, the next entry will reveal the mystery surrounding Sashi's tattered tail.

***More veggies...this one took longer than I expected. Can hear birds chirping outside which is my cue to go to bed. I know 7 and 8 was supposed to be back to back, but in order to maintain a certain degree of quality, I'm going to have to call it a night. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Question of the Day: I know fishes sleep but how much sleep do they need for a healthy night's rest? I usually leave GF's house around midnight, then that house wakes up at starting at 6. Is that enough for the fish? He doesn't sleep whenever we are around, though what he does when were not around I dont know.


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

*The Road So Far...*
[cue in "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas]

It's been a week now writing these journals. I'd like to take a break here and reflect on the events of the days past. Also, this gives me a chance to read everything from start to finish and fill in some details that I missed.

A key moment in yesterday's journal that I forgot to mention was that the bait and switch tactic worked (that sounds morbid when the topic at hand is fishes...), Sashi ate the pellets. Fairly certain they are the Omega 1s. Seems to be the popular one round these parts. I suppose it helped too that the day before he was fasting so that must have helped his appetite. Bloodworms are now weekly deserts. He was given the 2 pellets at night. We were still concerned at the time about the lump on his belly which is why we didn't feed him anymore. If my theory is correct, this may have been our biggest blunder yet. No noticeable weight loss, but I'm starting to suspect that in the first week, he was underfed.

As for the noise that I was worried about in the kitchen, so far it hasn't been an issue. It helped that the seasons worked in our favour. Summer being the hottest, and the week we got him that was the hottest on record so far for the year, nobody in the house wanted to torture themselves by dabbling in the culinary arts. A lot of take outs and dine-ins so for the most part Sashi was spared much of the noise he would have endured if we got him a few weeks earlier from all the noise involved with cooking and washing. Eventually they will start to cook again in earnest, but for now Sashi has been given a chance to acclimate to his surroundings before experiencing decibels and vibrations in their full force once the pots and pans come out. I think the only time he was ever actually scared was on the second day that I mentioned. After that, it was all curiosity and attitude and water treadmills.

He'd prolly be dead by now if he had not slept during the week, but not I nor GF has ever actually witnessed him do it. Oh we tried. In the mornings, GF would walk slowly towards the kitchen as quietly as she can, but her peeking into the kitchen would prove useless as Sashi would already be awake. There was a time, I think it was the 3rd day when we came home from the concert, where we found him less active in the aquarium and he actually went to his terracotta and curled up like a dog. I guess that was the only time and as much as I wanted to enjoy the moment and watch him sleep, it was more important that we gave him his privacy.

Full Disclosure below

My apologies for the cheese factor involved with the intro, but after putting it there and playing that song on Youtube, it reinvigorated something in me to keep on writing these journals. I probably have as much fun writing these journals as you guys do in reading them, but after 7 entries in 7 days, they were becoming exhausting, and that was during the happy days. I'm dreading writing about the days ahead because they were so frustrating for both my GF and I. But I can't leave it here hanging like that, not after all the build up. So that song really helps me soldier on. I'm reminded that the word "adventure" is in the title somewhere, and adventures always have their ups and downs. You gotta take in the good along with the bad, as the saying goes. So wherever Sashi's story takes us, I'll do my best to chronicle. At the very least an update here and there.

For the time being, while this marks another delay in the publication of Day 8, I am formulating ideas in my head on how to make it work. May have to watch Fight Club tomorrow. Dark Comedy just might be the way to go.

_I'd like to introduce a new segment to the series, the Pictures and Comment section. It has come to my attention that the picture I linked a few posts above got all the hits, but quite a lot of you didn't have the opportunity to scroll right or left to view the other pics. No problem, as this part of the journals will showcase some of the pics I've taken, and this will also put an end to the "Question of the Day" segment as most of the readers here seem content with just the reading, not that there's anything wrong with that. This also gives me the opportunity to briefly describe the pic in greater detail and give you guys a better picture of the situation, no pun intended. The only thing I should mention is that while I don't have the time at the moment to go into detail about how these pictures were taken, the relevant settings can be found by following the original link where you will see details such as shutter speed and aperture (click "additional info). Ok so now that we know what's up, lets talk about this pic. A fish. Some black gravel. Blurry plants. Nothing really, until I honed in on the blue marble, and that's really what this picture is all about. Bad photography, since the marble is competing--and winning--the viewers attention. But I wanted to show this because those marbles were the sames ones in Sashi's previous tank, except there was way more of them, and stacked as they were as substrate, you can see how it was easy for things to slip underneath. Glad we went with gravel. Now it just acts as an accent. An afterthought. They were all rinsed (goodbye BB...) and ready to be put away. Glad we decided to add a few in._


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

I love your style in posting these journals! (Also love the little intro of the last one with Carry On my Wayward Son). 

Sashi sounds like quite a character, some of his antics reminds me of Merlin's, like thrashing in his cup when he's placed in it, being a bit of a nuisance when I'm trying to clean out his water, granted that's about where it stops since if it were up to Merlin he'd be in the largest tank possible and have it all to himself XD.

I do hope you keep writing about you, your GF, and Sashi's adventures, I've certainly enjoyed reading them and getting to see pictures of him!


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Thx BettaLover1313. He's pretty funny, in a Grumpy Old Men kind of way.

Week 1 || Day 2 || 82 Degrees

"Sashi: A Tale of Tattered Tails"

"He bit his tail!" said my GF for the second time, frustration and annoyance laced in her words. I was walking towards her place while on the phone. It all made sense. His ragged tail when we bought him, the sharp turns he would do in his tank which attracted his eye to his tail, the mystery of what he was up to in the early morning hours when left to his own devices.

Upon arrival, I saw the havoc that Sashi did to his tail fin. The top 3/4 of the upper portion of his tail was gone, clean right off, straight down to what's left of it at the bottom giving himself an L-shaped tail fin. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you the worlds first L-TAILED BETTA!!! GF didn't think that was funny.I believe "ugly" was the word she used. I had to admire Sashi's handiwork though. It was as though he had access to some really fine equipment because when I look at the vertical cut he did to himself, it was ruler straight.

We suspected it may have been from the filter, that the current was too strong causing him stress, so we turned it off and went to the mall to find foam. We found one, designed specifically for the tank that we have which baffled the filter outtake really well. We also almost came home with some real plants too, but decided against it at the last minute. Didn't want to risk infection. We did get a floating plastic log though.

After coming home and applying the foam to baffle, the tail biting was still hovering in our minds. It _was_ a sad blow, especially to my GF who wanted nothing more than to nurse Sashi back to good health, starting with his fins. We didn't know why he did it. Out of hunger, boredom, stress, lack of constancy in his aquariums...it could be any of these. For the time being we devised an ingenious way of punishing his tail biting behavior with the use of a mirror. It was decided that when we see him biting his tail, or do those tight turns in the corner which would bring his attention to his tail, we would bring up a mirror to stop this behavior.

The strategy had 3 things going for it. First is that it will distract him from considering biting his tail. Second, it will give him a reason to keep a bigger tail for intimidation purposes. Third, it was a form of punishment; his evil twin rival will only appear when he bites his tail.

Unfortunately, The Bay Of Pigs worked out better for the CIA better than this strategy did for Sashi. It didn't work out because we simply can't keep an eye on him for that long of a time, and he didn't do that behavior in front of us enough times for him to connect the idea that tail biting equals mirror dueling. With his personality, I actually wouldn't be surprised later on if he would bite his tail simply to make his rival appear.

On the internet we found plenty of information, but nothing really definitive. It could have been any of the factors I mentioned, or it could be something else entirely. Or it could be a case of "Crazy Fish Syndrome." Whatever the case, it was driving us nuts. Spent a whole day's worth of earnings on his aquarium and supplies and decorations, and this is the thanks that we get? Is it too much to ask to simply eat, sleep, and poop.

This once again sparked the long argument that I've had with GF about how much to feed. She was even more hesitant than ever to feed more than necessary now that he still had that bump near the end of his body. She feared it was constipation. We haven't seen any poop since moving him to new tank so I was just as clueless but I laid out my theories to GF. Sashi may be constipated so feeding him more would simply worsen the scenario, or he may be hungry which is why he is biting his tail. He was fasting two days ago, he's probably still hungry and if we fast him again to get rid of what may or may not be constipation, it was entirely possible that he will take another chunk out of what's left of his tail tomorrow.

What she said really made me sad. GF told me to take Sashi home.

From the very beginning GF and I butted heads on how to provide care for Sashi. We barely agreed on anything. Sashi was supposed to relax her during her busiest semester yet, and while Sashi did offer moments of serenity, more often than not we were arguing about what I think we should do against what she thinks we should do. It was a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen. But because it was her fish and her source of zen and relaxation and her idea to get one, I would almost always give in. The highlight of my aquarium career up to this point was when I convinced her on the "modestly priced" 5 gallon tank that we have now.

So when she told me to take Sashi home, I was stunned. I was sad. I was glad. This meant I was entitled to a thousand "I told you so." But I saw what it took out of her to say that. I couldn't do it, though not out of pity but simply for the fact that it wouldn't be logistically possible. My room is a mess, I play loud video games and loud music when I'm there, and nothing happens when I'm not. If I'm not at work, I'm at GF's house, or out hanging out, or out taking pictures. As bad as I think things are going in GF's house, Sashi wouldn't last the month at my place. Boredom and neglect would be his downfall.

I couldn't take her away from Sashi her for her own good and vice versa for Sashi's own good. We felt that Sashi needs consistency in his environment, something that we did poorly on. New aquarium, new toys, new filter, filter baffle two days later, new food, different amount of food/day, new dechlorinator, plants being rearranged frequently yesterday, it was a long list. At this point in time, we were also getting advice from helpful advice from helpful forum members (thx jenjen) who said that they barely see the lump, so we decided to risk the constipation in lieu of feeding more and more often to see if tail biting stops.

So with that figured out all that was left was for me to say my goodbye to Sashi and make my home. I placed my finger on his tank and said my farewells when he flared at me. Son on of a...I asked GF to do the same, maybe it was the light and he was seeing his reflection. GF placed her finger on the tank, Sashi followed but no flaring. I did it one more time, Sashi followed and flared. Son. Of. A. Fish. I spent a whole day's worth of earnings and this is the thanks I get? GF thought it was funny. I didn't think it was funny, nor did I think that her thinking it was funny was funny.

Good thing Sashi was staying at that house as I could have gone for sashimi right there and then.

_Picture taken below was taken simply for the composition. I don't do vertical shots too often but in this case, I can't think of a better way of framing the subjects. More importantly though is that this was where I first witnessed Sashi taking a more than healthy interest in his tail a day ago. I noticed that when he was inside of those petals, much lower than what is depicted here, instead of continuing on his path, he would instead turn around and go the other way, which would bring him face to face with his tail. He never bit it here, and he didn't do this behavior again at this location. No, he would do that in the bamboo forest when we weren't around._


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Week 1 || Day 3 || 80 Degrees

"Sashi: The Veil Tail who wants to be Crescent-Moon"

Sashi strikes again. While we were away he took it upon himself to give himself another haircut. He snipped the bottom part I suppose to make everything look even, then he snipped in a crude arc through the middle portion for that crescent look. When we first got him, I noticed that nearly half his total length was comprised of his tail fin. Not the case now.

Was not what we wanted to wake up too. At this point we decided to rearrange the plants in the tank so that Sashi wouldn't have any place where he would turn around sharply and see his tail. We were hoping that the only reason he bit it is out of remembering that that was what he used to do in the pet store. Now that he was in a bigger tank, we really didn't see how he could be sad or stressed or bored. So the bamboo forest had to be split up, one on each side. We also wanted to place the big red plant in the middle but couldn't because the upper branches were needed to help keep the foam from being ejected from the outtake spout. The bottom area of this place was also a known U-turn area for Sashi.

_Pic below is how everything ended up. Not my first choice but we were hoping it would stop the tail biting. This view also provides me a cheap version of X-ray during the day as the backdrop is the giant sliding door on the other side which allows me to see better the condition of his fins and water quality. This was over a week ago, my days may have been mixed up. In here if you look closely you will see that he still has the L tail haircut_


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## MJ1911 (Jun 30, 2013)

Week 1 || Day 4 || 80 Degrees

"Sashi: The Veil Tail who wants to be Split Tail"

Sashi strikes again! Apparently not satisfied with his last two self modifications, he decided to go deeper into his tail for a more pronounced split. I'm at a loss. I moved the red plant nearer the center, mostly angular changes becasue we needed it to wedge the foam in place. Besides that, I really didn't know what else could be causing him to do this. He wouldn't go out of his way to bite it, only when turning sharply, then he would see his tail, assess it's length, then I don't know what else goes through the tiny mind of his before he decides on his self mutilation escapades.

We bought him a nice home, we keep it clean. If he wants to bite his tail, well, good for him. Hope he has a good health care plan cuz I'm broke from buying all of his equipment.

In some ways though, I had to respect his decisions, even though I didn't agree with it. In racing, we call it drag. Excess downforce that slows the car down. If he was making these modifications to allow him to swim with greater ease, well that is something that I could understand.

His behaviour was also taking a turn for the worse. He would flare at me when I placed my finger on the tank, no matter what time of day, and he would always be impatient when it came to feeding time. The impatience at dinner time I could understand, but the flaring...that's just rude. Well, it was cool in a way, saves me the trouble of having to teach him that, but it's the principle that bothers me. You don't bite the hand that feeds. It really bummed me out and made me less attentive to Sashi. Why shower all these displays of affection when he wasn't returning them. Not my style.

However, on my way home I thought about my attitude towards our unruly fish. I realize I was being unfair to him. Here was a creature of instinct, bred for centuries to be as ferocious as ferocious can be. He was only behaving in the manner that we programmed him too. With that figured out, I decided it was pointless to hold any grudges against our little guy. He'll settle down eventually, and if not, we'll just have to accept him for who he is...Sashimi! :twisted:

_This pic was marks the 2nd and last time I would take photos of him in a creative capacity (4 or so days later, they would be daytime, medical oriented pics). For the tail biting reasons, we decided not to put the camera that close to him for the time being lest it cause him stress. However, I had to try one more thing. In the 1st batch of photos, I noticed that I still had some leeway in terms of ISO (film sensitivity) so I cranked it up, which resulted in being able to capture high action moments. Love this picture because it was as he was turning around. His head was already stationary but tail fin was still in motion. Photographers only have one trick up their sleeve to evoke a sense of motion in their photographs, and that's through motion blur, and there is just the right amount in his tail for this pic to work. It also helped that he gave them a tattered look, very 'Dragonball Z I just went 12 rounds against Frieza' look._


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