# MP's Betta Life



## MermaidPusheen (Aug 1, 2017)

I am a brand-new betta mom, and I found this great community when I inevitably hit a rough patch about a month in, and I love the idea of journaling my journey on this new adventure!

About me: I am married with 3 teenagers and a spoiled almost-tween, we'll call her Tweeny. Tweeny has been begging us for a dog for a while now, but we live in an apartment and have an elderly cat that I don't want to stress out, so we compromised and got her a fish. 

At first "Swimmy" was housed in one of these. I knew 1.5 gallons was not going to be big enough long-term, but I frankly wanted to see if she would survive more than a week before I invested too heavily in accessories. So I read a few betta care guides, and took Tweeny to the Petsmart with a list in hand. I knew we couldn't use the big stones and scratchy cheap plant that came with the kit, so we picked up some silk plants, red glass pebbles, conditioner, food, heater, thermometer, and the ugliest fish in the whole store. Seriously. Shelves full of flashy colorful males, and she fixates on this tiny, tadpole-looking grey thing floating sadly in a cup labeled "Female Veiltail." I didn't see any tail, or fins to speak of.

Home we go and set up the little tank. I don't have any pictures of it, sadly, but I put a lot of work into it. First I sanded down any rough edges on the silk plant stems, then when I realized they were far too tall for the tank, I cut off the tops. I had 4 loose leaves which I sewed together into a fan shape and hung from the lid so she'd have a nice place to hide.

Y'all. She. LOVED. IT. I have never seen such a transformation in an animal. Overnight she changed into a different fish. Dull grey turned into shimmery silver/lavender. She bloomed like a flower with these fan-shaped fins and tail. She quickly learned to recognize Tweeny and me (we took turns feeding so she would bond with both). She was suddenly this busy, active little thing, patrolling every nook and cranny of her new space and dancing around excitedly whenever anyone was near. I would feed her soaked pellets and she would nip them right from my fingertip, no fear at all. 

(On a side note, we were pretty sure she was a male for a few days because she started blowing bubbles. Not nests, exactly, but most of the info on the web said only males engage in this behavior, and it was hard to tell from her appearance, especially since I didn't know how old she was. We went back and forth for a few weeks, Tweeny declared her as transgender, but eventually she stopped blowing bubbles, and a visible egg spot appeared.)

I fell HARD. My husband would laugh at how obsessed I was getting. Quickly I realized I was going to have to step up my game in order to give her the best life possible. She is still very tiny (probably no more than an inch from tip to tail) and had plenty of room, but I wanted a roomier tank (the first one is pitcher-shaped, taller than long) and a filtered system. As I was looking at tanks, the oldest child, who had already moved out although he is only 19, decided to move back in so he could go to college. Unbeknownst to me, he had "inherited" a male betta, Ray, from a friend almost a year ago, and was keeping him in a similar setup. I decided to get a 5-gallon tank and divide it so each would have 2.5 gallons. At this point I officially renamed them Sushi and Wasabi, although we still sometimes call them their original names, especially Tweeny who chose Swimmy. She is not a good namer of things.

I got Sushi settled in on her side before Wasabi arrived, and it's a good thing, because she found a way to squeeze past the divider towards the bottom of the tank on the front side. I wedged a wooden chopstick in the gap so she couldn't get through, but she remembered and kept swimming from the top, where she could still just see through to the other side, to the bottom where she kept trying to get through. When I was sure it was secure, I put Wasabi in his side. 

We don't know how old Wasabi is, but he is much bigger, probably 1.5 inches just body length, a beautiful deep blue with light aqua iridescence. I haven't figured out his type yet, maybe you guys can help me (pictures below). He is much calmer than Sushi. When I put her in the new tank, she went nuts exploring everything. Filter even on the lowest setting was generating quite a bit of current, and I was worried how that would affect her. I put her on the side with the filter because I knew Wasabi had bigger fins that might act as sails, and it was a good call. I tried to baffle the current somewhat by placing a large wall of feathery plants in front of it, and this little goofball kept going behind them on purpose, then inching up until the current caught her and tumbled her a bit. She didn't appear to be injured and there were plenty of places she could go to rest, including a tiny ceramic owl pot that I had turned sideways to act as a cave. (Side note #2: Every single "hide" that I have seen at Petsmart and Walmart is ridiculously rough inside. They do know that the fish are supposed to go in them, right? They would have road rash after 5 minutes!) I had a sponge thing coming in the mail that I was going to stick on the nozzle but she looked ok for the time being. Now Wasabi, he acted entirely different. When he first got in the new tank, he just froze for a few seconds, getting his bearings, then slowly, methodically swam around and inspected his new home. Immediately he took a liking to the floating  jellyfish toy, getting up in it, and then resting on top, still his go-to nap spot. 

When they each realized they had a neighbor, the craziness started. They could see each other somewhat through the mesh divider, but also there was that tiny gap at the top of the front edge. The first two days were spent at that gap, flaring like crazy. I was worried the poor things would exhaust themselves, so I tried rearranging the plants to make it harder to get at the gap. Didn't work; they would get in the plants and continue their staring/flaring contest, or just do it at the mesh. Wasabi was stressed. He was antsy about anyone who came up to the tank, and just seemed restless. Plus he went off his pellets, and would only eat bloodworms. Sushi still wanted the pellets, but she kept losing them to the filter as she wasn't accustomed to eating in a current. The sponge arrived and solved a few problems. Sushi could now eat her pellets in peace without them being swept away, and I moved the big wall of feathers to the divider, and actually sewed them to the mesh with fishing line so she couldn't get behind. Now they can't see each other, seem to have forgotten the other even exists, and after a few days of fasting Wasabi is back to munching up his pellets happily.

The sponge fell off the filter nozzle the other day, and I decided not to put it back on. There is a tall leafy plant in that corner now which is doing an adequate job of curbing the current, Sushi is having no issues eating, and I had started to notice that the circulation was not adequate. Even on her side the surface looked scummy, and I was worried it wasn't doing anything for Wasabi at all. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, here are some pictures! 1. The tank before Wasabi came home. 2 and 3. Sushi (doesn't do her colors justice!). 4 and 5. Wasabi (with his jellyfish).


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## MermaidPusheen (Aug 1, 2017)

Wasabi made a little bubble nest! My son tells me he used to make big ones. He's certainly settling in much better. I noticed that he will interact much more, doesn't mind being touched (I know, I know) and he's eating much faster than even a few days ago. Unfortunately I found the bubble nest right before going in with my new gravel vac, and disturbed it. The vacuum worked great, and the fish didn't seem to mind it. They were curious, but not too scared. I realized yesterday that I never got a new thermometer for the tank, and the one I had on the old one was one of those stick-on kinds. I tried to take it off but destroyed it. Oops. I think I'm going to get a floating one, so I can move it around and make sure Wasabi's side is warm enough. I put the heater in the compartment with the filter pump, so it's pumping out warm water, but I'm still concerned about circulation.

With both fishies eating like champs, I've started giving them bloodworms as treats again, much to everyone's delight.


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## Stephcat (Jun 20, 2017)

I love your owl pots! Where did you get them?


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## MermaidPusheen (Aug 1, 2017)

https://www.amazon.com/Ceramic-Succ...=UTF8&qid=1502134187&sr=8-4&keywords=owl+pots It's a set of 6, and they are super cute! I bought them for succulents, which all died, so I repurposed them when I was unable to find a cave that was smooth enough. They are exactly the right size for a betta.


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## McLareN (Aug 1, 2017)

All I wanna say is "Swimmy", that's Gold.

It's seems Swimmy (did he get renamed?) & Wasabi & the other guy... lol your post is so long sry
has gotten you through the 'rough spot' too, yes?
They are very therapeutic


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## MermaidPusheen (Aug 1, 2017)

Ok quick story about the name Swimmy (yes, she got renamed to Sushi). When I told my family what Tweeny had named her new fish, my sister told me about her friends' kid, who names all of his toys according to their characteristics, like a bear named Fuzzy. He has a humpbacked whale toy named Humpy, and a toy rhino named, you guessed it, Horny.


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## MermaidPusheen (Aug 1, 2017)

So, after a discussion about Wasabi yesterday in another thread, it seems the poor bugger has some fin damage. I've never seen him bite, but I don't know much about his life before a few weeks ago. I know he was kept in an unfiltered, unheated bowl without proper water changes, so my mission now is to keep his water clean and warm. 

I've been worried that his side of the tank is not getting as much heat, since the heater is in the filter compartment all the way on the other side, but I haven't been able to get up to the store to get a good thermometer yet. This morning I was doing a water change (I did about 50% on Sunday, and today another 50%) and I decided to put the under-gravel heater from Sushi's old 1.5 gallon on Wasabi's side. That way he is getting plenty of heat, and since the other heater shuts off at 81 degrees, it won't get too high. Also the tank is in an air-conditioned part of the house so I'm not worried about overheating. I'm still going to pick up a thermometer (probably tomorrow) just so I can be sure.

Here's some pics of Wasabi's fins, and the current tank setup:


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