# First Betta Adventure



## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

I have had Earl for about a month now, and I decided to do a journal on him! Because I thought it would be fun..

I got Earl from a summer camp I attended. It was an Animal Behavior camp, so we were using four male bettas to watch their behavior against each other. The teacher needed to find homes for all of them so I got one! He is a red crowntail betta, and she got him from PetSupplies Plus. 

Currently he is in a large, 1.5 gallon, what is technically a vase, but it's large and rounded. He has a Tropica Fern, the little plastic cup he came in(Until we get him a cave) and a plastic plant(which is not cutting his fins.). Soon he will hopefully be getting a 5 gallon, SQUARE tank.

Shortly after I got him his fins started curling at the tips, I read that it may just be genetic, since many pet stores don't have good breeders. 

I've cleaned his tank once in the month since I got him, only out of the fear that if I did it wrong I'd kill him. Now I plan to do it once, or twice a week.

He has a funny personality. He will attack food from my finger to get it and eat it. When I put my finger to the glass he will come slowly, flaring up, and then he will run off. He likes to act bigger then he is, but I know he loves me. He just likes to act tough. ^-^ I like to sit next to him, and when I do this he will swim around, doing his own thing. But every now and again he will come and look at me, almost like checking to make sure I'm still there.


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## TiffanyP (Jun 29, 2013)

The fin curling could also be from hard water - it's just an appearance issue and nothing to worry about really  Glad to hear you got him home where he'll be taken care of. Post a picture next time, I'd love to see what he looks like


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

I can add pictures since I figured out how with my phone! All of them are rather dark, and he's quite skittish with the camera.(Which makes his mommy sad because she is a complete photography nerd!) Sorry!

(Not sure how to do captions on any but the first pic..help? ^-^')

Him shortly after bringing him homeI do think he's grown a bit since this day!)


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

And here is one more for now! More recentI think you can see the minor curling on this one.)


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

I took a light to Earl's tank to try and get his coloring better, so I thought I'd post the best picture:


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Earl is very handsome!


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## Jdillio1988 (Aug 27, 2013)

I have my Betta, Hatori Hanzo, next to my bed, and when I sit on my laptop he comes over and stares at me also. Then when i look at him, he turns and swims away really fast!!! LOL! I tell my boyfriend that he plays games with me.....haha! Earl sounds awesome!


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

So, just a little update on Earl since I haven't been on in awhile.

I moved him recently. So that he was further from the floor, 3 hyper dogs, and 3 hyper children, I worried for his safety! But I ended up breaking one of the jars I hold water conditioned in and I'm out of water conditioner so I gotta get that..

My birthday was Sept. 6th, I turned 15, and for my birthday I got a 500mm lens. It's WONDERFUL for taking pictures of Earl with! I can put it far enough away to where he doesn't run away but close enough so he comes to investigate!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm looking forward to some pics taken with the new camera.


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

dramaqueen said:


> I'm looking forward to some pics taken with the new camera.


Currently I'm unable to get GOOD pictures off my camera, as my computer is broken.. But I can post a picture of a picture! Haha.


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

So I will soon be posting some pictures of Earl. I 'stole'(Borrowed) one of the computers in the house haha. I'm slightly concerned, he has a gray spot on his chin/top chest area and I don't know if that's always been there, or if he lost color. and in none of the recent pictures I can see...I'm gonna keep an eye on it. He's currently in a jar, chilling with me why his tank heats up. I use this time to check him over since he's a scaredy butt.


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

So, I have no idea how to work this computer. So here are the ones I THINK are the best of the bunch.. I tried to pick the ones that showed his true colors the best. Although none of the pictures can really catch the fact the that the part of his fins that connect to his body in the right lighting get a blue glow to them.

Or not? The picture attachment thing keeps getting an error.  Will add them later!


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## TiffanyP (Jun 29, 2013)

You'll probably have to resize them to make them smaller. Another option is to upload them to another site, like photobucket or tinypic, and then post the links here


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

TiffanyP said:


> You'll probably have to resize them to make them smaller. Another option is to upload them to another site, like photobucket or tinypic, and then post the links here


Thanks! I've never actually posted pictures with the computer for this site haha.


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

Yup that failed. They were wayyy to big.

Sorry this one is so small, I wanted it to be my avatar.


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

OKAY I fixed I think.























































Although the computer KILLED the quality.... I swear they looked amazing on the camera. 

Also, although I don't think you can see it in these pictures, I found out my little betta has light blue eyes. ^-^


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

So Earl has recently been moved!

Not very far...

My dad got me a CUBED(YAY.) 1.5 gallon tank(Not much size difference, but his image isn't distorted now.)!! He got it last night but I just set it up today.

He got a new cave, and some new plants. And he's honestly loving it. It has a filter now too.(Which has mommy worried...but he seems to not care.) Watching him play around in this tank is the most wonderful thing ever. I watched him go from being stressed and anxious, to exploring. I swear he's been around the tank like 553625629657 times! He goes up and down the plants, pokes his head out of the cave, and I even saw him sleeping on one of the plant leafs!(Although he moved before I could snap a picture. D He's just adorable. 

I love his face. I'm serious, I love it! He likes to stare at me and just open and close his mouth.

Yesterday I cleaned his tank(Before I found out dad got me a new one..) and when I put him in there, I had forgotten I had planned on feeding him after I cleaned it! But Earl made sure to remind me. He sat there and stared at me opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, then it clicked in my head. I hadn't fed him yet!

He is the cutest little fish ever..


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

Okay last update(Hopefully) today...

I'm sitting on my computer, playing a game, when I look over..... Earl is just sitting there. With his mouth WIDDEEE open. Until I looked at me, then he was like, OHP RUN AWAY. It wasn't even the normal open, it was basically an O...


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## AnimalLov3 (Aug 26, 2013)

Just a little update on Earl:

9/25/14: Earl is being a confident little bubble butt. He actually flared at my pencil without running away! I've never had him flare and NOT flee before. He really hates my pencil for some reason. 

I got some really good pictures on my iPhone, I'm proud of them. I changed out his little cave thing for a pirate chest hiding spot a friend got me for my birthday. I had to change it out because Earl decided it would be a PERFECT idea to rub his head along the cave! Therefore he got a small cut on his head. *shakes head* His skin was hanging off for a while(That sounds a lot worse then it was. I swear it was really small.) and I was fearful that he had external parasites...I was wrongggg haha.. ^-^' He's doing pretty good! Still battling a case of minor fin rot I think, it doesn't seem to be getting worse but it's also not going away. Soon he will HOPEFULLY have 2 moss balls!!!  By the second/third week in October hopefully. *crosses fingers*


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