# Darcy's Fintastic Adventure



## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

I've been wanting to start a journal for a while now, decided now was a good time to do it!
I got my first betta last Summer, July 2016. I'd been begging for a pet since I was 3 but my parents aren't big animal people and neither is my sister. in 2015, I realized how pretty bettas were and started asking if I could get one. The answer was still a solid no...
But, I was determined and refused to give up. Eventually, after asking and asking and pleading and begging, my mom said "maybe".
This was already a huge step up for me. For 11 years it'd been "NO" and now I had a 'maybe'! I took this opportunity to start seeing what I needed for me betta, how to acre for them, how much money I would need to save up...
Finally, about a week later, I brought my mom a sheet full of things bettas needed and she said she was happy to see that I was researching this and taking matters into my own hands and she had no problem with it as long as my dad was ok with it.
At this point I was so happy I went crazy. I was pacing around the house waiting for my dad to get home from work, and when he did, I instantly started screaming about how "MOM SAID I COULD GET A BETTA SO CAN I, CAN I?! PLEASE!!!!"
Sadly, my dad said "What? No."
I was so sad...
Later that night, my parents came in my bedroom and said that they'd talked it over and agreed that if I could keep my room clean for 6 months and show enough maturity to have a pet, I could get one.
So I did. My room was crazily clean... 
Anyways, after 6 months, the day came, we went to PetSmart!!!!
Now, for the past 3 weeks I had my eye on a gorgeous Male VT. The day I saw him, I decided "You're going to be mine and your name is Jim". That was that.
No one had taken him home after all that time, so that night, I picked him up and told him "This is it, sweetie, you're coming home with me!!!"
To be honest, I did not do enough research... This story gets kinda sad now...
So my mom had bettas as a kid but they were always taught that they don't need heaters, filters, a big tank, etc...
I didn't know this was wrong, I just thought "Well of course mom knows what she's talking about..."
So I pretty much followed her around the store while she said "We need this and this and this..."
We ended up buying the following:
•One gallon tank (came with a filter)
•A plastic plant
•Gravel
•TopFin Betta Pellets
•ZooMed Water Conditioner
Basically, we bought cheap stuff...
And yeah, the pellets and conditioner sucked... D: Oops.
But anyways, we brought him home, put him in the tank, fed him, etc...
He wouldn't eat. Course, I thought "ok he's not hungry" and didn't worry about it.
3 weeks later... The fish hasn't eaten a single pellet in 3 weeks. He just lays on the bottom of his tank with clamped fins and looking sickly. At this point I'd purchased a leaf hammock for him, though he didn't use it. I also must admit I never did water changes or took out uneaten food...
I really did not know anything about bettas...  I feel pretty bad about that now...
A couple days later, I woke up to find Jim the Fish impaled in his plastic plant... Still have no idea how that happened...
Either way, I took awful care of him :'(


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

But, the title is "DARCY'S Fintastic Adventure" so enough about Jim, let's move on to Darcy!

A few days after Jim died, I was out shopping with my dad and asked if we could go into PetSmart. He said we could, but quickly. I instantly ran back to the fish section and saw this gorgeous and ADORABLE little baby VT female.
I fell in love...
Plus, she has blue fins which is my fav. color 
But then, my dad points out a baby VT female with purple fins... I thought she was cute, too, but decided she wasn't the one for me.
So, long story short, I took Darcy home with me. (that was September 24th, 2016 which is her "Gotcha Day" )
When I got home, my sister thought she was tiny and cute, my mom laughed and said she looked like a little speck of a fish. XD
Either way, we got the tank set up, with one gallon and one plastic plant and leaf hammock. When we put Darcy in, my sister and I just sat there and watched her swim around for the next 20 minutes...  
I asked my family what I should name her. After several suggestions, she was named. Her full name is Princess Darcy Cupcake Sugar Sprinkles the First.
Or, ya know, just Darcy... ;P
Baby Darcy lived in the one gallon tank with no water changes for a few months, I'm actually kinda surprised but happy she didn't die... (don't worry, my betta care gets better! I learned!)

(more coming! Here's a pic of baby Darcy...)


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

A couple weeks before Christmas, I decided I wanted to buy something for my little Princess. My dad and I went out and bought a small stocking to hang under her tank, a blue plastic plant, and freeze dried bloodworms.
After Christmas, nothing much changed...
I still didn't do water changes or test the water (didn't know I had to...) and I also didn't remove any waste or uneaten food (not that she left any food uneaten XD)
March 15th 2017, I go into my bedroom and find my little fish and see her floating on her side at the top, bobbing up and down in the filter current. I totally freaked out and assumed she was dead. I got a cup and fished her out, then I saw her splash around and was so thankful she was alive. 
I had no idea what to do, so I kept her in the cup and did some research. Found out it was SBD and fed her a frozen, thawed out, peeled pea. She greedily ate it all and within an hour was back to swimming around happily like nothing had ever happened...
At this point she had no filter, and I found out she needed one. I had no idea bettas needed filters.... stupid me...
Since the dishwasher was running and the counter there was warm, we microwaved her tank water and put her back in her tank, placing the tank on the warm counter. We also left her lights on all night to help keep it warm.
(Btw at this point I also had never gotten her water changed because I didn;t know about ammonia or nitrates or anything... yeah, I was a bad fish mother....)
So she made it through the night, yay! and we moved her tank back to my bedroom. 
My mom and I went out shopping and bought her a 10 watt under gravel heater and a floating thermometer.
She instantly seemed much happier, and it made me happy so see her happy.
(adding in the heater was probably the first water change I did because I had to take out water and add in new water do it)


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

(more coming, going to bed now!)


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## CaptByMoonlight (Mar 5, 2017)

Subbing can't wait to hear about her 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

So, after I got the heater, not much else changed. She just stayed in the one gallon and everything was normal and she seemed quite happy 

April 1st 2017:
I buy a ghost shrimp at PetSmart, name him Sherwin, and place him in Darcy's tank. She doesn't seem to care about his existence and all and all leave each other alone.
A couple days later, he decides to sleep the night in her leaf hammock. This made Darcy mad, can't say I blame her, so she bit his leg off. I take out Sherwin, and call my friend with two bettas and an extra empty tank. I asked her if she'd be interested in having a ghost shrimp, and she was. So she came over with one of those cups that you get bettas in at pet stores, and put him in the cup with some of the tank water. (he is still living there today and is a happy shrimp!)

April 5th 2017:
My dad and I go to PetSmart to "look" and get her water tested XD... My dad finds a 2.5 gallon National Geographic tank on a great sale. After talking to my mom and doing some research on his phone while I look at the fish, he agrees to buy it for me (yay dad! <3 ). We also purchased better water conditioner because the ZooMed brand sucks  Currently I use the Aqueon Condition, though when that runs out I'll most likely purchase Seachem Prime.
We take the tank home, my mom and I measure out all the water, condition it, add in the filter, heater, gravel, and her two plastic plants. When we put her in, she goes crazy exploring and is constantly darting around her tank (she still is a crazy hyper fish, hahaha!). I fed her and went to bed, satisfied that she was happy and healthy.


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

April 6th 2017:
We go BACK to PetSmart and get her water tested. We also buy another bottle of water conditioner, and Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets  (which she LOVES!!!)

I don't remember exactly when I get the terra cotta pot, (just a couple days later.... around April 8th) but she didn't seem to like it and I didn't either. So I took it out, and looked for something new.

April 12th 2017:
My sister takes me shopping and I convince her to go to PetSmart. ;P (gotta love older siblings XD) Now I must give my sister all the credit, she found these amazing things, not me. I just paid for them... Lol! I knew I wanted to get live plants, and my sister found these super healthy looking Water Wisteria! It says there's 2 in there, which isn't too bad for $7, I thought. So we got that. Then she finds a cute blue betta cave for $8. How could I say no to that... We check it over for sharp edges, find none, and buy it.
When we get home, I take the plants out and find out theres 5 plants in there! Yesssss!  We set up the empty one gallon tank, using some of Darcy's current tank water. (Yep, I did a water change! Yay me XD At this point I had just learned that I should be doing water changes, oops... Better late than never?...)

April 16th 2017:
Planted the Water Wisteria, and Darcy loves it! She likes darting in and out of it, and sleeping in it.

April 26th 2017:
Not much else has changed! I've been doing water changes now that I know I need to, check her over often for illness, and so far she's been healthy and happy 
Currently saving up money for a better heater, gravel vacuum, and water test kit!


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

Here are some recent pictures 
Also, she'll swim through a hoop for food! hehehe, enjoy!


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

Went to PetSmart today and bought a gravel vacuum and an ammonia test kit! Planning on getting a test kit for other things as soon as I have the $$ 

She seems quite happy with her newly vacuumed gravel, and I am too.

Though the Water Wisteria has been getting brown spots and its leaves are falling off... :O


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## CaptByMoonlight (Mar 5, 2017)

Yay Darcy!

On that note if this is the water wisteria that I think it is, are you getting any new growth at all? And are all the leaves reacting like this or is just a few?

From your description I'm thinking a potassium deficiency however it could just be shock.

Here is a quick guide to deficiencies in plants.









If you have any questions feel free to hit me up, all the best!


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

Phew. I've been too busy to journal lately!
Well, after a couple of weeks of trimming my plants and lots of TLC, the Water Wisteria is doing great and I've had no problems 
Though the algae is crazy :O
My rocks get green, Darcy's betta cave gets green and black algae on it, the filter gets algae... Ahhhhh!
Oh well, it makes it look natural, I guess...
Maybe I should get a snail.... Hmm...


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

Oh my, it's been a while since I've written :O
So the algae is still crazy, but I scrub the glass often enough to keep it at bay, no snail yet, still not sure if I'll really get one...
Also, the Water Wisteria has been doing much better! It's still pretty tiny, but it's grown a couple inches and is nice and green and healthy!

Darcy had a "play date" with my friends Dumbo HM betta, Florence, and that didn't end well...
I know what you're thinking! And NOOOOO they were not in the same tank! XD
He was on a shelf under her 
Anyways, I was watching over him for the night because my friend was super busy and couldn't take care of her ill fish, but he ended up dying in my bedroom, anyways... Poor lil guy...
Granted, he lived in a one gallon bowl with no filter/heater and no water changes and owners who didn't seem to care too much until he got sick, then she really cared...
I guess the good news is she may be finally realizes that I was right and bettas DO need heaters and all that. We're about to go shopping and I'm going to suggest we go into PetSmart, hopefully I can convince her to get a nice tank before she buys another betta... 

Now back to Darcy,
A couple weeks ago, I noticed Darcy's fin was pin-holeing! :O
I did a water change twice that week, no medicines involved. After a week, the holes hadn't changed. No worse, but no better. 
So I started treating her with melafix on Sunday. So far there's been no change... :/
I'm not sure what's up with that, but at least she's still swimming around and eating!
(If you have any comments or suggestions on how to help her, please post on my thread for this topic, not here on my journal! Thx!)


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## AmazingBettas (Feb 28, 2017)

Well, so far still not much change with Darcy's fin holes. Though, on the bright side, the fuzz that's been on her head for 3 months has finally started selling and is coming off!
I posed a thread about it but didn't get a lot of help or answers. Thankfully, now, a few months later, this medicine is healing her. I'm just glad it didn't kill her first...


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