A forbidden love... (Betta and the prune)

Dear Faith,

This is a funny story that I wanted to share:

I have a single blue crowntail male betta named Indy in a 12-gallon tank with four mollies. I chose him to live in my community tank because he has a very mellow personality; he swims around and looks handsome, but he is never aggressive and almost never flares.

His tank rests on my desk, and one day I was enjoying a snack of prunes while doing my homework. The box of prunes had a big picture of a prune on the front. I placed the box next to the tank when I was done and continued working.

When I looked back over, Indy was in full bloom: flaring, dancing, and blowing bubbles--for the picture of the prune! He even chased the other fish away from it, staunchly defending his love from the marauding Mollies in his first ever
act of aggression.

Needless to say, their forbidden love was not to last. Eventually I ran out of prunes and threw the box away, and poor Indy never did figure out why the prune failed to return his affection...but, you live and learn, as they say!

Thanks for reading,

--Rattify

Dear Faith,

Here is a very funny story about my betta that I wanted to share.

I have one male betta called Charlie in a five gallon tank. He is my first ever betta and is a great friend. Anyway, about a week ago I considered putting some small fish in with Charlie as "friends". I have been told that plain-looking guppies make good tankmates for bettas so I found some and put one in to test this theory.

Well, as soon as Charlie noticed the tiny fish, he began to chase it. Then the guppy hid under one of the two large, glass decorative stones in the tank. Suddenly, due to the curving glass, Mr. Guppy looks HUGE and at least six times it's size. Seeing the guppy hide under the rock, Charlie was over there in a flash, only to find the guppy's huge, gaping mouth staring back at him. I felt quite sorry for Charlie, he looked terrified! But my pity soon wore off when Mr. Guppy
came out from behind the rock and became lunch. R.I.P Mr. Guppy...

Thanks for reading, Prue.

Footnotes from Faith: (Moralities of this story: a)- size DOES matter LOL  b)- don't put guppies in with your bettas, unless they are BIG! Otherwise they will end up being lunch :((... Poor Mr. Guppy :(( ...

I have this poor old mutt betta from a LPS..........he's not handsome but he was stuck in a cup and that's enough to get me to buy them some days. (I have stopped visiting LPS's or the fish dept. in Mega stores cause my heart strings get tugged and that's one way I ended up with 30 bettas...)

ANYWAY.....Hosea got sick. He was my first success story at healing a fish. For 3 weeks more and more of his fins were at the bottom of the bowl, he was pale and he wouldn't eat. Armed with all the info this site provides........
I decided he had fin rot and treated him. And treated him..........and fussed over him.... and worried when he still wouldn't eat. Then finally, one evening, he turned a corner. He perked up and started to look interested in life again. True, he had no fins left and he never was handsome to begin with, but I was ecstatic when he ate a little bit! You'd thought I had won the lottery. 

Well.........I went about my evening business and when I came back into the sick fish room (aka the bathroom) to use the facilities, I looked over and he was gone. He was so recovered, he leapt for joy evidently and he was lying on the counter. I don't know for how long. I scooped him up and THREW him back in his bowl.
After a bit, he righted himself and swam around.

A year later.........with regrown fins........he's still swimming around. Moral of the story: don't give up!
I could write volumes about my bettas........they all have such different personalities. I love them all, but Hosea has a special place in my heart.

My first male betta, whom i named Patrick, will eat almost anything.  Once i got him to eat a 7+ year old gold fish flake (although he did spit it out, but then ate the falling crums), but that is another story :).  One day when i was reading a feeding article on this website (go faith!), i read about feeding the insides of peas to bettas. So, the next time i fed my fish, i took a pea out of my freezer and warmed it up.  Then taking the miniscule piece of pea and cutting it in half, i took it in the tweezers that i use to feed my fish and put it in Patrick's tank.  Patrick came over and yanked it around until I let go of it, then he carried the now seemingly large pea piece with him and swam to the bottom.  He must have sat there with that pea for at least ten minutes in his mouth, most likely not sure what to do with it.  Once he lost interest in it i fished it out of the tank and cut it into another half. He did the same thing, only put in a little more effort to try to eat it.  When he once again lost interest in it, i fished it out again and cut it into another half, and i was positive that it would easily fit into his mouth.  Finally being able to put the pea completely into his mouth, he joyfully ate it.

Caitlyn

I have three male kids, in three separate tanks.  I've been "training" all three of my boys, Alpha, Gamma, and Delta (the baby) to take food from my finger.  I found that it was the only way to get Alpha and Gamma to eat frozen bloodworms.  They are pet store Bettas, with long, beautiful veil-tail fins, and are used to looking on the surface of the water for
their food...so, if the bloodworm sinks, they don't recognize it as "food."  I tried tweezers and toothpicks to hold the bloodworms at the surface, but they are both afraid of those implements.  They don't recognize them.  They ~do,~ however, recognize my finger, and also know that my finger is a good thing to bite, if they feel like it!  LOL!  No
"finger fear" for them!  (Alpha actually likes being pet on his dorsal side!  And all three boys love attention...they'll swim up to me to "talk!")

At first, the two "big boys" from the pet store would only take the bloodworms under certain circumstances:  Alpha had to have a long, dangly one that sort of "hung off" of my finger, and looked like a worm.  And Gamma didn't care what it looked like, but it had to float. (And here am I, every night, looking through the bloodworms for a "long" one and a "floater," so that my spoiled kids can be happy!)

Delta, who's nickname is "Charlie," is a different case.  I got him from Faith, and he is a "pedigreed" Betta, if you will.  
Delta ~always~ had a wonderful personality, and was never afraid of hands!  After bringing him home, it took him awhile to get used to hisnew surroundings, but now, he loves to hide in his plant, and he loves to hang out in his toy...it's a tunnel...and watch the world go by! He's fast, too!  He darts around, sometimes, just for fun, and he's just a blue blur!  (Could he be a fish superhero?  Sneaking out of the house to fight crime while we're not looking?  "The Blue Blur Is On The Way!"!).  Sometimes, while eating, or searching for things to eat, he falls asleep with his head/face between a couple of marbles.  He'll nap there for awhile, wake up, think to himself, "what was I doing?" and then start looking for food again!  I love this, because, just like a human baby, or a puppy, or many other kinds of babies, the two most importantthings are eating and sleeping, and he just can't choose which he would rather do!  Imagine a puppy or kitten falling asleep with his face in a bowl of food, and you'll have the perfect image for what's going on with Delta, the baby.  I think he's darling!  (Thank you, Faith, for everything!  You really "matched" me with a great fish!)

I have a morning feeding and an evening feeding.  When I should attempt to fast them, they give me "the eye."  You know.  That look that says, "You know and I know that it's dinnertime, so stop fooling around!") In the evening, Delta (aka "the baby") knows to come and "peck" on my finger, BEFORE there is any food around.  It's a game:  bite the finger, and the bloodworms will appear!  What a smart kid!

One other little cute detail, that isn't related to FOOD:  Alpha and Gamma will respond to me making a "kissy" sound, by coming up to the surface and blowing a bubble.  I used to think it was a coincidence, but it's happened too often.  When I blow them a kiss, they blow me one!  

I just LOVE these fish!

Holly