betta stories volume 4 

tails from the script :P (get it?)  

B-Chan, my first betta B-chan was my first betta. He was your average veil tailed, petstore mutt that I felt sorry for and thought was pretty (pale all over with blue marbling on his fins).  Thus I became a betta slave. I had him for nearly a year and a half without incident, until he went into a funk sleeping all day and eating little.  Thinking that he was dying I went on a hunt to find out what might cheer him up in his last days, and I found your site.  Realizing that his isolation was not helping him any I bought him some friends and placed their jars next to his.  B-chan then promptly proceeded to tell both Gideon and Balin that they were on his shelf, in his room, and that they had better stop eating his food.  B-chan's remaining six months contained a great deal of exuberant flaring, one apparent bubble nest competition, and several attempts at terminally terrorizing Balin, who had to be permanently moved to the far side of Gideon.

$3 betta? Or $300 betta? :) Hi Faith- I live in Boston with my boyfriend and our Betta fish Septimus.  Our landlord said "no dogs" and my boyfriend didn't want a cat, so for Christmas, he bought me a beautiful (okay, he cost 3.00 from Petco, but he's beautiful to me) Betta fish, who I loving named Septimus Hodge.  To complete the gift, he had purchase a half gallon betta starter kit which was plastic, came with a small plastic plant, and a handful of gravel.  We live in a historic neighborhood which happens to be very drafty, so I couldn't help by worry that my tropical fish looked a bit chilly in his accommodations.  His water felt freezing, so I headed to the Pet store for a heater and soon learned that you couldn't purchase a heater for anything less than 5 gallons.  So what did I do?  Came home with a 5 gallon tank, a 40 dollar heater, two bags of gravel, a plastic bonsai tree, thermometer, large coral rock with a hole in the middle, and several big white rocks.  Well, Septimus was just thrilled with his new high class home.  My boyfriend, on the other hand, surely thought I had lost my mind.  This $3.00 fish was surely going to be expensive. About three months later, I had to go to Oregon for work, and I left Sepi in my boyfriend's care for 4 days.  By this point, I had also purchased a bubbler, filter, tank cover, aquarium salt, and about 6 different types of food.  Sepi had become my little baby.  I return from Oregon, and I notice that Sepi doesn't seem quite himself.  I always add water to his tank every few days (yes, I admit, it is bottled water - I certainly wouldn't want to submerge myself in Boston Tap water!) I immediately do a partial water change, but even the next day he seems a little off. I notice he has these little growths on his front fins--the ones that don't really move.  Of course at this point I completely freak out and start calling vets in the area, none of which know anything about fish. I jump online and read about Ick and Velvet and other fish diseases and purchase some Maracide.  I read something about a "hospital tank" which I later came to understand only really applied to fish that spent most of their time in a communal tank, but I rush out and purchase a one gallon glass tank for Sepi and fill it with miniature versions of everything in his big tank so he'll feel at home: blue stones, bonsai tree, little coral rock.  I measure out his medicine, take the water temp, float him in the tank, release him and go to bed.  The next morning I woke up, and ran up to Sepi - who looked like his skin was falling off!  He could barely see through it all, it was just hanging off him.  I start dialing the number on the help line for the manufacturer, and leave several voicemails wondering if this is normal, as it says on the container that it leaves a film on the fish.  About 2 hours later, they call me back and clearly state they have never heard that before and I better take him out of the water.  I grab the original 1/2 gallon tank Sepi came in, and add some of that (and I'm sure its a rip off) oxygenated Betta water to that and put him in there. I call an aquarium store and they say that he might have had a reaction to the medication, or that I might have accidentally overdosed him - even though I was careful when I measured it out.  I realized aftwards that while I dosed him for a gallon, I probably should have subtracted what his gravel, rock and tree took up. I felt awful. Miraculously Sepi looked a bit better a few hours later and seemed to recover.  His little white growths did not go away, however.  So about a week later, I did more research online and picked up some Hex-a-mit, and lightly dosed him with this in his big tank with the filter going (removing the carbon). I did the full treatment on the container, and about 6 days later Sepi looked like a new fish!  I was so happy I picked him up some new stones for his bubbler (as he likes to do summersaults in the bubbles when it is turned on) and some Betta treats. Now it's bubble nests galore! I printed the handout from your website on all the common fish illnesses and their symptons. Thank you so much, as I believe without your site, I would not have been equipped to save Sepi from what ailed him.  Best, Dawn

 

Bettas can learn! It was one of my (almost) daily visits to Bettatalk when I read that you can feed your Betta peas and that they actually like it.  So I decided to get some of my peas from my refrigerator and feed it to my 2 Bettas (Fishy and Fish,  I just got used to those names,-that's what I called them at the beginning when I didn't know how to name them:)))Fishy is more like the bigger,smarter,stronger one and Fish is more young,clueless and well, sometimes dumb,--But I love them soo much!!  I dropped a piece of pea in Fish's bowl, and guess what he did, he just looked at it, not moving an inch while it was slowly sinking to the bottom.  He is soo picky with his food, always eats FD Bloodworms, nothing else.  Then, I put a piece in Fishy's bowl,  and I was so excited when he ran after it (it sunk) and caught it with his mouth and ate it.    I gave him more and more and he likes it really much. Fish just had his face squished on the glass, watching Fishy eating his "new food".  I felt so bad for him so I tried to give him one more piece.  I expected no raection from him but he was swimming after it just like Fishy, and had also caught it,--and he ate it, too!  It was like as if he watched Fishy and then tried to copy him.  Soooo cute!!! Josy Footnotes from Faith: Yes, that is what I always tell people to do when they have a picky eater on their hands! Let him see another fish eating the same food and they are likely to want to try, too :).

 

Fishical therapy :)) Ok, have you ever heard of "fishical" therapy? Well yesterday I just got a rescue betta from the LPS. I was looking for a fish for a five gallon tank and saw in the corner of my a very active fish. I walked over and saw this beautiful betta swimming against the side of the rather better displays for a betta. He was a big and strong fishy friend. He was royal blue with red tipped fins. I thought he looked like a gas flame, hence his name FLAME. When I took him home and put him in his new tank, he was relieved. Then came the funny part. He swam over by the power filter waterfall and started to swim under it. Then he ran back and looked at me and ran to the filter again. he swam under it and grabbed some air and swam under and grabbed air and so forth. He had so much fun with his "massager"! Then, he went to the bottom and picked up some dirt from the gravel {which I cleaned today}. Then he went by the wonder tube and got some dirt cleaned off him. Now and then, he goes to the "massager" and cleans himself off.                                                   P.S. YOU HAVE THE BEST BETTA SITE EVER!!!                                                                                    Scott, Pittsburgh PA   Footnotes from Faith: Damn straight! LOL

 

My dancing betta Hi! my betta story is  MY DANCING BETTA Usually next to my computer I have my betta boxy foxy (I have a little brother, he named it...) usually he is sleeping or swimming (he's lazy and only eats!) but when I turned on the song "Devils and angels" By Toby Lightman on my computer he started to swim up and down quickly (and in circles!) Dancing until the song was over, And he only does that when I play that song.( Im going to try Sheryl Crow next!) Thanks, Robert Harmon San Antonio, Texas Footnotes from Faith: (deenaneena deenanena "You are entering the Twilight Zone" deenaneena deenanena LOL

 

Betta and the plastic frog When I first got my Betta as a present from my mom, I was surprised. I was  so surprised that I stared at it really quick and accidentally tapped it's bowl. When it turned around to see who was knocking and saw huge me, it got scared. After that it did not even dare to lay an eye on me. Two minutes later, I decided to change its water just for fun. I put in a toy frog that my mom had also given me as a small accessory. When I released the fish, the first thing it saw was the frog. Again it got scared. I was in a mind of confusion because I did not know what to do with my poor fish. So I took the frog out and suddenly it swam up to look at me. I think it thought of me as a lifesaver, saving it from a small and " harmful " frog.  From there on we have been best of buddies and always look up to each other--> LITERALLY. lol Roberto Footnotes from Faith: Roberto, you must be really short LOL. On a more serious note, you guys need to allow new fish to have some quiet and calm so they can recover from the stress created by being moved to a new home. Avoid fussing with new bettas and leave them be for at least 4 days, except for feeding that is.

 

Can't shake them bettas :) Hi Faith, Just had to tell you how my bettas survived the San Simeon earthquake on Dec. 22. I came home to find my bowls on the floor either broken or empty, my rug saturated, and my three poor fish just lying there. Their bowls had flown off the top of my TV cabinet in the shaking.  I gingerly touched one of them and screamed when he flopped in response.  This was over two hours since they'd been flung to the floor.  I quickly filled some temporary containers and got them back in water, and now two weeks later, they are still alive and thriving.  Awesome and amazing! Love your site! Carolyn Footnotes from Faith: Carolyn, you got very lucky because the carpet being soaked it provided the necessary moisture to keep the betta's tissues from drying out. This saved their lives!!