luna

I apologize in advance for this massive wall of text. I tried to break it up to make it easier to read!

Well, Kappa likes surfing, but she can get bored with that (and tired after long enough), and I don't really see her "play" with the bubbles much (sometimes she'll chase a bubble and try to eat it), and I don't want her to get bored.

Sure, she's entertained and interested when I give her daphnia, since she gets to spend time hunting it down, but I can't give her daphnia all day, every day...though I'm sure she'd be a happy little piggie-fish if I did!

So I'm trying to figure out what I can add to her tank, and what I can do to move things around, to make her days more interesting. She goes into her "cave", as it's sheltered from the current and dark inside (as a cave should be), but it's kind of boring, as it only has one big opening. She's also okay with her fake plants, and I'll see her swimming through them or just propping herself on a plant and hanging out, but I think I could fit a couple more in there that might be more interesting, and give her more things to explore.

I know boys like the hamster tubes, but I don't know if I could afford to lose that much surface space...my tank is taller than it is wide, after all...and the current from the bubbles and the filter/BIO-wheel output would probably move it around too much.

I see her hanging out in the front of the tank quite a lot. Now, there's a few reasons for that, I think. It's where the bubbles and the tallest plant are, but she also just hovers there, staring at me, then looking to the door in the hood like she's waiting for more food to fall from the heavens. The light also sits there, so the water is a little warmer at the surface near the front.

While it's nice that she recognizes my existance, even if only as the Provider of Food and Fresh Water, I'd rather she had more things to distract her and entertain her so that she would focus less on "get to work, O Dispenser of Food and Cleaner of Dave's Trademark" and more on having fun.

I'm thinking of finding some sort of actual cave with multiple holes (rule of thumb, I know) to explore, and maybe a plant with big leaves, since the ones she has now have smaller leaves, and something different would be nice. I've seen some small fake log-cave things with fake plants sticking out of them, which might work, but they might be a little too big.

Are there any other ways you all know of to try to keep her entertained?

On top of the entertainment factor, I got my DFS delivery which has one of the small sponge filters that attaches to an airpump to run. I got one of the battery-operated air pumps to go with it, so I have filtration in case of a power-outage. I'd like to put the sponge filter in there, even if I'm not actually running it, just so it can get acclimated and start to build bacteria along with the rest of the tank...I don't want to just throw it in raw and uncycled when I actually need it...if/when I swap her to a different tank, move her to a bucket for prolonged tank cleanings, or need to medicate her and need to remove the filter cartridge with the carbon, I'd like to have my backup ready.

I want to do the redecorating and sponge-filter adding at the same time, so I only have to remove her from the tank ONCE. Don't want to stress her out more than necessary, you know?

chickadee

You do not have to remove her to do any of those things. She will be a pill to work about but she can stay and help out, and be a mommy's little helper and show you where she wants things. I never take any of my boys out of their tanks to do anything as the danger of injury or cooling them down or disease is too great. Just take out about half of the water and do the thing with her still there.

She will love it. There are the following things that float and do not take up room on the floor:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2754663

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/204448/product.web

Qwin loved this and it was always something that I could find him in. I had to remove it when one of the legs came off but it would easily be replaced with a little silicone. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/204237/product.web

Rose

COBettaCouple

Our Bettas love these: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/1734/product.web

I've found them at petco for $9.99 as thatpetplace.com never seems to have them in stock.

Gamer

A SpongeBob Squarepants aqua-figurine along with the Pineapple House for a cave. That sounds good to me.

luna

KittieKat

rotfl!! me either lol... the boy that i have in my 5 gal likes the neon colored cave thing thats at walmart. cheap, colorful, and is a cave with a bunch of holes to go in and out of. and if it seems too open u could put a plant or two by it or have a plant with a base and stick it in the middle.. having all the leaves go in different directions.. just a thought

Shaina

Heh, neither am I...I do it for the fish

I have a lot of silk plants in my tank as well at the Yellow and Porous House...and Mr Hollywood loves to nose around in them and rest on leaves when he gets tired from surfing.

They have those patterned "rocks" at, say, Petsmart, that are rather tall and have large holes in them for the fish to swim through...you'd just have to paw through them and find one w/ no rough edges or sand down any edges. I think they tend to have ugly plastic plants stuck to them though, so you might have to cut that off.

If you have a way of keeping them stable, you could also stack a few hamster T joints or curved pieces so he has multiple caves to swim though without sacrificing surface area.

That's all I got...I need some

luna

Back from shopping with mom, have some new decor to try out, and a nice little story.

First, the story. We've all had days in the fish departments of pet stores, or Wal-Mart as with my case, where we saw people talking about bad things or buying horrible, evil things (like fishbowls)...instead of nasty evilness, I actually had a positive experience in the Wal-Mart fish section.

I was browsing at decor, trying to see what didn't have jagged edges and wasn't too big for Kappa's tank. There was this woman who looked a little confused and kept looking at filters and air supplies, but I didn't want to pry. I didn't have to. She asked me if I knew anything about fish.

I listened to what her problem was - short version is her angelfish have eggs, so she needs a filter pad to wrap around her filter intake so they (and any fry she may end up with) don't get sucked up - she knew from a little poking around online that she wanted a sponge filter, and it had something to do with an air pump, but she didn't really get what it was she was supposed to be looking for. I explained the sponge filter/air pump thing (I've even got them, so I'm not talking out of my behind on those!), and told her that all she really needed was some filter material - explained it as the blue pad on the filter, without the charcoal stuff that goes with the pre-made cartridges - and that she could wrap that around the intake so nothing would get sucked up in it.

She was thinking she needed a whole new filter, which isn't necessarily the case. I didn't dig for details about her setup, but did tell her about FishLore and that this is where I come for information, and that I don't know much about angelfish or eggs, but the people here DO, and they'd be able to help her through the whole process. Wal-Mart doesn't carry that stuff, but she already knew about the other pet store in the area, and I suggested that they would be more likely to have what she needed. I think I remember seeing uncut filter pads in there, and other stuff (like API FW master test kits and whatnot) she'll never find in Wal-Mart.

As for the decor I picked up, I'm not sure how much of it will fit in the tank, or which pieces she'll like, but they all passed the snag-test I did in-store, and all follow the rule of thumb. They also look more natural than her tea mug and bright blue and pink plastic plants.

Everything grouped together so you can see comparative sizes -

The log-cave thing and sword-looking plant -

The rock-cave thing and flowery plant -

The comfy-looking big leafy plant -

luna

Okay, I managed to change things out, as well as put in the sponge filter. Of course, that required me to put a T into my airline and a separate flow control and siphon valve so I could still have my airstone. Of course, though, the airstone I had on the line, which I removed just to do a quick test of the sponge filter, broke when I tried to remove it...good thing it came in a package of two!

So now I have the sponge filter in there and running, so it can help keep things clean as well as pick up good bacteria for when I may need it on its own. I had put in all 3 of the silk plants that came in the package I'd gotten, but things looked a little too busy and crowded, so I took the tall, spindly, flowery thing out. The big leafy thing is now partially obscuring the heater, which was moved so it's now diagonal and sits lower in the water...which make it easier for me to see the setting and adjust it if I want to.

I messed with it for a while, cleaning everything out and then adding and rearranging the new stuff, so I added some Vitachem to help relieve any stress, and she's now chasing down her daphnia dinner. It looks more natural and more interesting to me, but I'm not a piggie-fish. She has more hiding spots, and the plants she has now are leafier, so they may be more relaxing to rest on and play around.

I took 2 pictures, one with and one without the flash, to show you all:

Gamer

*slaps knee*

That's somehow better than the decor I suggested?









I'm j/k.

chickadee

I have that exact log and Qwin loves it! And I have had those plants too they are wonderful. Now I have real plants for the plecos and otos so the silk ones went but the silk ones you have are great. I loved the wide leaved one.

I think the tank looks very betta appropriate and nice. Go for it. I bet she did fine with the change and loved the daphnia dinner too. Sweet little "pig" fish. I still cannot think of her as a "pig"

Rose

Kappa enjoy your new digs!

pamd

You've got a real decorator touch, luna, and Kappa looks even more beautiful than ever in her re-done home. I enjoyed seeing the photos and also your story about the lady in Wal-Mart.

matty

"I see her hanging out in the front of the tank quite a lot....... but she also just hovers there, staring at me, then looking to the door in the hood like she's waiting for more food to fall from the heavens. "

Mine does that, too--i also have the same tank, just a lot barer.

COBettaCouple

Cool, we have those same decorations. We just put that big leaf plant in Sweetie's tank last week and Teddy Bear's absolute favorite decoration is that gray cave. He just got a new one last week. His had algae on it but we couldn't take it away for the plecos to clean and had to wait for our walmart to finally get one in. We don't have that log in any betta tanks, but our ameca splendens have one, so do the female endlers and our platys. Love the shopping trip and how you helped someone that walmart would have never helped.