swifty

After shamefully neglecting my betta for months (cleaning when his tank looked dirty, just dropping pellets in there once in a while; the typical care they receive from uninformed people) the past few weeks I've been doing research about them and learned a lot. I never would've expected how knowledge of real care for these simple bettas could change so much for the fish and myself.

I added some blood worms to his diet and feed him daily, at least I'll try to. Most times since hes tasted blood worms he refuses to eat the pellets. He actually seems to look at me when I try feeding him pellets with a 'What are you trying to do to me?' face. His eyes face the pellet, then quick to me, and gives me a mini-flare haha. I'll admit I really like feeding him the blood worms. I soak them in a empty bottle cap of tank water for 5-15 minutes before feeding so they're nice and soft. (I use Omega One brand freeze dried; the worms are a lot bigger then the other brands from what I've seen people tell me on forums at ultimatebettas) I usually feed either 1 big worm thats an inch long or find 3-4 smaller ones that total 1 inch or so. The fun is dropping them in 1 at a time and swirling them away from him. He thinks for a second they're alive and lunges at them, biting all over the place. It's funny when the splashing he does causes the worm to float above his body on the water, causing him to get more angry at the freeze dried dead worm.

I've been doing constant water changes, and added some live plants for him to hide in/play with. He'll do it all the time. A couple of feet away from his tank I'll see him hiding under a leaf of an anubias. As I get closer, he swims out and flares trying to act tough. He's also starting to gain some blue to his fins. He is pure red, but I'm guessing in the bad care he'd been in he lost it or something and is now re-gaining his natural colors. I'm looking forward to seeing how he looks with his full color again.

He's also been starting to make bubble nests; something I hadn't seen since the day I got him and even then I didn't know what a bubble nest was. The first signs of it I had woken up and seen just a few bubbles around the surface. It's been continuing like that; every morning I wake up and see more bubbles added. This morning the sides of the tank had mini nests, and all around the middle were random clumps of 1-20 bubbles.

I still want to put him in a heated/filtered/bigger tank with brine shrimp/mysis shrimp/tubifex worms/maybe daphnia added to his diet, but that'll come when I have the money.

It's really cool to see him like this. Poor guy lived in dirty water for a year, ate pellets randomly, and had absolutely nothing in his tank but bright aquarium gravel. I'd never seen him do anything but sit at the bottom of the tank, and slowly swim to the top when I fed him. Now everytime I glance at the tank he's always swimming, dances when I get near to feed him, and man, when I show him his reflection in a mirror every once in a while for his 'exercise' he'll dart around like crazy. He's even worried me a few times when he looked like he was going to jump out at the surface and probably would have if I didn't have a cover for him.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this with some of you other betta owners, even though most of you probably already know how full of life these fish can be. I'd like to know what type of personalities your bettas have and what sort of things they do that most people wouldn't normally see.

Oh yeah, I some quick questions too:

-Has anyone ever caught their betta making a bubble nest? Every morning I wake up and see the bubble nest has grown, but I've never seen him in the act.

-How long/often should I keep the mirror up? I usually only leave it up for 30 seconds to 2 minutes because by then he seems like he's going crazy, but some sites have said to just leave a mirror in front of them for 3-5 minutes. I also usually do it once every other day.

shellbell4ever

Welcome to the wonderful world of Betta's!!! They have such personality When properly cared for that is When I got my first 2 (Bonnie & Clyde)rescued from vases I really didn't have much interest in them But when I upgraded their vases to individual filtered,heated,and aquascaped tanks WOW what a difference!!!Clyde's my excitable Boy and Bonnie's the sweetest little girl ever,they both love playing in there plants and tubes,checking out there reflection in the glass,And there color really pop's now they were both really drab when I got them.I have never put a mirror in front of them for any reason,why would I want to upset or stress them?I only recently caught my boy Spunkmeyer making his first Bubble nest and he's continued to do it daily since I moved him to a bigger tank
Best of luck with your Betta and watch out there addicting!!

Lucy

Hi Swifty, aren't the changes amazing? I'm so glad you're trying to do the right thing for your betta boy.
What size tank is he in now?

The mirror isn't a good idea, it puts undo stress on him.

My betta likes to watch TV, if she doesn't like something she sees or hears on it, she'll flare and swim to the other side of the tank. If she likes it, she'll hang out and watch for a while. lol

Good luck with him and we love pictures, so post some soon.

Oh, what's his name?

Martinismommy

My boy Patron works overtime building his nest....I did this video of him to show people what the process is all about....

Enjoy!

Allie

Each one of my boys are totally different personality wise. I call them cats with fins, since everything about them reminds me of my cats personalities. lol

MinxMermaid

glad to hear you're now doing right by your betta boy!!!


wish i could convince my friend rachael who has one in a vase for over a year to do the same


keep learning and he'll continue to blossom

Shawnie

GREAT STORY!! hence why a living betta isnt always a happy betta...given the right tank conditions, really brings out their amazing personalities and life

great job!

Devon

What a wonderful story! It's so great to hear that you're doing what's right for that little guy. They're really something else when you give them a chance to blossom.

I give Bowie kisses before his breakfast each morning (kissing at his face through the glass) and he swims right up and his little eyes start darting from me, to the food trap. The little pig... he is such an ingrate.
When I come home from work I will call "hello" to him as I come in my bedroom, and he gets sooo excited! He will come out of whatever little plant or decoration he's been lurking in and swim with all his might at me against the glass, flopping and carrying on like he will just DIE if I don't come over there right now! I make a point to play chase with him when I come home each day (but he won't do anything until I feed him, because he knows night time food is his favourite... blood worms. Priorities. ) He flops himself against the glass I will wiggle my finger at one end of the tank 'til he comes over, then trace from one end of the aquarium to the other, and he follows me up & down. He has even brushed up against my fingers in the tank... he is fearless and he definitely knows that I am his mommy and trusts me completely. Doesn't stop him from flaring at me on occasion though!!

My friends that do not keep fish or have only seen listless bettas in torture cups at PetCo always look at me like I am crazy when I say this, but... that silly little fish with his great big sweet personality has completely changed my life, I would not be as happy a person as I am if I weren't a betta mommy.

KonaBoy

You may want to check this thing out that I wrote,

How-To Guide: Betta Splendens Tank

It may sound harsh, but it's what I feel is right. Glad to hear your boy's doing good though, and we all enjoy pictures

Tazmiche

Great post!!! so honest and thoughtful. It takes owning a pet and research to learn what is best for them. I think it is great that you say that you just fed IT and that now you realize HE is a fab fish! Now that you know both sides of Betta ownership i'd say you will be an amazing,caring betta parent from now on!!! I think that once you watch their eye movements and see their little thoughts you are hooked!!!!!!

0morrokh

Great story...I think almost all of us have kept a Betta in less than ideal conditions before realizing they need better care, and it is amazing to see how much they perk up.

I don't advocate using a mirror...it's unnecessary at best, stressful at worst. There are better ways to keep a Betta stimulated.

Amanda

My Val making his nest.

COBettaCouple

I love Betta personalities! We've seen every emotion in them and they're so fun to watch and interact with.

swifty

I don't mean to bump this from so long, but I wasn't able to use the net since I posted this.

Anyway, this was him about a day after I posted this in July:

http://i35.tinypic.com/2q3no13.jpg

At the time he still had fin rot (?) or something because half of his fins were discolored. They weren't like the usual fin rot though, they were just transparent. I'm guessing that was from his months of neglect prior? Does anyone know what that usually is?

Just a few days ago after his weekly water change, I noticed his body was fading white, and his stomach was huge; as if he'd been overfed. I was confused because I never feed him on Sundays which is the water change day for him. He wasn't eating at all and wasn't swimming either. Most of the time he was resting on the anubias plant I have floating at the top.

He died about 2 days ago, and he looked the same as when he first got sick. His body was turning white, the tips of his scales were black and raised a little with a bloated stomach.

http://i33.tinypic.com/wck66w.jpg

Not the best picture but it's what I could get.

He had been just fine ever since I gave him weekly water changes. I was letting his freeze-dried blood worms soak in tank water for 15+ minutes each time before feeding.

So can anyone answer those questions for me?

Why his fins were discolored/transparent halfway, and what did he die of?

Allie

It was probably an internal parasite. I have lost 11 due to a parasite called camallanus worms. 3 of the betta got dropsy as a secondary infection...all got lethargic and colorless the day of death.
Unfortunately it seems the quality of betta coming from China and over that way aren't as healthy as they should be. A lot people have been losing betta over the past 4 months due to one reason or another.

Alessa

im really sorry, you lost him
like Allie said, it was probably a parasite

or maybe he had ben weakened because of his previous conditions. was he already on a cycled, filtered, heated tank? when tropical fish stay for a long time in an unheated, unfiltered, uncycled tank, it opens the doors to parasites and diseases.

molliemom3

so sorry for your lost --are you going to get another betta?

Shawnie

aww poor fella..im so sorry you lost him...its hard to loose any fish .....sometimes they cant digest the freeze dried foods ...I have one boy who totally bloats up with any dried foods even pellets..so he east baby brine shrimp and bloodworms only...I hope you get a new boy eventually for that great tank you upgraded too!

COBettaCouple

I'm sorry that you lost him.

swifty

Thanks all.

I probably wont get another one for a while. I want to get either a 2.5 or 5 gallon with filter/heater before I try again.

It's confusing because I neglected him for 12+ months and he was fine, but when I start taking proper care he dies a few months later. Weird.

Anyway, it does seem it was some sort of bacteria infection. Is the tank still safe? I cleaned it out the day he died and rinsed the plants in warm water but I'm not sure.

jdhef

To be on the safe side, you should probably clean everything with a 19 parts water to 1 part bleach solution. Then rinse everything really well until you can"t smell any chlorine. Then rinse with some overdosed dechlorinated water.