chickadee

I know 3 things about my baby.

He is shy and a sweetheart. He is not a Demon so he must now be DAMON.

He loves his mommy already.

He is afraid of cameras and of the dark.

I do not know what I am going to do with him tonight as he is really spooked when the lights are out.* He had totally gone WHITE on the trip here with the box being dark but once he was in the light he was okay and reddened up immediately.* When I turned the tank light off for him to acclimate he whitened out again.* The light came back on and he got red again.* He really stresses in the dark and cameras, FORGET IT!* You would think that a monster is after him.* Pictures will have to wait a bit.* He is very small, probably the smallest betta I have had.* I gave him the Atison's Betta Pro (a couple of pellets) and he let them soak up before eating them and chewed them thoroughly before eating another one.* (good boy!)*

I have given him a cave in his tank for the quarantine period so I may give him the light on tonight and he can go into the cave if he wants to have some dark so that he won't be so afraid.* The poor little guy.* I can tell I have some major spoiling to do.

Rose


I still say the happiest days are when babies come.*

voiceless_kat

Oh Rose, I am so happy to hear that Damon ( ?? ha ha for now) has arrived. I had no idea they changed colour that much when stressed - so interesting - so much to learn.

It certainly is an exciting day. I can hardly wait for pictures...until then we will just have to laugh along with you at his antics as told on the forum!!

Thanks for a good chuckle ( I totally relate! ) . I must say, you sound like such a nice lady!! Have fun! Val & neptune

LZ Floyd

Greetings Damon. That must have been some trip.

Mike

COBettaCouple

Do you have any way to slowly dim a light & see how low the light level has to be for him to be happy? If so, maybe you can work on lowering it a little bit at a time to get him over his fear of the dark? Maybe he should've be called Nick (for Nyctophobia - Fear of the dark or of night.)?

I'm sure he'll get over it soon enough and be a little sweetheart who's VERY much into being babied. We welcome him to Fishlore and will leave a light on for him.

cherryrose

Your new boy sounds like such a sweetie. I am glad that he arrived home safely.

Welcome to the forum, Damon! Pose nicely for your mommy now, so she can get pictures. We can't wait to see you.

CherryRose

Asinity

Lucky... I want a third betta... lol

It sounds like you're really going to enjoy Damon, even if it means spoiling him a little extra now and then (oh darn :P) it'll be worth it.

Phloxface

Aaaww, he sounds so cute!* He's probably afraid of the dark because he was in the dark on the trip over here. Who knows what happened to him in that box. Maybe someone or something shook the box or made a loud noise that frightened him.* *
I know what you mean about turning completely white. Whisper used to do the same thing when she was very stressed.* Once I had to remove her from the tank to change the gravel and I kept her in a large plastic measuring cup for about 15 minutes. When I put her back in the tank she was completely white and turned bright red again after about 10 minutes.* She would turn white also if she was sleeping and I turned the tank light on too suddenly. After that I used to give her time to wake up completely before turning the light on.* This turning white thing must be something mostly red Bettas do. My other Bettas pale out a lot when sick or stressed but only Whisper would turn almost white.
Maybe you could get one of those white spotlights for his tank so he will have a little nightlight but not compete darkness. That way he won't get so scared. Give him full lights for a few nights (you could keep them off during the day when the room is light anyways) so he can get over his bad experience from being shipped.
I know what you mean about getting a new baby... I sat and watched my new girl for hours swimming around and happily exploring her tank. They're just so cute!
I look forward to seeing a pic of Damon when he's ready to present himself.*

chickadee

He sits in my formal dining room right now and the only other light than his tank light is a 12 light chandelier and to leave that on is a bit much and lights up the whole house and I have MANY windows and an all glass door and security outer door with wrought iron so it means everyone who drives by can see my whole house. Now I am sorry but the tank light will have to do LOL . I wish they did make dimmer switches for tank lights but they do not. I may try to leave the kitchen light on as it is the room next to the dining room and the light would as least be a large fluorescent. I love the little guy to pieces and he is so CUTE but he is going to be a stinker for sure, I just know it. I do not like the idea of having him in the living room where I cannot keep an eye on him but all the other spots are taken and I do not think it is fair to move anyone else to put him into their spot. It is probably going to take the loaches another 2 weeks to clean the snails out of the tank before I can even think of putting a betta or anything else in there with them. The water needs to be changed in that tank every day already as it gets filthy overnight. The two otos that remain in there practically scream for me to change the water by midmorning and I feel so guilty making them wait.

I can hardly wait to take pictures of the little guy but this is going to be the hardest job I have ever done. Marty Jr. is so hard to do but this little stinker is going to be worse as he is so afraid and shy. He will hardly come out to eat although he loves to come out to see me when I talk to him but the minute I remove my hand from the tank he goes and hides again. When I do see him swimming about he is like a guided missle.

Oh well, hopefully he will grow up a bit soon...

Rose

COBettaCouple

What i was thinking was some sort of lamp - maybe at walmart, target, bed bath & beyond, etc since they have all kinds of lamps - that would have adjustable light levels to it. Then you could use that lamp at night for him to ease him of his 'light-addiction'. Then later on when he doesn't need it, the lamp could be used for a reading lamp or something like that.

he sounds like a cute little guy and i'm glad he's got you to take care of him.

chickadee

I got my computer lamp which does have a dimmer and put it outside of his tank and it was nearly full tilt before he would settle down and go to his cave bed but in the middle of the night when I got up for a couple of minutes I sneaked out and dimmed it a little and he did not freak when he woke up before me this morning so we may do this for a bit and see how it goes. I still have ladies who are with me so they can help occasionally.

Oh and by the way I did get a few pictures of him and Marty Jr. They are not the greatest as neither of them is big on being still but I put a few daphnia in for Damon's lunch and he was better until he saw the big bad thing that "eats little bettas" (camera).

ROFL.....this is an experience.

Rose

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COBettaCouple

he is a little handsome guy. maybe he needs to watch some hero movies & that will toughen him up.

nmwierman1977

Aw, Rose he's so precious. I'm sure he will come around with the light soon. He just needs time. I wonder if something happened to himi n the dark one time and that's why he is afraid. Good luck with it. Natalie

voiceless_kat

Neat pictures, Rose. Also neat tank. What is daphnia?? such lucky babies to get so spoiled. I love it!! Val

COBettaCouple

They're little plankton.. and one of 3 things our finnicky Sora will eat.

chickadee

They are also Freeze dried and come in containers like the Hikari Freeze dried Bloodworms and are like powder and easy for babies and sick fish to eat. They are also full of fiber and can be used for fish who will NOT take pea treats in any fashion. I had a betta who would not eat peas at all and he would take the daphnia and I used it to prevent constipation for him.

It is okay for a temporary diet but probably does not contain enough to be a permanent diet by itself. It is recommended as a recuperation food for fish that have been on meds for a long time though as it is easy on their stomachs.

Rose

COBettaCouple

I've found our platy fry also like it. They get it about 1x a week and the Bettas get it about every 1 & 1/2 weeks. We got the hikari daphina when it was on sale for less than $3 at petsmart a couple weeks back.

poefox

Cute little guy. Interesting that he's so shy...I hope he manages to get over it.

chickadee

Last night was the first night with out much of a night light for the little guy. Only the small cabinet bulb over the stove in the kitchen and he was only a bit timid but he made it through the night or so I was told by the lady who was there to watch my meds. She said he was awake a couple of times and whizzing about the tank and when he saw that no more lights came on he went back to his plant and cuddled back down. We moved a rocker in by his tank and she keeps an eye on him but unless he starts really rocking the tank she has instructions not to turn on any more lights. He does have to learn. He also gets 6 very small meals a day due to his size and the last one is right before bed and I think that does help him go to bed and rest. He is just too small to feed more than 1 or 2 Atisons Betta Pro at a time. When I put more in he chases them but won't eat them. He also does a wonderful job of chewing. I can almost hear him.

Rose