I promised myself that this time, one or two bettas would be it. I have over the years kept bettas several different times. Every time I end up with several to say the least. Each time life has taken a turn and I've not been able to continue keeping them all. The last time I was breeding them, had an outlet for the excess and doing fine and ended up in the hospital for an extended stay and when I returned, despit assurances from the famil that they were taking care of them, Only one remained. When he passed I vowed never again.
Well, kids are grown and on thier own. Wife has moved on and I've finally settled into a steady 5 year relationship. About 2 months ago I bought a betta. We call him Tranq (Tranqulity). The apartement we live in is like a paradise in the middle of town. The designers of this complex made sure to preserve every tree they could. Plased the buildings more like scattered stones as compared to rows. Has a beautiful central pond and heavey landscaping instead of parking lots and grass. This inspired us to create a bit of a jungle garden on the balcony. (We are ground floor but it is still a balcony.)
This area gets a nice warming sun in the morning filtered thru the canopy of trees, shade most of the rest of the day and toward evening the sun reflects off the tan building next to us and gives it a plesant glo of bright but indirect light. We have literly hundreds of potted plants, 2 or 3 varieties per pot, on shelves or stands and hanging. Really reminds me of a jungle. Unfortunatly I do have a tobacco habit and don't like smoking in the house so this has become my sanctuary. Tranq has 2.5gal Brandy snifter for a home and sits on the table next to my chair. (BTW, I live in south Florida. No need for heaters here.
) Tranq was very laid back, not excitable, didn't 'flare' much but didn't have that 'droop' look so many viels can get.
Well, a few days after Tranq joined us, My lady thought he might be lonely. Never having heard them refered to as fighting fish she brought home a friend, Floated him in Tranq's tank and came in to tell me. (Oh, Tranq is a very dark, near solid black viel with a green iridesence that reminds me of sheet lightening that flashes thru the finage.) She was heart broken when I explained about fighting fish. We took a trip to a local decor store to find a place her new red/blue crown tail to live.
After a couple hours of deep consideration she found a very nice convex vase of a little over 2 gal capacity. And 2 convex vases just under 2 gal that created a very nice look when set on either side of the convex sort of (_)
) ( (_) thing. And from there went to Petsmart to get a couple females. After another hour trying get out of there with only 2 females, We got home, washed up the glass, grabbed the good spring water and set them up on one of the plant racks near our chairs. An hour later when all temps were equal, we put the new CT male (now named King) and the ladies, Blueberry and Creme in thier tanks, sat back and both agreed we needed some plants in the tanks. Back to the Petsmart for some Hornwart. They didn't have any so off to Petco and no, no Hornwort, but they did have Moneywort which I like better anyway.
As I was dealing with the not to bright but helpful employee I heard a squeel from my lady and sure enough, she had found the betta shelves. Purple to red veil Male, Scarlet red female and Turquoise/White SuperDelta Male just had to join us. Back for more Moneywort, back to decor store for 2 more vases of at least 1.5gal if not more. (I like my betta's in at least a gallon tank but find that much over that and they tend to be very shy unless you get mates. You get mates that they will tolerate and you need filtration. Our "garden" has to much water to run alot of electrical cords around so I decided to stick to between 1 and 3 gal.) And then off to the local garden shop for lucky bamboo.
Yes, I know the contraversy over such things in fish tanks but I've had it in tanks for many, many years. Back when it was known simply as ribbon plant. I get the longer stalks so the leaves are at least partially above the water and they do a fantastic job of clearing nitrates. ( And just a note, if you have one dieing, turning yellow, and this goes for any plant matter in your tanks, when it dies, get it out.) Back home and set this all up. We now have a 'Betta Garden'. And interestingly enough, the local mosquito population has dwindled even with our recent rains.
Now, if you have been following this, we had 4 males and 3 females. I said that was it, We have several tanks in the house and I'm thinking ahead to the few times a year we do get colder weather down here and will have to bring the betta's inside. We need to make sure we have safe spots to put all this. So no more, that's it. Fineto.
Today I went to the LFS for some black worms, a couple more corys and a couple mystery snails for the tanks inside. And yes, I share the blackworms with the bettas. Anyway, as I was keeping an eye on a Julii cory I wanted I spotted an orange flash on the wall behind the counter.....Yep, Betta, turned out to be a beautiful full color viel that is a burntorange or chocolate depending on the angle the light hits. Had to have. Got, is home in a 2.5 square reserve tank I keep for emergencies. So now that's eight. And that's IT!!!!!!
RK
Oh yea, 2 of the fems are bursting with eggs, And I've got an empty 10 gal somewhere.........
I went out to see our new adoption
