Shaina

So...um...oops?



And naturally...one oops corresponded with another...


To add to the fun, this took place a state away from where I live.

Lucy

Such a beautiful Oooops. lol

Shawnie

love him!!!!! gosh when we have "OOPS" like that it just makes you

Shaina

Honestly I can walk by walls of Bettas without an issue. I can even stop and look at them and have no problem. But every so often, one really stands out to me...the first was Hollywood a year ago...the second was this guy.

This guy is a firecracker. He's still in his cup as I put together the tank, after traveling 24 hours with me (including a night at the hotel and a long car ride home), and he's puffing himself up at me constantly demanding food and attention. When I picked up his cup at the store he whipped around and just glared at me as if demanding to know who dared disturb him and why his stomach was still empty. Very full of himself.

Hollywood is a Friendly betta. I think this guy was born for the warpath.

Shawnie

hes looking pretty SHARP for a cup boy...I hope he brings you much happiness and im sure hes going to keep you on your toes!! cant wait to see more of his purple on the end of his finnage

Shaina

Thanks Shawnie...actually all his scales are rimmed in purple/blue too...and he's just a babe so we'll see how his color changes as he settles in and matures.

He has iridescent blue scales under his eyes as well which earned him the name Fiyero.

Actually all the cup bettas there were in surprisingly good condition. Clean water in every cup, even the ones in the back, and all the fish seemed pretty alert considering they were in 70 degree water. I also bought Prime to help get him home safely and bloodworms when I asked and was told they had last been fed 4 days prior. As soon as I dropped one in, he pounced...another good sign.

Hopefully he adjusts well...

CHoffman

WOW..He is a very pretty boy. No wonder he caught your attention. He looks full of personality. Good luck with him. I can't wait to see how he changes.

hkirchen

He is so gorgeous! Great pick!

serissime

how cute. I really want one of those bookshelf aquariums! I'm TOLD (don't have personal experience) that those actually hold closer to 9 gallons than 6.6! I want to see it and your cute betta when it's all set up!

Shaina

Well his new tank is up but will need to sit overnight to let the substrate sendiment settle out, so he's spending in the night in a bag floating in my 29g. I'm slowly acclimating him to my water, and this way he'll have a nice, steady, warm temperature for once. He's a bit washed out due to all the changes, though...I'm sure he'll be glad to settle into his new home. In the meantime once he's acclimated I'll fill his bag with good tank water and add a little Prime for good luck (ie. ammonia protection).

Anyway, a few in-the-bag pics:

Je55*e

WOW, he's gorgeous! So hard to say no to that face.

serissime

very cute

Martinismommy

What a handsome little man! Congrats!

MissMTS

Yay! I love those kinds of oops moments He is such a stunning boy Any ideas for a name yet?

Shaina

Thanks guys

His name is going to be Fiyero (fee-YAIR-oh)...

(A character from Gregory Maguire's Wicked who, aside from being rather incredibly full of himself in his youth, is also covered with little blue diamond tattoos, reminiscent of the specks of irridescent blue on betta-Fiyero's body. Ref. the book )

pinkfloydpuffer

Congrats! He's gorgeous! Love the name Fiyero (I saw the broadway musical in Cali, it was great )

aquarist48

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Je55*e

I'd love to see Fiyero in his tank if you get a minute to take more pictures. :P

Shaina

Because it's a brand new tank, to be safe I've been letting it run all day with carbon and such, and have a Test Guppy (one of my "rescued" feeder guppies that live in my spare 29 to keep it cycled) in there tonight to make sure it's safe before moving Fiyero in the morning. So he's still hanging out in a floating bag in my planted 29g...I did a PWC on the bag around noon and will do another before I go to bed since it's quite small. I have a few floating breeder nets, but I'm not willing to let him share the rest of the tank's water as he hasn't been quarantined.

Bag-living in the 29g planted tank is entertaining though. My BN was hanging off the glass by Fiyero's bag earlier, and the poor guy didn't know what to do. He flared and blustered but the pleco serenely ignored him...then he swam away and pouted in the other corner of the bag...then came back over to nudge the bag near the BN as if to plead for attention, and when he was ignored he turned around and wouldn't even look at the BN again.

Very entertaining for me at least.

So pics in the morning

Shaina

Well here's what it looked like earlier today, for whatever that's worth lol:


And the currently very messy (waiting for new driftwood) planted 29g, looking the worst it ever has, with Fiyero in the upper right.
(Bonus: Can you spot all the fish in the pic? I spy 4 neon tetra, 4 Rosy Tetra, 2 Kuhli Loaches (striped variety), 1 Betta, 4 Platys, 1 Bristlenose, and the nose and dorsal fine of a Bolivian Ram )

agabr123

i love your 29, the plants are great! can't wait for the final product on your new tank!

Shaina

A note on these "bookshelf" tanks...the filter that comes with them is interesting. It's kind of like a whisper HOB...you know the kind with the single filter sleeve that you are supposed to fill with activated carbon...but it had a disproportionately large media chamber in which that sleeve slides in diagonally.

I decided to modify it a bit for additional mechanical and biological filtration, especially as the water is still a bit cloudy with dust. upstream from the sleeve is a piece of filter pad, with a flat black sponge thing salvaged from an old Whisper filter in between the two. One the other side is a bag of Aquaclear biomedia from an AC20. The biomedia is fully seeded.



Fiyero and his soon-to-be tankmate, a 3/4-1" baby albino bristlenose (who will only be in there until he grows out a bit), are floating right now to adjust temps...Test Guppy has been returned to her friends seemingly no worse for wear.

Shaina

Floating:


Freed!


The water is still cloudy but I expect that to go away within the next 48 hours.

He's only been loose for about 3 minutes and I think he's already explored every nook and cranny. Only took passing interest in his roomie, didn't even flare, so we'll see how that goes. He's right next to my computer so I can monitor them closely and still get things done.

Note: Edges on that piece of driftwood have been sanded.

Je55*e

Wow, what a great home for him! You're a great fish "parent". =)

Shaina

Well everyone survived the night...

Water is marginally clearer this morning. I think some of the dust is on the inside tank walls which makes it look cloudier than it is:


Apparently Fiyero slept in one of the Anubias, because this is where I found him this morning:


He learns fast though...I was working with him last night to teach him to swim to the top for food at a tap on the lid (like my other Bettas), and he swam right up as soon as I tapped:
"Where's breakfast!?"


His color is already improving with the steady diet the last three days and with being in heated, filtered water for once. So far he's happily eaten FD bloodworms and Hikari pellets (took him some time to figure out the pellets but he kept at it). Going to try frozen/thawed mini mysis shrimp today

I swear he's getting more handsome by the hour! *gushes* This photo is not edited/processed in any way:

hkirchen

Wow! He is really coloring up nicely! I love the purple that seems to be growing more prominant!

Great 29g planted, and great bookshelf tank!

bolivianbaby

That's a beautiful oops! Very creative name as well. It's SOOOO EASY to commit an oops with these guys! They're so cute!

Congratulations

agabr123

what a gorgeous boy!

MissMTS

Shaina he is looking so happy in his new home His coloring is so much more vibrant. Your tanks look fantastic!

Shaina

Thank you guys so much...I'm having way too much fun with this lol.

This guy is totally fearless...I put my whole hand in the tank to clean the filter intake earlier and he just swam over and flared at it, lol.

I do think the water current is tiring him out even though I had it quite low...between the water movement and the exploring he's wearing himself out a little. I normally hate dead spots in the tank but I've left the upper back right corner pretty stagnant to give him a resting spot (you can see he was there in the morning whole tank shot), but he's so determined to patrol he continues charging around the tank even though he's clearly really tired. He has also been resting on top of the wisteria on the left so that helps.

I slowed the filter to a trickle for an hour or so a few times today to give him a breather, and am keeping it really low the rest of the time. Hopefully he will become more fit with practice. I seem to remember Hollywood had a similar issue at first, though less severe...but then he was very young with correspondingly small fins when I got him so he had less drag.

Anyway more pics (I know I know another update)

The water is finally clear


Hunting for stray mysis shrimp (he loved them...I soaked them in garlic guard for extra value):


Following my finger:


Unfortunately these shots were RIGHT by the front wall where the lighting isn't so great, and my camera doesn't work well for fish shots with the flash on, so his iridescence don't really show up as well as I would like.

Thanks for looking!