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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Meet Pisces (Pike For Short)
It is my great pleasure to introduce my daughter's betta, Pisces, Pike for short.
She received him from her math tutor a couple of weeks ago due to her love of all things oriental. Pike adores her and gets pouty when she doesn't show up when he expects her to. He knows what time she leaves for school in the morning and since she feeds him before she leaves he waits right at the top of the bowl for her to come along with breakfast. It upsets him when she has the weekend off or days off of school and can sleep in and breakfast is late in coming. I try to feed him if I am up early and know she wont be but he refuses to eat the food I give him and will sulk until Shaina is up and feeds him herself. I think he is definitely a one girl fish  .
I have a spider plant start in with him at the moment to provide some oxygen for him. He loves swimming around the roots and will swim around the roots several times like he's petting himself with them. He does like to be petted but will only let you pet him once Shaina has fed him. Otherwise he backs away and gets all grouchy.
He seems resigned to the fact that we mess up his bubble nest whenever we change the water, which to this point has been once a week but will be changed at least every other day until we can get him in his new home. He immediately begins a new bubble nest the second his water settles after changing it.
Overall Pike is a happy little guy as long as we don't mess up his routine much. While not doing a whole lot of zipping around in his bowl he does swim around all levels of it and occasionally we catch him trying to move one of the small shells at the bottom of it.
His new home will continue the oriental theme my daughter has going on her desk at the moment and more than likely several of her decorations will be going in the new tank. So far we are thinking 2 of her ginger jars for caves, one of her smaller geisha statues, her sea turtle candle holder (minus the candle of course), a huge bunch of her step-sisters' seashell collection and possibly the money tree plants someone gave me since they are getting taller and I read somewhere they love water. Plus the stalks look a lot like bamboo and I think it will look awesome as they get taller to have Pike swimming in between the stalks . Planned friends will be some shrimp and I would like to get a couple of those catfish you can see through if they wont bother Pike and he wont bother them. I am assuming since they are bottom feeders they wont but if anyone knows differently please let me know.      
Pike's new home:   | 
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Welcome and Betta Care Guide - Please Read First!!!
Hello Da. Spike sure is beautiful. I'm sure he's going to enjoy his new home.
As for tank mates it's really hard to say what will happen. Some have good luck with a few small cat fish and shrimp, others do not. Things could be going well one minute and take a turn for the worst the next. Best I can say is, if you do decide to have a few tanks mates that you have a back up plan in place to rehouse someone.
Sea shells can raise your pH levels. If your tap water pH is lower than the pH in your tank, and the tank pH drops to rapidly while doing a water change it could be fatal. Make sure to test the pH levels of both before you do a water change.
I'll be looking forward to updates on Spike. Please tell your daughter she has one handsome fish there  Thanks for sharing the photos!
Happy Halloween! 
Ken | |
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October 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Thanks Ken, didn't know that about the seashells so will keep them out of the tanks. We do have 2 other tanks that will eventually be getting set up but had planned to do this in stages with the monster tank being the very last to set up. Also, with everything I have been reading the last 24 hours I am re-thinking some of the configurations we had orginally planned. If I have to be the only one cleaning the tanks I want them where I can reach them and on top of desks and bookcases isnt going to work for me (im short and standing on tall things sets off my vertigo lol). So for right now im focusing on moving Pikes new house to someplace lower, then cycling the tank so we can get him moved in.
Oh his tank was washed out with bleach water last week and then left to dry.. should i fill it with water and let it set for a few days before i begin the cycle process or will the cycling clean up any residual chlorine? | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| He's a beautiful bot who will enjoy stretching his fins and get a good swim in his new tank.
Be sure to rinse the tank until you can no longer smell bleach. Fill it back up and OD it with dechlorinator, let that set for a while.
Empty it, refill with the normal amount of conditioner, then you can start cycling. | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hello Da...Lucy has you covered. Have fun setting up your tanks and by all means keep us posted.
Have a great weekend!
Ken | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Thanks Lucy. I think we are just about ready to go shopping for the new stuff for the fish tank. Woohooo! | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Beautiful betta. Can't wait to see pics with him in the big tank | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Thanks Click
We stopped in a walmart to pick some things up and of course wandered by the fish section. It broke my heart to see all the bettas in those tiny little bowls they sell them in. I wanted to bring them all home but there was about 50 of them and all of them needing their own tanks. I live in a teeny tiny 2 bedroom upstairs apartment so apart from building a whole other room for them on the deck I have nowhere to keep them. My logic said no my heart cried yes. Siiiiiiiiiigh | |
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October 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| i feel ya, we've been there too. 
So how is your set up going? | |
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October 31st, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Well Tony, first thing, we are moving the big tank to a lower spot because there's no way i can clean it up where it is now (on my daughters desk). It would look really cool up there but its too darn high. Once We get it moved then we will start the cycling process. I'm feeling better today so hopefully will get to go to Petco and pick up the supplies needed to get us started. We cleaned out his bowl (60% water change due to length of time since last cleaning since I have been sick since the last time it was changed) and at the moment he is pretty peeved that we messed up his bubble nest again. But he looks like he is already starting a new one so he wont be mad for long. It's funny because even though I didn't do much to help with the cleaning process I think he is more angry with me than the kiddo. Whenever I walk over to his bowl he swims right up to the side and just sits there looking at me lol. I get the feeling if he could talk he would be saying "This is all YOUR fault!!" LOL
Anyway, just gotta get dad up and moving but he is trying to enjoy his coffee and wake up for now. He is also bossing us around about setting aside a gallon of water to sit for at least 24 hours before we change the water again. This from the man who up to this point has had nothing to do with the whole process lol.
Last edited by Da_Crinkly; October 31st, 2009 at 01:09 PM.
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November 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Okay, to update how things are going around here. Dad took over the whole fish thing and put Pike in the new tank early. Pike loved it! A little too much. We had gone to Petco to check things out and get a couple of things still needed for the tank (like a heater and some plants) and ended up with 2 Angels (Scrat, a black and white marble and Calsifer, a yellow and white iridescent). The angels were in with a Betta so we (the nice lady at Petco and Dad) thought they would all get along. Not so. Even though Pike is smaller than Scrat he would zoom across the tank and slam into Scrat. Even when we had them in the bag from the store in the tank, Pike was flaring and circling. You could just see him hollering "Lemmee at 'em! I'll murdalize 'em!" So Pike is back in the betta bowl for the moment as the Angels were simply to big to go in the bowl for now. We will go with some shrimp or crabs or snails for Pike's tank as soon as we get that set up. Hopefully in the next week or so because, honestly I don't want to clean Pike's bowl every other day.
Scrat and Calsifer are enjoying their new home and we will be picking up a sucker fish for them. But their story is for another thread.
Oh and our tanks are (2) 10 gallon and a 50 gallon. I thought they were bigger but apparently not.
Last edited by Da_Crinkly; November 13th, 2009 at 11:00 AM.
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November 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Pike is going to be most at home and peaceful in his own environment I have gone back and forth about adding tank mates to my bettas tanks but they truly seem happy in their own little spaces. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Glad to hear he is still a happy guy! | |
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November 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Upright, he is very happy. We got him some bloodworms and have fun watching him get all excited when we pick up the bottle to feed him. Normally he swims all casual and lazy. But pick up the bloodworms (and he DOES know the difference between that bottle and the pellets) and he swims right to the top and edge of the bowl, little fins going 90 miles an hour. I think if he could jump up and down and squeal he would lol. With the pellets we have to actually touch the water when we drop one in and he will float over to see what it is, take it in his mouth and then spit it right back out. He's not a huge fan of the pellets lol. Eventually he gets hungry enough though and will eat them. | |
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November 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Pics, Pics! We want to see the finished product! | |
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November 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Pike back in his bowl. He seems to be happier here for now. Going to go to Goodwill tomorrow (Sunday) and see if we can't find something a LOT bigger to put him in as the Male in Charge Around Here says it will be Christmas before he can get to the wall remodel for the 50 (he says 75) gallon tank for the other fish. For now the fish and I are trying to make do with what we have... sigh. | |
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January 15th, 2010
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| | Fish Bum
| Okay here's an update!
We now have 4 bettas, 2 crowntail and 2 regular. I am hoping to get a delta tail but so far the only one i saw that i liked a lot didnt look very healthy.
Anyway, we now have Pike, Ice, Fire (I call him Flame thanks), and Bandit. Bandit is cool looking as he has a black stripe across his nose that makes him look like a masked bandit lol. Pike and Ice are the regular Bettas and Flame and Bandit are crowntails. Flame has really shredded looking fins while Bandits fins are shorter and more spikey than shredded.
Flame took a couple of days to become un-shy and spent his first 2 days here staying close to his cave. However, he quickly figured out that those giants that come over by him have food. So he is swimming all over the place now and has a favorite leaf on his plant that he rests on. He wanders around flaring for no apparent reason so of course we all have to go and watch which makes him flare more.
Bandit was a happy boy right off the bat. As soon as we put him in his new home he zoomed around checking everything out. A couple of times a day he wanders through and touches every leaf on his plant and then swims in and out of his cave a few times. Then he will pick a leaf and hang out for a few hours just resting. I think he might be slightly OCD lol.
We have them in their own 2 gallon vases and they are doing fabulously.
Ice's colors have really darkened and become more vibrant since the first day we brought him home. He was almost all white then and has really gotten a more vivid blue.
Pike's colors have deepened and he's got more brilliant green in him now.
I've managed to get a few more pics of the boys and will post them below.
Last edited by Da_Crinkly; January 15th, 2010 at 10:45 AM.
Reason: Added pics | |
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January 15th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| Please consider getting these bettas real tanks, it's not a humane thing to do - keeping a tropical fish in an unheated/unfiltered bowl. | |
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January 15th, 2010
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| | Fish Bum
| Here are a few more pics of the boys. They are so pretty but my cell phone camera just doesn't do them justice. | |
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January 15th, 2010
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| | Fish Bum
| I would love to gt them tanks of their own but at the moment its simply impossible. And frankly, the vases are way better than the bowls they were in you know? | |
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January 15th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| IMO, it's just as bad. But that's just me.
I don't mean to sound mean here, but if someone cannot properly house an animal, I think they should reconsidering owning them. | |
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January 17th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| I agree with Amanda, bettas are not happy in bowls or vases. You could, however, divide your 10 gallons in half each and keep 2 bettas in each tank. Be sure to have a heater and filter for each tank, and some large-leafed plants on either side. Here is a link: Dividing a tank for bettas..fun and low cost
Also, I think you have angelfish in a 10 gallon tank... they will not be happy here either. They will be very happy in your 50 gallon, though. You could keep a group of 5 or six along with some other compatible fish. | |
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