>>>Contest for the Betta Rescuers<<<

[DiiQue]

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LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
This contest is in no way sponsored by BettaFish.com or it's affiliates. I take full responsibility for the contest. The contestants will be judged in a fair manner.
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Okay, with that out of the way... let's do this:

Contest Description: This thread is open to all U.S. based Betta "rescuers" (since I am currently overseas, shipping the prizes outside the U.S. would be difficult for me). This contest is a thank you to the heroes of this forum who've gone to a store for a carton of milk and came out with a new friend.

Prizes:
1. QTY 1 Aquabid Betta (max value of fish $40USD). All expenses will be paid to get the fish to your doorstep. *
2. Five gallon tank with heater. **

*If you chose an Aquabid Betta from a U.S.-based seller, I will allow total of 2 fish with total combined value of $50USD. This is to support our own local breeders.
**If you choose U.S.-based seller and get two fish, I will provide an adequate tank(s) to house them both. Includes heater(s). This is to support our own local breeders.


Contest Rules:

1. Contestants must reside in the U.S.
2. Submissions are to be posted on this thread in the following format:
A. Betta's Name
B. Date of Rescue (can be an estimate if it was awhile ago)
C. Tell your story (what you were doing, how you found him/her, what was going on in your mind, etc.,). What were the obstacles you had to overcome (i.e., Betta swam upside down/backwards, had a huge bend in spine, etc.,) Objective here is to capture the hearts and minds of the judges.
D. Pictures - day of rescue, one day after rescue, one week after rescue, pic of the Betta today (or last picture taken if he/she passed away). I will not be strict about when the photos were taken, the main point is that you show the progress of the fish while under your care.

Judging: Contestants will be judged by a panel of 3 people. If I could have volunteers from Senior Members that would be great. If there are no volunteer judges, I will ask my staff at work to be judges.

Contest time frame: This contest starts as soon as I post this and will close September 1, 2012. Judging will begin September 7 (I need time to package all the submissions for easy reading) and winners will be announced shortly after that.

Have fun telling us your stories and I look forward to some great reading! Good luck everyone!

[Mo]

I would love to be a judge! Sorry I don't rescue fish thought since I'm a breeder

[DiiQue]

Originally Posted by Mo

I would love to be a judge! Sorry I don't rescue fish thought since I'm a breeder

Cool! Thanks for volunteering.

Ladies and gents... please welcome Judge#1... Mo!!!

[teeneythebetta]

I would love to be a judge as well! I have always wanted to rescue but being young & low on funds and space, I am uncapable. I have mass respect for those that devote their time & love to these poor guys & girls!

[DiiQue]

Originally Posted by teeneythebetta

I would love to be a judge as well! I have always wanted to rescue but being young & low on funds and space, I am uncapable. I have mass respect for those that devote their time & love to these poor guys & girls!

Thanks for volunteering.

Ladies and gents, please welcome judge#2.... teeneythebetta!!!

[LebronTheBetta]

Can I be the other judge? I can't enter since I can't take the prize anyway. :/ Lebron only had a little rot but it's gone.

[DiiQue]

Originally Posted by LebronTheBetta

Can I be the other judge? I can't enter since I can't take the prize anyway. :/ Lebron only had a little rot but it's gone.

Cool, thanks for volunteering!

Ladies and gents, please welcome judge#3.... LebronTheBetta!!!

[DiiQue]

Submitted by pinkcupid765 (I just copy-pasted from the "poll thread" to keep everything here). For transparency's sake, the link to original post is located here (page 1): http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=108257.

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Submitted by pinkcupid765

pinkcupid765
Member



Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Texas
pinkcupid765's Posts

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Okay! My story is very long and dramatic, so please bear with me:

My betta craze was just reaching it's peak! I only had 3 bettas at the time. I needed more(lol)! I invited my friend over and we begged my mom to let me go to the petstore~ Finally after, what, 20 minutes of bribing and whining she took up to Petsmart! Lola and I where searching through the cups and she found a pretty red and black CT. She was just swooning over it and so was I! Then something caught my eye.
In one of the pathetic, display tanks(Which I thought was empty before) held a tiny little baby betta, floating in this nasty moldy stuff! I thought he was dead at first! I tapped on the glass a little bit and he wiggled up to greet me. I just KNEW that he was the one for me! He was adorable, but at the same time it hurt my heart to look at him. His fins where reduced to scraps and the only color that touched his scaled was a washed out brown. Also, he was pathetically thin. I walked up to the closest employee and demanded to see the manger.
The manager was a young girl. In her late 20s. I stated that there was a betta fish that I was interested in and that I'd like her to come see it. She was a bit shocked by his appearance. With a raised voice I explained to her how this was wrong and that she should look into taking proper care of these little lives. She seemed bothered by it all. I'm not sure whether it was the betta fish, or rather the fact that a girl half her age was lecturing her… Of course, while all of this was happening, my mom decided that she didn't know me and my friend had to move to the next isle because she was laughing so hard.
Originally he was supposed to be 8.00$ but since I insisted that that was too much, I got him for 3.00$! I brought him home and quickly cleaned out the disgusting water. His quarantine tank was a simple 1 gallon with a plant and a hammock. I knew right away what I was going to name him! Emiko, meaning "beautiful child". He had that best personality, even in his sad state. Slowly, but surely his fins grew back and so did his trust in people! He would jump for bloodworms!
Unfortunately, his story ended today. After 2 years and 5 months in my care, he said goodbye. The cause of death is unknown. He just slowly withered away. I know that he had a wonderful life, and he certainly changed mine as well. I will miss Emiko with all my heart. The End.











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~My current babies~
Cats- Sam, Toby, and Sadie
Dogs- Bridgette and Ginger
Birds- Lolly
Fish- Dancer, Iggy, Sasuke, Haruhatsu, Poppy and Tasmin

Betta fish are like French fries. You can't have just one!

RIP~ Eclipse, Emiko, Skylar, and Sebastian

[Bettanewbie60]

"Buddy Blue"
Rescued 6/25/2012

My story actually began on 6/7/2012 when I got the call from my dermatologist telling me I had skin cancer. Exactly 7 days later I had surgery on two different areas, both squamous cell carcinomas. I went home to heal up, trying to stay positive, though inside I was terrified. I kept busy caring for my husband, my dogs, and my house while waiting to find out the results of my removals. On June 7th I went to Walmart to get my dog's their favorite treats. I walked through the fish section and noticed all these fish in little cups! I had never seen or heard of a betta fish before, but I was mesmerized by them. I looked at a few before I spotted this one guy, sitting at the bottom of his filthy cup, looking at me as if to say, "Help Me"...I knew how he felt, and knew I couldn't leave him there. I knew NOTHING about keeping bettas, but I knew we belonged together. I bought the 1g bowl kit and headed home, still very sore and tired from my surgery. When I got home with him I had to look up on the internet how to care for him. I did a LOT of reading, and realized just what rough shape he was in, and got him set up as best I could for the time being.
Caring for him in that first 24 hours really gave me no time to think about myself, only how I could help this poor little fish. The next day I got the call saying they had removed all of the cancer! I was so elated! I now could focus all of my attention on my new betta, who by now had been named "Buddy Blue Betta". I read more and more, and by the end of that first week he was set up in his new 5g digs, and of course I was obsessed with decorating, learning about water prams, and just enjoying watching him go from this
curled up dirty fish, to this amazing, beautiful, colorful creature. I loved how when I came in the room he would swim to the front of his tank and do his little flirty dance for food. He calmed my soul. I fell in love. I like to say I rescued HIM, but in my heart I think he rescued me when I really needed someone else to love and care for! Thanks my Buddy Blue.

Buddy 6/25/2912


7/05/2012


7/11/2012


And Buddy today 8/2/2012


Buddy gave me hope, and inspired me to rescue more bettas. I now have a new hobby, four betta fish, and both of us are healthy and happy!

[Tikibirds]

Oooh.....a contest for me :D


A. Betta's Name - SLUGGLES
B. Date of Rescue - DECEMBER 2011
C. Tell your story - I worked the night shift and after work the boyfriend and I usually hit up walmart because they had a 24 hour subeay inside the store. After that he would check movies and I would check fishies. This walmart would get in some pretty spiffy looking bettas but shipping them to alaska and lack of care usually resulted in some pretty sick fish. Anyways, this particular night, they didn't have too many left. I see this blue thing in a cup and ignore it thinking it was going to die in the next 24 hours. My boyfriend sees it and says "you want to save this one". I was like what? since he never had any interest in my fish saving escapades. I'm thinking this thing isn't even gonna survive the ride home....

Well, he made it home alive but he was crumbled over in his cup, bits of blue fin and god knows what else floating in his cup and was gasping with rapid mouth movement. I'm thinking he is gonna be dead by tomorrow. I have NO idea what's wrong with him besides ammonia poisioning. His ammonia was at least an 8.0. It turned dark green and I got a pic of it somewhere.

To make a long story short - I slowly acclimated him, very slowly...like a small syrine full of water every 20 minutes - to cleaner water. I didn't want to shock him by going from ammonia infested water to clean water all at once. This was the least of my worries though. After I got the icy water out of the cup, I floated him in a heated 3 gallon with like .5 of an inch of water because he could barely swim. changed the water out 2X a day. He started eating and then when he flared at king Bumi, I figured it was time for him to get his own abode. This took a week or so. he spent the next week recovering in a small veggie krisper I took from my fridge. It was brand new and I never bough veggies, so why not? Well, he passed the 1st hurdle - recovering from ammonia poisioning..the nest was could he survive the 5,000 miles road trip from alaska to NY in winter? Not only was he one of the only survivors but his back and swimming issues were gone by the time he got to New York!! Not sure how that happened but I had maracyn 2, amquel plus, fish protector, stress coat and IAL in all their cups. The other survivor was a red CT also from walmart. The rest froze in the yukon But that's a story for another day....NOW for the PICS!

DAY 1:






4 or 5 days later:


Right before leaving Alaska:






NOW:


His tail has grown a little since the above pic - and that is what's left of my 5 gallon marineland hex it did not do well in the trip from Alaska...


I don' think this is a good pic but it was taken 2 days ago


Here is a music video I made that features him. I think I did a good job if I must say so myself:
http://youtu.be/InF8eCGPnoQ

It was a toss up between Sluggles and my 1st rescue LUCKY. He is the one who got me started on trying to save bettas. He stars in his own music video if you want to check out his story :D
http://youtu.be/m6DJiwpGwbI