mjoy79's journal

[mjoy79]

Ok so I hear that Petco is having another $1 per gallon sale and I have a giftcard I need to spend there. I'm wondering if this would be a good time to get another 10G tank and do some rearranging. My current tanks:
20G - currently holding 4 male bettas (divided)
10G - currently holding 5 female bettas (sorority)
10G - holding Hurley (giant HMPK)
3 three-gallons holding 1 male betta each

I've tried different set ups for 4 of my guys attempting to get them to stop tail biting and so far nothing has worked. Whether they are alone, can see another betta or not, they keep biting those tails. I've kept their water clean so no infections or other issues.

I'm thinking of making the 20G into a sorority tank and adding a few more girls (wonder if this would mess up my current 5 too much, if there would be too much aggression since these 5 have been together for 4-5 months now) or as long as I add them the same way I did to begin with, with all the new space, things would be fine?
Then want to divide the new 10G and the remaining 10G either 2 or 3 ways each. And place each male in the best place to minimize aggression. The 4 that are in the 20G now have all gotten used to having a neighbor that they can't get to :)

More thoughts/updates to come...

[dramaqueen]

I think adding to your sorority would be fine as long as you take the others out, rearrange things, which you would be doing since you'll have a 20 gallon, and put them back in. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they behave themselves. lol

[mjoy79]

Went to Petco this evening. First of all - had to leave 2 guys there that were just gorgeous.
One - I seriously almost took him home - a black/blue/red double tail
Two - gorgeous cambodian halfmoon with a purple fins.
Ugh it was so hard to leave them at the store. But I had to. I adopted out 2 guys a couple months ago to family and I still have 13 bettas now. And if I plan on expanding my sorority soon, I really just need to wait and get new girls when their new tank is ready.

Thanks for the advice, dramaqueen. I agree. I think everything should be fine once I move everything over to the 20G - everything will look different. I'll add all the girls in at once and everyone will set up new territories. I know I'll have to watch super close though with new girls around, espeically if they're smaller than my current girls. The ones I saw at Petco today mostly were young. But I saw a few that might be ok to add.
So I glued in the divider holders tonight and once those are dry I will fill the tank up and put in the plants I bought tonight. Planted tanks scare me a bit still but I'm really wanting to do it. Oh I got a 15 gallon tank, I just remembered. LOL. I already had a hood/cover for it. Unfortunately they charged me full price for the tank and I didn't notice til I got home. So I'll need to take the receipt and the proof of purchase back to the store and make sure they give me my discount. Hate having to go back to the store.

[dramaqueen]

Wow, both those fish are beautiful! I would have had a hard time leaving them, too.

[mjoy79]

Well, I put up a memorial thread but I wanted to add a post in my journal for Hurley too. I'm still kicking myself over this. I really wish i could go back and NOT put him in that 20 gallon tank. My thinking was that he'd enjoy swimming around the 20G while helping me cycle it and get it ready for my sorority. Things seemed fine (with the exception of him hiding in his log too much) but this morning when I woke up, he was at the bottom of the tank, dead. I feel so guilty and stupid for basically putting him in there to die. He was a gorgeous spunky big guy and he seemed happy in his 10G.

Now I know I need to start completely over with my 20G. Completely empty it, completely rinse the gravel, everything. I had just tanken out all the decor and plants, etc and vacuumed the gravel and added more treated water to it before. Thinking I was keeping the cycle going. I wish Hurley didn't have to die because i had no clue what I was doing.

[mjoy79]

Still feeling pretty lousy about Hurley. But trying to learn from my mistakes and improve my betta-keeping. I know its going to be some time before my 20G will be ready for the sorority. But I've been thinking today about the size differences between my current 5 girls and the 5 I plan on adding. I'm thinking about picking up a few girls that aren't super tiny this evening and setting them up in small kritter keepers and 1G tanks and allowing them to grow out a bit before adding them in with current girls. 2 of my girls (Rose and Sun) have grown quite a bit since I got them in August. the others have grown too but not as much. Rose and Sun are both VT. i wonder if VT girls grow faster. I'm thinking I can take my time and get the girls I really want if I go over the next couple weeks and see what they have at the petstore. I am thinking of keeping them in the 20G or either of my other large tanks i now have available (seperately in a small amount of heated water - to keep them warm.
Gives me something to take my mind off of losing Hurley. Also need to move the 3 plants I put into the 15G into their own tank. I'm an idiot and didn't know I needed soil under the sand.
I know I might sound like an inexperienced fish- keeper. But I basically am! I'm scared of larger tanks but I'm working on that.
Until next time :)

[mjoy79]

took quite a few pics of my bettas last night. Thought I'd share.
Oh I also went ahead and got ALL 5 new sorority girls last night too LOL.
I took pics of all of them except one - oops. She was hiding behind a leaf when i was taking pics and forgot to come back to her.
so I'll start with new girls
1. cambodian CT - she looks like an older version of the 2 girls I lost last year the day after I bought them
2. Hard to tell but this one is actually a pale yellow CT with what looks like black on the body. I have a feeling she'll get darker on her body soon
3. cambodian with pastel blue fins or cellophane CT.
4. dark aqua/blue CT. She's the largest of the new girls
5. not pictured. cambodian VT (hope Rose leaves her alone!)

[mjoy79]

Only got 2 decent pics of current sorority girls.
Ana Lucia - my grey/blue CT and Rose my cambodian VT

Next is Justin (Furstenfeld) looking beautiful in his own 3G. He had some biting issues for awhile when I had him in a divided tank but since he's been back alone he's done better. Still not what it was but he leaves it alone :)

Ross still as gorgeous as ever. He's currently in a divided 15 G with only 1 other neighbor that he can't see right now (Sawyer). He has such long fins on him. He always gives me such pretty flare shots.

Next is Sawyer, charging at me LOL. He's the most highstrung betta i have and is a major tailbiter. Whether he has neighbors or not, he keeps chomping. Bad boy!

Same with Jack the blue & white delta (SD?). I keep enjoying watching the blue spread out all over him but wish he'd leave his tail alone. He's done better lately but still chomps occasionally.

Finally pictured is John Locke. His coloring keeps amazing me every day. he started out completely clear and now he's dark blue/green and showing signs of red in places too

Need to get pics of the rest of them - Libby. Juliette, Sun, Charlie & Joey. they haven't been very photogenic lately. LOL

[featheredB3ttas]

You have some gorgeous bettas ^^ Better than my two current ones, lolz

[mjoy79]

Thanks featheredB3ttas :)

A small update..... Sayid is back in my care. My mom offered him back to me after I told her I lost Hurley and Charlie. I went ahead and took him. She still has 1 other betta. She named him Shamu because of his jumping abilities especially for food. He's a gorgeous "king" white and lavender plakat. He's getting pretty big! He's in a 2.5 gallon tank at my parents' house and I think they wouldn't want anything bigger. If he were in my care, I'd probably put him in one of my 10G tanks. Maybe I some point I can give my mom my 3G tank. But he is fine where he is now.

So anyways, i have Sayid back. He's a yellow VT. He should be re-named Flare Boy because he does that so much. He used to be right next to Shamu's tank. I currently have him on my counter along with Jack (in their own 3G critter keepers). But I'm sure he'll eventually make his way somewhere else once I have my two 10G tanks available.
I'll take new pics of Sayid and post them soon :)