Hello! I was encouraged to post a journal here- i found this forum a few weeks ago when I was doing research for my summer project, that is, a philosophy book on fish (well, on consciousness and the problem of other minds/human + animal relations)...I actually was first inspired for the project when I wrote a paper last fall based on one of my (and my first) bettas-my lovely Rousseau...
Anyways, around that time another of my fish died (resultant of the 3+ hour car ride back home once university ended for me) which hit me really hard...my mom had also basically adopted my two other betta fish at this point as they were in the kitchen and under her care.
(1) Nietzsche; a HM, always a more reserved, strange boi-when i first got him i thought he would die because he was swimming funny
(2) John II ;the namesake of my book project and named after my first EVER fish I got when I was 7. he was a red VT just like my current John, anyways John the 2nd is a real trooper ...didnt even mind an excursion to my university philosophy conference when I was presenting my paper on him! Handled the field trip (6+ hours + 2 more in the car) with no signs of stress or aggression, a very friendly and pleasant man...both have grown FAT and huge under my moms feeding
Anyways so my friend gave me her old 10g (my first ever real proper fish tank) and my original plan was to set that, actually try my hand at aquascaping (before that i had only had bamboo and a scraggly plant i had bought and it died within 3 days) so i bought a baby betta from Petsmart, they refused to sex it for me, so i took a more gender neutral philosophy name and went with Aristophanes - This was about a month ago and Ari was still completely colorless and grey with her baby stripes when i first got her, super super tiny with only the tiniest bit of red shimmer on her fins. I had noticed a few weeks prior that they had started selling babies, and after the slow and painful deaths of Rousseau and Karl Marx (I had personally watched Karl slowly lose his color, stop eating over the course of weeks, and then, convulse and die one evening) I couldnt bare to see anymore death ...i wanted to raise a baby. so behold Ari ...
Unfortunately, the 10g my friend gave me was too big for where I wanted to put it (and the only place I really can). My living situation is complicated right now, I’m living back at home until I move to a new continent for law school in September...my mom is not impressed w my newfound hobby and did not want me to set up my tank anywhere else, so im forced rn to keep Ari in my 1gal - i know its not enough even tho she still is tiny and gets lost among the sword plants and bamboo. i recently added back some hornwort too (watched her eat a stem and almost choke when i first got her) and the tank sits on my bedside table right under the window, so always lots of light and a stable 73-76 degrees. i want to move her to a new tank that i could actually (kind of) aquascape a bit, and i wish i could make the 10g work...(rn its sitting in the trunk of my car hiding)-ive been wistfully going to pet stores and looking at the rocks and such, i love the idea of using hamster tubing/clear pvc piping for tunnels and hides, and id wanna have lots of plants and simple, monocolored rocks...i could even make it a sorority (tho boys still have my heart) all of that would probably help with my motivation for my project too! Alas, i dont think thats in the books for now-my goal is to at least find ari a bit bigger of a tank soon, and (maybe) get more plants and find a small hide-i really like those floating logs but theyre like 20$ at Petsmart-ridiculous! Ive seen people make them out of hair curlers...also saw some cool things at the dollar store that would make for cool decor, like a makeup brush holder (like where u put eye liner in and stuff) its transparent plastic with smooth edges and large circular holes to swim through) -thought it would look cool with a darker, minimalistic style tank
Side note; Nietzsche (have had him for 10 months now) has started nipping his fins, probably because since my mom has taken over feeding him (the kitchen is her domain) his fins and coloring have blossomed-he had always looked sickly before and i guess he got annoyed with it finally-anyways im going to change his water and add more plants and put him in the vertical 2.5gal but i want to add betta fix to help with his fins, would anyone suggest that? i read somewhere that bettafix doesnt actually do much, or that it can make it harder for the fish to breath...also is it safe for plants? i also have some aq salt but i know i cant use that for plants
photos
1) Nietzsche before he ate his fins :(
2) Ari when I first got her beside my finger nail for size comparison
3) Ari when I first got her, showing her pale coloring and baby stripes! (Shes a lot darker and blue-er now, will post photos soon):


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