[Noivurn]

Hello, I'm Tabby, and my new betta boy is named Vega.

I'm a college student from Pennsylvania who's recently purchased my first real betta set-up. (I say real because I owned quite a few bettas when I was younger, before I realized that the pet store tanks were not actually acceptable.) I'm a huge animal lover (studying Animal Behavior as a major) and not being able to have larger pets in the dorm, I looked to getting a fish.

I set up his tank and I've been monitoring all the water levels with the API liquid test kit. He seems to be doing alright, but I'm super nervous that I'm doing something wrong, and it's hard for me to tell what may actually be problems and what's just me over-reacting or even misinterpreting a normal behavior as a problem.

I'm also unsure what breed/type he is, and I would appreciate any help in regards to figuring that out once I get some pictures posted.

Anyway, enough rambling- specs and pictures are coming up soon!

 

[Noivurn]

Tank Specs:

Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? ~81 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? yes
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? none (eventually have plans for live plants and possibly snails or other small compatible friends, but i want to focus on getting the fish settled in before i add tankmates)

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets, dried Bloodworms/Daphnia/Mysis from ZooMed
How often do you feed your betta fish? I just got him yesterday (2/20). I didn't feed him anything then. I tried feeding him this morning, but I'm not whether or not he ate.

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? I haven't yet; planning to weekly.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? Once the fish-in cycle is complete, I'm planning on doing 25% changes
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? I have both Seachem Prime and API Stress

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: According to the test it was between 0 and 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: ~7.6
Hardness: unsure
Alkalinity: unsure

 

[Noivurn]

Pictures

Vega himself:

(these are all from yesterday, i haven't had much luck getting pictures of him today)

His setup:

I plan on trying to get better pictures when I can, but this is what I've got so far. (Also, sorry they're all so big. I'm not sure how to resize pictures on these forums, yet.)

 

[Sylverlilly]

Hi there I can't help with all inquiries but just wanted to mention a few things. I think he's a veil tail but I could easily be wrong. Wait for someone more knowledgable on that lol. But the barrel looks worrisome to me, the openings are not big and possibly tough edged? Also since your tank is not cycled make sure to dose five drops of prime a night until you get it cycled. I hope someone can offer you more help soon love your fishy!

 

[Noivurn]

Thanks for the help, Sylverlilly, and for the compliment on Vega. c:

As far as the barrel, I'm wondering if it might just be distortion from the picture? The holes are about 1.5-2x bigger than he is and he hasn't seemed to have any problems going through them, and I was careful to make sure nothing felt sharp or rough. But I'll definitely keep an eye out to make sure he isn't getting stuck or roughed-up!

The bottle of Prime I have is rather large and doesn't have a dropper, just a cap with instructions for "one capful per 50 gallons." Since my tank is obviously a whole lot smaller, is there a better way to know exactly how much to put in there? (Or, does 1 drop = 1 ml or something similar?)

Also, a bit of an update- it looked like he was hungry so I put some pellets in for him. He definitely got one or two of them, but it seemed like the rest were all pulled into the filter before he could get them. Is there a way to avoid that? (I was worried the filter might be too much for him, too, but he doesn't seem to avoid it at all and I haven't noticed it visibly pushing him around so I figured it wasn't bothering him, otherwise.)

Also, is there any sure-fire way to know how many pellets to feed him a day? (Or how much of the freeze-dried goodies to give him when I do?)

Thanks again for anyone who's willing to help out! I really want to make his home as happy and safe as I can.

 

[GossamerGreen]

I turn my filter off when I feed my bettas. That's the only way for them to get the food I give them instead of it going into my filter.

My first guess would be veil tailed. He's a beauty!

 

[Noivurn]

That probably should have occurred to me. Simple enough.

Thank you very much, GossamerGreen! c:

Another thing I forgot to mention- the tank I have came with a light in the lid which has a bunch of different color options. Does anyone know if leaving it on a different color of light occasionally (rather than clear) would stress him out? It also has flashing options (a quicker colored flash, a slow colored cycle that kind of flows from one color to the next, and a slower one that blinks from the 'clear' light to off, and back to clear). I was planning to stay away from the quickly-blinking ones, but would the slowly-blinking ones be okay or would they stress him out?

 

[Lizdex]

Dido on turning the filter off. It works great and after a while they start to swimm to the top of the tank when you unplug the filter. I use these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005IQTSE0
for dosing. You have the option of drops or anywhere from 0.5ml to 3ml. You don't even have to throw them out just rinse and repeat!
I would say he is a bi-color veil tail by what I can make out in the photos. He looks like a big healthy boy!

 

[Noivurn]

Those pipettes will be perfect- just ordered them, they'll be here by Tuesday or Wednesday, I'd guess. Any tips on dosing until then?

And from what I've seen and everyone here, he definitely does look like a veiltail.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Lizdex]

For now you can pour a tiny bit on a spoon and then slowly tilt until you get drops. I'm glad I could help!

 

[Noivurn]

The 'slowly tilting' thing is gonna take me a bit of practice, but it should be alright until the pipettes get here!

All my tests are still coming out safe but is it alright if I do a (partial- maybe 25%?) water change today, anyway? I don't know if I'll be able to do a water change before my classes tomorrow and I don't want him to have to wait until almost 4 when I'll be able to come back.

He also didn't seem interested at all in his pellets at first. Later I tried giving him more, and he seemed a bit more interested but didn't really go after them. He spooks whenever I put my hand above him, so I've also had a hard time getting him to see when I'm putting in pellets. Is there a better way to get him to see them without getting scared? Am I over-reacting?

 

[Lizdex]

Whether you do the 25% change today or later he'll probably be fine. Once he gets hungry enough he'll decide to brave the ominus hand and after the first few times he'll figure out that it's not going to hurt him. My bettas have come to realize that the finger wiggling above them in pointing out a pellet that they missed, it's not going to eat them.

 

[Noivurn]

Alright, thank you! I'll have to keep trying to get him to eat, maybe once he settles down after the water change he'll be hungry.

Not a fish question but a forum question- is there a way to edit older posts and/or the thread title?

 

[Steffily]

Wow, What a nice Veiltail boy you have. it seems like you filter or air pump might be a bit to strong from your pic, your fish swims freely in the tank without pushing around by water?

 

[Noivurn]

Thank you!

He didn't seem to be pushed around before and he was swimming through it to get back and forth, but I was actually just watching him with the filter and air pump off (he's still ignoring his pellets) and he seemed a bit more willing to swim in that area, so I think I'm going to try to get a smaller air-stone rather than using the barrel, and I might make a baffle for the filter if I can.

 

[Steffily]

you dont really need an air pump, betta breathe air directly, as long as you have your filter and holes on the lid, the air in the water should be fine.
I adjust my filter flow by insert an filter pad, so the flow would be mild for betta, my betta has long fin, but he prefer to swim around the filter flow (kinda wired ).
I have a 5 gallon tank as well, I use seachem Stability to help with a "fish-in" tank cycle. Still cycling yet, but my water parameter is alright so far with help of seachem prime. it is important to establish a N-cycle in the tank.
For the pellet, it really depends on the personality, all of my bettas love pellet, just keep trying, and take out the food if he doesnt eat. if the food get into the filter, it would be bad cuz you dont have good amount of beneficial bacteria yet.

 

[Noivurn]

I might still buy a little air-stone for him, just to be safe.

A bigger problem, though is that my filter just stopped. Without warning. Just stopped working. I tried plugging into different outlets, to no effect. I took it a part and (even though I didn't see anything) tried cleaning out the impeller, still nothing.

So, now I need to order a whole new one, and one that's small enough to hang over the edge. I'm planning on ordering a Tetra Whisper, as I believe that one will fit in the small lip provided by the aquarium lid. (Though I will definitely miss the gurgly bubble-noises, they're actually really relaxing to me.) I'm not sure if there are others that fit.

(The one that came with my tank was the Aqueon Mini Might Power Filter)

And he still wouldn't eat- he went after a pellet once but then spat it right out. I'm just gonna let him go for a while, I guess he just isn't hungry yet?

 

[Steffily]

a lot of fish coming back home wont eat right away, just let him clam down and he will feel hungry:O
Tetra whisper would work, its kinda quite as long as you link the parts tied.

 

[Noivurn]

Ahh, yeah, I'm sure I'm just worrying a bit too much, but it's hard not to worry I suppose.

I ordered the Tetra Whisper, it should be here Tuesday, and a Marimo ball. Did a water change, the levels seem alright. Turned the air stone back on, for now. I'll be sure to keep checking up for ammonia, nitrite, etc. whenever I can until the new filter gets here.

 

[Noivurn]

I got him on Friday and he still isn't eating. I'm sure I'm over-reacting, but when should I be worried that he's not eating?

I'm using Omega One Pellets, by the way. Also have freeze dried bloodworms, daphnia, and mysis; I've tried giving him some of those, but he still isn't interested.

Otherwise, he seems to be doing alright, so I'm sure I'm just worrying needlessly... but I'd rather be safe than sorry.