1.) Keep an eye on Daphne. Without a picture, it's hard to diagnose what's going on with her. My female's belly gets silvery when she's egg bound, but graphite blotches are also a sign of a serious, nasty disease. Without pictures, we can't help much with her.

2.) Some bettas take more than a week to settle in. You can keep an eye out for parasites, watch if he rubs on his plants while darting around. He might still just be settling in and getting used to his new place.

3.) I'm not sure about feeding and not feeding babies. Over feeding before you leave is probably not a good idea. Water quality might be an issue, too, depending on the tank.

4.) Spirulina infused shrimp is good for bettas. I might be wrong, but I think that the shrimp are fed the spirulina.

5.) Pet stores tend to underfeed their fish, so they might fill out when they get home. The extra feeding might be okay if you make his other meals smaller. Bettas can over eat and make themselves sick.

6.) He's probably not eating it. It could be hidden in the rocks and biodegrading. For the longest time (5 months!) I never saw my male's poop. A few weeks ago, I found it all inside his cave (a pretend vase with holes in the sides). Now, I have to fit the gravel vacuum into the tiny side hole of the cave and vacuum it out! The poop can get in between the gravel and hide, too.

 

1.) Keep an eye on Daphne. Without a picture, it's hard to diagnose what's going on with her. My female's belly gets silvery when she's egg bound, but graphite blotches are also a sign of a serious, nasty disease. Without pictures, we can't help much with her.

First of all, thank you SO much for answering all of my questions (even the over-concerned betta-mom ones).

I was able to get decent pictures of Daphne today, I think the one I'm posting shows most of the splotches, but I have other ones if you (or anyone else) needs them. Her behavior hasn't changed. Her gills look burnt again but her ammonia levels are fine... She swims around like a not-hyper betta does, she's a bit slow to eat, and she just looks horrible I feel really bad.

Glad to update that my new boy has finally calmed down a bit. I added more plants, and he isn't as afraid of me now. He swims around constantly, but he hasn't rubbed on anything and I think the marks that I saw on him were an injury. So, I think he's in the clear now

 

I'm hoping someone more experienced than I am will come along. In the picture, I see the red marks by her gills. That could be normal coloration now that she's not in an ammonia-filled death cup at the store. My fish has those, and I've seen it described as "blush" the same way that fish with different colored lips have "lipstick" or "moustache" markings.

I can't really tell if the gray splotches are anything. To me, it looks like iridescence reflecting the light. The disease I'm thinking of usually kills fish really quickly, so it's unlikely that she has it.

 

5. They might, he might be fat, or just growing. If your feeding a high nutrition diet, he may grow a bit more than if you are not.

6. They might be hidden in the gravel, or sucked into the filter. I never saw any of my bettas poop for 3 months. I can find it now and then if I dig through the gravel, but unless he looks bloated, he should be fine.