Betta Addicts Anonymous

Some of those who own bettas may be familiar with the marble gene, or marbling gene, or jumping gene. This is a "hidden" gene within the betta's DNA, completely harmless, but with a very unique side effect. It causes extreme, random color changes throughout the fish's life.  Not mild or subtle, most bettas' colors will darken or become more vibrant in the months after purchase.  I'm talking about a blue fish turning red, or a red fish turning yellow, or a green fish turning purple. Or a white fish turning black. Illy has the marble gene.  It took me completely by surprise.  I've had him for over six months.  And for over six months, he looked like this: Beautiful, right?  He's a gorgeous boy. But the other day, a week or so ago, I noticed a bit of a change. Did he always have that much black?  No, I must be misremembering things. Okay, he definitely  didn't have that much black!   I have a marbling fish! It loo...

Once upon a time, I was perusing through a local fish store's selection of bettas when I came across a particularly impressive blue and red male, with just stunning finnage. The label said he was a rosetail. Huh.  I'd never heard of that before.  But he was gorgeous, and I had a spare tank, so I took him home. And then I realized my mistake. For those who may not know, a rosetail is an extreme halfmoon, to put it simply.  The fins are extremely wide, and usually extremely long. Here are some pictures (all photos are assumed to be public domain.  If you own a picture posted and wish it taken down or sourced, please let me know). Pretty, right? I sure thought so.  And my male, Triton, was truly stunning to behold. But it didn't take long for me to realize the price of his beauty. His fins were way too heavy.  He hardly moved at all, instead just swimming from resting place to resting place. Finally, he took to biting them off. A...

Anakin is such a lively little guy.  And I like that he'll actually flare. Neph doesn't give two shits about flaring, and I've never been able to get Illy to flare either.  Osiris will flare occasionally when Neph gets him all worked up (which I swear she does on purpose.  I'll have to get video of her doing it). Osiris is very pretty when he flares, too.  It's difficult to get a good picture of him doing it, though, because he's so worked up and moves so fast. I do like this one, though. Of course, you can't see his face, but I love the contrast between the blue and the orange. But Anakin flares readily.  Which is good, it means that, should I decide to train him, I'll be able to teach him to flare on command. I can't teach Neph or Illy, since they just won't flare.  But I can teach Anakin. And he looks pretty impressive when he flares.  Here, I took two photos of him, about 5 seconds apart.  The first is before he flared, the s...

Finally , I finally got Grim out of that tiny tank and into a 2.5.  It feels good to have him in the bigger tank.  And he seems to love it, too! Isn't it pretty! This is his favorite spot.  And where he sleeps at night. He's still looking so good! I love watching him swim around in his new home.

So I posted my feeding schedule, but of course feeding isn't all that goes into pet ownership.  So I figured I'd post my maintenance schedule for all of them.  Of course this is always subject to change based on health issues that come up or what have you.  I'll start with the easiest, Karana. Karana Feed once a week, on Mondays.  Clean and replace water. On Wednesdays, spot clean her tank for feces.  Clean and replace water On Fridays, spot clean again and clean and replace water. When she sheds, clear out the old skin. Once a month, scoop out all substrate and replace with fresh. Spear Feed every other day as needed. Every week, lightly mist the plastic plant with water so he can drink. Every two weeks, clean out substrate and replace with fresh. Two days after he sheds, clean out the old skin. Grim Feed three times a day 25-50% water change every day Test water every other day Vacuum approximately 1/4 of gravel with each change Me...

So I've got Neph, Osiris, Illy, Grim, Anakin, Karana, Spear, and a partridge in a pear tree. Keeping the feeding of all of them straight can be tricky, particularly since the bettas require different food on different days.  So here's what I do. With the bettas, I feed them three times a day, two pellets per feeding, unless I replace one, two, or all feedings with something else.  Karana is easy enough, I feed her once a week.  Spear is pretty easy, just dump a handful of fruit flies in his tank every other day. So here's my schedule: Monday Feed Karana Feed bettas two pellets, replace their other two feedings with bloodworms Tuesday Feed bettas 6 pellets Feed Spear Wednesday Feed bettas 2 pellets, replace their other two feedings with peas Thursday Feed bettas 6 pellets Feed Spear Friday Feed bettas 4 pellets, replace one feeding with a bloodworm Saturday Feed bettas 6 pellets Feed Spear Sunday Fast bettas Feed Spe...

So Anakin has swim bladder disease. It's not fun.  But thankfully it's usually very treatable.  But to diagnose and treat it you have to understand what the swim bladder is. The swim bladder is a gas-filled organ that governs a fish's balance and buoyancy.  When there's something wrong with it, you'll notice that your fish may be stuck at the surface or at the bottom of the tank, or have trouble remaining upright. The way to treat it is to treat the cause.  Most often, swim bladder disease is not, in itself, a disease.  It's a symptom of an underlying condition.  And to treat the swim bladder disease, you must treat the underlying condition. The most common cause of swim bladder disease in bettas is constipation, which, thankfully, is among the easiest to treat.  But you must examine your fish for other signs of illness.  Look for lethargy, loss of appetite, pineconing, or dull colors.  These may be indications of a very serious condi...

So I have a new rescue betta, a gorgeous crowntail.  I've named him Anakin. He was purchased by a teenage boy because he liked the colors. When Anakin was a baby, his body was solid black, with deep red fins.  Obviously that must've looked bad-ass, especially with him being a crowntail. But as he matured, his colors lightened.  His body is now brown and there's a lot of very pale blue showing up.  The boy thought he didn't look as bad-ass anymore, so he didn't want him anymore. I still think Anakin looks cool.  and I like his bright blue eyes.