(no subject)

[annissamazing]

I got a new betta today. It's the one that Stauche, Cry, and I saw at the petstore on Friday. I've named him Daniel Osbourne. This is a major departure from my habit of naming bettas "Mr. Whiskers," but I thought it was time for a change. He will, of course, be referred to as "Oz." His activity has already greatly increased since I got him out of his dixie cup. He's still in the bag, but he's floating in the tank getting all acclimated. He's probably happier because he's warmer. There's all kinds of plants on the bottom of the tank that he's trying to get to. He keeps hitting the sides of the bag with his nose.

Last night after I said goodnight to Justin I found his "Writers Guide to Poisons" in the bathroom. I went back to joke with him that I always get nervous when that book comes out. I walked into the cockpit and found him holding a half-burnt check register. The burnt end was still glowing. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. I just looked at him. He said, "I thought I'd burn it for security reasons, but then I realized I had nowhere to put it." Luckily, this is the stupidest thing I've ever caught him doing.

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Umm, ya know, this is what shredders are for. Some of the new machines are rilly rilly cheap, too. And you can throw kitchen scraps in with the shredded paper, out in the garden, and make it into compost, while making your beighbors wonder about you. But nobody's likely to check through your banana skins and coffee grounds for old shredded bank statements. Besides, some of us have air quality issues, ya know!

I already made some comments on Oz at your later post. Will just add here that since he's been in a cup probably most of his life, he won't know much about swimming. Give him time, soften the current a little, he'll probably be fine if he doesn't get his fins torn up first. Bettas are from swampy rice fields, and as predators go, they're fairly sendentary, so resting on something is pretty typical, and wedging himself against the heater to rest in the warm is also typical. They like it warm, btw. I would suggest doing a websearch to find a betta expert site and consult their FAQs about the appropriate temp. What I recall is that 72 degrees is on the cold side for them, they do better warmer. Again, the guys in those room temp bowls at work are tough old vets.
It'd take me longer to hunt through my increasing bookmarks than a search off one of the main websites such as the Krib. Or try this one-- http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/
There's also food issues with bettas, much as I luv 'em.
Many bettas insist on live food and won't touch dry pellets, though we've got some dry eaters doing fine at work (again, those are the survivors.) The problem is that they fixate on moving things, and may not figure out that dead things are food too.
You'll have to experiment to see what he'll eat. If he won't eat dry or frozen bits, the food goes to the bottom and rots, and you'll need to clean that out for the sake of your water quality.
For the first two weeks, you'll need to do extra water changes while you're trying out different bits of food.
People-food can be good too. Try a tiny amount of egg yolk, or tuna, or shrimp, cooked liver (no salt) or other meaty items. The size of the "o" as you see it on your standard keyboard is about right for an experimental nibble. I try to feed 2-3 times a day, once in am, once when I get home, and another late before bed.
Thaw out frozen tropical fish food first. Frozen is pretty safe disease-wise, and any meat, fish, clams, or seafood will do. He doesn't need the vegetable types, though your other fish may appreciate that--variety is good.
I will feed live brine when I find the shop selling it is clean enough.
I don't generally feed tubifex or "black worms", too much general advice that there's disease issues, and I've had enough of that just buying new fish, without any other help!

[annissamazing]

That's the funniest part! We have a shredder! One of those little cross-shredding dealies. I usually put litterbox scrapings in with the shredded paper.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm a complete noob with bettas. This is actually my third one. The other two each lived for three years. Oz is here at work with me in a heated 5-gallon tank all by himself. His tank temperature is at about 78, but with the filter off, I'm afraid to raise it any higher. I've been lucky so far that all of my bettas have been happy to eat Betta Bites (although I've got Oz on Hikari Betta Bio-Gold). It took him a minute or two to realize that they were food, but then he ate them right up!

I'll have to go to the store and see what they have in the way of filters and filter media. I have no idea what the filter on this tank is because it's a fourth-hand tank. It keeps getting passed around my co-workers. In the past it's had Angels, corys, otos, black skirt tetras, and (much to my chagrin) one oscar. Not all at the same time, of course. It's funny... When the former users of this tank see Oz in it they go, "Oh, he's the perfect size for that tank." Well, DUH! That's what I kept saying, but they all went and overloaded the tank anyway. But I digress...

Thank you for your help. I don't know why I didn't realize he didn't have much experience swimming. That should've been a no-brainer.