And Now for the Little Guys: Bettas Then and Now

Alright, in my last post I detailed (in excruciating depth) my goldfish history up until now. Now lets do a little then and now on my betta keeping. And of course more pictures!

In September of 2011, a few months after I got Edie and Puff, I bought  my first betta. I had been fawning over all the bettas I saw on Koko's Goldfish Forum, and it seemed as though every goldfish keeper I knew also kept bettas. So I got myself a 5 gallon basic tank and a male dragonscale plakat betta from Petsmart.

I had already been keeping some basic plants like anubias in my goldfish tank (which was bare bottom at the time), so this was really my first planted tank with substrate. I had seen some other people on the forum with heavily planted tropical tanks and really wanted to try to recreate this in my betta tank.

So, this was my first attempt at 'aquascaping'. It makes me giggle a little now looking back at this. At the time I thought it looked great, and I am sure there are many more times I will look back at my planted tanks and think the same thing: 'what was I thinking!?' But we all have to start somewhere, and practice is how we learn and get better!

I even attempted a moss wall, which failed miserably. Still something I would like to successfully do at some point though!

I added a rock for hardscape lol

Even tried some dwarf baby tears, and a fluval co2 system....they didn't last long (oh, and you'll see another moss wall attempt here lol)

Despite my failed attempts at aquascaping, my betta was happy in his home, and built me bubble nests regularly.

Unfortunately, dragonscale bettas are particularly prone to tumors and my little guy developed one on his side. He lived several months, but it developed pretty quickly and it got so large that he was no longer able to eat, so I ended up having to euthanize him.

After my dragonscale passed, I bought a beautiful blue dumbo ear betta. He is still my favorite betta I have ever kept.

I also bought a 7 gallon bookshelf style bowfront tank, upgraded my lighting, and started using an 88 gram fluval co2 kit (which worked, but I don't recommend due to cost of refills). Aquascape is getting better here.

Unfortunately this betta went missing out of nowhere. I had a lid on the tank, the only open spaces were for filters in the back. I tore apart the whole tank looking for him and looked everywhere on the floor etc. and never found a trace of him :(

At this time, petco and petsmart were starting to cary 'baby bettas'. So, I figured it might be fun to raise a little guy. I researched how to feed and care for such a little thing. She (she ended up being female) stayed in a breeder basket in the tank until she was big enough to not get sucked in by the filter etc.

Aquascape continues to develop:

She ended up being an interesting color. Almost marbeled, with closer to wild type colors than most bettas you see sold in stores full grown.

I ended up upgrading the 7 gallon to a 15 gallon rimless bowfront tank, and doing a more involved aquascape.

I also then decided I wanted to try a sorority.....I did my research, but I was also being impulsive. If I could do it over, I would have gotten all girls who were related and used a larger tank. Instead I bought 3 more girls from chain stores and attempted to acclimate them and develop a hierarchy. This lasted about 2 hrs before I decided that a sorority really wasn't for me, and 3 of the girls ended up in a divided 20 long. 

And one stayed in the 15 gallon

I now have a 40 breeder running with one of the girls alone in it. This tank is newly planted and mostly acting as a grow out tank for me at this point. Once the plants grow out a bit, I'll begin thinking about arrangement etc.

I just recently took apart the 20 long divided because one of my girls managed to jump the divider, get into another girl's side (my previous baby betta) and kill her :( At this point I decided I am done with divided betta tanks. So, there is currently one girl in the 20 long by herself, and one girl who is living in a sterilite tub (with heater and filter of course) until I get something set up for her. I went out to buy a 5 gallon tank last weekend, but none of my local shops had any.

So yeah, there's the betta history. Sorry for being long winded.... hope you enjoyed the pics though!

As always, please visit me on Koko's Goldfish Forum (I am often there), on youtube at Tithra, and on instagram and facebook at Green Mountain Goldfish :)