#betta talk

Reblog beautiful fish/snake/reptile/water pics that would make cool new background and home screens? Please?

Frosty is such a sweetheart

Thank you everyone who I've met through this community.

Ug, so, a Walmart nearby has 9 betta. They didn’t look terrible, but one has lost 80% of his fins. He looks terrible, I’ve never seen a betta with so much fin loss/damage. They’re currently not selling any fish because they are treating their AQUARIUM FISH for ick, but not their betta. However, they refused to sell me that little guy. (I was stupid and asked to get him free, and they refused the sale) So, I am going back tonight to see if they put him back, and I am going to do self checkout to get him. Wish me luck!  I am going to divide Panko’s 10 gallon since I have no more power supply sockets for another tank setup. (That’s what happens when you love computers, video-games AND fish.) But I have plenty of tanks/heaters/filters, so when we move I will be the betta queen.  I bought some black sintra PVC board. Going to drill holes in it and use that. It looks sturdy and they won’t see each other. I’ll have a pvc lid over it so there’s no chance of jumping over.  Here’s a link to the video references I used to get mine setup: Divider & Lid  Lowe’s will cut acrylic for free, and I glued a cabinet knob to the lid rather than drilling holes. 

So, this morning I did my routine check on everyone, and Panko here had lost all of his black coloring. He was fleshy pink and blue. His eyes, which are normally black, were an ice blue. I was petrified that his heater broke, but the water temperature was fine. I just did a 40% water change last night (the water was de-chlorinated I know that for sure because I am very careful with that) I have no idea what would cause an eye color change? Anyways, 2 hours later and he’s back to looking normal. His eyes went back to their normal color, too. I am just baffled at his eye color changing so drastically. I understand their scale color will change, but eye color? Does anyone have any input? 

Something I don't see talked about enough among the betta basics like "heat/filter/bigger tank/place to hide" is elaborate decor, or stimulation for bored bettas. I see a lot of minimalist tanks with perhaps one plant, one hide, and lots and lots of "open air" space with just empty water. I've always found this look a bit curious to begin with, and wonder if the emptiness isn't what makes some people think that 5 gallons is too much for one small fish. What does your fish do in there all day? Do you get bored of looking at the tank, too? Since getting back into the hobby over a year ago, I've fallen in love with scaping my tanks. Not just because it makes them look pretty to me, but because I've noticed that my fish absolutely adore having an obstacle course to play in. I've started to see my scapes as a kind of playground for my fish, and trying to arrange them in ways that give my boys plenty of stuff to do is really rewarding. All three of my boys will go out of their ways to swim in between, under, or through leaves of live plants. I've watched them choose to weave through leaves, stems, driftwood and tank decorations more often than swim through the "emptier" areas of water. I'm sure they love the additional cover, but they seem to swim through them like it's a game. Giving them as many things to engage with on their swim routes in the top, middle, bottom, foreground and midground of the tank as possible is like solving a puzzle. It's just as fun to scape their tanks as it is to watch them adventuring through them. In more health related news, my more aggressive/high stress betta, Imp, tends to bite his tail when anxious. A lot. I recently rearranged his tank and added more plants and a second hide, giving him more to hide in and swim through. While bubblenests aren't necessarily a sign of a healthy betta, Imp used to build them weekly. He had not built a bubblenest in months. A week after giving him more to do in his home, he's back to making bubblenests and he has not nipped his tail at all in this time. What are your thoughts on scaping as a fishy obstacle course? Have you noticed your bettas preferring the more heavily scaped areas of the tank? What's your betta's favorite thing in his tank?