Quick Story:

I saw this little guy at petsmart a month ago. Young..... tiny..... red pectoral fins and what appeared to be copper fins everywhere else. I wanted to buy him but decided it was an impulse and I didn't have the room to house him.

I wandered into that same petsmart to...... .ehemm... browse "turtles" a month later. THE SAME GUY WAS STILL THERE AND HAD NOT BEEN PURCHASED!!!!! I was a bit excited. I guess a dull looking copper in a Petsmart isn't a very attractive fish, even as a crown tail.

Crowntail, copper juvie and tank divider in hand (i know, but making my own divider sounded like non-impulse buying), I got the poor bugger that was lethargic and looking ill at this point.

W/O further ado.... MANY PICS. He is certainly not a perfect copper, but for $3.50 it really doesn't matter.

first picture coming home in 1/2 gallon tank


showing off a bit in the little tank


no crazy lighting, 2 hours after purchase


at rest in new tank


Picking up green color of plant at front of body


same picture w/ flash


being wayyyyyy faster than my camera/reflexes


First flare in front of the camera


Just showing off now... lol


BUBBLENEST!!!!! !!!!!!


Unfortunately this picture show ends sadly, but not in complete disaster. He lived alongside his divided tank mate (a much older, larger VT) for a couple weeks. .... upon moving the tank to a new location I did not notice that the divider got jarred.

...... poor little guy got into the side of the much larger VT and must have gotten attacked. He did MAJOR damage to the poor VT's fins in a matter of minutes while i was away. I found him wedged between the filter desperately trying to get to his side of the tank........ I took the VT out immediately while he was still flaring/attacking and had to remove the divider to even get the new guy to move.

I thought he got away lucky and inflicted all the damage, but his left pectoral fin has a bit missing and some fins are ripped to the body. poor guy has been sulking ever since and my VT is acting as usual, despite no finnage.

Needless to say i feel horrrrrrrrrriible. Very careless mistake. don't do the same.

my beloved VT....


Size difference


No after pics. This was a recent occurrence and both bettas are isolated in a small tank being treated.

This post has been edited by ReMz: May 20 2008, 10:26 AM

WOW.....what a great bargain and lucky for you he was still there. He is a real stunner

Good luck with their recovery

Good bargain. I pain $4.pp for mine. I hope they will be O.K.

I have to stay, that is one stunning copper, from a Petsmart. Maybe I should go back to my Petsmart and look at the crowntails again. lol. That is one nice bubblenest though.

Hope your bettas are doin better now.

Thx for the comments. I was pretty shocked to see him in petsmart.

unfortunately the copper (Cammy) is not doing so hot.... he has been sulking and sitting at the bottom of the tank with his gills going. He perks up for a couple of minutes now and then, just to return to the bottom of the tank clamp finned. The VT is fine except for looking really shabby with all the shredded fins.

Using melafix and keeping the tank at a good temp. Any suggestions beyond that? He is back in the larger filtered tank so I could control the temperature, as he was not doing well in the small, unheated tank (tank=tupperware ). I feel bad for the guy, he is not acting normal in the least bit.

have u tried adding a little aquarium salt? when my fants and nero had a fight (they jumped tanks) nero was fine, however fants tail was a lil messy, and melafix and salt helped alot

good luck x

eh, i'm only a half-believer on aquarium salt for situations such as these... but i might be willing to try it out. i know quite a few ppl on these forums swear by it.

i dont swear by it, but it did seem to help. as previously treating with just melafix before he jumped, was just a slow process, but with salt too his fins were regenerating very fast

well, it certainly can't hurt.

i'm more concerned with the lethargic behavior..... the poor guy is acting like he is on his death bed. he has a couple fin tears, but nothing HORRIBLE..... it's a bit of an odd situation. I chalked the behavior up to stress for the first 48 hours, but he still has not bounced back. crossed fingers and a little bit of aquarium salt i guess.

This post has been edited by ReMz: May 21 2008, 08:15 AM

I'm hoping the best for your betta.

Some are just more lethargic than others, ya know? I had a betta like that once, he didn't perk up until a month later.

I'm really hoping that it is more his personality and that he has a bad reaction to stress. As I said, the VT is just fine and they are back in the divided tank.

He was a perky little bugger prior to this incident.

Good news tho, he seems to be getting a bit better and is actually swimming around his tank. Still only "half-reactive" to my presence, but much better. I'm leaving for a week and have to rely on a house-sitter to take care of him while im gone....... so i really hope he is on a path to recovery.

This post has been edited by ReMz: May 22 2008, 01:27 AM

salt is a mild natural antibacterial so it just helps prevent infection and promote healing along with the melafix, salt is also good for aiding gill function in fish