Fins damaged

[kaz petts]

Just looking at my new baby, Kamikazee. I think she is a plakat but not too sure.
Here fins are a little ragged. They were like this when I got her.
She was in my lfs along with a male blue betta (not sure what breed, has a small rounded tail with no fringeing.) The lfs guy told me that he took her off a guy who no longer wanted bettas and he had a male and a female. I bought the male blue and was given Kamikazee. I took her as I wasn't going to turn this offer down and she looked like she needed a good home. I am new to keeping bettas but am going to do my best to make sure her fins grow back. They just look like they have been pecked at, they do not look like it is a disease that has caused the damage and she is perfectly healthy in her self. When I was given her she was in a tank on her own and looked so sorry for herself and wasn't really doing much. I brought her home, divided my tank and put her in. I opened the tank later that day to feed her and she made a very lively bid for freedom jumping clean out of her tank to the floor behind the video cabinet which I keep my betta tank on. I had to get the hubby to pull the cabinet away from the wall so that I could try and get to her. I thought that I would be finding a very dead fish. Imagine how amazed I was to find her laying still but breathing on the floor. When I went to pick her up she almost flipped herself into my hands where i gently picked her up and carefully placed her back in her section of the tank where she swam to the bottom to recooperate. I added stress coat to the tank and before long she was swimming around as if nothing had happened.
She now comes to the water surface whenever I open the lid but only sticks her head out and doesn't try to escape. Do you think she knows I don't want her to hurt herself?
She is a really beautiful fish in her own right (she is as ugly as sin as far as looks go but her nature and personality are brilliant)
Here she is

not the best pic I know, I will try and get some really good pics of her soon and post them in members aquarium pics.
Sorry about the long post, I just love this fish (and my other bettas of course)
Kaz

 

[Inchworm]

Hi kaz petts

I think she's lovely! And now she's a fish with a story. What more could anyone ask for?

 

[kaz petts]

Thanks inchworm, she is lovely and has one hell of a character and very friendly to boot.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Actually, I think that she is quite beautiful! I'm glad that she is in your care.

ALASKA

 

[kaz petts]

Thanks Jams
She is beautiful when you see her side on but she has got what I call a pug face, looks like she has swam into the glass side at top speed. Her looks are growing on me now though and she is looking more beautiful by the day.
I have been into the lfs where I got her from and he has had a delivery of female bettas, half of them looked half dead and there was the odd dead one in the tank to boot. One of the females didn't have a tail at all, it was like looking at a fish that had been chopped in half but was still alive, obviously she couldn't swim and was just laying at the bottom of the tank. When I told the guy he just said "It will grow back," I thought not if she gets killed by the others first it won't. If I had somewhere to keep her I would have asked him if I could have taken her off his hands to try and give her some form of lifestyle but to be honest I wouldn't have known what to do if I had got her. I have a fish bowl currently in the kitchen but it has no heater or proper lid so I know this would not have done the job. I could have covered the bowl with some clear film to stop her jumping out if she got to the stage where her tail grew back but with it being round I have nowhere for a heater to go and unfortunatly I have no money left for fishy things.

 

[james..]

Cool Fish!

May I ask, what did you divide your tank with?

 

[kaz petts]

May I ask, what did you divide your tank with?

Of course you can ask. I bought a couple of dividers from my lfs. The only problem is the dividers are clear so the bettas are able to see each other and still flare up at each other, I have now put some plants next to the dividers so it is harder for them to see each other and do not flare as often.
The dividers cost me £7 - £8 each and because they are plastic I was able to cut them to size.
Kaz

 

[*Lindsay*]

Wow she's gorgeous !! I'm glad she is with someone who can love and care for her so much