Meet The New Guy!

[LyraGuppi]

I finally decided on the 10 gallon to stay as a betta tank, so the mom and I ran up to Petco to see what they had. There were three bettas that caught my eye.. a koi (ish) king betta, a yellow halfmoon with a black head, and a tiny pale male with a bent spine. After around 20 minutes of going back and forth, I finally decided on the king. I was going to take the little male, but his spine and fins were so messed up I wasn't sure if he would be able to live comfortably.

 
So here is the new guy, a half giant with a confusing palette of colours. He looked koi from the store, but when he settled in his tail started looking a little dark blue. His name is Vlad, see if you can guess why.

He's almost 3 inches long, the poor guy was stuffed into the cup!
 
http/vid1293.photobucket.com/albums/b592/lyraguppi/IMG_1050_zpshyqfbdzc.mp4
 
His cup's water was a beautiful 4.0 ammonia, and the water level was down. He wouldn't stop zooming around and around the plants, so I had to settle with a video.
 

 

[NickAu]

Oh wow, he is stunning,   I hardly see my new betta she spends most of her time exploring and staring at the plants.
 

I was going to take the little male, but his spine and fins were so messed up

I would have got the worst looking fish, You seen the transformation in my girl?
 
 
Edit
 
If you want to give him more top cover get some blue stricta and attach it with a small suction cup to the glass like I did my girl loves it. Its already sending down roots.
https/www.livefish.com.au/blue-stricta-bunch.html
 

 

[betta fish]

Wow, lovely big boy

  he is lucky to have found you 

it is sad that they are kept in this way at petco 

he looks like a piebald judging by the colour of his face but he may be a marble too, must keep us informed on any colour changes! the yellow halfmoon with the black head sounds lovely too, I wanna see him, could you go back and get him please 

and while you are there rescue all the others....

 

[mookat]

Oh he's gorgeous! I love your tank set up as well. I'm currently trying to set up either a 10g or 20g for my betta so that he can have some more space and hopefully continue to recover from the fin rot. I noticed you had two sponge filters - are they both hooked up to separate air pumps, and did you do a combination with an air stone?

 

[LyraGuppi]

 

I was going to take the little male, but his spine and fins were so messed up

I would have got the worst looking fish, You seen the transformation in my girl?
 
Edit
If you want to give him more top cover get some blue stricta and attach it with a small suction cup to the glass like I did my girl loves it. Its already sending down roots.
https/www.livefish.com.au/blue-stricta-bunch.html
 

I know, I'm still guilt tripping myself.   I'll be on the lookout for those plants, they look great.
 
 

Wow, lovely big boy

  he is lucky to have found you 

it is sad that they are kept in this way at petco 

he looks like a piebald judging by the colour of his face but he may be a marble too, must keep us informed on any colour changes! the yellow halfmoon with the black head sounds lovely too, I wanna see him, could you go back and get him please 

and while you are there rescue all the others....

Thanks! Yeah, we were pulling dead and rotting ones off the shelves..it's horrible. And yeah, I'd have loved to take all of them. I was actually debating taking the deformed male and the king, but it would have been risky. (I have a spare tank)
 
 

Oh he's gorgeous! I love your tank set up as well. I'm currently trying to set up either a 10g or 20g for my betta so that he can have some more space and hopefully continue to recover from the fin rot. I noticed you had two sponge filters - are they both hooked up to separate air pumps, and did you do a combination with an air stone?

They are separate, I moved Lapis's filter over to save the bacteria. And thank you

 

[Wildbetta]

Very lovely boy you ended up with Lyra!  His colors are gorgeous!  Although I wouldn't get too attached to them since I highly suspect marble which means he could change at any time - but that could be extra exciting too.  The tank looks excellent as well.  He will be happy in there I am sure.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Very lovely boy you ended up with Lyra!  His colors are gorgeous!  Although I wouldn't get too attached to them since I highly suspect marble which means he could change at any time - but that could be extra exciting too.  The tank looks excellent as well.  He will be happy in there I am sure.

I'll try not to, although my family loves his red lips He's starting to get a spot of blue on his side, and his fins are more blue than they were before.

 

[Goggy]

 I love his colors! ive come across a nice looking Koi plakat Betta at my LFS too bad i didnt have any spare tanks.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Woke up to a not so nice question this morning from the mom, "Have you done anything with your betta?" We spent around 10 minutes looking for him, until I found him as a crispy fish. Apparently, he's squeezed through a 1 inch to a half inch space that the lid didn't cover on the sides of the tank, hopped across the floor, and into an open drawer.
 
I am having the worst luck with these crazy fish...the family was attached to him too. I'm guessing he saw a gnat or mosquito and jumped for it? He was behaving perfectly fine the evening before..

 

[betta fish]

Oh no, that's so sad 

sorry for your loss 

 

[Jenste]

He's a looker!!! Great find - I wouldn't have been able to resist him either

 

[Wildbetta]

Oh no!!   So sorry to hear this news Lyra.   

 

   
This is why I am really big on making sure every part of the top is covered.  I use craft mesh and cling wrap to cover all openings on my tanks.  Bettas seem to be able to squeeze through the tiniest openings so even holes where the cords go into the tank for filters and heaters should be covered.

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
Sorry LG, thats the worst thing to happen
 
Hope you can replace the little guy with a new betta, really like the tank set up,  a veritable paradise and perfect for a betta.

 

[NickAu]

Oh no poor you sorry to hear that.

 

[LyraGuppi]

http/vid1293.photobucket.com/albums/b592/lyraguppi/IMG_1085_zpsqksfhqjx.mp4
Saw this guy a couple days ago, decided to take him home. His fins are a little bit in the video, but they're growing back nicely.