Essentially A Christmas Gift To Myself

[Kyrielle]

Yes, I finally got my betta. And yes, I did get a VT despite my own fuss about not getting one. I realised that the CTs at Petco were way too aggro in general. And this guy seemed to meet the halfway mark between "chill" and "aggro." For instance, he doesn't mind when I wear red ...just so long as I don't look like another male betta in both colour AND form. Still dealing with adjusting the heater (we've had a few warm days and last night was the coldish kind of weather that's more typical of where I live) and the wisteria seems a little droopy. Not quite sure if the fertiliser/water conditioner is enough for the plants. Anyone know if I'd need a CO2 tablet and fertiliser doses more frequently? At any rate the fish is perfectly healthy and learned very quickly that my hand does not equal the "evil pink thing that's going to eat me" but instead the "giant pink thing that likes to drop worms and prune my plants." And since he's successfully survived what's almost been a full week, he needs a name. Any ideas?

Here are some photos. The ones of the betta aren't very good quality, but I'm blaming that on the acrylic tank and my crappy camera.

The tank. 3g Eclipse System. My friend won't stop teasing me about the size. But I swear if I had the space in my college dorm room, I would have gone all out and gotten a 10g.

The betta. Photo with the flash on.

And with no flash.

 

[AlphaBetta]

I hate to be the one to tell you this but those plants are not aquatic. They are terrestrial and will likely die in a few months.

Nice tank and fish though. I hope you cycled it.

Where are you located?

 

[insanityseeker]

very perdy...

 

[Kyrielle]

I like how the packaging said aquatic plants. And they're not aquatic... And how they sold these plants where all the fish are... Well this puts a huge damper on the situation...not to mention bums me out completely...and makes me feel like quite the idiot.

I'm in north Georgia.

 

[jenny6165]

nice fish and nice tank not sure what u can name him, but my betta is called neo from the matrix

i have done the same with plants before! they sell them as aquatic, i guess the fish store doesnt know the difference either! lol.
oh well, you can always get some new ones when these ones start to die.

 

[Kyrielle]

nice fish and nice tank not sure what u can name him, but my betta is called neo from the matrix

i have done the same with plants before! they sell them as aquatic, i guess the fish store doesnt know the difference either! lol.
oh well, you can always get some new ones when these ones start to die.

Thanks for the compliments/information.

Good to know I'm not alone on this one. I'm going to try to fix it before they croak. =\ Really don't want a tank full of plants to die on me and pollute the water...especially if that turns out to be in a month when I'm back at school and will be without a car. Who knows, maybe I'll just keep a pot full of terrarium plants as a reminder. =)

 

[Htw]

The plants on the right of your tank with thick variegated leaves are the same as I have in one of my tanks. I don't know whether they are aquatic or not (bought as such though). They are actually one of the best plants I ever bought. I have had them for ages. The snails havn't eaten them either. I don't have any special co2 or anything, and I've just got some more for another tank.

So you may be ok. I've found the wisteria sort of rots at the stem, but the floating bit that breaks off then grows roots, so I leave it floating!

Lovely fish by the way. I have a soft spot for vt's.

 

[stang1]

He's beautiful and your tank looks good.

 

[karuna]

He's almost as cute as you are.

 

[Kyrielle]

I decided to name him Murdoch. Don't know why I like this name so much. Maybe it's because I heard it somewhere as somebody's fish name? I like it anyway.

 

[jenny6165]

murdochs one of the titanic crew maybe the captain? i dunno. thats the only place i can think of it from.

nice name tho

 

[Will91]

Hi:

I just posted some questions regarding a betta my 83 year old mom just bought and one of my questions was in regards to the Eclipse system.

Can you comment on how turbulent the water seems to be in your tank? I understand Betta fish like pretty calm water and didn't know how turbulent the water would be with one of these Eclipse tanks with their "bio wheel" filters.

Thanks

 

[Sammie7]

I hear this question a lot, but your betta should be fine. They can swim in the current just fine and mine actually likes to swim in the current. If the current seems too strong just raise the water level. Sometimes the easiest answer is too obvious to realize. Just be wary that by raising the water level the water surface is more prone to developing a film, because there is not as much movement.

 

[Kyrielle]

Hi:

I just posted some questions regarding a betta my 83 year old mom just bought and one of my questions was in regards to the Eclipse system.

Can you comment on how turbulent the water seems to be in your tank? I understand Betta fish like pretty calm water and didn't know how turbulent the water would be with one of these Eclipse tanks with their "bio wheel" filters.

Thanks

Well the current by itself is a little strong for my betta. He'd try to swim in it, as they do like a gentle current, but couldn't actually get anywhere by doing so. He'd be "blown" to the other side of the tank. What I did to slow it down was the DIY method. You take a water/soda bottle and cut out a section of it--the area around the label. So this way you have a piece of clear, plastic tubing with the water/soda label on it. Peel off the label and where the glue for the label starts, cut vertically through the tube so that you now have a curved sheet of plastic. Then all you need to do is wrap it around the filter output such that the plastic is obstructing the flow from the output (the output is really just these two square holes so it's nothing invasive). Make sure the glue side of the plastic isn't in the water. Secure it with tape, if needed, and you're done.

=) Works wonderfully for me and if it ever comes loose, it's easy to put it back.

 

[Kyrielle]

I replanted the tank with proper aquatic plants. Went with 2 Anubias nana, Java Fern, and moss balls. Well A moss ball torn up and reformed into 7 or 8 smaller balls. I plan to keep everything trimmed back as it grows. Would like to see the java fern reach close to the surface and keep it from spreading out too much. The anubias will probably be kept as is, though if the one on the right grows a little taller, that'd be nice.

I love the moss balls and so does Murdoch. He's spent the past hour nipping at them and swimming back and forth through them. I think he thinks it's like a big fuzzy green maze ^^. The rock really isn't THAT white in reality, but for some reason the camera picks up much more white than there should be.