# My first fish! a betta!



## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

So I've been working on my planted tank for almost two weeks now, was going to wait three weeks before I brought any fish home. Then I found a little blue eyed white betta with a tiny spot of red on his bottom fin advertised "free to good home" on Craigslist and had to bring him home.

He's very pretty, never seen a pure white almost opal betta before, he's little and young but has a lot of life to him, his old owner had him special ordered then couldn't keep him due to a family matter.

so now I have 1 fish, and I hope he does well, his name was Greg and I'll call him Dr. Gregory House.
will upload some pictures later.

note, I'm not sure if his fins are torn or if their just ragged and uneven looking but if they are torn fins what can one do to help a fish heal? 
He's a jumpy little guy.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Will wait for pics  He may be a crowntail which would explain ragedy looking finnage,


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## johnmark03 (Feb 21, 2013)

will wait for the pics of your tank ,,, upload soon...


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

Ok here are the pictures!

So I'm not finished with the tank, I will be adding a background and some floater plants and a stick soon. I quite like the floating log that came with Greg and he loves it but after watching him I think if he tore his tail its because of rubbing against that log. Going to see if I can wrap it with moss to grow on the outside to soften it and hope it doesn't get weighed down. 








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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

More pictures! 








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Its that back tail fin that I'm worried about, it looks feathered, Which it beautiful but I wanna make sure I look after him if it's not natural.
yeah free fish ^U^


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Good looking betta.Lots of fresh clean(dechlorinated) water is the best medicine.You may be correct about log causing "ripped fins".Majerah always says to rub old panty hose on decor, if they catch then it could likely injure his fins.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yes do the panty hose test. He is quite the looker! Give him nice warm clean water and he should be a happy little guy with awesome fins within a few weeks


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

Thank you, both of you for the advice!
I know he came out of a 3 gallon tank, heavily decorate with fake plants and plastic decorations. 
I'll test out his floaty log but I'm hoping my plan on covering and growing moss on his log might help me to keep it but I will be picking up some frogbit this weekend.

I like what an active little guy he is, he does this thing with his log where he pushes it into the filter out flow, so that it spins and swims through it, then pushes it back to do again.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Is the log one of those betta logs? If so it should be fine. I think his problem is he is a tail biter. Get him a ping pong ball and place it on top of his water, he may push it about.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

I would agree with you on the log being the cause of his tail looking the way it is. Those betta logs are not that smooth and are bad to tear fins even though they are marketed for bettas. 

He is a very nice looking betta. Seems to be keeping his fins kinda clamped though. What temperature are you keeping the tank? Have you cycled this tank? How often are you doing water changes? Just curious so sorry for all the questions.


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

No problem on the questions chipmunk, thank you for trying to help.
The tank is quite warm, I'm still having issues keeping it steady but it was 79-81 when he went in after 4 hours of adding a little tank water to his bag water and bringing them as close to each other as I could.
Tanks has been cycling and up and running with live plants for 16 days, Grey just came home yesterday the 29th, I've been testing the water everyday and except for the temps that get up to 82.6 It's been great.
his fins are closed I think because the camera scared him, he's still just getting used to having a 30 gal from his 3 gal.
I did a 30% water change the morning before I picked him up.

I give him a ball, I have one.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

Don't worry about the water getting to the 82 degrees. Bettas thrive best around that temperature. Keeping it stable though is the main issue so a good heater is a necessity. Once you get the kinks worked out with what the heater itself reads and what the thermometer says (not always the same thing LOL -- always go by the thermometer) then you will be great. Keep up with the water changes and watch your water parameters since you are cycling and your betta should transition great to this excellent sized tank.


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

So new thing that has me puzzled, my Opaque fish had a red spot on his lower fin, you can see in pictures above, It's gone now.
He is now pure white with an almost opal sheen, quite pretty but why would his red spot disappear?
He's been eating well and exploring the tank and his fins look better all the time, I think the ripped fins were due to some other decoration, the betta log passed the panty goes test.


I reD on some betta forum that the white ones are less aggressive, any comment on this? Not that I want to stick a male in with him but originally I wanted a female and wondering how they would be together.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The color could have been man made!Painted glass fish are REALLY painted(by hand by people).Possibly to just sell another fish someone "added" a little color ?If he looks healthy and is active and eating I wouldn't worry ,but keep an eye on him anyway.He's still a beauty red spot or not!
Every betta is different (temperment) but GENERALLY speaking you can't keep a female with male either.He will probly pursue her till they breed and kill her after (if not before).But they all are different so that is generally speaking.


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

Thank you Coral Bandit for the comment on males and females, I won't even try it.

But the red spot thing is funny, I know the person I got Greg from got Greg from some breeder fish exporter or something and the picture she originally showed me of Greg had a lot more red and its been slowly fading and now the spot is gone.

So strange, why would someone paint a white fish red? People do such funny things.
I was just hoping that it wasn't some vitamin deficiency on my end.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

Bettas tend to change color a lot. I had a couple of bettas from someone who started out almost clear with spots and then went full color then almost clear again and then once again full color. This is just within a couple of months so you can see bettas can and do change color quickly and sometimes often. I wouldn't worry about the spot on your betta unless you start to see other things like fuzz or the fish starts acting odd.

Do not keep female and male bettas together in the same tank without a divider. It is extremely stressful on both bettas and is dangerous. It is like playing russian roulete. You never know when one or the other will tear the other to shreds or kill the other. Females are every bit as aggressive or even more so than males so it could be either one that turns on the other. Even with breeding, the pair has to be watched carefully and the female removed soon after the spawning is complete to ensure no death occurs.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Its called the red loss gene. It may or may not come back.

No on females with the males. Whites are more lax its true but they are still bettas.


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## TetraTank (May 25, 2013)

Thank you too chipmunk, I promise I will not think about getting another betta unless I have another tank.

I was still thinking, was originally thinking, about tetras, would a school of small tetras like ember or green neons be an issue with a betta, I've been told by my aquarium store it would be ok and they would take any fish back that didn't work out.

Although I'm kinda liking my single fish with lots of plants so maybe I'll just stick to a planted tank with a loner fish.


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