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Post by siobhan on Nov 8, 2016 13:49:14 GMT -5
I'll have to ask Dani to post my photo from Facebook, but my female betta Nadine died a couple of days ago after being sick with dropsy for over a week. I was just on the point of euthanizing her, as much as I hate that, so she wouldn't suffer anymore. I had to do an errand this morning that took me into the neighborhood of Petsmart and figured I'd go ahead and look for another betta to rescue from a cup, and found Bobby. He's at home in the 10 gallon tank, exploring and exploring and exploring.
I choose a betta from the multitude on the shelves by waiting for one to meet my eyes and give me The Look that says "I want to live with you," and that's how I chose Bobby, or he chose me. I love watching them swim round and round with this look of awe in their little eyes, like, "This is MINE?" I generally choose TV shows as themes for fish names and Bobby is from the Brady Bunch. My Bobby is speckled and their Bobby had freckles, at least as a little boy.
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Post by biteybird on Nov 8, 2016 14:48:59 GMT -5
Welcome to Bobby. He's one lucky little boy!
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Post by siobhan on Nov 10, 2016 11:49:37 GMT -5
I do think he's the prettiest one I've ever had, and I don't choose them based on that. I really do let the fish choose me. I stand at the shelf and I say "Hi, guys, who wants to come home with me?" and whichever one swims over and makes eye contact first is the one I pick up. He's cream-colored, with deep blue spots and a dark blue top fin, and he's already coming to the tank wall to visit when I check on him. Inquisitive and energetic and eats well without gorging. Clyde even likes him, and Clyde usually objects to fish because they take attention off him. LOL
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Post by cnyguy on Nov 10, 2016 21:22:06 GMT -5
A tank doesn't stay empty for long at your house.  Welcome to Bobby. Sounds like he's feeling right at home-- and he's earned Clyde's seal of approval too. |
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Post by siobhan on Nov 11, 2016 13:18:10 GMT -5
It wasn't actually empty. There are a bunch of snails and Hoover the pleco in there. Hoover has already established that he is the boss and not Bobby. Bobby, being nosy, tried poking at Hoover the first half hour and Hoover lunged (no harm done, Hoover is one of those algae eating sucker fish and couldn't have done harm if he wanted to, but Bobby doesn't know that, LOL). Bobby immediately gave way and found somewhere else to go. Since then, they studiously ignore one another. Hoov spends most of his time upside down on the bottom of the filter, or shoving snails away from the pellets I give them a couple of times a week, while Bobby zooms round and round showing off how pretty he is.
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Post by cnyguy on Nov 11, 2016 23:24:38 GMT -5
I should have remembered the ubiquitous snails. I don't think I realized that Hoover was sharing Nadine's tank though. I imagine that Bobby and Hoover will coexist peacefully now that they're used to each other. |
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Meet Bobby
Nov 12, 2016 15:12:56 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by msdani1981 on Nov 12, 2016 15:12:56 GMT -5
I'll get on the computer today and post pictures. :-)
Welcome, Bobby!! :-)
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Post by aaron on Nov 14, 2016 0:16:32 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about Nadine! Those slow deaths are so tough... definitely the worst part of fish-keeping. Welcome to your new friend Bobby!!
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Post by siobhan on Nov 14, 2016 12:32:48 GMT -5
My other female, Wilma, died a couple of weeks prior to Nadine of the same thing. Bettas are really prone to dropsy. But Wilma was only sick a few days and poor Nadine a lot longer. I always wonder if I should just give up on bettas because of that, but then I see them sitting dejectedly in their tiny cups and I can't stand it. Even a few months in a nice tank with regular meals is better than living and dying in a tiny cup. Bobby is small and probably quite young, so he might last longer and he's certainly healthy now. He learned in one day that when the light comes on in the morning, it's time for breakfast, and when he sees me coming in the evening, it's time for supper, and he positions himself under the lid right where the little door is for dropping in food. He and Hoover are getting along fine. Bobby pushes snails around with his nose for entertainment, but he doesn't hurt them.
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Post by aaron on Nov 15, 2016 11:00:42 GMT -5
Yeah, those little cups are the worst. I understand why they do it, I guess, but still...
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Post by siobhan on Nov 15, 2016 11:26:56 GMT -5
As if the cups aren't bad enough, I watched a clerk at the store changing water one day. She had a big bucket full of water, upended the cups so the water would pour out into the bucket -- with the fish in the cup getting bounced around! -- and then dunked the cup into the bucket to refill it with the SAME water. Good grief, it's no wonder the poor things don't live long. And I don't believe they feed them in the store, either. A different clerk there once told me if I'm appalled by the cups they sell them in, I should see the ones they arrive in. They're even smaller. So ... bettas it is. I shall keep bringing them home and giving them a big tank and food and love for as long as they last, however long that is, and when they inevitably pass on, I'll go get another one and do it all again. As the old starfish story goes, I can't make a difference for all of them, but I can make a difference for THIS one.
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Post by aaron on Nov 15, 2016 23:48:06 GMT -5
Ugh. That's the worst. It's nice of you to help them out. There is no end to the sad and heartless things people will do to make a profit.
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Post by siobhan on Nov 16, 2016 11:59:24 GMT -5
Bobby is doing fine, has discovered his floating log and was snoozing in it when I went in to give him breakfast this morning. My brother was astounded to hear that fish sleep, and he raised guppies for a while when I was a kid (he's a lot older than I am). I had to show him my first betta, Wally, asleep in his castle, to prove it. Of course, us standing there discussing him woke him up and he came out to see what was going on, but he had been sleeping and my brother saw it, too.
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Post by siobhan on Nov 28, 2016 14:16:17 GMT -5
Bobby now has two mystery snails -- sometimes called "apple" snails -- for roommates. He already had Hoover the pleco and a batch of ramshorn snails, but a friend who has a bunch of tanks had too many snails and offered these to me. Bobby's tank had fewer residents than the guppies' tank, so he got the mystery snails. I always liked mystery snails, but had a run of bad luck with them and gave up, figuring I'd sate my snail obsession with my rams, until my friend offered me these. He's also the one who gave me Hoover, and he's been thriving in Bobby's tank. When I left for work, the snails were exploring and seemed happy enough, and two rams had already found one of them and hitched a ride on his shell.
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Post by aaron on Dec 1, 2016 23:33:29 GMT -5
Are these two mystery snails likely to reproduce? Glad Bobby has some new friends!
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Welcome to Bobby. Sounds like he's feeling right at home-- and he's earned Clyde's seal of approval too. 
