I Love My Boys

Animal lover and owner of 1 betta, 5 corys, and a variety of others in the future. I also have 2 dogs and 2 cats.

[fishy-sons]

I think my very first baby is taking his last breaths.

I’ve known this day was coming for quite a while. I mean, I’ve had him for almost three years now, so he’s an old man. He’s grown less active and tends to stay in a few spots all the time. Now, he’s just laying on the sand breathing heavily.

Three years and I’m still unprepared. Losing him feels like losing a connection to who I was in the past as well as simply losing a beloved pet. He was always a constant through so much change and transformation in my life, but now he won’t be there. I know he’s “just a fish,” but he holds a special place in my heart (and always will).

It’s going to be weird not having that tank on my dresser anymore. I decided that I would not be getting any more fish after him because in about a year I’ll be heading to college. I hoped he would hold out until the end of my senior year so I could have my little friend all throughout high school, but I think he’s just tired.

It hurts, but I know he’ll be in a better place. He can finally get the rest he needs. It’s his time, and all I can do is make him comfortable. I hope somehow he knew how much I loved him.

To Neptune. I love you my grumpy boy.

2017-2020❤️

[justnoodlefishthings]

boss told me it was "my turn" to name the bettas

this naturally was a huge mistake

[justnoodlefishthings]

[justnoodlefishthings]

I've made it my mission to slowly replace the remaining "normal" names

[sovereignbryce]

some portraits of His Illustriousness, Sir Lazarus Alistaire

[fishy-sons]

His colors have become so much more vibrant just in the one day I’ve had him!!

[bettabbys]

More flowers for the pastel tank! It’s so fun to watch Skye explore 💖

[threefeline]

Fishkeeping Tip:

always keep at least 3 empty containers near your tank at all times. what will you need them for? i have no idea. but neither will you until you need them

[verybeary1]

Some interesting fish names I spotted at the petstore

[frogsuggest]

friend of the day!

please making a welcome tiny orb smallfriend, crucifix toad

he tiny

he round

sometimes, he sad

sometimes worry

an Orb of Melancholy

he hide a lot

more hiding

but it’s ok!! he have friends!!!

they also very round

very bright

away he goe!

goodbye!!

[fishy-sons]

He is so baby

[dragon-in-a-fez]

y'all wanna see a photo of my shrimp I'm pretty sure I just caught speaking directly to god

[dragon-in-a-fez]

[dragon-in-a-fez]

why tf do y’all keep tagging this “shrimp heaven now”

[cielpansyhive]

I haven’t shared any pics of Saffron for a while. He says hi! Isn’t he just the prettiest boy?!

[pet-of-subs]

Super gorgeous!!! He’s a cute little boy

[betta-every-day]

How I keep my parameters at 0

My tank is 2.5 gallons. It currently houses one betta and a bunch of red cherry(?) shrimp. While not horribly so, it might be regarded as overstocked. However, I have absolutely not problem keeping all parameters at 0PPM.

First, I’d like to say that bigger is better when it comes to tanks. An animal is spending its whole life in a box after all. However, I am going to college next year and got my fish planning to take him with me. I would never go any smaller than 2.5 gallons. Having studied betta stress signs for my research, I am confident in saying I believe he is living a very happy and healthy life. All the animals in the tank are active and show signs of being healthy. I feed my pets a mix of two high quality foods (omega one pellets and bug bites), and have vitamins I dose every week as well.

As for the nitrates, I have tons of plants that grow super fast due to a special light and a fertilizing schedule I created. This allows them to soak up nitrates very quickly. I also run two small sponge filters in the tank. I do 1 gallon water changes every week, but I can go much longer and still have 0s across the board. This tank has been set up for 8 months and never crashed once. Paired with the readings I’ve done and the citations I used for my dissertation, I wouldn’t call 2.5 gallons detrimental for a betta and a few shrimp

[bettagal]

Can confirm that heavily planted tanks allow you to get 0 perimeters much easier. My 3.5 rarely ever needed changes with a betta.

[piebaldpainting]

While I usually promote 5gallons+ for a beta, if you’re going to go smaller this is the way to do it. One main reason I don’t promote 2.5 to most keepers is that usually you end up seeing something like this

In tanks like these, the same level of care and detail hasn’t gone in to research. I would not be comfortable recommending these tanks to anyone because there’s going to be next to no stability.

OPs tank is what an acceptable 2.5 gallon tank looks like. Heavily planted, filtered, and an owner that’s willing to go the distance and do the research needed to make sure that it’s a healthy setup. It is so much harder to keep good parameters in a small tank, and if you’re not going to do it right, near impossible.

That said, if you aren’t going to go into this level of detail, if you aren’t going to ensure you’re keeping an eye on parameters and if you aren’t going to plant a tank heavily enough, then a 2.5 really isn’t practical. Upgrading to a 5 or a 10 can do so much in terms of water quality, stability and over all quality of life for the fish. Like OP said, bigger is better!

TLDR: I agree with OP, a 2.5 CAN be acceptable to keep a beta in, IF you’re willing to do the research and pay close attention to it over a long period of time.

It’s not just as simple as “this 2.5 gal is okay, so every 2.5 gal is okay”, not that that’s what OP was trying to say.

[betta-every-day]

I’d like to thank you for this addition, but my stance is a tiny bit different. You summed up your argument by stating that 2.5 can be okay if you’re willing to do the research and pay close attention to it over an expanse of time. 2.5 gallons can be hard to keep stable (even if not in my experience) and is not for everyone. However, I feel the same amount of effort that I provide for my tank should be applied to a tank of any size. What I do for my aquarium is what I would do for any size tank I may come to possess. It is what I define as caring for my pet. I feel like there’s a fixation on connecting quality of life only to tank size in the community.

It’s far from perfect – I’m missing some dates towards the end where I misplaced the book – but this is the most recent page of my log book.

I am 17, and I’ve been keeping fish in this fashion for the past three-four years. keep meticulous records, I bought an external thermostat for my heater as an extra precautionary measure, I get vitamins and the top quality foods to mix in addition to supplements, and I grew a jungle to make life better for my animal that cannot make life better for themselves. Of course, a bigger tank is improving their life, but there are more factors that contribute to their quality of life than that. Don’t cram a fish in a tink jar,  but there’s more to fish keeping than upgrading – I personally believe. 

I don’t believe the way I take care of my pet should be above the “standard” is all I’m trying to say. Stuff like this shouldn’t be extra.

[fishy-sons]

My guppy has dropsy

I have no idea why but I can’t do anything about it tonight. I’m just hoping I’ll have the chance to go out and get clove oil tomorrow so I can euthanize him because it’s bad.

From what I can see, none of the other fish in the tank have it which is good

I’m just confused because my tank is in good condition. It’s cycled, all the parameters are fine. Idk what’s wrong

For now, it’s late and I can’t do anything, but as soon as I can tomorrow I’m going to do a couple of water changes just to make sure there’s no ammonia or nitrite spikes

:(

[amygdalae]

Seeing moss in any context fills me with a deep, primal sense of love and contentment.

Love is stored in the moss…

[brispets1399-blog]

Let’s talk bettas!

Did you know that bettas need to be housed in at least a 2.5-5 gallon tank? Yep! Those bowls need to go! Did you know that bettas require heat in their water for sufficient living? Did you know that bettas require more then pellet food?

Let’s talk about this! I would like to start by talking about heat requirements. Bettas require at minimum a water temperature of 72-82 degrees. They originally come from Thailand where they live in swampy, marshy, pools of water. So heat makes sense!

Secondly, let’s discuss feeding! Commonly bettas are fed pellet their entire life, but let’s be honest. Boring and totally not healthy! Bettas require frozen bugs and other frozen things. Like blood worms and brineshrimp. Be sure to supply these 1-2 times weekly in place of a serving of pellet. Then continue with feeding pellet the rest of the week. Now, if you want your water quailty to stay cleaner, consider feeding your betta every other day. It’s fine to do, but I however feed my betta each day.

Lastly, let’s discuss fin rot! Ahhhh the big betta fish scary! Fin rot is a baterial infection in which the bacteria eats at your bettas fins and skin. This is most common in bowl kept bettas who are also housed in dirty water. Yuck! To prevent this health issue you can practice good house keeping for your little swimmer. Filters can be added in tanks 3.5 and up. Why 3.5 and up? Well if you have too small of a space for your betta with a strong filter, it can suck in their fins and damage them or kill them.

Recommendations:

If fin rot appears, try API BETTA FIX. I use it for all of my betta rescues!

Thanks for reading!

(The betta in this post is a recent rescue. His name is Sr. Glubberson!)

[fishy-sons]

Then vs now

The first was nearly 7 months ago; it’s crazy to see how much has changed!

[pet-of-subs]

Omg that doesn’t even look like the same fish! He’s fantastic!!

[yolonny]

I don’t know anything about fish, is this a:

1) sick/poorly treated fish becoming healthy kind of thing

2) young fish maturing kinda thing

3) normal regular fish magic colour changing thing

?

[pet-of-subs]

Ah good question! I’ll try my best to answer but tbh @iantojonesthebetta will prob be able to explain far more eloquently than me.

But many bettas have a gene that causes them to marble as they age! So while you will see color changes from a sick/stressed fish to a healthy one it usually looks more like they went from pale to fully colored so like you may see one go from this

To more like this:

But with marbling you tend to see them become more mottled with several different colors over a prolonged period of time as they age. So most likely OPs betta marbled. They just started out beautiful and kept on climbing from there 😂

[pharmabetta]

Artemis is such a pretty girl!! I love how much she has colored up since I have had her! 🐉✨