Max the Betta

Well I swore I would never have a Betta, but hey I just can't say no to an eight year old little girl. Yep my grand-niece and I went to Petsmart together late this evening and she saw this betta, flashed her blue eyes at me and said, "Can I please have Max, she had already named the darn thing....lol.... Anyway he look so poor in his little betta cup and so did all the others, I just wonder how long it had been since their water was changed in those tiny cups.


So I got him home and set him up in a floating plastic breeder in the new 29 gallon tank setup. I don't have any other fish in that tank as of yet. I wanted to make it a tetra and shrimp tank. But anyhoo I will probably setup my 20 gallon long for him in the next couple of days. He don't need tall as much as he needs long or foot print. I just hope he does ok.

Beautiful betta. Looking forward to seeing more posts about Max! I'm sure you'll make some great memories with your grand-niece taking care of him.

Well haven't had a good panic in awhile but now thanks to Max I just had one. So I but him in the breeder box for the night, well he got out of the box and disappeared. I was beside myself trying to figure out how this little betta could jump out of this box. I did a quick look around the tank, but no Max, so I did a second more thorough search, and ...........no Max. Oh boy, I pulled out a flash light searching everywhere for a possible still flapping little fish, but no. Then I found him, he was hiding up under the small plastic bouncy part of the breeder box. on the outside of the box but still in the tank. Man I even pulled apart the HOB looking for him, but I left it turned off for now.

Now he is happily swimming around in the tank exploring everywhere.

Utar said:

Well haven't had a good panic in awhile but now thanks to Max I just had one. So I but him in the breeder box for the night, well he got out of the box and disappeared. I was beside myself trying to figure out how this little betta could jump out of this box. I did a quick look around the tank, but no Max, so I did a second more thorough search, and ...........no Max. Oh boy, I pulled out a flash light searching everywhere for a possible still flapping little fish, but no. Then I found him, he was hiding up under the small plastic bouncy part of the breeder box. on the outside of the box but still in the tank. Man I even pulled apart the HOB looking for him, but I left it turned off for now.

Now he is happily swimming around in the tank exploring everywhere.

Click to expand...

Troublesome fish...

You should change his name to MadMax

Whew.... glad you found him!

The second day and Max is still with me, he is alone in that big 29 gallon tank, I was relieved he is still alive after the ordeal of living in that nasty cup, traveling forty miles home form Petsmart. I jumped the gun introducing him into my tank water here at home. I didn't drip acclimate because his water in that little cup was so nasty, I figured the longer he stayed in that the worse it was for him. I wanted to get him into some fresh clean water as soon as possible. That is why I put him in the breeder box for the night to observe him, but Max had different ideas about that. I will try and feed him some frozen brine shrimp later today. For now his is doing great still swimming around and exploring.

On the cup it said Max is a Butterfly betta but I don't know bettas so I will just have to go with it.

He is beautiful! So much tail!

On_a_dishy said:

He is beautiful! So much tail!

Click to expand...

Thank you, he is so tiny, is he a full grown betta? I figured betta to be a at least one and half times his size. He looks to be only about an inch and a half tale and all. Also I figure him to be a bit pale and thinking it is his ordeal of being in new water and tank. Maybe he will color up a bit more later.

I thought my new betta was pale, too - I even posted a photo on the forum asking about it! He has coloured up a bit now. I used silver proteinate (King British Disease Clear) because he had nipped fins and I've been feeding him fresh salmon and teeny dots of steak. I've also wormed him (flubendazol) and he seems brighter in both colour and mood, although that could be me being hopeful. I've never seen bettas sold in those little cups - what a shame for them Max must feel like he's in heaven!
I'm afraid I don't know about sizes - I'm fairly new to fishkeeping, and all the photos seem to make bettas look huge! An inch and a half sounds very small, though - I bet he'll grow.
Have you thought about getting him an almond leaf? Jarvis loves his. They release tannins as they break down in the water, and, whereas they start off floating, they sink after a couple of days. Jarvis lies on his, and also likes to whizz above it and then under it, wriggling beneath it and the gravel.

Almond leaves? Will other kinds of leaves work, I have plenty of trees around here with the yard/garden full of leaves right now. Oak tree leaves plus a few others I can't name.

I think the secret of the almond leaves is the tannins they release and the fact that they line the streams of the waterways that the Betta would call home. I ordered mine on Amazon - they were pricier than I was expecting but each one lasts for ages!

I am not an expert but I have heard mention that dried oak leaves work, but as mentioned above probably not as good as the "real thing".

And what a great story haha! I bet your grand niece is excited about Max and wow, Max sure has some opinions about how he likes things! Probably need to be careful with any future tank mates for him haha! He may enjoy a "betta log", it's a floating tube thing that they can swim inside of and chill. Kind of like a floating cave. Could probably make one out of pvc and some styrofoam or other floating thing too, and maybe cover it in some moss for looks.

I'm kind of excited for this surprise fish journey you find yourself on funny how you went from one tank to three in what, two months?! Haha!

mcordelia said:

I am not an expert but I have heard mention that dried oak leaves work, but as mentioned above probably not as good as the "real thing".

And what a great story haha! I bet your grand niece is excited about Max and wow, Max sure has some opinions about how he likes things! Probably need to be careful with any future tank mates for him haha! He may enjoy a "betta log", it's a floating tube thing that they can swim inside of and chill. Kind of like a floating cave. Could probably make one out of pvc and some styrofoam or other floating thing too, and maybe cover it in some moss for looks.

I'm kind of excited for this surprise fish journey you find yourself on funny how you went from one tank to three in what, two months?! Haha!

Click to expand...

I have yet to setup the 20 long but it is in the plans and soon, I have to wait for better weather. It is cold raining and just down right nasty outside today. I will need a few things for the 20 long for Max's permanent home, heater, sponge filters etc. oh and build another stand for it. So for now Max will just have to hang in the 29 gallon. I need the height of the 29 the extra six inches for tetras etc. When I get it all ready I plan on testing Max out with a few different tank mates, to see if it will be ok, if not the tank mates will go into the 29 gallon.

On_a_dishy said:

I think the secret of the almond leaves is the tannins they release and the fact that they line the streams of the waterways that the Betta would call home. I ordered mine on Amazon - they were pricier than I was expecting but each one lasts for ages!

Click to expand...

You are probably right, I am going to do some research on leaves for betta's to see if oak leaves might work.

Well, hello Max!
I am also learning about Bettas. They are full of personality!