When did you contract bettaitis?

[dixaisy930]

I was feeding all of my bettas today, and thought back on how it all started....it was Henry. A brown male betta I had seen in Petco for weeks. Finally I felt so bad for the guy not getting picked, I got him and cleaned out an old gallon fish bowl. He was just Mr. Personality....always checking out what you were doing, and coming up to the glass anytime someone came over to look at him. Sadly, after a few months I lost him to a fungus. But then I came across Dogma, my gorgeous black betta. I had him over two years. My oldest one now is Midas (my yellow boy), I got him about a year ago. My newest guy is a birthday present from my mom. He's a run of the mill cambodian, but he's my first crown or comb tail (still can't figure out which he is). I'm a little coldhearted because I put Mercury (my tail-less betta) next to him. I think it gives Mercury something to strive for. Plus those two are my only flare-ers, and I figure it gives them something to do. My other four don't bother anymore. And then there's my five girls in my 65 gallon. My one has a long tail for a female, and she sure does flaunt it infront of the other girls. My teal girl is the prettiest female I've ever seen...her colors are so bright. And then there's Quincy....the poor girl who was out of her water the whole ride home (lodged in the crack of my car seat no less), and came back from the dead. What an amazing recovery she made....a very vivid yellow/white girl.

So how did you start, and how has your bettaitis progressed?

 

[Mina]

Ay-yah...let's see here.

First I had Chichiri...blue VT. Small child with icky hands harassed him while I was out. Poor baby. I miss him so much. He was such a good little fish too, nibbled my fingers and everything.

Then came Phred, my bubblenest machine. Sometimes I worry that he can't get to the surface because of the mounds of bubbles. He's a little terror though. Flares all the time at anything that moves; Me, my BF, the dog, his reflection, his food, the piece of paper between him and my CT... LOL he's so funny.

Then I got Shinigami, the complete opposite of Phred. Lazy fish, I get maybe five bubbles out of him. But I think he's pretty old so it's ok. He thinks he's hot stuff when it's time for food though. It's all like 'Hey mommy! Lookie at me! Look at what I can do! I can jump through the tiny tiny air hole in my tank, see!?!?!' He's a heartattack just waiting to happen...

Then came Tama (RIP) I still don't know what killed him. Then an as of yet nameless CT. Brown and red femme. Cambodian femme. Cellophane femme. Multicolor VT boy. Black and blue femme. Red, black and blue femme....

^oo^ I forget how many it looks like I have when I write it down...

(And I still have two 1gs just lurking and waiting for my sudden 'I need another fish' fits)

 

[Betta_luver]

Well it all started at Christmas my mom got my sissie a petsmart certifagate thingy and a betta bowl/tank thingy.And so my sisie went to pick out her fish snowflake.He is a beautiful royal blue(I think) and is still living. i call him bubbles cuz he is always making so many bubble nests. But my sissie(little girl) got bored and started negleting him abit(1 day) so now I take care of him he is more myn then hers.But I wanna get my own. a green one.i haven't had any befor,only goldfish.

 

[aquagirl]

Mine started when... My family went to see the relatives in Cali and they had one of those betta vase with plant things. I know, not the best idea, but I had no clue then. I hadn't even owned my first fish yet! So when we came back, we ordered one and got started. My first betta was Ashley Blue, because he was blue, and also named after my favorite dude from the boy band o_Town or something. (Hah. Grown outta them boy bands now.) He was marvelous and active and I loved him so much. He was so curious and then.... We were cleaning out his bowl for the first time. My dad had no experience. So he was uhm... just kind of dumping it in the sink, trying to be careful and still get half of the water out. Well. No such luck. Ashley went ploop! Down the drain. I cried and screamed while dad stuck his hand down the sink trying to get him. Eventually he pulled my stunned little Ash back up, and that was the end of DAD doing the water changes. I thought Ash was gonna make it for a while- started eating again 4 days later, beginning to be more active. But then a bit after that he died.

Since then I've had Sunset, who was a REAL trouper and died after 3 years. I currently have Cerulean, who is also blue... and I luff him.

 

[bettaboi]

well it all started about 31/2 yr. ago all my families goldfish died and i asked my dad if i could have the tank i would pay for the fish and everything he said ok so we went to walmart and i got a betta i was pretty bummed when i was told he was the only fish i could have in the tank but i got over it. im ashamed to say it but for about 3 yrs my fish had a very bad life very few water changes, fed to much or to little, and he was very neglected,(ok i know i will get some replies on that but i was 11 and didnt know) but he was strong he is still alive to this day and about a half year ago i took a huge intrest in fish bettas inparticular and now im up to 11 bettas 3 cories 4 neons 2 molliees. all my fish have a GREAT life and i can now admit it

im a bettaholic and im not looking for help

 

[Saucy]

Well, it all started because of Bettabelieveit. He got his first one this spring... so then I got Stan... then I got Rose and Dorothy. Then it all just exploded from there. Then I got a couple more girls. Got a fish for my mom for Mother's Day a month early... it died, so I got another, he died, then got White Fish... then yeah. EXPLOSION OF FISHIES!! So now I have 13 bettas and 4 on the way from Yeevia later this week!!! And I have like 25 other pets, too. Wow, I'm so bad.

I blame it all on the boyfriend!!

 

[FishEnthusiast]

I just started keeping bettas a couple of months ago, so I guess you could say my bettaitis has progressed rather quickly.

First came Bob and Dopey. I had a 5g and a 10g community. Dopey was in the 10g community for all of one day. I then went out and got another 10g and divided it because I had decided to bring home Goldie.

A few days later I was at the same store I got Dopey and Bob from when I met Black Beauty. I got him for 1/2 off for being a member, so my first CT came home with me.

Next came Leroy, he looked so sad in a 10g all by himself and a couple of bottom feeders. A face only a mother could love. I had a feeling no one would buy him, so he came home with me along with a 1g bowl. that is where I stayed for a while. 5 was enough I said.

Then I went to the store and there he was. Bumblebee, my tailess yellow/brown boy. What is one more I thought? I can stop anytime I want, its no big deal. I have to have him, he has to come home with me, we are in love. Needless to say, against hubbys wishes, he came home with me too. There I said, I am done now. I don't need anymore bettas.

Then one day I thought, hey girls would be fun. And Petcetera is having a sale! Buy one get TWO free! Oh my, I must have some girls. That weekend I came home with 10 females.

I was good for about a month or so. Then I went to the lfs to trade in some fish for my babysitter. $18 credit they gave me. Wow, all that for some 50 cent goldfish, what can I buy??? What do you know, they have bettas here, hmmmmmm. Let me at least look. I looked in the back and saw my googly eyed Guy. I hemmed and hawed for a long time. I kept going back to him and then thinking, no, DH will kill me. But, but, but...I have to have him too. Later that day I took a friend fish shopping. When I am going to learn that I can't be within 50 feet of a fish store, I don't know. I went to one store and asked if they had females. They had 10. What was I to do, I couldn't choose. Well they are only $1.99...I'll take them all! We went to another fish store and I spotted Don. He was so beautiful, orange body, white fins. But no, I couldn't possibly. Again, I kept going back to him and hemming and hawing. In the end he came home with me too.

About a week later I take my friend fish shopping again. I didn't even take my wallet inside. I found 2 very sick bettas, and asked the manager if I could please take them and nurse them back to health. They said no, I bought them anyway. One died within 2 days of me having him. The other is Kasanth.

That same day I took my friend to Petcetera, there I found Samurai. He was in pitiful shape, brown water, covered in ich, ripped fins, like he had been in a fight. I talked the manager into giving him to me for free. I took him home, made him comfortable and medicated him. The ich cleared up in days. Then three days later I came into my office to find him nose down in the water. I am still not sure what killed him.

Last week I took my daughter to the lfs. The first fish that died was technically "her" fish(as is Goldie). I gave the fish to her because she had been very ill with an abscessed tooth. She was so well behaved in that time I rewarded her. She ended up getting the tooth pulled. That night the tooth fairy left her $5. The next day I asked her what she wanted to spend her money on. The other fish had just died, she looked at me and said, I want to get another fish, because mine had to go to fishy heaven. (she is 3). So here we are at walmart looking at fish. I spot one I think I want. I take it to the counter and to make an annoying story short, there was no upc code on the cup, so the lady wouldn't ring it in. I returned him and off we went to another store.

We get to the $1.99 betta store(males and females). My friend lifts up their price sign and who is behind it? Sam, my latest and LAST beauty. He is orange with blue fins. His anal fin and caudal fin have red right along the base. I am very much in love. Oh yes, and my daughter got Prince. She picked him out. I hesitate to say what colour he is as I am sure he is marble, and will change colour.

Whew that was a long story.
I am a bettaholic and proud of it!

At the end of the day I have 16 females (3 died from columnaris and 1 recently from unknown causes) and 12 males(lost Samurai and my nameless boy).

 

[DB_Diana_Jack_8]

well, i guess i should post here too. I'm relatively new too, I've been keeping Bettas for about uh a whole 3 or 4 months i believe. I'm 18, in college, working @ wal-mart, and of course still living at home. I believe my obsession started when i told my mom I wanted to buy some fish. Well she forbid me to get any because she said they smelled. (lol, not if u clean the tanks out right I said, but she didn't listen.) so one night, on my way home from work, about 11 pm probably, i decided hey, lets go look at the fish.
So I ended up bringing home my first betta that night. He was a very RED boy. unfortunately, i fell pray to the "keep your betta in this 1/2 gallon bowl. So I brought him home and she didn't even realize I had him for like a week.
About 3 days later I decided, hm, he needs something bigger to swim around in, lets go to petsmart. So i came home w/ my blue guy and two new bigger tanks. now, since i am in wal-mart 5 days a week, i am constantly looking through the bettas to see what boys or girls i wanna take home.
So then I picked up my first girl a week or 2 later and a new tank also.
Then I bought 2 more girls and decided I was going to start a female community tank. I ran to wal-mart to get more girls and 10 gallon tank, and my first girl jumped out of the bowl i was keeping her in until I got home w/ the new tank. So I kept my other girls separated and i got more girls. well needless to say I ended up buying 7 girls and losing 1. Still not sure where she ended up though...
Then I bought my teal boy and my pinkish boy. and that's all I have so far. sure there'll be more to come though. LOL.
LOL, i told my dad today that I have started keeping bettas and if he found any cheap tanks to tell me and i'd buy them. (I don't live w/ him and i haven't talk to him in about 3 or 4 months.)

 

[Elise]

Let's see. I first got a betta when my mom saw the betta vase idea when it first came out. His name was flash. A gorgeous turquoise VT. We took such good care of him and eventually took the plant out (we decided it wasn't a good idea for him). He lived for 2 1/2 years.

Then, I had to have another one, so there was George, a steel colored VT. He had constant fin rot. And died 6 months after I got him. I didn't get another one for at least a year and a half.

THen there was Fariet, the only cellophane I have ever seen in real life (from walmart no less). He lived with me for over a year. My cat took him out in march (right after I joined this forum).

Around the same time, my friend gave me my first female. She was unnamed. My cat took her out in the same night as Fariet. I had had her only a week.

Then I bought two females and a 5 gal on a spur of the moment buy. Alsace-Lorraine and Ginger. Alsace was a yellow DT (good find at Wally World). And Ging was a cambodian CT. (Alsace was killed by a wound given to her by Ging--this was before I knew not to keep two girls in a 5gal)

I found Kai at petco--he had ick and bad fin rot.

My friend gave me Omega, to keep Ging company in the 5 gal. She promptly killed Ginger. THat was too sad for me. (Ginger was my favorite female ever).

Then I got Ula--a copper plakat-- at my LPS to keep Kai company in the split 2.5 gal.

Then I rescued Little Girl from being eaten alive at the same LPS. (Her and Omega are in a split 2.5).

I have helped rescue 7 bettas (they are over at my friend's house for treatment).

And recently I ordered a black plakat female off Aquabid and got a free marble/patriot female for free. The marble's name is eXXon (she has two Xs on her back.) And the black girl is Twinkie.

And I have three copper marble plakat males in the mail due thursday. (Please wish me luck as the last shippment was DOA )

And as soon as the guppies are gone from the 10 gal, I will have at least 2 more bettas in the future. (It's really sad when you wish the guppies were gone already.... )

I love being a bettaholic.

 

[OrkyBetta]

I contracted the betta bug not that long ago, maybe a few months ago? It started when I knew absolutely nothing about fish, and decided I wanted to get an african dwarf frog and a betta for my bedroom. We have a dwarfie living in our kitchen, and I read up on what they can live with, and reminesced about when I had a betta before. So, out to the store I went. I got the dwarf frog and a blue betta, and a one gallon bowl and less than 3 days later the betta was dead. So, I returned it, as the return policy was still good, and got a light purple betta with dark purple fins. Had to be one of the prettiest VTs I've ever seen. I put the dwarf frog in his own container, and the new betta, Orchid, into another. Since then, I have aquired 6 more bettas, unfortuately I lost Orchid to columnaris. Still have the froggie though.

 

[Seahorse]

Nice stories everyone.

I was babysitting for someone I knew about 3-4 years ago. I was 15 or 16. With what I know now I am severely disturbed by her setup. She had 7 females in one of those AquaView tanks At the time I thought females were very boring compared to the male bettas, because hers were all very pale and colorless. I understand why now.

In her basement she had a 10 gallon, with a pleco that took up the whole back wall. He was several inches long... I also had no idea what he was at that time.

She had some males as well in the Aquaviews (only one in each, thank goodness), and when I got to watching some of them, I became fascinated.

With one of the paychecks (from her ironically), I went to Walmart and looked at their bettas. I picked out a sleepy VT, very large and probably over a year old already. He was black with magenta and blue, a typical coloration. He was beautiful though.

I am proud to say I already knew at that time that putting them in a vase or cup was cruel. I put him in a 2 gallon bowl, with straight tap water. Somehow he made it for 6 months+ with that kind of water, however I did add aquarium salt of all things so perhaps that helped

I finally got around to reading a bit online, and feeling incredibly worried and guilty, I bought some dechlor and bloodworms right away. I also did the mirror trick for the first time. That night he made me the biggest bubble nest of any boy I have ever had

I soon acquired two 10 gallons with filters and all the decorations (acquired=they were left outside abandoned). He had the 10 gallon until the day he died, which was only a couple of months ago.

The other 10 gallon was turned into a tank with an Oto and two very tiny mollies (the LFS said they'd be perfectly fine ) They didn't live long, because my mother put two 5 inch goldfish in there shortly after.

Now I have a community of 14 girls. I also have 5 boys, all of which are in over 5 gallons each I also have a 55 gallon, which are housing two goldfish whom I "rescued" out of an unfiltered 7 gallon tank. It will eventually be an outgrow tank for girl fry and after that, a SW tank

 

[twinsmom]

Well, my story isn't that long, since I have only just aquired the betta bug. The first one I got was a gift from my hubby. He is gorgeous, dark blue, with royal blue and red fins. Then after reading these posts about bettas, I realized how some lfs' kept them. I thought is was really cruel. So needless to say, I went to an lfs near me, and bought my second one. He is very pretty too. He is white, with a pinkish color in certain light, and the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen. Now I am trying to figure out how to get more in the house, since I have twins, and 4 cats, and a 35 gal. in addition to hte 2 1 gals. I have with each betta

 

[Allie]

I had a beautiful turquoise VT betta for 4 years till he passed away this Febr. Such a sweet little guy!

Now I have " Rascal" a mostly red with some turquoise VT betta that I love also.


I love bettas but am too darn practical to have more than
one at a time.



I hate fish diseases and cleaning bowls.

 

[red-devil0602]

I only started a few months ago, i had always wanted a betta so when i got my own tank thats what i got, very quickly tanks started getting divided so more room for another betta then new tanks started popping up everywhere, i now have 6 tanks and 11 bettas and don't intend to stop there. My boyfriend has given up moaning about them he now just shakes his head everytime he sees a new 1

 

[Synirr]

My family had almost always had at least one betta in the house, but one day I saw a really pretty one at Walmart and he was the first betta that I kept in my room and got to watch all the time. It was just one fast, horrible spiral into addiction from there

The first betta I was really attached to was a beautiful opaque veil named Azrael... then Sammael, Raphael, Gabriel, Ezra, etc. Some of the really old boys still hanging around from those early days are Raziel, Loki, and Mikhael. The first ones were named after angels/demons I knew the names of well, Loki and Mikhael for example, if that tells you anything about how long ago I got them