My former neighbor, the lovely and thoughtful SueDuhnym sent me an aquarium and a gift certificate to Petco as a gift. So I went out last night and got me a fishie and a snail!
The helpful Petco guy said “A one gallon tank? Betta will survive in that.” So I said “Ok, how about two?” And he said “Only if you want them to eat each other… they’re Siamese Fighting Fish.”
Hrm. I don’t want my fish eating each other. So I got one. And a snail, to keep the algae down. But mostly, cuz I thought it’d be fun to have a pet snail.
So now I have a lovely blue betta named Stuart, and a snail named A Boy Named Sue. It’s a boy snail, but I told Sue I’d name the snail after her.
Yay! He survived his first night, and seems happy enough. His water is kinda cloudy today but I’ve read that that’s “new tank syndrome” and it should clear up. He also seems to hate flake food, so I think I’m gonna pamper him and get him some of the freeze dried worms at Petco. Nothing will be too good for my Stuart! (The snail eats “scraps”, apparently.)
He’s got a personality, and loves to show off. He’s on my webcam at the moment, so feel free to check him out and wave!
Thanks, Sue, this is the coolest gift I’ve gotten in like, forever!
Yeah, being a fish, he moves a lot… so most of the StuartCam is just “orange plants kinda waving around”… but he’s there, I promise! I had to shut the cam down for a bit cuz it’s about 100 degrees here and my laptop’s overheading… but he’ll be back.
Also, no taking bets on how long I keep him alive! I just had a slight… feeding mishap (a TON of flakes fell out and I had to scoop them out, while trying to keep him from jumping out) but other than that we’re copacetic…
Yeah, apparently betta don’t play well with others. Luckily this Petco guy seemed to know a fair amount about fishies.
He warned me to keep the lid on at all times, cuz “these suckers can jump, and you don’t want to wake up to a dried out fish on your floor.”
So many places I could’ve gone with that.
The water is kinda… stinky. From what I’ve read I’ve learned that it’ll be cloudy and ickky due to “new tank syndrome” while everything acclimates and the bacteria get going and stuff… but it smells vaguely garbage-ish. Hrm. We’ll see how it goes.
My snail keeps starting to eat the lettuce then leaving it floating around. Half-digested lettuce is not pretty. So I took it out of the tank. Maybe that’ll help!
I have a red betta in a clay pot behind me right now… got it for a Christmas present and it’s a miracle it’s still alive what with one thing and another…
I don’t think you have to give the snail lettuce… I have some ivy growing in the pot with with the betta (yes, in the water, don’t ask) and the snails I have feed on that.
My brother used to have a snail in his aquarium. It was a super-Houdini-escape-artist snail. It regularly climbed out of the aquarium, and he would find it under the couch, or on the coffee table, or halfway across the living room. It always seemed to survive ok, though - he would just put it straight back in the aquarium.
Maybe it objected to having to eat algae all day… maybe my brother should’ve fed it lettuce
Congrats on the new pet, Rasa. I’ve had bettas for the last three years. My first one was a gorgeous blue betta, named LeBetta in honor of my stuffed dog, LeMutt. LeBetta and his brother, LeBetta Rouge, have now gone to the great aquarium beyond, but I now have Le Betta Tres. I’ve also exhausted all the French I know.
Crazy Kathy that works for me has a Beta fish on her desk, his/her name is Lucky. Last week she asks me " Do you remember when we got Lucky?" I about wet my self laughing so hard.
It is very likely the lettuce is making the water cloudy. The snail should get enough food just by eating Stuart’s leftovers. Also, I believe some live plants may help to keep your tank all sparkly.
I had a betta as a kid. Right now I have four 10-year old goldfish that are so tame I can hand feed them.
That Sue must be a really good friend. Isn’t it amazing that the little things people do for us can make us so happy?
He’s still alive! Woo! Heh, the past 2 mornings I’ve gotten up and been afraid to look in his tank cuz I was convinced I’d managed to kill him.
He won’t eat the flake food, the picky bastid. Apparently the little carnivore would prefer live food. That’s not gonna happen, so I’ll get him some freeze dried worms at the pet store.
He is indeed blue, with 2 little red “arm” fins (I dunno what else to call them, the’re near his head) and some red in his tail fin. He does seem to respond to me, and likes to play with the snail, even though the snail isn’t very playful.
The water hasn’t gotten any cloudier, so I think that’s a good sign!
Rover, my childhood goldfish, was a stunt fish. He’d jump out regularly.
The last time was when he was about 8 years old. We found him behind the bed - pretty dead looking.
However, when dropped into the toilet for burial, he revived. Impressive, but icky getting him out of there. Eww.
Sigh. That was one hell of a fish. He eventually died when his tail fell off from old age. The bastard hung on for a full day before floating belly-up.
Yeah I read that if they jump out and get all dried, sometimes they can be revived. Stuart’s in a pretty secure aquarium, it’s got 2 lids, and to feed him I only have to open one, so I’m hoping to keep him from doing stunts!
Congratulations on getting a fish! I have a 10 gallon tank and I’ve often said that it was one of the best investments I’ve made. I can sit and watch the fish for a long time without getting bored. I also had a fiddler crab named “Crab Bond” because he managed to escape the tank a few times and even come back from the dead once. (I flushed the fooker and the next morning it was back in its tank…how, you may ask? E-mail me to find out.) heh.
There is some basic water tank chemistry that will help you keep Stuart happy as can be. With as little water as you have in the tank, it doesn’t take much for the chemistry to get off so want to be pretty careful. If the water is cloudy, you may be over-feeding the little guy. It’s hard to tell because they eat pretty much anything whenever they can, sometimes. When the fish eats a lot, they poop a lot and that poop puts a lot of ammonia in the water, changing the pH. The same with when food decays - it changes the pH.
Here is a great website for people with their first batch of fishies:
Great, now I’m going to be spending my entire day trying to figure out how Tiburon’s crab managed to get back in the tank. Wild guess, your spouse saw Mr. Bond missing and replaced him on the sly?
