This
week, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to take a break from
tank-setups to introduce you to a new addition to my Betta babies. This week,
I’ll be discussing his personality (believe it or not, Bettas have personalities...and big ones!), as well as where he came from. Meet Aurum,
named after the Latin name for gold.
From
Where?
Aurum is
actually a rescue from Petsmart, which my mother had brought home to me. She
told me she was at Petsmart shopping for cat-toys when she noticed a woman was
arguing with one of the faculty in the fish department. The woman was holding
this betta up to the man who worked there and was telling him that the fish was
sick and had tuberculosis, which would spread to the other fish unless he
disposed of it. The man took the betta from the woman and was walking toward
the back-room when my mom stopped him and said she would take it home to her
daughter (me) who is a betta fanatic. My mom paid the full price for him and
brought him home to me. He looked very sickly, but it was definitely not
tuberculosis (thankfully).
His
cup was filled with his own waste and his gills were inflamed from a bacterial
infection. I didn’t waste time to take photos of him in his cup (I never do)…but
he did look pretty rough. I got him into a quarantine tank with fresh water and
a bit of aquarium salt to fend off the harmful bacteria in his lungs. I was
worried he would not make it through the night, but I woke up yesterday morning
to find an active and healthy betta. His gill coverings are now lying flat
instead of sticking out, and his colors are now vibrant and beautiful. Compared
to how they were when I first moved him into the tank. In the picture below,
you can kind of see how his gill coverings are sticking out, just a bit, from
his body.
His colors in this photo are also very dull compared to how he looks
now. I’m very happy that he is doing better; I’ve always
wanted a yellow betta and never have been able to find them before.
Personality/Hobbies
Aurum is obsessed with his pink,
plastic plant.
He loves to rest on the broad leafs, and hide between the
branches. When I have a Betta in a quarantine tank, I do not put them with real
plants, in order to protect the plants from possibly being infected. Once his
two-weeks are up in the quarantine tank, I will move him to a larger tank with
real plants for him to hide in and rest on.
Aurum gave himself a bit of a scare when he saw
another betta looking in on him, it took him a while to discover that it was
just his own reflection and he had no need to flare. You can kind of see how
red his gills are on the inside, they should actually be pink. It will take a
little while for his gills to heal from the bacteria damaging them.
Aurum finally discovered that he was only seeing
himself, and he is now obsessed with his own reflection. He also enjoys staring
into his thermometer to see himself; it is pretty amusing watching him cross
his eyes in order to see his shrunken reflection in the bowed glass of the
thermometer. I think he knows he is a pretty boy (lol). I really love this photo;
his fins are very beautiful and graceful looking.
**Well, that is all I have for you today, no lessons this week, just casual posting! I hope you enjoyed it regardless of the lack of a lesson!**
