Hello friends! Today I am introducing you to my new betta fish friend, Laeg! :)
I just adopted him last night from a lady in the suburbs north of my city. After losing CuChulainn last month, I thought if I saw a betta in need of a home up for adoption in one of my fish groups, I would take that as a sign that it was time to bring home a new fish friend. :)
But can we talk about this color up? This happened in 45 minutes ! Even before I let him loose in the tank, just from floating his container in the water for that long so that he could acclimate to the temperature (that way it's not a shock, as the water inside the container will gradually change to match the water in the tank instead of just plunking him into very different temperature water), he changed color to the blue/aqua/purple/red. I think (and got confirmation in a fish group on fb) that that means his old tank was probably too cold for him; lack of color is a sign of stress (so it's possibly other factors as well, but since he changed even before he was in my tank water with the tannins (the tea colored tint that is healthy for bettas), I'm thinking it was at least partially a temperature difference, and this is him warmed up. His fins have a little damage too which can also be from stress, so hopefully with some time he'll heal up. 💚
He is much smaller than CuChulainn was when I got him, so he must be pretty young. The lady said she got him from the fish store less than three months ago, so I'm thinking he was a baby when she got him. He has a lot of energy and has been swimming around exploring. I even just tried to see if he would react to a red dot (the laser pointer that I play with Yuan with), and he did! So we'll have to have more fun with that too (I had read that some bettas will play with red dots, but CuChulainn didn't seem very interested when I tried it with him).
He has met Macha (the nerite snail on the Anubias plant in this photo), but not Sanglainn yet as Sanglainn is in sleepy ninja mode (or at least, he has been hidden when I've been looking in the tank; they could have met while I was sleeping or not looking. Nerites can sleep for a few days though, so he's probably hiding away having a snooze as I haven't seen him in about a day). I haven't seen Laeg flare at Macha, but he very much found her interesting to watch! You can see he's staring at her here. He previously lived with a snail and a shrimp, so hopefully he and the snails get along. :)
I have seen him hunting around in the substrate, as I've got some microfauna that are good betta snacks (I've seen detritus worms, copepods, and ostracods in my tank). It's healthy for him to hunt and they are healthy for him to eat, so in addition to them being good "clean up crew" and a sign of healthy water parameters in an aquarium, they are good to have a more natural setup for my betta friend. As long as everything is safe, I am on team "make as healthy and natural a home for them as possible" so that my friends can have a good life. :)
I am so happy to have Laeg join our family. He's such a sweetie and I already love him.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!