Marshmallow

I went to Walmart last night, and fell in love with another betta!

Since I have an empty one gallon aquarium just sitting there....

Well, I had to get him.

I tried not too, really I did!

But right when we were about to leave I asked DH to come look at him again with me, and we got him.

DH said we could get him a bigger aquarium, but I figured that we could wait. A 5 gallon was only $30, and I probably should have gotten it, so we can use it as a quarantine tank when we get a bigger tank....Yes I've only had the big tank a month, and I've already got another one gallon up, and plans for a bigger aquarium so DH can have some fish too.

When I saw Marshmallow in the store he had a white body, with a touch of pink irredescense to it, and white fins with a touch of blue.

After less than 3 minutes in the new one gallon, with clean water, and a bit of java moss, he turned pink with lavendar fins. You can still see a touch of blue and white in the fins, but he looks like a completely different fish!

He's still a little nervous, and I just cleared out the area around the tank of everything red, since he is flaring and hiding when we bring a red cup near the tank.

I've heard most bettas flare at red, although Captain Jack doesn't. I'm not sure why that color sets them off though.

This bottom picture is a picture of Marshmallow while he is still in the cup from the fish store, the top one is of Marshmallow right after we put him in his new aquarium.

What a difference! I'd heard that you could bring a betta home from the store and realize that he was a completely different color at home, in less stressful conditions.

I was surprised at how different Marshmallow looked in his cup, and how quickly he changed after we moved him to his new tank.

Since smaller tanks don't cycle, and have to be cleaned more often I've heard that it's ok not to put gravel in the tank - that way it's easier to clean the tank, and if you're not doing a water change that day, you can just take a turkey baster, and suck up all the gunk from the bottom of the tank to keep the tank cleaner between changes.

I've also moved one of the treasure chests from the old aquarium into the new aquarium so that Marshmallow would have a little place to rest.

Anyways, if you want to read more about the fish (or see pictures), they have their very own squidoo lens at My fishies.