Log 3 - Homemade Food and Tail Tears

Homemade Food

I made some homemade food for Henry today following Oldfishlady's recipe on bettafish.com.

You can find it here: http://www.bettafish.com/129-betta-chat/57594-anyone-have-betta-food-recipes.html#post536855

Here are some pics of the process:

I ran everything through the garlic press a few times to make sure that it was nice and mashed up, and then I mixed it up good with my hands. I tasted a bit of it too, since it is all human grade ingredients. It was pretty good.

It was really cheap too. The two shrimp were $.70. Garlic I already had in the fridge, but I'm going to estimate around $.20. The spinach I just grabbed out of my container of spring mix that I use for my salads, so estimate a fraction of a penny. Not a bad amount of food for $.90!

I'm gonna freeze it and feed him a little of that and some pellets every day. I gave him some of it fresh and he didn't seem too sure about it.

It was also really amusing when I went and got the shrimp too. I knew I wanted wild caught shrimp because I don't know what they are feeding farm raised ones, so I headed to Whole Foods. I walked up to the fish counter and the guy there asked, "What can I get for you?"

"Two of those shrimp please," I replied.

He was dumbfounded. "Just two?" he asked, holding up two fingers just to make sure he heard me right.

"Yep. Just two. I'm making food for my fish," I said.

"Ahhhhh," he replied, still looking a little confused. "Is there a particular two you want?"

I let him pick for me. He wrapped up the tiny package of two shrimp and handed it to me with a chuckle. That is probably the smallest and cheapest order he has ever wrapped up there. 

Tail Tears

In other news, Henry got a tear in his tail. I'm still not sure how it happened, but the castle has been removed from his tank just in case. I need to even out the gravel and find something else to put there. I'll probably end up just filling the tank up completely with plants. His tail isn't showing signs of finrot, but I'm going to do a partial water change every day until I see regrowth. Gotta get my beautiful boy looking his best again!

Log 2 - Henry

Henry is enjoying all of the newfound swimming room in his 5.5 gallon tank. He slept in the castle last night. He quite enjoys it. The plants still seem to perplex him. He pokes at them and then runs away.

He is getting used to having me staring at him and putting my finger by the glass in hopes he will follow it all the time. He has done it once so far, and in that moment I realized that my entire life at the moment is revolving around winning the approval of a tiny fish.

Log 1 - Tank Rescape and Meet Henry!

This is my new betta Henry! He is a marble halfmoon. I can't wait to watch him change colors. He hasn't quite warmed up to me yet, but I looked at his little eyes and felt a connection in the store. He is double the size Vincent was, and has a very different personality.

I also completely rescaped my 5.5 gallon to prepare it for it's new resident. Henry seemed very pleased with his new digs.

Rest In Peace, Vincent

It is with a heavy heart that I write that my first betta, Vincent, has passed. He was a good fish, and would make me smile when times were tough. He was always small and sick from the start, but I know I gave him the best life possible.

I will always remember you, Vincent. You are the one that started it all.