A Day in the Life of a Betta - Almost Three Months

Welcome back to the wonderful world of bettas!

They are almost three months old and are finally nipping and (gasp!) killing and eating each other. As a result I have placed around ten of the biggest and most aggressive in my barracks system where they will be separated from each other. I will undoubtedly have to separate more of them as the peaceful ones get bigger and feistier. Their coloration is also beginning to become more prominent (see pic). Reds, blacks, blues, and a lot of yellow are starting to show.

I have started them on a pellet diet and they have gotten smart enough to recognize me and crowd to the surface every time I walk downstairs in anticipation of food (see picture).

Hopefully the added protein of the pellets will help them continue to grow bigger and more colorful!

From here on out my goals are to help them grow quickly to spawning age, which will probably be another two or three months. I also plan on adding some live plants and driftwood in the tank to allow the smaller ones to hide from the larger ones. They will also help control algae and improve water quality.

As a sidenote, my other tank of fry is doing well, although growing slowly. Currently I have them in a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter. I think they are from my orange pair (see pic). There are only about 20 left but they are hanging in there. If they are indeed from the orange pair I will

be very happy because the male was one of my favorites. Unfortunately he isn't alive anymore so the fry are his legacy and I will do my best to keep them alive.

I also took some of the tiny fry that were being picked on in the original spawn and moved them in with the new fry so they wouldn't be hurt. Hopefully this will encourage them to be less wimpy, eat more food, and get healthier!