Yes, yes.
I succumbed to the temptation and purchased a second fish. A friend who has to buy jumbo mealworms (apparently a special commodity) for a trio of sugar gliders (clicker trained!) from a local pet store told me that there was a very nice Betta there, green and brown. I've had my new tank set up for about 2 weeks now, and the nitrogen cycle (see note & chart in my next blog) is about done, so I decided to head over there myself and see this fish. I saw him immediately, lazing about in his tiny cup. He was on a shelf with 1 other male and 1 female. The other male looked pretty bad and the female looked downright sick and didn't even react when I turned her cup around.
There is something in me that says that it is unethical for me to buy a fish from a place that sells unhealthy fish, but I couldn't help it. The "fish guy" came over and offered to bring some more out from the back. Well, I thought it would be a few...turn out to be about 10 more fish. Geez. The healthiest was the green and brown (actually more like red) that I had already pretty much picked out.
My fish (I knew he was mine by then) flared briefly as these new males were set out on the shelf next to him. Good sign. The other male didn't react :(
As I watched these sad fish in their tiny cups I said, "He's the one, I'll take him." I guess I couldn't watch it anymore. I paid my $4 and brought my little guy home. This is what he lived in before:
And here is his previous home, next to his new home 
He is a Crowntail male, pretty small, but gorgeous.
Below, he is acclimating to the tank temperature while still in his cup. He got REALLY mad, and was slamming himself against the sides of the cup trying to get to the open water, so I went ahead and let him out.
He's very into checking out his reflection. And, just like Dumbledore, he really likes hanging out by the heater.
I am awful at taking fish pictures...I practice all the time, but I can't seem toget a non-blurry shot without using the flash. Argh.
I'm hoping his fins will grow longer with a bigger, nicer tank (he's in the 5.5 gallon). He is loving the big tank so far and is very curious about all the silk plants and such. I think he'll be a good "clicker partner" and I'm going to start teaching targeting tomorrow hopefully. The tank is right next to my bed, so I won't have any excuses for not remembering to work with him.
Dumbledore is a bit mad at me right now...I think. He destroyed his bubblenest. This is what a bubblenest looks like:
I made him fast last weekend after I read that Bettas should have a fast every once in a while. I started teaching him to go through the hoop yesterday and he basically told me to think of something harder. I don't really have any inspiration for "tougher" behaviors. Any idea? Most things I think of are targeting related--and that's too easy. Maybe I'll do some freeshaping later today with him.
-Lulu
