The "Rutela Situation"

Introduced in my last entry were my female bettas.  One in particular has given me somewhat of a headache - Rutela.  She's been growing at an amazingly fast pace and while she's perfectly healthy she is starting to make me think she is actually a he.  


When I got Rutela, she had vertical stripes and a very prominent ovipositor tube (egg spot) that had me sure she was correctly labeled as a female.  I brought her home and put her in my female tank.  She quickly found her place in the heirarchy as third in command below Ruto, who was second to Lulu.  Over the past month, she's become much more aggressive.  She routinely flares at her tank mates and is easily top fish now.  Her fins have grown to at least three times their initial length in two weeks and her colors have become much more vivid.



As the image above shows, she's grown day by day and changed in color so much in just a month.  I've put her in with Jabu-Jabu as a test to see if she gets her breeding bars and egg spot back.  Both have disappeared over the last month, or at least become very difficult to find.  I really, really hope she remains a she... or I may be looking for a new home for him.

The Girls

I've introduced the boys.  Now it's the girl's turn. :)


Ruto was my first girl and second betta fish.  I decided to get a girl after Jabu-Jabu after learning that they were available and could be kept together.  Girls can be kept together that is.  I originally picked her because she looked the healthiest and seemed to be a pale blue.  When the pet store employee brought her out of the tank, it became clear that she was meant for me because of her colors.  She now shares a tank with my other girls. 
 Laruto came home with me from Petco along with what I thought was her spawn sister, Rutela.  She was pretty small then and is still very small now.  When she's not stressed out from being the runt of the tank, she's a gorgeous set of blues and purples.  She's also almost impossible to get a picture of.  Always on the move or hiding in the cave.
 Rutela... Oy, Rutela.  She's quite the tough cookie to crack.  When I brought her home from petco with Laruto, she had breeding stripes like a champ, an egg tube showing and was a pale brown with red fins.  Within the last month of being with me, she has exploded into a symphony of dark, rich reds, blues and purple/blacks.  She's also grown at an outrageous pace and sports fins that are by the day looking more and more male.  She may end up being a he... Only time will tell!


Lulu was my second fish from aquabid.  I decided that I may want to one day breed betta fish and if I did, I'd want to breed halfmoons.  So I found Lulu, a green dragon halfmoon female.  She was at my doorstep in three day's time and is easily my favorite female.  She's gorgeous and has so much personality.  I love her to death.  Totally worth every cent I paid to get her.

The Boys

 As mentioned in my last post, I wish to introduce my fish one by one and explain each of them as they deserve to be.  It all started with a trip to my local pet store where I found...


Jabu-Jabu started it all.  He was my first fish that I found at my local mom and pop pet shop.  When I went to go get what I thought would be my only betta fish, the person who was helping me pointed him out to me.  She said he was particularly pretty but she didn't know why.  I looked him over and he didn't seem particularly pretty or interesting to me at first.  I put him down and checked out the other male bettas.  After wandering around for a few minutes, I came back and saw a flash of indigo and immediately went "HIM!  That's the one I want."
  
Unknowingly, the indigo flash had come from the same fish I'd just put down thinking he wasn't particularly attractive.  I picked him up and the rest is history.  He came home with me that day and was then dubbed Jabu-Jabu, named after the patron diety of the zoras in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  All of my fish (and pets for that matter) are named after Zelda characters.  He is by far my most 'prolific' fish.  He's made bubblenests that top 1 inch high.  Oy, is he a horn dog!


Ralis was technically my third betta fish but my second male.  He was a bit of a surprise.  Among my many trips to Petco to upgrade my fish tanks, I always stopped to look at the bettas.  Despite my fiance wishing that I'd not bring anymore home... I did. 8D


He was cute.  He was there.  He was purple.
I had an extra spot in my tanks and therefore he came home with me.  Ralis is what I consider my gay boy.  He rarely flares at the other two males who live in his 10 gallon tank with him (divided off of course!) and took forever to make a bubblenest. He seems to show no interest in the ladies when he gets to see one and is a very shy little boy.  He spends the majority of his time hiding in his little log or swimming around when he sees me, begging for food.  He also loves to chill on his little leaf.  Ralis is a delta tail, though he keeps growing and growing so he may well be a super delta.


Mikau was my first adventure into the money sink that those of us in the betta keeping business know as Aquabid.com.  Curse that site!  It's addicting. 


I'd tried to bid on two fish before Mikau that were both green dragon halfmoons.  I lost them both in a bidding fiasco... but then Mikau was put up and I bought him immediately with buy it now.  It took several weeks to finally get him to me but they were absolutely worth the wait.  Mikau is easily my favorite fish, second only to Jabu-Jabu.  His fins are huge and he's definitely a rosetail.  For those that don't know what that is, it means he was bred to have so much fin that his rays overlap creating a 'rose petal' effect.  It makes it harder for him to swim but he gets along just fine and spends the majority of his time in his floating log.  He loves that log!  


Japas was an 'unintentional' fishy.  When I got Mikau, he arrived rather beaten up.  He had a circular scar on him and rough fins.  The breeder had said to contact them when the fish arrived and let them know he was ok.  I did so and mentioned the rough shape he was in.  I have to assume that he/she took what I said to mean 'he's dead' because I received an e-mail promptly informing me that a replacement fish was on its way - Japas.  


He is Mikau's spawn brother and equally if not more gorgeous in his colors and fins.  I adore this color 'green dragon' and originally intended to find him another home.  But the more I looked at him, the more I fell in love and decided to keep him.    He now shares a tank with Ralis and Mikau and is regrowing his fins that he snacked on during shipping. :(  

An Introduction

Well, well, well... here I am writing about my fish.  How UNEXPECTED!


My name is Rachel outside of the fancy thinking box but on the internet I tend to go by 'burd'.  So, whoever you are, my name is Burd and welcome to my world of aquatic friends.  I thank you for bothering to read this blog and hope it will some how either bring you information or entertainment.


First and foremost, I should mention that this blog is about my fish.  Not just any fish; Betta fish.  Within the past two months, I've managed to somehow acquire and house 8 betta fish, four males and four females.  I've learned a lot by making a few mistakes and fixing them as I go.  I'd like to extend a very big thank you to the kind and knowledgeable crowd over at www.bettafish.com whom without I would not have learned nearly anything of what I now know.  I would like to extend a very big NO thank you and a warning about yahoo answers.  Take everything you read on that site with a huge grain of salt.  Please.


And of course, I shall end this entry by introducing my menagerie of fishy friends.  I'll introduce them each one by one in entries to follow this one.  Each of them, to me, has become a part of my family and has a very unique personality that shines every time I even walk by their tanks.  Thanks again for reading!