Nicole, Deipnosophist.

My last Betta fry died today. I feel like a bit of a failure. It was somewhat of an experiment anyway, but part of me feels like hundreds of little lives shouldn’t be an “experiment.�

They hatched on 07 November, so they were four weeks old, and I lost them little by little. I did 20-40% water changes daily for three weeks, and then 30% every other day this week. I think I didn’t offer enough food; I had quite an infusoria culture going, but I weaned the fry onto dry foods because I didn’t have a microworm culture. I prepared egg yolk and they ate it with relish, but they never liked the prepared foods and I couldn’t feed them more than twice a day. Microworms live long enough for the fish to feed on them all day. I feel worse that they probably starved to death.

As an aquarium keeper, I’ve developed a keen sense of responsibility for the animals I keep. It’s tragic how some people treat their fish and I do everything I can to make my fish’s lives as happy as possible. Even with 25 years of experience, I’m still experimenting with my own ethics!

I am going to concentrate on the health of my reef and my five adult bettas. I’m thinking of converting the fry tank into a nice planted tank for the kitchen. Maybe a Betta biotope with the four females? I have each Betta in a 2.5-gallon aquarium, but I moved the females’ tanks together to see how they reacted to each other. While they are not supposed to be as pugnacious as the males, they “barred up� and flared quite a bit at each other. I don’t want to put them together if they will end up beating on each other. Maybe I’ll make the 15-gallon tank heavily planted before I add the fish. That will also help me with the CO2 challenge: a DIY setup for CO2 can have drastic pH swings until the aquarist learns how to handle them.

As Calvin would say, Further Bulletins As Events Warrant.