Betta Fish: pretty boy in a pretty tank.

this is Saki. 🖤

Saki is the lucky petco betta who was chosen to inhabit my overly-curated rimless 6.8. he lives with (and is hopefully not eating) 5 cherry neocaridina, 4 golden backs, and one itty bitty black shrimp – the last of whom I’m unsure of his origin. this scape was set up dry for a week, cycled for three despite being seeded with old media, and painstakingly tested for a nerve wracking week leading up to the shrimp being introduced. with crustaceans acclimated, I knew it was time to find the centerpiece fish I’d been looking for.

a lot of considerations were made. crowntail, alien, samurai? with an open top tank and a hatred for seeing fish go blind, I opted for a pure white fish. so … we found Saki. he seemed quite sad in his cup, and at first seemed like he may be ill. he has a little tumor at the base of his caudal fin. but, everyone loves an underdog, and if he recovered he would be the most beautiful fish I could have put in this tannin-stained tank.

and recover he did. (: it took Saki about 5 days to feel comfortable exploring his home. now we’re on day 14, and he is so healthy, so sassy, and so well adjusted that you’d never know he was a cup betta. his hobbies include sleeping on lotus leaves, following the dogs from one end of his tank to the other, and watching his roommates really closely. hooray!