Topic: Got a new girl - Sad Update and a Rant

[wendyjo]

She's a little white ct with a lavender wash and red fins.  Her name is Amy

[hakkobetta]

I love the red stones, they set off her fins quite well! She's a cute little cambo! Crowntail too, I see?

[Aiptasia]

Very pretty.

[wendyjo]

Thanks!  I've never used colored gravel before but I have a red wall in that room, and there is a painting above her that has alot of red in it, so I thought I'd give it a try and I like it too - I wish it was a bit deeper like the plant in the tank tho then it would be perfect.

[ShieldWolf]

Pretty little ct. Looks like she's waiting to be fed. Hmmm Amy ... I guess she looks like an Amy lol.

Between her & the male you posted in the other thread makes me almost want to get into bettas again. Almost.

[blackace22]

Awsome female 

[EowynJane]

Very pretty WJ!

[wendyjo]

Sadly, she passed away a few weeks ago.  I dunno what the problem is, but I can't keep my female bettas alive for very long.  The ones I've had the longest have always developed dropsy.  But in general, there are no symptoms of anything when they pass.  They get a bit lethargic, and just pass away.  They are in the same set ups as my boys (who for the most part live for a few years), get fed the same foods, are on the same water change schedules.  i buy them from Petco - same as the boys.  But the boys grow big and thrive, where as the girls stay small and eventually die of what appears to be no good reason, as I never see any sign of parasites, infections, or injury on them.  Water params are always stable.  It's sad and I am discouraged from buying any more girls.

[Boven]

Dang. I'm sorry you lost her.  She was a pretty girl.

I've only had 4 bettas so far, but I've had kind of the opposite experience.  My female, Rosie, is healthy and going strong.  My first male died fairly suddenly after I got him.  The second lived the better part of a year before getting a bit lethargic and dying over the span of a week.  My current male has, since the day I brought him home, just laid on the bottom or a plant except when it's feeding time or he goes up for air.  He also somehow manages to tear up his formerly beautiful tail (his fins are fine).

I also got mine at Petco.  Hmm.  Maybe your Petco has the good boys and mine has the good girls.

[wendyjo]

Hmmm maybe.  Someone on another board suggested that, because the males are the ones that sell the most, maybe the breeders don't treat the female fry as well as far as feeding and water quality.  I dunno what the problem is but I feel like I've kept enough healthy males that I am fairly certain that it's not something I'm doing wrong that is killing them.  Doesn't make me feel much better tho.