Baby Steps

I finally figured out what happened to Casper's fin. Today I was looking for him and when I didn't see him I realized he was under the filter. He's being housed in a Hagen Marina 360-degree aquarium (2.6 gallons) and the filter it comes with is an all-in-one unit with a built in light fixture. It looks like this:

The filter intake is on the bottom. When it's in the aquarium there's maybe an inch between the bottom of the filter unit and the gravel. I was surprised to discover that he could fit under there! It turns out, that was his favorite hide-out. But a potentially hazardous one...the bottom looks like this:

His fins probably got sucked into the filter a little bit which caused them to tear. I tried blocking the filter off with some rocks but he still managed to get under there. He really likes his 'spot'. I probably should have named him Sheldon. So as I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep, I had a revelation: I could use the tough netting-like material that came with the 10 gallon tank divider to block off access to the filter from all sides. 

It took me a while to figure out how to wrap it around said filter. Since I was so exhausted I ended up taking the easy way out:

Tiny rubber bands are my go-to product for many of my aquarium needs! This fit perfectly; it blocks off all access to the scary 'under filter spot' while still allowing the water to freely flow to the filter. Of course, only time will tell just how effective it will be. Casper was pretty disappointed that he could no longer hide in his 'spot', so I made him a little rock cave. He wasn't too impressed. I learned an important lesson today: bettas like small, cramped, dark places to hide. At least, most of them seem to. My girls prefer floating plants, though. They were pretty upset today when I took the floating Water Sprite out of their tank to add it to the breeding tank. Yes, I got the breeding tank set up today! (mostly...)

Since the sponge filter is brand new, I'm giving it about a week to 'mature' aka grow nasty-looking, slimy bacteria on it. To jump start this process a bit (because a week isn't much time at all) I'm adding some of the matured water from the other tanks' filters. Hopefully that is enough for now! When it comes time for breeding I'll change 100% of the water, fill it back up to about 4", add the Indian Almond leaves, cross my fingers, and hope for the best!