here's Ruby

I named my new betta.

Swapping him and the cories between tanks was quite a day. It was easy to catch Ruby- as soon as I open the tank lid he approaches curious and I just gently scoop him up in the cup. He stayed in that cup for several hours- with a cloth draped over to keep him calm- while I tried to collect the peppered cories out of the tenner. Set the trap with their favorite food. The youngest, Lucky, went in first. He looked really stressed to be moved out- breathing hard and pale. It took a while but few hours later Momma and one of the males went into the reset trap. But the last one would not go in. With fewer cories rummaging around and food smells about, the malaya shrimps came out and started crawling around. I finally couldn't wait longer so removed all the hardscape items and plants-tied-to-rocks, caught the cory with a plastic box. While the stuff was out, I did a large water change and gravel-vacc'd the areas usually under the driftwood and skull- some dark mulm but not as bad as I've seen before. Very low nitrates after, but I feared the tank had ammonia from that disturbance- because Ruby now has cloudy eye and I think I see faint hint of stress stripe.

I've been doing partial wc daily in hopes it will clear up... today tested again there's no ammonia and nitrates are 10ppm but his eye only looks slightly better. I wonder if stress is making him prone to illness- he was constantly flashing up and down one end of the tank when I first put him in. Not on the back wall- that's why I have it white background now- but on the short ends. I was trying different camera settings to see which would work best with the white backdrop, and every one caught Ruby in this pose:

I tried putting blinkers on the tank- dimming the sides- it helped a little. Or he is gradually getting used to the new space- he's a bit calmer yesterday and today- not flaring as much but still going up and down, back and forth one wall, almost all day. Especially when the light is on.

I hope he calms down and relaxes soon.... Good news is he doesn't bother the snails at all. (I saw one crawling on the feeding ring, that was funny).

He isn't as food-motivated as any other betta I've had- there's no problem if I sprinkle in a few crushed flakes that some will be left over for the malaya shrimps. Who only come out at night, now. I don't think Ruby would bother them either, but they seem apprehensive of his incessant activity- hiding well during the day now I have to look in close after dark to see them.