For those of you with lights on your tank. When and how long do you have the light on?
[QUOTE=M.K.Smith;6150379]
For those of you with lights on your tank. When and how long do you have the light on?[/QUOTE]
I have plants so I leave the lights on 10-12 hours a day. I have LED lights which I love because they barely give off any heat.
I love Bettas they are soooo pretty and unique!!!
The saga continues…
My husband just ordered himself a 36 gallon acrylic bow front and a super bright LED light kit so he can make a heavily planted tank. We’re gonna get a school of Tetras and Corys and some Crystal Red Shrimp and, of course, Chips will be the star. 
I’m going to get one of the fancy Bettas to live in his 6 gallon after Chips moves out - and if Chips likes the bigger tank.
So stay tuned over the course of the next couple months as we build a planted aquarium from start to finish. 
Thanks to you guys, I am about to order a betta from Aquabid…too many to choose from…I wish I could find one in the us…Local…we shall see!
[QUOTE=GotGait;6150104]
Wow, thanks Shiningwizard! I’m going to check out the IBC.
I was wondering why there were so few VTs on the Aquabid site.
So do you rescue Bettas from places like Wal-Mart? My Petsmart has like 20 that need rescuing. 
Now my husband wants to get back into fish in a big way. He’s got his eye on a 36 gallon acrylic and wants to do a heavily planted tank. So I said, “Great! What fish do you want to put in it?” And he says…
A Betta!
And some Tetras.
He’s fascinated by Chips, a fish who cost like 1/50th of the price of his favorite saltwater fish. :lol:
He really wants to get back into saltwater, but we can’t do it until we move to a place where we can have a generator. We have too many extended power outages here (thanks Pepco!) to risk it.
I may be looking for one of those fancier Bettas sooner that I thought.
ETA: I had to go check the price of a medium purple tang, his favorite, and they sell for $200 now! :eek:
Nope. Definitely gonna need a generator for that hobby.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I used to belong to a group called the Betta Obsession, we were an MSN group. Yes, I have rescued many a sick Wal-Mart betta. I usually target bettas sick with columnaris because IMO columnaris is the dumbest disease ever for a betta to die from because it’s so easily and cheaply treated. It sucks most places don’t care about the fish they sell, you don’t want to continue the cycle by giving places like Wal-Mart money for sick fish but at the same time, you know you can get them well and the store doesn’t care to try to and if you do nothing they’ll die.
If you are going to do tetras you may want to look up the species you plan to get before spending money on lots of plants…lots of them like open spaces for swimming and tetras need to be in numbers of, IMO, at least 10 (sorry if I am preaching, I don’t know what you know so if you know this stuff ignore me, lol) but lots of places will say 6+ individuals of one species. so you will need to account for the number of fish too before deciding how to plant your tank. But a betta will love a planted tank!
I’ve never done a saltwater tank, so you’re on your own for that one :lol: I think they are so pretty, but they are so much work!
Good sites for general fish-keeping and stocking info:
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Main_Page
ETA - that one site is through Wikipedia but I “know,” via always seeing her posts on a fish board I post on, the person that contributes lots of the information to the Aquarium Wiki and she is super knowledgeable on fish, so the information is solid.
[QUOTE=GotGait;6150124]
I have another question. What about the red wash on some of the fish pictured here?
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e214/martinismommy/MacAuleyHM.jpg
Is that considered a fault? They are very pretty - the first one is my fav.
Mustard is awesome looking though.
http://betta.ketviet.com/imgs/Post/UpNhAnHdotC0M2008101729042yzi1mdrjmz101136.jpeg[/QUOTE]
My understanding is that a solid color betta should only be that color - for example, a red should only be red, with no other colors present. Your better red bettas are going to be red with the least amount of other colors showing. So IMO yes several of those bettas wouldn’t be good show bettas (but are certainly pretty to look at!).
ETA - that was in reference to the turquiose bettas, which are what I think you were asking about re: washes
Considering this is a horse forum - there are piebald bettas, you might want to check those out!
You guys enable without even being here… We added a fourth Betta last night from Petsmart! He’s a red with white fins half moon. Some black on his fins and body, too. Don’t know if he’d be considered a marble? His cup water is kinda cloudy and I’m just doing partial water changes in their until I pick up another tank, Petsmart was out of what I wanted last night. He looks healthy and active, though
Grats Spookhorse! 
We need pictures!
Threedogpack, I’ve read that Basement Bettas comes highly recommended. Do eeeet… Do eeeet…
Shining, Ive had schooling fish in the past and know about the 10+ rule, but I enjoy your posts so don’t worry about stepping on my toes or anything. There are other people reading who are looking for advice as well. :yes:
I kept several kinds of Barbs and while I know they are not a good choice for a Betta tank, I was able to keep them peaceful enough for my other fish. They are still jerks though.
I haven’t decided on Tetras yet, but they won’t be Neons.
Someone told me if I had any talent at keeping a reef alive, that freshwater would be a walk in the park. I am dubious. Nothing is ever as simple or cheap as it seems when it comes to keeping fish. I’ve already spent over $200 on my $3.99 fish - besides the tank, mostly on decorations. :lol:
And now my husband spent more so we can move our little fish into an even bigger tank. In the Betta world, Chips has won the equivalent of the Powerball.
BTW, he’ll eat from my hand now.
I thought I’d show off some of my saltwater fish. This is Bubba the Purple Tang and Lemon :rolleyes: the Lemon Angel.
I had way more pictures, but I can’t seem to find them. Anyway, when we moved, they went to live with someone with an even bigger tank. We were afraid they would die in the move, and that’s when we got out of saltwater completely.
[QUOTE=GotGait;6151366]
Someone told me if I had any talent at keeping a reef alive, that freshwater would be a walk in the park. I am dubious. Nothing is ever as simple or cheap as it seems when it comes to keeping fish. [/QUOTE]
Heh. Yeah, they say livebearers are easy keepers. Let’s count up the number of dead tetras, guppies, and mollies I’ve wiped out. On second thought, let’s not. (On the other hand, if you’d like your pleco or kissing gourami to live forever, mail him to…)
[QUOTE=danceronice;6152177]
Heh. Yeah, they say livebearers are easy keepers. Let’s count up the number of dead tetras, guppies, and mollies I’ve wiped out. On second thought, let’s not. (On the other hand, if you’d like your pleco or kissing gourami to live forever, mail him to…)[/QUOTE]
Plecos are the one fish I was never able to keep alive for long. They’d look fine for months and then one day, I’d find them dead on the bottom. I stopped buying them. It was so weird because i never had any disease in the tank they were in. Several of the fish in the same tank like a clown loach and red-tailed shark lived 7 years. So I have no idea what I was doing wrong there… anyone? 
And I still get angry when I think about some of the salties I purchased from so called “humane” catch sellers that died a week later from cyanide poisoning. There were two stores in my area totally lying about where they got their fish. I’m hesitant to ever get back into salt because of the dark side of the hobby. It really sucks to watch a fish die from cyanide. Cyanide makes colors really pop and there’s no way to tell until the fish dies. It’s a death sentence from the time they are caught and sold to an unsuspecting hobbyist who wonders why the fish wastes away and dies within 2 weeks. :mad:
Back to Bettas… I’ve been emailing a U.S. breeder who has offered to sell me one of her gorgeous Halfmoons when I’m ready to get a second Betta.
He ate one of my ghost shrimp sometime last night and is not doing well this morning. I think he over ate and I hope that’s all it is, but I am very worried about him. 
sorry to hear that, I hope he feels better
Sending jingles to your cute little fishy!
Have you had a lot of wood in the tank?
I’ve read that plecos will starve to death if fed only those sinking pellets–that they really need a couple sources of driftwood to munch on, especially once they get bigger. That could explain the fine-fine-fine-dead thing you’ve seen.
[QUOTE=Simkie;6153775]
Have you had a lot of wood in the tank?
I’ve read that plecos will starve to death if fed only those sinking pellets–that they really need a couple sources of driftwood to munch on, especially once they get bigger. That could explain the fine-fine-fine-dead thing you’ve seen.[/QUOTE]
That would definitely explain it. I had an under gravel filter back then and plastic plants. They did have real rock caves, but I had no access to driftwood. I fed flake food so I guess they starved. Ugh, poor things.
Update on Chips. He is fine again. I thought he was a goner for sure. I have never seen a fish act that way and survive.
He would lay on his leaf, fins fanning furiously and then list off of it and float tail down, fins clamped. A couple times I caught him laying on his side on the bottom of the tank wedged under my micro sword. He even looked sad.
About an hour later, he was swimming a bit more and looked like he might survive.
Now, he is zipping around the tank and begging for food when I walk up. Too bad he’s on a diet for a day or two. I doubt he’s learned a lesson about gluttonous behavior.
I caught him eyeballing my last shrimp and I tapped on the glass and he looked at me, looked back at the shrimp, I tapped again and he left it alone. The poor shrimp has been identified as snackfood, and I think its days are numbered unless I can find something to transfer it to.
My plants are doing well, and I have new growth on all of them. I even had to trim my Bacopa plant.
Your stories make me want to splurge on a bigger tank for my Betta, Charles II. They are such awesome little fish especially to watch. I am seriously tempted to go to Petsmart tomorrow and buy a bigger tank. I could let it cycle while I am gone for the weekend and then transfer him to it when I get back.
What other fish (or other critters) are good to house with a betta? Years ago when I was a kid my brother and I had a betta (Jeffery) and a goldfish together. I know that technically there are temperature differences, but honestly that betta lived the longest out of any of the several I have owned. He and the goldfish lived together for over 5 years and both survived a move from NY to VA :yes:
Poor Charles doesn’t look so hot right now. I think he is suffering problems from old age. Def. not as interested in food or people as he used to be. Poor guy.
