Shai

Today the dominant male is much calmer, seemingly for no reason. He's guarding his love nest and only pestering fish who come too close, which I would naturally expect. Only change is that last night I did some minor pruning.

Of course, this is also after I went through the trouble to set up the 33g again. I might still move the rams (and possibly the sub ruby male) anyway.

Of course, we already knew that bettas have personality, but here's a really interesting article on what kind of personalities they specifically could have. The original article has neat links interspersed with the article text too, so it's worth clicking through.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18378

The clue's in the name. Male Siamese fighting fish are so aggressive that they have the dubious distinction of being perhaps the only aquatic animal whose fights are the subject of organised gambling. Fighting fish will swim through rings or down runways for a chance to take a pop at a rival – and will even attack their own reflections.

Yet despite a predilection for using their sharp teeth to tear opponents apart and their tails to beat them to a pulp, a new study suggests that differences in the fishes' fighting styles reflect distinct personalities.

Some attack furiously and constantly, like boxers pummelling their opponents into submission, while others are more considered, carefully watching their opponents before deciding when to strike – like martial artists waiting for a sign of weakness. But why?

It's not surprising that the males fight when they feel that territory is being invaded. But they choose their battles, and their tactics, carefully, attacking sooner and more vigorously if the opponent has himself recently been fighting.

The fish also observe a hierarchy, fighting differently according to whether their opponent is senior or junior. Lashing out at a vastly superior competitor is a bad idea, and males don't do it – as long as they haven't lost track of the pecking order.

On patrol

Now Giuliano Matessi of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues have found that the males fall into two broad personality types: they're either "persistent", spending almost all their time patrolling the borders of their territory and signalling to their neighbours; or "sporadic", taking regular breaks to lurk somewhere away from their neighbours. If confirmed, Siamese fighting fish will have to be added to the ever-growing list of animals that seem to have distinct personalities.

Matessi's team placed individual fish in a cluster of tanks and looked at what happened to the different personality types when they were moved to a new tank, with a new set of neighbours. The persistent fish kept on patrolling and posturing, as before. This is consistent with an earlier study which showed that the more aggressive Siamese fighting fish tend to stay that way, no matter what changes are made to their environments.

However, the sporadic fish chose to spend a lot of time in positions where they could keep an eye on their neighbours without interacting with them. They became only slightly more aggressive.

The researchers suggest that the persistent fish prefer to take a direct approach to finding out about their neighbours, by jumping right in and competing with them. The sporadic fish, by contrast, are more inclined to eye up the competition for a while before doing anything.

The latter might seem a better strategy – know your enemy and all that – but it requires constant vigilance to work. If two sporadic fish who each happened to lose their last conflicts were to meet, they might both infer that the other is weak and attack relentlessly. And that would be a bad idea for all concerned.

Journal reference: Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.09.034

The male is only pestering the rams (and the other male ruby), who are all pestering him back. This tank has always had its fair share of aggression--everyone in it is bossy and they all get in each other's faces from time to time. That's nothing new for me.

Never having kept these fish before, I just want to know if the male is likely to settle down and just get into the occasional squabbles like everyone else does. I did consult with Patrick about my current stock before getting the ruby greens; this wasn't an out of the blue purchase. Right now the male is also very intent on coaxing his females into the little love nest he's claimed, and so far none of them are terribly interested, which adds to his frustration.

I have a spare 33g I was going to turn into a betta barracks but if this horny bugger stays horny I'll make the 33g into a GBR haven instead.

I picked up five ruby greens (2m/3f) the other night and introduced them to my 55g community tank. The dominant male has taken a rather strong dislike to my dominant female German Blue Ram (and vice versa). Sheba (the GBR) is the smaller fish, but she's stubborn and doesn't realize yet she's lost the argument, even though her tail is shredded and she's had a bite taken out of her face. : ( I have another smaller female GBR too and the male ruby doesn't like her much either but hasn't been able to catch her yet.

It's only been a couple of days, so I'm wondering if they just still need some time to settle down or if I should be proactive and take the GBRs out now? I'd be particularly pissed if these females ended up dead.

If I should take them out, anybody got a 20g long they'd care to sell or trade to me? : )

Feed less, gravel vac more. MTS (just like any other snail) populations explode when they have an ample food supply, and given MTS live mainly in the substrate, this suggests your substrate is pretty dirty from excess mulm and leftover fish food. Limiting the food supply will limit the population.

Great shots! I was in Vegas in November too and also saw the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. Incredible! I have photos and video I still haven't posted... I should probably get on it. : )

I second the vote for anubias and crypts. My bettas love resting on the anubias (or playing hide-and-seek under them) and they enjoy swimming between crypt leaves.

2028 also has more media space and comes with spray bar and attachments.

I just bought a 2217 for my 55g and it came with media, spray bar, hoses, and valves too.

I was considering buying the 2028 because I'd heard the 2217 would be hard to prime, but in the end decided not to spend the extra money. I found the 2217 very easy to prime so I don't know what everyone complains about.

I like that the 2217 has no baskets or other restrictions in the canister itself--I can put whatever media I choose into it, in whatever configuration I want, and I can be sure the entire canister is filled so there is no bypass.

I also like the 2217 because the water intake goes into the bottom of the canister, while the output is at the top. Based on pics on Google, it seems like the 2028 has both input and output at the top--so I would worry about bypass happening there, too.

Hope you find a filter you like. : )

Interesting.

Not to mention that dosing for the entire tank volume means using up the product faster, which means buying another bottle sooner. ; )

I usually dose somewhere in the middle--for the amount of water being replaced plus a little bit.

This article appeared recently on Lifehacker. Check the original post for photos. : )

If you're bored with the plain background of your fish tank, you can add a 3D background inexpensively with this simple guide.

You can find rolls of fish tank backgrounds at nearly any fish store, but they lack sorely for realism and look like what they are—flat and static photographs. You can make a 3D background that will add a significant amount of realism and texture to your fish tank with little expense and only about an hour of work. My total cost for the project was $10 for a box of slate tile from the clearance bin and $3 for some silicone.

You'll need some basic supplies and tools including a hammer, a screw driver or chisel, and a caulk gun. On the supplies side of things you'll need a tube of silicone caulk and a box of slate floor tiles. Make sure you buy silicone caulk without any additives. If you want to be extra cautious you can buy only from a fish store but I've been buying silicone caulk from the hardware store for years without any problem—just make sure you read the label carefully and buy silicone that doesn't have any fungicide or other additives, GE Silicone 1 for Doors and Windows is the brand I've always used.

The first step is the fun one. Take your box of floor tiles and bust them up with a hammer—wear safety goggles! How you break them will be determined by your tank size and the look you're going for. If you want a big chunky background then break them into large pieces and leave them that way. If you want a background with smaller pieces, than smash them accordingly.

Once you've broken the tiles, look through the pile of pieces for corner and edge pieces. You'll want four good corners and a fair number of pieces that have a straight edge on them. These pieces will be the corner and edges of your background respectively. The rest of edge pieces will need to be chipped with the hammer to break up the straight lines for a more natural look. Slate "naps" pretty easily, so you can hit just the very edge and it will chip away in an irregular pattern.

After you've finished breaking up and sorting the slate tile it's time to start building the background. Lay the fish tank on its side. I put my tank on a piece of styrofoam but you could put it on a carpet scrap, old comforter, or any other soft surface. Lay out the first layer of the background on the glass. Place our corners and edge pieces, then place pieces in the middle trying to leave as little space in between them as possible. Don't stress about a jig-saw-perfect fit because the second layer is going to cover up all the gaps.

When you've laid out all the pieces to your satisfaction, start applying a liberal amount of caulk to the back of each piece and pressing it firmly into place. You'll want to put the heaviest amount of caulk in the center of the piece so that it'll spread out under the slate without spilling out over the edges. You can opt to leave the first layer to set for a few hours or if you're careful and you can move right onto the second layer. You're going to repeat the process of laying out the tile pieces and securing them with silicone, this time with a focus on covering up the seams or gaps in the first layer.

After the second layer is down and you've pressed everything firmly into place, leave it alone for at least 24-48 hours to cure. The silicone will release acetic acid as it cures, so when the background stops smelling strongly of vinegar you know it has cured enough. You can't go wrong waiting an extra day or two at this step, many aquarium enthusiasts will let silicone cure for upwards of a week before doing anything else with a tank.

It's worth noting that although I started with an empty and dry fish tank it is possible do to this project with an already established fish tank. Instead of adhering the tile directly to the back of the fish tank you'll simply adhere the tile to a piece of acrylic sheeting cut to fit inside the tank and then slowly and carefully lower the background into the established tank and lean it against the back.

A guide to building a fish tank background wouldn't be complete without a picture of the fish that ended up in the tank:

The 20 gallon long went in my office and now houses four Neolamprologus Brevis, a shell-dwelling Cichlid from Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The male fish seen in the photo above has taken a particular interest in my computer and will swim to the corner of the tank and stare at the monitors every time I sit down to work.

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com

Thanks for your help! I set up the canister this afternoon and everything went smoothly. I wonder why people say these things are hard to prime? I had no trouble. : )

For now it's still sitting in a bucket in case something goes wrong with the connections, and later on I need to trim the spray bar down so it will fit the width of my tank, but otherwise I'm really pleased. I shut off my existing filters to see just how quiet this filter is and was impressed that it really is as quiet as everyone said it would be.

How long should I leave my other filters running in tandem with this one (for bacteria to establish in the Eheim)? I did squeeze some mulm into the canister before starting it up and also squashed in two sponges from one of my filters (I have three AC70s running). Do you suppose four weeks would be long enough? I'm looking forward to no more waterfall noise!

I just got myself an Eheim 2217. Yay!

Before I bought it I knew the instructions would be less than stellar. I've been looking at the tips on Rex Grigg's site and there are just a few things I'm still confused about (too bad he didn't post pictures)...

1. The spray bar is supposed to connect to a hard plastic 90-degree corner tube. In the manual they show a small connector (see image below) but that piece wasn't included with my canister. Am I supposed to cut a section of tube? Assembling this part doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere that I can find.

2. Rex's site says,

Next, connect your double tap connectors to the hose pieces you just attached so that the valve handles point in different directions (one pointing up and one down). In the future, this will allow you easily reconnect the right hose to the right valve after you have disconnected it.

Does he mean that one set of valves on one hose should point up, and one set of valves on the other hose should point down? Does it matter which one points in which direction?

Thanks everyone!

Since plants count as livestock and the mods want to contain trading to the Buy/Sell forums, would it not then make sense to move the threads in the Swap/Give Away plants forum into the Livestock Buy/Sell, delete the Swap forum, and rename the Buy/Sell category to Buy/Sell/Trade? This would eliminate the double standard and reduce confusion.

Asking posters to post a price on new threads doesn't have to be complicated and it shouldn't be hard for people to do regardless. Like jvision does, if posters want to entertain a trade in lieu of a sale they can tack that on. "$2.00 per stem or trade for _____" takes five seconds to type and can encourage people to nibble on the thread if they want the plant but don't have anything to trade for it. : )

Tammy, that's terrible. : ( Your fish were so well-cared for. Please take heart in that!

This is a first for me! I've never had any of my aquatic plants flower before. I only noticed it today when I fed Levi. : )

What (if anything) should I do about it?

I think it would be nice to have a little more clarification on what exactly constitutes an offense. I've read the sticky but I don't know that it's specific enough.

For example, many months ago now someone posted something for sale on this board that I was interested in, so I made an offer. At the time the seller couldn't actually sell me that something because something else had to be sold first before I could have it. That was fine for me at the time, but now it's been half a year and I'm still waiting for that thing to become available. Honestly, I don't think it ever will be available, so I've given up waiting and I'll be shopping elsewhere.

Do I personally feel this was a "deal gone bad"? Not really. Yes, technically, the seller hasn't held up their end of the sale as described in the sticky. I'm disappointed I haven't been able to get the thing I offered on, because it would have been a lot cheaper for me than buying from a store. The seller has never explained the delay either. But I don't think it's worth reporting the specifics. Sometimes things just don't work out. *shrugs*

Based on these (vague) details, is this nonetheless the kind of thing we're expected to report anyway? What if, another six months from now, the seller contacts me and I say I've long since given up waiting? Is it then me who ends up being the one who "welched" on the deal?

He will be fine by himself.

If the tank is overstocked you should work on rehoming some of the fish so that it isn't overstocked. Rams especially are sensitive to nitrates and need very clean water. With an overstocked tank you have no margin for error.

Sorry about your loss.

It's usually pretty difficult to "force" GBRs into pairing. Most often you have to let them pair up by themselves, by offering multiple females to one male and then removing the females that don't get picked.

What are the dimensions of your tank? You should only have 1 pair of rams for every two feet of length, and since you have cories the bottom of the tank is likely pretty crowded already.

I use Hosteazy for my domain registration and hosting needs. I pay my fees in Canadian funds. : ) http://www.hosteazy.com/

Oh and as for the windows. the newer types are made to reflect IF and other types of heat but allow our visible light through. The same is not true for aquarium glass.

: ) Thanks for the explanation! Still cool to get that kind of night video of your tank.

Neat video Baos!

I don't know that you can shoot IR through a window, the window reflects the infra-red waves back at the camera.

I'm curious why this might be, since the glass of the tank didn't reflect back to the camera. If it did we wouldn't have a video to look at. : )

I've recently started wondering about switching to magnetic suction cups when my regular suction cups give up. More expensive, but in the long run...? Any thoughts on these?

I have GBRs in our "harder than rock" hard water. I've found you have to be really really really really really REALLY cautious about acclimatizing them to home aquaria here. Float and mix tank water with LFS water for two or three hours before releasing into a dark tank. Overnight drip method would be best if you can trust yourself and be that patient. With respect to the tank being mature, I personally wouldn't consider any tank under 6 months old to be suitable.

Also, if they weren't bred here, it's exceptionally tough to find good LFS specimens. Locally bred is easier because they were born in our water...but they still need extra care.

Don't give up! They are great fish to have. : )

Indeed. As this thread shows, you can "contribute" your five posts just by asking why you can't view the Buy & Sell... Not much of a contribution, hey?

Or maybe the posts in this forum shouldn't count towards the total post count. : )

I think I'd double or triple the contribution requirement if it were me.