BettaFishMommy

sand is quite easy to keep clean. you don't need to vac it the same way as gravel. just swirl your gravel vac tube above the sand, about an inch, and the vortex created will suck the poop right off the top of the sand. when you do water changes, give the sand areas that are open (not planted) a bit of a stir with a chopstick or other pokey type tool, to help avoid gas pockets that can build up underneath. plant roots will keep the planted areas of your tank free of gas pockets, and having malaysian trumpet snails will help too, since they will burrow and aerate the sand.

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picked up some API General Cure, which has metro and prazi in it. dosed Chuck's tub after a big water change. He is doing so much better today! no longer buoyant, swimming perfectly, and his colour is coming back slowly. going to do another big water change and probably dose the meds again, then water change again tomorrow and see how he's doing to determine whether i dose a third day in a row. so happy my Chuck seems to be on the mend! i'd be heartbroken if i lost this finkid.

so sorry to hear about Domino!! RIP oscars live about 10 years at most, from what i've read. i'm hoping my Gus stays with me for that long.

i love that idea for the poker hand, doling cards out at every stop. neat!

ok folks. Chuck is more upright today, but still rather buoyant in the water (dorsal area is still above water at times). i've moved him to a rubbermaid bin with some air running into it, and doing as many water changes as necessary to keep the ammonia down. water volume is 20 gallons. temperature is about 78/79F. i've set up a rectangular 2 gallon tub on it's end in there so he has something to lean against to stay upright when need be. i'm off to petsmart here in a few minutes. metro will be the best med to use, or should i consider an epsom salt treatment instead? Chuck's symptoms are buoyancy, occasional listing to the side, and loss of colour (stressed). his activity level is really low. he is also not eating at all. gill movement is slightly increased, but he is not gasping.

i fed the tank this morning but i don't think he ate. i didn't see him eat, and usually he eats right away. so if he's not eating, just do the usual fast for a couple/few days and daily water changes and pick up some metro in the morning?

hopefully Chuck makes it til i can get to the lfs tomorrow, i have no metro on hand. doing a big water change, hopefully it will help matters.

hey all, my poor Chuck (paratilapia polleni, my big beautiful baby!) is sick noticed just now that the dorsal area was out of the water and Chuck was staying in one place. went to shoo him gently to get him all the way underwater and he couldn't swim properly - sideways, nose down, buoyant and all. he's now floating sideways! he was fine this morning as far as i could see. sounds like swim bladder to you too, eh? his tankmate is an oscar, who isn't bugging him at all. i can do a rubbermaid hospital tank if necessary, but if i could treat the tank he is in, with the oscar in there, that'd be much easier. i've dealt with swim bladder in smaller fish, but have never had to deal with it in a bigger fish like Chuck. what to do? help please!

just called Oxy Pro Edmonton (south side). they said that it all depends on 'what they're filling at the moment'. figure that means that if what they are filling when you get there is co2, then your bottle would get filled right away (5 to 10 minutes the lady said). if it's going to be longer than that, there is a tim hortons just up the block, lol. she did mention that if the bottle needed tested, it could be a 2 day process, and if the bottle fails you wouldn't get that bottle back. hope that helped! Oxy Pro, southside Edmonton number is 780-465-2108, if anyone needs it. press 1 for customer service/order desk.

the recipe is super easy. 1.5 packets of knox gelatin (unflavoured) - the original recipe calls for just one packet, but i found it didn't set as well and the extra half packet does the trick. 1 jar baby food - not the big jar, but the 'regular' size one (i use the butternut squash and my shellkids loved it) about 10 to 12 Tums, crushed to a fine powder (i used the tropical fruit flavoured ones). this is your calcium source. you can use more Tums if you want, it's difficult to overdose a snail on calcium, lol. crushed up fish food (about equal to the amount of crushed Tums) - optional, and your choice of food. just don't use frozen food as there is too much moisture and the snello won't set properly. my snails were spoiled and got crushed up NLS pellets in their snello, lol. first, crush the Tums and fish food and set aside. second, microwave the baby food in a bowl for about a minute on high. third, mix in the knox gelatin, ensuring there are no clumps and it is mixed in well fourth, stir in the crushed tums and fish food. spoon into an ice cube tray (for just a few snails, make each cube about 1/3 to 1/2 full, for more snails, make full cubes) fifth, put ice cube tray in freezer sixth, once cubes are set fully, pry them out (you'll need a spoon!) and plop them in a ziploc and put ziploc back in freezer. snello keeps a LONG time in the freezer. heck, i think i still have a few cubes left from a batch i made around february last year, lol, and they are still good. feed one cube (whatever size you made) per 3 or 4 snails every 3 days or so. i would just drop the frozen cubes right in the tank - snello-cicles! lol.

i have an albino rainbow shark, and they are supposed to have much the same 'personality' as red tails. mine is housed with some small danios, rainbows, a few barbs, and a couple plecos. one thing i've read and found in my tank is that the shark will chase fish that have a lot of red on them - the longfin rosy barbs and the black ruby barb in my tank make a dang game of it i swear, lol. i think your shark would be fine with the rasboras. red tail and rainbow sharks tend to pick a spot in the tank to call their own, and other than guarding that area, they are pretty peaceful in my experience.

hey Val, i'd be interested in one or two assassins if you are going to be selling any been doing some reading up on them and they are neat lil critters!

i recently had my male betta in a planted 55 with no issue at all. he loved all the space! and didn't have an issue whatsoever with the flow from the aquaclear 110 or the biowheel 350b (both move a lot of water). i actually felt kinda bad moving him to the 20 long, lol, but his fins were getting pretty abused by the bigger fish in the 55 (rainbows). toying with the idea of moving some danios over so he has some buddies to hang out with and chase, because the three L010a catfish in there are pretty much invisible to Thim the betta, lol. i think there is a big misconception with bettas not enjoying larger tanks. think about it, the bettas we find in stores are so far removed from the wild bettas that do live in the rice paddies and puddles, that they probably don't even know what their 'natural habitat' is supposed to be! i also had a few bettas back in my early fishkeeping days that i moved from 0.5, 1, and 2 gallon bowls into 10 gallon tanks for each of them, and those 10 gallons were pretty sparsely decorated. those three betta boys were extremely happy with their bigger homes.

easily done if you get the temperaments of the lady bettas matched up right. they can be just like the males sometimes, ready to kill anything that moves. that being said, i've kept a male betta in a community tank with no issue up until recently (he was starting to get picked on so he has a 20 long just about to himself now). best thing to do is start out with very young lady bettas, and have them grow up in the same tank together. lots of hiding spots, and enough room for everyone to have their own space. i wouldn't do anything less than a 20 long for 3 females, and as mentioned, a pair usually doesn't work out too well.

well duh, water buffalo belongs in water! :rofl:

bahahahaha!!!!!!! too funny!

wonderful photos! and such clarity in them! i need someone like you to come take photos of my finkids and my lil chinchilla buddy, lol!

you'll see them as often as that itty bitty betta, hahahaha!!!!

yeah man...... go see Jayba..... he's got the drugs....... :rofl:

i have trouble finding all three here in the 20 long that barely has any plants at all! lol. they blend in real good on the mopani, that's for sure.

i'm a heat junkie, so 30+ weather would be lovely! lol.

with your eheim canisters, you aren't going to get the water surface breaking up very much if the spray bars are at the bottom of the tank, even if they are directed upwards. if having the output directed straight up makes too much surface turbulence, then just angle them slightly towards the back tank wall. i think a fan blowing on the water surface should be sufficient, unless we get a crazy hot summer.

other than not bothering with a heater, i don't think you'll need to do anything special. be sure to post some photos once you've got this tank all planted up!