MattsBettas

Amazon.ca (or .com if you can get them shipped) always has affordable heaters, but sometimes the price fluctuates. I tend to go for the aquatop brand, which are inexpensive but have consistently worked well for me. I've also got a Hydor Theo when there was a really good deal on it, and it's an excellent heater too.

Bamboo shrimp? http://www.planetinverts.com/Bamboo_Shrimp.html , google "bamboo shrimp" for more images that show the stripe.

The fish pictured is either a delta, super delta, or halfmoon, he isn't flaring so I can't tell for sure but judging by the rays and fin structure he's one of those three. All three are similar, just different spreads. I'll PM you and see if I can point you in the right direction.

That happened with my very first spawn, and it scared me- came so far to have all the eggs die! Because the eggs were successfully fertilized, though, a good number of them made it. They may die, they may live... Leave them be for now, though.

I got three scarlet endlers, a pair of betta ocellata, seven or so Daisy's Ricefish, five assassin snails, Shinnersia rivularis 'Weiss-Grun', two sponge filters, and two one gallon tanks. Wanted the Zoogoneticus tequila but it wasn't happening, I got the name of the guy who bought the group though so it's all good. I would like to thank the sellers, ACE and everybody who helped put it on, this won't be my last auction!

Tomorrow will be my first auction, anything in particular that I should know, bring (besides cash), etc? Are there usually live food cultures available?

I like my snails too. I find it funny how determined some people are to completely rid all the snails from all their tanks, when they can actually be nice inhabitants when you stop looking at them as pests. My favorite snails are ramshorns, MTS, and assassin. Ramshorns make a good clean up crew and do a fairly good job removing algae, and they come in a bunch of forms- you can get blue, pink, yellow (haven't seen much info on the yellows... They popped up in one of my tanks a while ago and I worked the line), etc, and they look quite a bit nicer then the typical brown shelled plant hitchhiker. MTS are decorative in their own way too, and make good sand sifters/soil pokers. And assassins because they look cool and take care of any surplus from the above species haha.

If it's acting normally and eating, I don't think you need to rush to euthanize it. If I was in your position I would at least wait for some definitive signs of suffering before putting it down. I've seen this happen in bettas that are kept in groups (really not the best decision one can make if you want to keep your fish alive), they seem to have a thing for going for the area around the anus and ovipositor. Typically the fish dies shortly after but I have heard of them surviving. The best methods of euthanasia that are readily available are clove oil, ice-shock (NOT freezing, freezing is slow and inhumane), and physically destroying the nervous system (garbage disposal unit, there's evidence that the fish can remain conscious for minutes after the head is separated from the body and pithing is really only humane and effective if you know you can hit the right spot).

You can throw a piece of lettuce in (with a weight) in the evening and see if they'll collect on it, then yank it out the next morning. Assasin snails are awesome too, but can get expensive if you buy from petstores.

Some bettas can be kept with shrimp, especially the slow ones with long, heavy fins. I wouldn't get your hopes up for starting a good colony though, if they can catch them and they fit an their mouth they'll eat them. Housing a group of female bettas with a male is really not really a great idea, to be honest... Bettas are very aggressive to their own kind, and the chances are fairly high that injuries, stress, disease, and death will result (on both sides-females can be just as aggressive as males, especially in a group setting where they can "team up"). The only time I've ever seen males be kept with females successfully is what all were bought as babies, and even then there are still people who have had females just turn on the male out of the blue and kill him. If you want to keep bettas you're better off keeping a group of females (aka betta sorority), which should have at least five or six fish to spread aggression, or a single male. Anyways, yea, most of the above posters have covered that if big fish eat smaller fish (and shrimp).

Yea I've had one for close to a year now. She hasn't cloned yet, unfortunately. I don't think I am keeping the water warm enough to get her to berry, but it's not exactly a bad thing to not have dozens of tiny crayfish haha. They are very easy to care for in my experience. Mine mainly gets fed omega one algae wafers, but also plant trimmings, worms, etc- they aren't picky at all. Water is plain old hard Edmonton tap water, and the tank is bare bottom (I think I'm goi to throw in some gravel soon for her to dig around in) with a piece of PVC as a hide.

Thanks for posting this. I'll probably be taking advantage of Big Als boxing week sales. Aquarium Central in Edmonton is also having a pretty good year end sale. http://www.aquariumcentral.ca

What will you be selling?

The vast majority of cichlids, big fish (with a few exceptions), big tanks, culling (killing, in this context), oh, and most fish that don't mind hard Edmonton water, of course...

Sounds good to me. Is there any type of algae in particular you want to get rid of?

I'll admit I jumped to the last page after reading the first two, but wow, your tanks look great. I love the "jungle" look your 65g has now.

I tried using that heater... Half the time it didn't work and the other half it overheated.

This is how I hatch mine- http://www.ventralfins.com/diy_bbs_hatcher.html . A bit labour intensive at first, but it's easy to use and works. I haven't figured out a way to keep mine as warm as I would like yet, but I have heard or wrapping it in bubble wrap, putting a lamp with an incandescent bulb above it, etc. A mini heater could work too, if you can find a reliable one.

Thank you! I'll post more pics of the fry later...

Thanks for the welcome and link. Here's some pictures of a few of my fish.

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum but not that new to fishkeeping. I keep and breed domestic betta splendens, mainly HMPK. I have two spawns on the go right now and have more planned for the near future. I might try to sell a few on here in a couple of months, if I don't have to ship during winter I'll try not to. I am also interested in wild bettas, so if anyone in Alberta keeps them let me know. Bettas are the only thing I'm keeping right now, but I'm interested in some of the "micro" fish like endlers (females are so hard to find in petstores and I don't know of any local breeders, but that might change now!), least killifish, galaxy raspbora, emerald raspbora, etc. I also love planted tanks and think that the more plants, the better. One of my long term goals is to have all of my tanks in the "natural planted" style, using soil with a cap as substrate and trying to mimic the fishes natural environment as best I can. I'm excited to be a part of the forum and community - Matt