Life's Betta With A Fish

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,931
Location
Colorado US
The plants are gorgeous, and Silas seems to like them :)

I apologise, I don't recall if you mentioned, is he a crowntail? If so, his fins are supposed to look like that, I believe.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #142

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
I think the metal things are weights and are supposed to stay on so the plants don't float.

Ooh, 40b is a nice size! Lots of fun. What do you have for a stand? For a top, you can get plexiglass at a hardware store, and most places will custom cut it for a fee.
I will go to home depot and ask for plexiglass. Thank you! I didn't even think to check there.

For the stand, it's just an old metal frame with a piece of wood screwed onto it. I don't know where it came from.

The plants are gorgeous, and Silas seems to like them :)

I apologise, I don't recall if you mentioned, is he a crowntail? If so, his fins are supposed to look like that, I believe.
He is crowntail but there is additional ripping on his fins. Not the natural occurring spaces you see.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #144

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
He does like them! He's been checking them out for the past hour now and swimming through them.

I'm going to give it about a month to settle while I start preparing the 40BR. I need to finish cleaning the Penguin BIO-Wheel 330 filter. Unfortunately, it's an old model so I can't find the appropriate filter cartridge for it. I might have to just run it with seachem matrix or another one of those filter stones. I'm wondering if I can make a filter cartridge for it for bio-filtration.Will have to do more research.
 

glittercat

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
918
Purraise
1,260
Am I right in thinking that 40gallons is about 150ltr? Or have I misunderstood your tank size? :)

Well really pleased, today I have bought a second hand 190ltr tank and cabinet, including lights and filters etc. Whooop!!! The people I bought it from were really nice and are being kind enough to deliver it next weekend. I hope! But I know where they live lol.

It's in perfect condition and will replace my two current tanks (all my fish are community so should be fine in together). Sadly no bettas for me though as I have barbs and you can't keep them with long - finned fish.

20200125_191343.jpg
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #147

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
Am I right in thinking that 40gallons is about 150ltr? Or have I misunderstood your tank size? :)

Well really pleased, today I have bought a second hand 190ltr tank and cabinet, including lights and filters etc. Whooop!!! The people I bought it from were really nice and are being kind enough to deliver it next weekend. I hope! But I know where they live lol.

It's in perfect condition and will replace my two current tanks (all my fish are community so should be fine in together). Sadly no bettas for me though as I have barbs and you can't keep them with long - finned fish.

View attachment 319366
That's amazing! I'm glad you got such a good deal - it's a beautiful set up!! Yes, 40 gallons is approximately 150 litres of water. 190 litres is roughly 50 gallons if I'm not mistaken. PLEASE post pictures of your community tank!

I know this thread started as a betta thread but really any and all aquatic life is welcome here. I probably won't only keep betta fish either. I'm thinking about stocking some goldfish eventually. But I can only focus on one project at a time so I need to get my betta community tank set up first.

With this hobby, I always seem to end up with way more tanks than I started with. First I only had one, and now I have three (might get more, who knows).
 

glittercat

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
918
Purraise
1,260
I had a whole reply typed and it disappeared :(

Yup, this is definitely an addictive hobby. I have two running tanks plus another 60ltr that's not in use at the moment. :)

I wandered onto Gumtree fairly idly today for a look and was really pleased when the lady said the setup was still available once I'd seen the advert. (They were let down last week by 3 people who either didn't turn up or tried to get them to accept much less than the advert price - which is a great for what is included!). It was meant to be!

So pics :

Biorb is 60ltr. Fish seem happy but meh. Difficult to keep clean, small surface area for oxygenation.

80ltr is a Superfish Aqua Home 80. I like it a lot better since I took the inbuilt filter housing out, as I had fish get stuck in it and strand on top of it and die :/ it's also white so stands out nicely against my two dark grey walls. Second pic shows an earlier setup with the filter box still in place (and a cleaner ornament lol).

:)

20200125_213842-768x841.jpg

20200125_215312-768x1024.jpg

20181111_171054.jpg
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #149

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
Love your set ups glittercat glittercat ! Looks like a lot of time, effort, and money went into your aquascapes.

What are you stocking? I think I see some tetras and you mentioned the tiger barbs... and are those orange barbs? Do you have any ghost shrimp or snails? And those are live plants, right?
 

glittercat

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
918
Purraise
1,260
Love your set ups glittercat glittercat ! Looks like a lot of time, effort, and money went into your aquascapes.

What are you stocking? I think I see some tetras and you mentioned the tiger barbs... and are those orange barbs? Do you have any ghost shrimp or snails? And those are live plants, right?
That's probably the best thing, fiddling with layouts :)

In the 80ltr tank I have 3 black Ruby barbs and 4 neon rosy barbs. Rosy barbs are yellow-silver-gold colours. My original school of the rosy barbs was 9 but they've been with me for well over a year, so natural attrition I guess.

I did have 4 black Ruby's but one has vanished in the past few days so I suspect it has passed. I've just changed the water and no sign of it. The males go very dark with distinct red colours and they all have silver spots. My local fish shop has an enormous tank set up which includes a big school and they're stunning.

The 60ltr has harlequin rasboras and dwarf neon rainbow fish. Harlequins are really pretty, they show lovely pink/peach/copper colours, very peaceful fish. The rainbows are lovely shimmery blue.
 

glittercat

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
918
Purraise
1,260
I've just found some videos of my original set up and actually much, much prefer it to what I've got now!! I can feel money draining out of my savings as I type. :D

I started with 6 black phantom tetras and added some really unusual and gorgeous male guppies.

I also got a surprise when my phantoms had a lil baby!!! In the last pic you can see the adult phantom, and the baby is on the right just under the lip of the plant pot :)

VideoCapture_20200126-174148.jpg

VideoCapture_20200126-174228.jpg

VideoCapture_20200126-174455.jpg
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #152

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
The scarlet temple isn't doing well and is just about dead now. I tried researching but there is a lot of conflicting information. Some say it needs iron and Co2 but others say it's a hardy plant that needs nothing at all.
15800668396371419658937373381313.jpg


The hornwort and the other one seem to be doing okay. The hornwort has actually grown so much I've had to cut it several times already. On the other one, its stretching towards the light and some of the leaves are dying.
15800669626118114641532910699527.jpg


I don't know what to do. I'm very disappointed.
 

glittercat

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
918
Purraise
1,260
Aw that's a shame :(. Nice tank though, it'll be great to see it all grown in!

My first setups had only live plants and it seemed to be really hit and miss as to how they did. Some of them died quickly and actually some are still going now although I can't for the life of me think what they are. Probably something like anubias though I can't remember what types.

Have you a local fish shop you can talk to? I don't mean like a Pets at Home, but rather a specialist shop. The people in my local one are all fish keepers themselves and are usually great for advice. Well most of them anyway.

Having said that, my local Pets at home used to have an amazing fish guy who knew his stuff inside out and had endless patience with customers. (he kept discus as a hobby). Sadly for us he got a better job!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #154

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
I probably should have went to Big Al's... I got these at PetSmart and although the guy on the floor was kind, he didn't seem to know much about the plants I bought. I asked him if they need any special care and he told me to just plop them in water when I get home.

Upon further research, that isn't entirely true. The little metal tabs on the bottom should be removed and the plants separated and cut if needed. A lot of people on different fish forums said that their plants died/rotted away when they left them bunched together.

They also need fertilizer sometimes.

Most people at Big Al's seem to have aquariums of their own and at least know a thing or two about the hobby... at least more than those at PetSmart.
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,931
Location
Colorado US
Oh that's fabulous!! That is a bubble nest, which male Bettas create for protecting the eggs.

Experts suggest that when your Betta is happy and content, they'll make bubble nests. If they don't, that doesn't mean they are UNhappy, but a bubble nest is a sure sign that you're on the right track with correct parameters :thumbsup:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #159

Graceful-Lily

Extraterrestrial Being
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
May 30, 2016
Messages
3,483
Purraise
3,050
Location
Floating Untethered In The Stratosphere
The seeds I planted are finally starting to germinate. I gave up and filled the tank, added the heater and filter. Reason being, the weren't doing well without heat. And someone in the reviews said theirs did better with a heater. It's cold here so I figured I'd try it. OUH BOY! It's like they're growing by the hour.
Webp.net-resizeimage.jpg

Webp.net-resizeimage-1.jpg


These pictures are from earlier but they've opened up a lot more.
I also found the cartridge I needed for the old filter at Big Al's. I bought that, Seachem Flourish, Matrix, and some 6500k bulbs for the plants.

Next order of business is looking about building a cover for the tank.

Silas isn't happy though. I want to add him to the 40BR but it has no cover and I'm afraid he'll jump out. I'm also not sure if he'll try to eat the seeds that haven't fully popped yet.
 
Top