Anyone own fish? With all the dog and cat threads, I figured I would start a fish thread. My Mom somewhat recently bought some Betta fish (aka Siamese Fighting fish), one brilliant blue male and two smaller blue females. Without doing any research, studying their habits and aggression patterns, the Male ended up killing the two females on the first day when put together… and one of those was my favorite fish. Whenever you would walk up to the tank, she would swim up close to you as if she was greeting you. As a result, I started calling the male “OJ.” The male Bettas are extremely aggressive and territorial, and unless it's time to mate, they tend to fight and kill whatever other fish are around, especially if those are other males. Never knew that they would snipe the females unless it was time to get it on. After learning the hard way, my Mom bought another female Betta and separated her from the male, but after a couple of months, she developed “popeye” which could have been the result of running into one of the tank decorations or dirty, contaminated water, which couldn’t be the case as the tank was cleaned every couple of days. She died yesterday from complications of popeye, we’re guessing and the remedy medicine didn’t work. At any rate, does anyone own fish? It would be cool to hear some stories especially if someone knows about popeye and has a working remedy. I’ve seen several youtube videos, but it’s always nice to hear a first-hand account instead of someone who posts strictly for likes and popularity.
I owned a betta, poor thing was sad and lonely at Wally World in Hampton, Va. He was white but I fed him premium betta food and he turned red. He was an awesome little dude. I put him up in a condo aka 1 gallon tank with heater and aerator. Had him through summer and into the next fall I think, like a good 14-16 months. I don't recall if I have pics of him. Dude's name was Fishy, from Deuce Bigelow...
I've got a peach male in my daughters 5 gal in her nursery. We tell her he watches over her when she sleeps. Makes a great night light too. Also have a 55 gal bowfront and a 16 gal widescreen. We have a white female betta in the 16.
I used to have a 75 gallon fresh water tank. I mixed different cichlids. I had 2 beautiful black and orange Oscars but my Jack Dempsey killed one. Eventually it just became too much work so I gave it all to my sister. A short lived hobby. Always wanted to try a salt water but too much $ and even more work than a fresh water. Plus I heard they make your house stink.
When I was a kid, we would always get goldfish at swim meets. They often wouldn’t last long, due to us not properly taking of care them. No proper tanks or clean water... But there was one who survived, we named him George. He grew to be huge. My Grandparents had a fish tank(they took care of their fish), so we put him in there. Eventually it got to a point where he was eating the guppies in there. So eventually we gave him away to a pet store, not sure what became of him after that... But that’s the best fish story I’ve got.
I like mine plate size, poached with ginger. Or on a bbq with a splash of lemon & spicy stuffing in the cavity.
@Sylent When I was a kid I was good friends with this Vietnamese kid and one day I came over to play Nintendo and I'll never forget this but he showed me his Older Brothers room and I shit you not he had about 25+ Betta's all in those little "Ball bowls" on a wall. My friend told me his brothers friends would buy/steal Betta's from the pet shop and fight them either for money or of owning the losers fish. Obviously he won alot and all those Betta's were the losers lol. His room literally reminded me of a Carnival Fair where you can win a fish if you get ball into the cup.
Wow... Poor fish. I was doing research on Bettas and saw a YT clip where someone did that- they put two males together in a small bowl and let them fight to the death; they killed each other. There should be a law against that. I almost never give a thumbs down to videos, but that one deserved it. I went to Petco and PetSmart over the weekend and the way they sell Bettas is to separate them each in their own container. None of them can be together, especially the males, otherwise they'll fight and kill each other.
You can have female bettas together in a sorority tank. The trick is to have lots of cover to breakup lines of sight. Plus always have an odd number of them like 5 or 7 and so on depending on tank size. This way it stops team ups of 2 on 2 and so on. When first put in the tank the females will have spars with each other to establish a pecking order of boss and 2nd and 3rd and so on. A sorority tank is alot of work though and only recommended if you have a plan B for certain fish (some just want to fight all the time) But if done right the tank is fine aside from an occasional nip to test the current pecking order. Its also best to get females young and from the same spawn (sisters tend to fight each other less.) Also when you put them in put them in tank at same time or the first ones will look at the other bettas as intruders on their territory
I've actually seen them fight before and most of the time one just gives up and doesn't wanna fight anymore and it'll get taken out but yes if left in say overnight,1 will eventually be dead by the next day. Also I believe they have a new species of Betta's called the Butterfly or Dragon Betta where their fins are much longer and more beautiful than your Common Male Betta's. Common Dragon
Great! I was actually going to start a thread to ask about a problem I am having with my fish. I have a blue and red beta named Magnus. I've had him 1.5 years+ with no issues. About a month ago after a full tank change, his tank started to get yellow/brown powder stuff on the inside of the glass. I threw out everything in the tank, now it's just him and gravel and the powder stuff is getting worse and taking over the whole glass on all sides. Anyone know anything about this?! This was before the powder issue.
Is the tank in an area it receives direct sunlight? Get a magnafloat and scrub it off the glass, your filter will break it down and hold it in its media (Sponge whatever your running)
It's not in direct sunlight. It's in the kitchen with no windows. No windows because it's a townhouse, so the middle room has no windows. The back and front rooms do have windows, but they shouldn't be able to reach the fishtank... maybe becaue it's winter and the leaves are gone, so there is more sun? Will the magna float prevent it from coming back?
The float won't prevent it from coming back, it just cleans it. Do you have the tank light on often? How many hours a day? To slow the rate you can stock things that eat algae and waste build up. Things like.... Cory Cats Otto Cats Snails Siamese Algae Eaters Various Shrimps Pleco (Depending on tank size) To name a few
We had a snail that died and killed our last beta. And we turned the light off perm a few months ago. I'll see if petsmart has the other things
Since you seem very knowledgeable about fish, tanks and things, I was wondering if the tank filters are actually doing anything for water quality. To me, it looks like they're just siphoning energy... or maybe my Mom got a cheap one that doesn't do anything. Over the weekend, I decided to get another Betta. PetCo had a section of assorted Bettas all in their own little containers with labels. It was kind of sad to see some of the fish just apathetically sitting there waiting for the inevitable. One red Female caught my eye as she swam to the top like she was greeting me, just like one of my other fish that died. I ended up getting her and we named her Ruby (as in the old Hot Wheels car, Ruby-Red Passion). I took her home, liberated her from her confined prison and now she has her own large tank to herself. I forgot to take a photo of Ruby in her new home. I'll do that over the weekend.
