Yeah its always sad seeing them in the cups bored sensless. Bettas are actually very intelligent and can even be taught tricks like pushing a floating object around etc. On the subject of filters the media (sponge, mesh etc) is what catches the free floating debris inside the filter every couple months or so get a replacement one for your filter. You can clean old ones off but use tank water only in a bucket or whatever because the filter has good bacteria for your tank. Filters also keep the water moving and cause air/water oxygen exchange (makes the water better for them since fish need oxygen in the water to survive)
So we had this one algae eater who lived a whopping 10 or 12 years. I'm not kidding -- either my mom had to be diligent in replacing the fat little guy, or he was indestructible. Well, to anything but old age. Felt proud for the little guy, even named him Darwin (both after Charles, and the brother of gumball).
Congrats on the beta! If you want to entertain your beta, you can put a post it on the glass of the tank. Mine likes to fight the post it. I read it was good for them to get this kind of energy out. I tried a mirror and it didn't do anything.
We haven't purchased any tank decorations yet, so the bottom is a blank, mirrored surface. She thinks that there's another fish down there, so she's constantly trying to get at her reflection. She seems kind of aggressive for a female as when she's trying to get to her reflection, her gills puff up for a confrontation. There's a heater and a filter in the tank with a small space in between both and she's always trying to squeeze between the two. Not sure if she's cold or trying to hide. We also have an aggressive male in another adjacent tank that's always trying to get to the female. Before the previous fish passed, the male displayed the typical mating rituals; putting bubbles on the top to house eggs. The sales lady at PetCo has Bettas, is extremely knowledgeable and told me that the flake food is what causes the tank to become dirty and filmy quicker. She said that the pellets are better. She also said that they should be fed every other day and that overfeeding can cause popeye. Some sources on the net say they should be fed twice a day.
I use pellets only with bettas. 3 pellets every second day. I also have a mystery snail with the male betta to clean up whatever food he misses. Snail on bottom left
I did full a water change on my tank and 1 hour later Magnus was dead . I put up my tank for free on FB marketplace and it's already been picked up. Poor little guy, I should have just left him in his nasty tank.
Sad that fish die so easily. My daughter was so upset. Every time we went to the store she would say "bye Mags, be home soon" and when we came back "Mags, we're home!" (I always called him Mags for short)
That's the one thing I always hated about owning fish/an aquarium. When it's time clean the gravel,filter and swap out the water,the water may be off and harm the fish. It's been awhile since I owned fish but iirc aren't you suppose to leave a little bit of tge old water bc of the "Good bacteria" or was that for turtles? I dunno,I forgot. Sorry to hear about Magus though. I'm sure he lived a good life.
Yes, I totally forgot to leave some of his old water. I usually do. It was completely my fault. When I was a kid, I had a goldfish who lived to be over 5. Every weekend I cleaned his bowl FULLY. Not just a little, so I was so worried about the yellow/brown stuff on the glass I poured all the water out and forgot I needed to keep some. I just spent $30 in new gravel, plants, and a castle for him too this morning in preparation for his tank cleaning.
Aww poor baby . For the future an easy IMHO low maintenance pet is a Turtle or Tortoise. For turtles you don't have to worry about water conditioning as I gave my God son a Baby Stinkpot Turtle name Tokka and it's been alive for the past 3 years and has grown since. As for Tortoise my Leopard Tortoise is almost 10 years old and is hibernating as we speak. Truly an awesome and easy pet to care for . Only thing that sucks about those animals is that you can't buy them as babies @ your pet store as I believe it's illegal and I think they past a law back in the 80's on selling Baby turtles/tortoise. EDiT: @ILoveDinobot Here's an old pic of my Leopard Tortoise "Tokka Sr." Which is Hibernating @ the moment. And I wish I had a pic of the Stinkpot I gave my Godson but here are my 2 Terrapin Diamondbacks I recently gave to my other friends kids. *Back to talking bout Fish! Lol
Yes always change 50% tops for water changes usually go 20 or 30% Leave water out for 24 hours to let the chlorine dissapate or it'll kill your fish. Leave new water near tank in a bucket to help keep water temps close so it doesn't shock kill the fish. Sorry about mags
Sorry to hear that. I recently learned from the Petco rep. that you should change up to 25%. A full change is a shock to the fish's system, especially if you don't let the water sit for several hours first. My Mom was doing 100% water changes every few days because the tank always became cloudy so quickly and it's probably rough on the poor fish. It's probably equivalent to us going from room temperature to the frigidness of a walk-in freezer... with no clothes on... and staying there.
Been keeping fish for over a decade now. Oldest fish I have is my rapheal cat which I bought in 2009 and he was already full grown so its entirely possible it could be up to 20 years old. Got 3 tanks currently: a 55, a 20 high and a 20 long. Used to have a saltwater tank but I got out of that after about a year. 55 gallon: 1 tire track eel 1 raphael catfish 1 pictus catfish 1 clown loach 3 giant danios 1 sun catfish 1 common pleco 20 high, planted tank 1 rainbow shark 1 clown loach 4 gold barbs + 1 baby they recently had 1 otoclinus A bunch of shrimp A bunch of snails that the clown loach sometimes eats 20 long 1 Salvinus cichlid Planning of eventually returning the salvinus to my LFS since the bastard is always hiding behind a rock and only comes out to eat. That tank might as well be empty. More pics attached below.
Here are Blue, the male Betta and Ruby, the female Betta. I would have taken better pics, but the 49ers ruined my day... and Ruby wouldn't keep still.
A fish keeper's worst nightmare: As if I didnt have enough reason to drink already, late last night my 55 gallon tank sprung a leak. Fortunately, I quickly found the source of the leak and drained it to the current level (the magnetic glass cleaner is right below it), preventing further water damage to the stand below it. Most of the occupants of the tank are bottom feeders anyway, so they dont seem to be too bothered but I did have to move the three giant danios to another tank. The water line is below the intake pipe to both of my canister filters, so I'm going to have to move an internal filter from another tank to this one later.
