So...a student brought me a class pet...

[RedHotTeacher]

I now have a Beta Fish...yes, I know that they are supposedly easy to care for - but, every website I look at now says differently.

Anyone good with little fishies?

I want to do my best to care for little Ike.

He came with some food, drops for water and an Ikea "office" fishtank.

[Matt The Bagel]

Here is a great website:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/betta-gourami-discussion/
Make sure you don't have the tank in direct sunlight or alge will bloom.
Don't overfeed him.
Make sure the water is changed and tested. You can bring a sample of water to petsmart or petco and they will test it for free.
Make sure your kids dont tap the tank. It will freak him out.

[LagunaBlue]

:withstupid: All very good advice. The other thing to add is that no matter how hard you try, fish sometimes just die. Dont take it personally. I have some that have been with me for years and others that dont last 6 months.

[OyATL]

I had two of those before. Aren't they the same as Japanese Fighting Fish? Anyway, they are very territorial and you don't want to put two together. I did and ended up with just one left. :D

[1QUICK1]

Aren't they the same as Japanese Fighting Fish? Yuh it is! If you put a mirror up to the bowl he'll flair up like he about to attack. I had one once and he actually survived the trip from Atlanta to Chicago.

[afwfjustin]

I have experience with fish, I guess you could say. I have kept African cichlids (pronounced sick-lid) for about 4 years now, 2 of those years I was dedicatedly breeding and selling the fry. I had 3 main tanks and 5 fry tanks (fry is the word for baby fish). I now aren't as serious as I used to be but I still keep a 135 gallon, a 55 gallon, and a 20 gallon high South American planted tank.

Here is a link to my 135 gallon, of which won tank of the month in April 2004 on cichlid-forum, the largest cichlid forum in the world:

Well, it appears the site is down right now so I cannot link to it, but here's a picture of my 135 gallon anyway. It is 6 feet long, 2 feet high, and 18 inches deep. Most of the fish seen here are 3-7 inches long.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1098/fulltank13506wr3.jpg

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/2167/135g62qa5.jpg

With those shared, on to the beta care!

The main reason fish "unexpectedly die" is because of water conditions. Fish go to the bathroom like we do, and this directly creates ammonia. Ammonia, of course, is extremely toxic. Extremely. This is the number one reason why fish die when people start an aquarium. They fill up a new tank, add the water drops (which removes chlorine, also toxic), and throw in WAY too many fish. There are tons of ways to correctly stock and cycle a tank, and if anyone is interested feel free to ask. However, those mass amount of fish produce waste which turns into ammonia and there is no way to get the ammonia out so they start to die.

The way to get ammonia out, is through nitrifying bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria are already in the tank. They're everywhere, but they cannot handle the load of ammonia in a fresh tank. They have to slowly build up their numbers. Once they build up a nitrifying bacteria colony, they eat the ammonia and turn it into nitrite. Nitrite is also toxic, but less toxic than ammonia. If you start up a tank and some fish die within 2 days, this is due to ammonia. If some more die later on that week, it's due to nitrite.

The only way to get nitrite out of the tank is --- you guessed it (maybe not) de-nitrifying bacteria. These also require time to fully grow to colony size. Once they start eating the nitrite, they then turn the by-product into nitrate, which is almost completely harmless. Nitrate only has effects in mass amounts (when you don't do a water change for 6 months) and can be taken out via 25% water changes every week or other week, depending on the fish load in the tank.

Oh, duh, I forgot... the beta. Betas are interesting creatures. They have an organ in their body that allows them to pull oxygen out of the water even if the water is stagnant. Tropical (warm water fish) and marine fish all require movement in the water because it stirs up oxygen, but betas and goldfish have these organs when allow them to get oxygen from the air above their tank. If you took a beta out and sat it on the counter for 20 minutes, it'd start to dry up and look dead. But wait! Throw it back in the water and there's a good chance it'll "come back to life" because the organ allows them to still breath. Pretty nuts, huh?

I recommend NOT OVERFEEDING. Extra food uneaten turns into... ammonia. A fish who eats too much "goes to the bathroom" too much also which turns into... ammonia. Ammonia in a new tank is very deadly so keep the food down very low. Betas are sold as adults and adult fish don't need to eat very much, I'd feed maybe 3 pellets in the morning and 3 pellets before you go home, and no more. Every week, remove 25% of the water and replace it with fresh water in another container, where you add the chlorine drops. If chlorine gets in the tank and the water hasn't been treated... the fish could die.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask anytime! I was a moderator on another huge cichlid board (it focused mainly on South American fish but I was the resident African expert) for 2 years or so before I quit and didn't take the hobby as seriously as I was.

Justin

[HartS2K]

I learn something new everyday

[OyATL]

Okay Justin. How do I get my hands on some pirahanas? :D

[afwfjustin]

I can get you piranha if you want, although they're much more tame than you think. You need a 6 foot tank minimum, and a colony of at least 7 or 8. If you have too few, they just sit there hiding. I talked to someone who bought one piranah and it ran away from her hand in the tank and just hid behind a rock all day. They need to be in a colony with a distinct pecking order. You need an alpha male, maybe one or two lesser males, and then a bunch of females. You're going to spend around 3K to properly set it up :)

[dvergar]

It's be a whole lot cheaper just to take a trip to Brazil and see them in the wild! HAHA

Oh, and I will vote for Justin to be the club icthiologist!

[LagunaBlue]

Okay Justin. How do I get my hands on some pirahanas? :D
Go get Cichlids...they are a first cousin of the pirahana and just as fun to watch eat.

Justin....:goodjob: for the tank, we also have a large cichlid tank. Nice pic of the electric blue!

[afwfjustin]

Piranha are characins if I'm not mistaken, I'm not sure about the relative thing but I'll take your word for it since I'm stepping out of the boundaries of my expertise! The electric blue is the common name given to many fish, which gets confusing. Originally it was given to the Sciaenochromis fryeri, but the fish pictured is a peacock (aulonocara genus). It's scientific name is Aulonocara stuartgranti "Ngara Flametail"

I'm actually about to order a huge fish order from a buddy of mine who sells fish online REALLY cheap. That peacock would go for 60-70 dollars in a typical fish store, but the guy I get fish from only charges me 6-10 dollars for fully grown fish. I'm trying to decide what to get now. A colony of Frontosa would be nice but I'd be mixing Tanganyikan fish in with my Malawi. (fully grown 14 inch frontosa are well over 150 dollars at a store, and 3 inchers are usually 50 or 60 bucks. I can get F1 Mpimbwe fry at 2-3 inches for 6 bucks apiece!)

[afwfjustin]

http://www.duboisi.com/articles/images/Mpimbwe02.jpg

These are the Cyphotilapia frontosa "Mpimbwe". I'm thinking of getting a colony of 8 or so.

[afwfjustin]

Go get Cichlids...they are a first cousin of the pirahana and just as fun to watch eat.

Justin....:goodjob: for the tank, we also have a large cichlid tank. Nice pic of the electric blue!

Oh and also, what types of fish do you have? I'm guessing they're South American? Gotta watch for hole in the head disease with those :(

[LagunaBlue]

Sounds like quite a bargain. Our cichlid tank is at capacity and has been stable for about 1.5 years now, so we arent touching that one. My current challenge is my saltwater tank (150g).

[dvergar]

All I can think of when I see that picture is, "coffee makes me nervous when I drink it, mmm hmmm."

[afwfjustin]

Sounds like quite a bargain. Our cichlid tank is at capacity and has been stable for about 1.5 years now, so we arent touching that one. My current challenge is my saltwater tank (150g).

Very nice! My girlfriend and I are going to set up a 20 gallon nano-reef with seahorses once we get settled and moved in together. She's dreamed of having seahorses for years now and I promised her I'd get her a tank one day.

[RedHotTeacher]

Wow...thanks so much Justin. I appreciate your help...and I'll be sure to let you know if I have questions :)

Thanks!

[LagunaBlue]

Here's the answer to your inventory question.

RedHotTeacher...sorry, I guess we comandeered your thread!

-Freshwater moray eel, 14"
-Pleco, 12"
-African lace catfish, 11"
-Bumblebee, 9" (yes, 9")
-Blue Johani, 4"
-Albino socolophi (sp?), 5"
-Electric Blue Ahli, 5"
-Yellow lab (labidochromis or something like that), 4"
-one light blue stiped, cant remember, 4"
-on gray with yellow tail, cant remember, 5"

[afwfjustin]

-Freshwater moray eel, 14"
-Pleco, 12"
-African lace catfish, 11"
-Bumblebee, 9" (yes, 9")
-Blue Johani, 4"
-Albino socolophi (sp?), 5"
-Electric Blue Ahli, 5"
-Yellow lab (labidochromis or something like that), 4"
-one light blue stiped, cant remember, 4"
-on gray with yellow tail, cant remember, 5"

Bumblebees are MEAN!!!! I bet that thing is one nasty mofo! The scientific name is Maylandia crabro.

The Johanni is the Melanochromis johanni. Another MEAN FISH! I completely stayed away from the melanochromis genus because of the extreme aggression. I commend you!

The socolofi is a standard Pseudotropheus breed, nice fish.

The ahli is another common name given to the Electric blue hap - the Sciaenochromis fryeri. I bet that thing has some intense color. Do you know which location variant yours is? I always liked the "iceburg" fryeri.


You're correct on the yellow lab... it's labidochromis caeruleus. These are some of the most friendly natured fish you can buy, hands down. They have a great diet too, they're an mbuna (as opposed to a haplochromine) but have a more higher fat/protein diet like a hap. Cool fish, I used to have a breeding trio.

As for the gray/yellow tail, is it an mbuna or hap? I'm thinking if it's an mbuna it might be the Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" or if it's a hap it sounds like the Copadichromis borleyi. Check out those two types in yahoo images and see if they look like your fish. The borleyi might be confusing though, as they completely change color (the males) when they mature. That huge fish in my tank is a male borleyi.

Oh, cichlid-forum is up, here's a link to my tank:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/index.php?mode=tank&tank=1413

[RedHotTeacher]

(I can't believe it - I even put it in a "On-Topic" Thread...it's ok moderators...you can keep the other stuff :) )

[Matt The Bagel]

I have a 75g AC tank. I have one speical fish under pics in my myspace page. I have a guy names Chris who does all of the work for me. I just feed them every other day. I have had fish since I was a little kid and think they are the best pet. Next house I want a 300+G AC tank.

[afwfjustin]

^Damn, I didn't know Aquaclear made a 3000 gallon tank. It'd probably be cheaper to just to custom acrylic at that point.

[Aaron]

(I can't believe it - I even put it in a "On-Topic" Thread...it's ok moderators...you can keep the other stuff :) )if i stretch my bellybutton out at both sides it kinda looks like a fish

[HartS2K]

3000 or 300?

[afwfjustin]

ha, I thought I read 3000. I'm a dumbass.

[Matt The Bagel]

AC=African cichlid
I use an Eheim canister.

[afwfjustin]

I have an eheim canister sitting in my mom's attic :) I have a Rena Filstar XP3 on my 135 gallon, along with an Aquaclear 500,300 and penguin 330.

[RedHotTeacher]

I have an eheim canister sitting in my mom's attic :) I have a Rena Filstar XP3 on my 135 gallon, along with an Aquaclear 500,300 and penguin 330.

I have an Ikea "Office" aquarium...very fancy...

[LITTLEELVISDAN]

I have had a beta fish for the last 2 years and only change the water when it gets too thick to see the fish. The food barely sinks. :-) But he is still alive. They are very hearty fish. If you kill it you are really trying to kill it. Feed it, watch it and forget aobut it. After a while you realize that these things actually live in the wild with no water treatment chemicals to make their water sparkling clean. We stopped using the water tablets that treat the water. It grew algae to quick. Just geta bottle of distilled water from the grocery store. It is cheaper and last longer.

[afwfjustin]

^well, the muddy swamps they live in don't have chlorine either :) The drops are to remove the heavy minerals and chemicals from our tap water.

You have to remember though, that these betas are different from WC (wild caught) ones. These were bred in captivity, with much better water conditions. Leaving a fish in dirty water might be fine for one case, and eventually the nitrates build up and they might have respiratory problems from long term exposure. It's the cases where "i did this and they were fine" that attract other people to start "cutting slack" here and there and this is when big problems happen.

Yes, I realize we're talking about a 5 dollar fish here but my experience comes from giving advice to people all over the world on setting up multi-thousand dollar tanks. The same rules apply, it just takes experience to know where you can cut slack and where you can't :)