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    We decided to spruce things up and fix some things under the hood. If you notice any issues, feel free to contact us as we're sure there are a few things here or there that we might have missed in our upgrade.

Freshwater tanks

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
*sigh* you guys are making me miss my fish lol, hubby's going to kill me if I start spending tons on fish again....
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
I have a 90 gal saltwater now looking to up grade to a 180 -220 soon also into leopard tortoises have a couple of them

That is awelsome. I don't think I can do saltwater tanks ever, just sounds like too much work and money! I love saltwater fish, they are so much more colorful! Those tortoises are way cute.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
*sigh* you guys are making me miss my fish lol, hubby's going to kill me if I start spending tons on fish again....

Doesn't take much for the costs to add up, especially when you start over. I wait for those $1 a gal sales...I think 50 or 55 is the largest you can buy at that price.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
Wow they are itty bitty little things. So they like to live in shells? That would be really cool to have shelled filled tank with these guys. Can they live in a community tank? What is the minimum tank size?
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
I had 6 of them in a 20gallon long, with some danios. They never bothered the danios. I'd not want any other bottom layer fish in with them though! I bought a bunch of big snail shells and they buried and unburied and just had a blast with them. They were SO MUCH FUN to watch, but they did dig up all the plants lol.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
I had 6 of them in a 20gallon long, with some danios. They never bothered the danios. I'd not want any other bottom layer fish in with them though! I bought a bunch of big snail shells and they buried and unburied and just had a blast with them. They were SO MUCH FUN to watch, but they did dig up all the plants lol.

I love fish who keep themselves busy and entertained. Gosh I hate those danios. They are like fish on steroids, never slow the hell down for me to enjoy them. I might get some in the future, once I get those jewels out of my 20. The midas and silverdollars and loaches all take turns digging up my plants =/. Oh well I just let the plants float. Thinking about anchoring them down with something heavy, perhaps a shell?
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
They were a little hard to find, and the guy I got them from, his website is down right now. But now you guys have me looking so if he gets it back up in the near future I'll let you know. I think if I did pick up fish keeping again it'd probly be with these guys.
 

kbuchanan66

Well-Known Member
I have a 20 gal tall. Currently I have 3 female betas, 1 platinum white male beta and a plecostomus in it. All being decent to each other. I used quite a few silk plants in there and 2 cave like decorations and a cichlid rock. Lots of binding places.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
They were a little hard to find, and the guy I got them from, his website is down right now. But now you guys have me looking so if he gets it back up in the near future I'll let you know. I think if I did pick up fish keeping again it'd probly be with these guys.

Okay thanks!
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
I have a 20 gal tall. Currently I have 3 female betas, 1 platinum white male beta and a plecostomus in it. All being decent to each other. I used quite a few silk plants in there and 2 cave like decorations and a cichlid rock. Lots of binding places.

I thought about getting bettas at first after looking at all the fancy ones on youtube, but then I figured they didn't live long enough.
 

kbuchanan66

Well-Known Member
I thought about getting bettas at first after looking at all the fancy ones on youtube, but then I figured they didn't live long enough.
I have owned Betas for 10 years or so. The longest I had one was 4 years I believe and I got him as a Juvenile. Then I went on Vacation and had my dad watching him. Bad idea I came home to a cloudy tank and an abundance of food in the tank he basically died of suffocation. :( The 2nd longest living one was just shy of 4 years and again vacation and had a different person looking after the bowl he was in and again I came home to a cloudy tank and too much food. Needless to say I measure out Daily portions into baggies for who ever has to look after my tank...
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
Needless to say I measure out Daily portions into baggies for who ever has to look after my tank...

That's exactly what I do, lol. Having all these tanks I have a lot of different food requirements, including a brackish tank with a puffer that eats live snails, so going out of town is nerve wracking for me. I have these stacks of baggies with each day written on them next to each tank.

I think 4 years is pretty respectable for a betta. I've been keeping fish for 30 years but have only recently been able to keep bettas alive for more than a week or two!
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Liz: bet your water is hard with a high PH? Bettas are really sensitive to it. I bred them for a bit. They can live upwards of 5 years, but 3 is more common....
 

kbuchanan66

Well-Known Member
I think 4 years is pretty respectable for a betta. I've been keeping fish for 30 years but have only recently been able to keep bettas alive for more than a week or two!
I have never had trouble keeping bettas I think they are pretty hardy fish as far as I ma concerned. This is what I do to set up a tank or bowl for my Beta's.

I use aqua+plus Water Conditioner by Nutrafin(there is a Beta version but the normal kind works just as well) and follow the directions on the bottle very carefully in regards to how much water I use to fill the tank/bowl. I make sure to stir the water with the conditioner and than let sit for 20 min. Then I will add Fresh Water Aquarium Salt from Nutrafin again following the information on the box. I am always sure to boil any ornaments, plants as well as rocks that I put into the tank in a pot of water for 30 seconds or so (depending the material they are made of nothing worse than having your plants fall apart because you boiled the glue away)and than let sit on a towel to cool off back to room temperature. After all the rocks, plants and ornaments are in the tank with the water (That has been conditioned and salted) I will start the filter(if you use one) and the heater(if you use one) and let sit running for 48 hours. Than I get 1 or 2 gold fish(the cheap Feeder ones) and let them swim around and do their fish stuff and feed them for a week so that they can set up my tanks cycle and bacteria count. When I don't need them anymore I give them to some kids with tanks or just feed them to my friends Oscar(hehehe). Than I let it sit 1 more day and than I finally stock it! Leaving the fish in the bags and float them for 1/2 hour and than release them into the tank.

Now this is just what has worked for me by no means am I saying it will work for everyone. With just the beta bowl I skip the gold fish, heater and filter process and just put the beta in the bowl after the ornaments and water is conditioned and salted... never had a problem with the bowls and Betas either.
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
Liz: bet your water is hard with a high PH? Bettas are really sensitive to it. I bred them for a bit. They can live upwards of 5 years, but 3 is more common....

Yep - my water is moderately hard and pH is 7.4. However, now, all of the sudden, I can keep bettas alive in this water, when I never could before. I have two in large 2-gal vases at home and one in a 5-gal planted tank at work, none of them filtered. I think the difference is that I never realized before that some of them don't eat well if the food is not floating. I'd just chuck a few of the same kind of pellets in there that I feed my other fish, not realizing that they'd sink, and fall in between the gravel or decorative marbles, etc., and the fish probably starved. Now I make sure I use the floating betta pellets and I watch them eat each one.
 

kbuchanan66

Well-Known Member
Oh that would certanatly do it. I haven't fed anything other than floating food or food that floats for a bit before starting to sink.
 

dpenning

Well-Known Member
I just got rid of a 110 reef that I had for 4 years. The maintenance just got overwhelming since I was going out to the country every weekend. How does fresh water maintenance compare to salt? Always having salt water on hand and mixed was a fairly large PITA.