Fish Lovers 2.0

[Dakotak]

For all you goldfish people out there....



XD

My heart melts when I see bubble eyes!! <3 So cute!! I cant wait to finish painting the back and bottom of my 55 and set it up for 2 bubble eyes and a celestial eye. <33
There needs to be a bubble eye plush toy that I can squish!!

Lost three bettas in the 55 today. I'm in the middle of doing as big of a water change as possible (probably about 95%) and I hope that helps. Death toll is at 11.

That stinks!
Do you know what caused the cycle bump?

[Keletheryl]

Today my mom and me got in a fight about my betta fish.
I suck at keeping betta fish in any tanks smaller than 3 gals, and I've tried. But they all end up really bad (cloudy and dirty really fast) so I always give up. I have two tanks now; a 3.5 gal and a 5 gal. 3.5 carries Ranger, and all fish (with the exception of Nira, who was already sick when I had her in there) survived until old age. She told me that my tanks are 'super dirty' like she can 'see the filth in the water' and how one of my tanks has algae growing in it, and correct me if I'm wrong, but a little bit of algae is a sign of a healthy tank unless it gets out of hand and starts spreading all over the tank, right? Then she told me that my babies (My snail had babies so now I have them. One died recently ;n;) only eat algae. Actually they eat algae, dead fish, excess food, etc. 'No, they only eat algae like Ugly (what she calls my albino cory catfish) and you don't have a fish like Ugly in your tank. So your tank is dirty. Ew'
Just cause you have a balanced (and overstocked) certainly does not mean you can put down my perfectly healthy tanks because you know nothing about them and just want to pick a fight.

Also, she keeps saying 'Your fish are all going to die because you don't take very good care of them'.
??????????? EXCUSE YOU. We've only had six bettas in my whole life. Ghost, who died of old age (but was probably always stressed cause of the monster filter we had in there. He was my moms fish), Spook, who died of bloating (I hadn't had bettas in years, he was after Ghost. I didn't know much about betta keeping back then), Captain Cato, who died of infection or something. I'm not really sure what happened to him. Then there was Nira, who got ick and after a long, hard battle, died of an infection to a gash in her side that she had developed trying to scratch off the ick. And then Ranger and Wendigo, who are still perfectly happy. Fish get sick sometimes, it happens. Doesn't mean I'm a bad fish keeper. And I tried SO hard to keep Nira alive, ------- That's another story for another day.
Anyways, Just because you took okay care of Ghost doesn't mean you automatically know everything about betta fish. Geez.

Here are pictures of my tanks to PROVE they are FINE.

Rangers 3.5 gal. Yes, I know I put the thermometer thing in the wrong place. I was new to fish keeping back then. xD


Wendigo's 5 gal.


So, you settle the debate. Do my tanks look healthy (or at least worthy of keeping a fish alive) to you?

Maybe just buy a dish scourer (sp?) (brand new unused) and clean the sides of the tank to keep your mum happy?

If you have a water test kit you could use it to show her your water is safe for the fish
Betta actually prefer tannins in the water, when I had my two crown tails I used almond leaf extract water conditioner and it turns the water abit brown

Thank you for the information! I did as you said, and she apologized. I didn't want her to apologize, she's my mother. But, I did want her to not kill my betta fish like she threatened because the water was 'so dirty'.

[.Survivor.]

So, I was looking at a pet shop at the Betas an guess what.....

They had a male King Beta in a Female transport cup...they thought it was a female. And it was only $2 instead of $30

Too bad I don't have another tank at the moment.

[Bettahorse]

Lost three bettas in the 55 today. I'm in the middle of doing as big of a water change as possible (probably about 95%) and I hope that helps. Death toll is at 11.

That stinks!
Do you know what caused the cycle bump?

I believe it was the die-off that caused it. And after brainstorming with other betta breeders, we think the most likely cause of the die-offs is internal bacterial infections. Guess what fishies aren't going to get fed anything but medicated food for the next week.

[Firefly_Dreamer]

... Sorry to hear that toboe...

I had a vey stressful day today. I think my gold oto may have been a gold chinese algae eater. I noticed today that he unleashed a vicious attack on copper, so i had to switch puffer to the community and copper to the lone tank. He's been poking puffer a little bit as if curious. I'm very tempted to take the thing in and ask for store credit for him, but i cant catch him and he's a smart algae eater. After a few tries of netting him he learned to hide under my limestone rock and behind my filter and heater. He's also extremely fast and will leave the water to avoid being caught. he also jumps. I added stress coat to the bags i used to switch the bettas, but i think puffers at the end of his road :C He's sitting in a corner. i can barely even tell if he's breathing. and i feel horrible for having to switch the two, but i knew puffer was slightly more agressive than Copper and will nip back, so i figured he'd be okay while copper recovered.

Any tips of catching the algae eater?

anyway he looks like this: and they told me he was a gold oto and when i searched it a few pictures looking exactly like him are what i found.

[Bettahorse]

Yeah that's a chinese algae eater, not an oto. They lied to you. You could try taking a plastic soda or water bottle and cutting the top part off and then inverting it so the lip of the bottle is inside. Then put something tasty inside that the algae eater likes to eat. He'll swim into the funnel of the bottle and get trapped inside.

[flyteck]

... Sorry to hear that toboe...

I had a vey stressful day today. I think my gold oto may have been a gold chinese algae eater. I noticed today that he unleashed a vicious attack on copper, so i had to switch puffer to the community and copper to the lone tank. He's been poking puffer a little bit as if curious. I'm very tempted to take the thing in and ask for store credit for him, but i cant catch him and he's a smart algae eater. After a few tries of netting him he learned to hide under my limestone rock and behind my filter and heater. He's also extremely fast and will leave the water to avoid being caught. he also jumps. I added stress coat to the bags i used to switch the bettas, but i think puffers at the end of his road :C He's sitting in a corner. i can barely even tell if he's breathing. and i feel horrible for having to switch the two, but i knew puffer was slightly more agressive than Copper and will nip back, so i figured he'd be okay while copper recovered.

Any tips of catching the algae eater?

anyway he looks like this: and they told me he was a gold oto and when i searched it a few pictures looking exactly like him are what i found.

Definitely an algae eater. They are crafty, never been able to catch my boy. I'd suggest putting food in a large net and waiting for him to swim into it, then yank it out of the water. Maybe try and herd him into it? Good luck getting him out, and sucks about your betta :< Mine is only aggressive towards my sucker fish, but the little guy is tough. He never attacks anyways, just nips at his fins.

EDIT: lol basically ninja'd XD

[Firefly_Dreamer]

Yeah that's a chinese algae eater, not an oto. They lied to you. You could try taking a plastic soda or water bottle and cutting the top part off and then inverting it so the lip of the bottle is inside. Then put something tasty inside that the algae eater likes to eat. He'll swim into the funnel of the bottle and get trapped inside.

I don't know what he likes... and what do you mean?

Do you mean taking the bottle, cutting it in half, and flipping the spout half upsidedown into the other part?

[flyteck]

Yeah that's a chinese algae eater, not an oto. They lied to you. You could try taking a plastic soda or water bottle and cutting the top part off and then inverting it so the lip of the bottle is inside. Then put something tasty inside that the algae eater likes to eat. He'll swim into the funnel of the bottle and get trapped inside.

I don't know what he likes... and what do you mean?

Do you mean taking the bottle, cutting it in half, and flipping the spout half upsidedown into the other part?

That's it c: So the nose of the bottle points in. When the fish is inside, it will be more difficult to get out. Try some algae wafers or something.

(a bottle is smarter than a net XD)

[Firefly_Dreamer]

Yeah that's a chinese algae eater, not an oto. They lied to you. You could try taking a plastic soda or water bottle and cutting the top part off and then inverting it so the lip of the bottle is inside. Then put something tasty inside that the algae eater likes to eat. He'll swim into the funnel of the bottle and get trapped inside.

I don't know what he likes... and what do you mean?

Do you mean taking the bottle, cutting it in half, and flipping the spout half upsidedown into the other part?

That's it c: So the nose of the bottle points in. When the fish is inside, it will be more difficult to get out. Try some algae wafers or something.

(a bottle is smarter than a net XD)

What if my cories go in it? they eat them more than my chiese algae eater does.

And... wow... Copper is bubblenesting... wow, just wow... in that tiny unheated (technically speaking heated to 72 degrees) tank with no floating plants. and he guards if from me by swimming up to the front of the tank when i look at him. I don't understand... why in that temperature?

EDIT: By tiny i mean 3.5 gal