Fish Lovers 3.0 [new poll]

[Baritoner]

Hello! So I have a butterfly male betta, and lately I've noticed that his fins are changing color. When I first bought him he had a royal blue body with completely white fins. Shortly after I got him he had some pretty bad fin rot, but now he's recovering fine. When he had fin rot it looked like he had black streaks on the tips of his white fins and also streaks running through them. I just assumed that this was fin death from the fin rot, but now that he's getting better they're still there. Upon closer inspection, they aren't actually black but are a dark royal blue the same color as his body. So I guess my question is is it normal for betta's fins to change color like this or should I be concerned?

[Trphlthdl]

Hello! So I have a butterfly male betta, and lately I've noticed that his fins are changing color. When I first bought him he had a royal blue body with completely white fins. Shortly after I got him he had some pretty bad fin rot, but now he's recovering fine. When he had fin rot it looked like he had black streaks on the tips of his white fins and also streaks running through them. I just assumed that this was fin death from the fin rot, but now that he's getting better they're still there. Upon closer inspection, they aren't actually black but are a dark royal blue the same color as his body. So I guess my question is is it normal for betta's fins to change color like this or should I be concerned?

That's completely normal! Some betters will do it several times over the course of their lives, some won't change their color at all. Just depends on the betta you've got!

[gamorasass]

I have a legitimate question out of curiosity for all you fish owners:

Why do you want/like pet fish?
There isn't much you can do with them as you can't handle them. So what do you love about them?

[MapleNeko]

I have a legitimate question out of curiosity for all you fish owners:

Why do you want/like pet fish?
There isn't much you can do with them as you can't handle them. So what do you love about them?

This is a rather interesting question and one that I think a lot of other people think fish owners are weird, especially when we fight the "its just a fish" comment. For me I absolutely adore watching them and being able to stylize their home anyway I want. Fish, especially in busy community tanks, are very calming to watch and the reason why many doctors offices and dentists have aquariums. With my bettas it's more for the personality, Bettas are really interactive and fun fish if given the right environment. The final pet I own is axolotls and I can actually handle them some! i have to hold them while there in the water but for me axolotls even if they dont do much had a really big "wow" factor, their a salamander the can regenerate just about everything and they're pretty cute. another plus side to fish especially for people with strict parents or apartment rules is they dont wreck furniture (unless the tank breaks but that's a whole other issue) or make big messes, you just feed em, change their water once a week and admire your brightly colored ADHD pet.

[Lonin]

I have a legitimate question out of curiosity for all you fish owners:

Why do you want/like pet fish?
There isn't much you can do with them as you can't handle them. So what do you love about them?

:D There's a lot of fun to be had in aquascaping. You might not be able to handle the fish themselves much but you can definitely mess about with the tank as much as you like. For some people taking care of plants is just as much fun as taking care of the fish.
And apart from being beautiful and relaxing they're really interesting to watch. Some species have loads of personality and will interact with you and recognise you. Some fish, especially bigger, more intelligent ones are ok with being touched. Or just watching their natural behaviour is really cool.
And once it's all set up fish tanks are fairly low maintenance. No walks or play time, very little clean up. At the most basic level you can just feed and change some of the water occasionally. You can even leave them for a week or so if you go on holiday.

[Valac]

Hello! I just finished filling my aquarium with water + getting my filter running. Besides my tank being very bare (with only a hide and a dragon) I am quite happy with it! I want to move on to the next step as I'd love to add fish to my tank before the end of March if possible so I was wondering if anyone knew how to test/tell when your water is safe for fish? If my water is bad (which is probably is) how should I go about adding the treatment? Any treatment recommendations? Thank you!

[Naeco]

I have a legitimate question out of curiosity for all you fish owners:

Why do you want/like pet fish?
There isn't much you can do with them as you can't handle them. So what do you love about them?

Hmmm. I always grew up with fish so it is kinda in my blood. I have had many different animals: fish, hermit crabs, dogs, gerbils, hamsters, etc. I honestly think each have their own perks.

Fish are relatively low maintenance. My personal schedule is as follows: filter cleaning- once a week, algae scrap- every two weeks or as needed, water change- every two to three weeks, deep clean (scrubbing algae off of almost everything, good gravel vacuum, etc)- once every 4 to 6 months. Then you have twice daily feedings and topping off the water as needed. Compare this to the dogs: twice daily feedings, grooming every other day, nails trims once a week, walks daily, trick training, vet trips, etc. They are fun to watch and landscaping their tank has no end to the possibilities. Plus, you can have so many different kinds of fish and animals in a tank. I currently have black tetras, fancy tail guppies, glowlite tetras, red serpaes, a variation of red serpaes, a "mystery tetra" (store put wrong fish in bag), and ramshorn snails. I eventually plan on getting an apple snail or two and possibly shrimp. I also had a sailfin pleco that sadly passed.

I have also seen setups where there are guppies, snails, freshwater clams, shrimp, and painted turtles in the same tank. There is a video on YouTube where someone has all of these in a few tanks and the tanks are pretty much self ran. He leaves for trips for months at a time and the tank is still running (his neighbor checks them to make sure everything is A-ok). Plus, the hobby is never-ending.

There are so many different kinds of fish and new ones all the time. There are so many goals you can have with your fish: a self sustaining tank, a Betta sorority, a home-made 2,000 gallon tank, breeding a certain kind of fish, having salt water fish, etc. Not only that, this hobby has been used for decades as a way to "test" children before getting a puppy or kitten. There are some pretty indestructible fish such as certain kinds of goldfish and guppies. But there are also fish, such as iridescent sharks, that are super hard to keep alive.

[Lonin]

Hello! I just finished filling my aquarium with water + getting my filter running. Besides my tank being very bare (with only a hide and a dragon) I am quite happy with it! I want to move on to the next step as I'd love to add fish to my tank before the end of March if possible so I was wondering if anyone knew how to test/tell when your water is safe for fish? If my water is bad (which is probably is) how should I go about adding the treatment? Any treatment recommendations? Thank you!

Unless you have a cycled tank to take some filter media out of you won't be able to put fish in by the end of March. Cycling takes a few weeks.
There's a guide on fishless cycling here: https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_ ... rticle.htm

Basically fish produce ammonia so you need various bacteria to grow to convert ammonia (bad for fish) into nitrite (bad for fish), then nitrite into nitrate (ok for fish at low levels). You then remove the nitrate when you do water changes.
So you need to add a source of ammonia for your bacteria to 'eat' or nothing will happen. Your tank is cycled when you can add a source of ammonia and have it converted into nitrates within 24 hours.
If you don't already look into getting a water testing kit. API freshwater test kit is great, it's a bit expensive but it'll last you years and being able to test your water is really useful.

You could look into bottled bacteria but we've heard conflicting things on whether or not it works. Unless it's an emergency we'd advise doing a regular cycle.

[deadroses.]

Username:deadroses.
How many fish tanks do you have: only one; 3.5gallon
Types of fish that you have: betta
Your fishs' names: Arnoldo
How long have you had fish:few days but i have had 3 other fish in the past

Also if you have pictures of you fish we would love to see them! If you have a tank with a lot of fish you are welcome to just put a picture of your tank. If the images are large or you have a lot please post links.

[deadroses.]

So ive never had this problem before but my betta wont eat bloodworms and always swims away when i walk over. I tried cutting thr bloodworms up but i dont think he ate them that way either. What do u reccomend?