Hey soap,
I saw your video really late last night. It was nice to see Steve the betta of yours. Today, for some reason the video can't be played any more when I decide to take a closer look at him. Have you removed the video? It keeps giving me the error when I try to play it.
nope, the link is still up and works for me. my computer has issues, sometimes: for some reason it refuses to let youtube open when i use one of my wifi connections are selected, even though they all should work. computers are definitely stupid. the vid is in the last post on page 1 so make sure you are clicking the youtube video link and not the earlier things, since they didnt work on my end.
(02-08-2017, 05:03 PM)Soapstone Wrote: nope, not soap, used tap and distilled water. i am using an aloe vera based water conditioner, could it be that?
I doubt it, but what is the conditioner? I don't know of any use of aloe that could detoxify chlorine & chloramine; ammonia, ammonium, & other nitrogen based compounds, which is the primary purpose of a water conditioner in an aquarium. I'm curious. As I said before, I'd bet the bubbles/foam are at least mostly harmless.
(02-09-2017, 05:44 PM)Thor Wrote: Sure, you do not need a heater if you live in hot places like Florida. (Might not be that "hot", but hey I am in Michigan lol).
Betta are in fact playful fish.
The reasons for them being inactive could be
1. There is not enough room swimming room.
2. The water temperature is too cold.
If they have an at least 5-gallon tank with ideal water temperature and everything else, they will be very active. Haven't you heard? Betta fish are dogs in a fish's body?
You know, I have not had a betta in over 20 years. For whatever reason, I let Shana talk me into putting one male into the new planted tank we are talking about in the other thread, when we first got the "starter" fish to cycle it. I figured, it was a type of stagnant/blackwater fish, and can survive in terrible conditions, so a great cycling fish. Like a goldfish, without the need to eat/uproot every plant it meets.
What has surprised me is, it might be the most perfect fish in the tank, social, but doesn't care about anything. And he LOVES the plants. Literally lays down to sleep on top of sword leaves if they are at just the right height, or under them. And he is more active than I than I ever thought a betta could be. He meanders around the tank all day, then just goes to bed at lights out. When I dip tubes into test the water, he comes up and rubs on me, blows bubbles on me, or just flashes all out at me, lol. he's a cute bright purple little bugger..
(02-12-2017, 02:41 PM)Soapstone Wrote: I couldn't make it work so i took a video instead and posted it to my youtube channel. can anyone tell what kind of Betta the little guy is? It only said "Baby Boy" on the cup i got him in.
"Type" of betta, I have no idea. I know they name the color patterns, etc. But I don't know one from the other. He looks good though. If you are going with fake plants, look up "jungle leaves" or betta leaves". They are dried almond leaves. They'll help your water parameters a bit too most likely. But bettas like to sleep at the surface, and hide. You'll most likely catch him sleeping under one, or on top of one when it sinks just under the surface.
02-13-2017, 05:21 PM, (This post was last modified: 02-13-2017, 05:45 PM by Soapstone.)
(02-13-2017, 03:58 PM)Fishbone Wrote: You know, I have not had a betta in over 20 years. For whatever reason, I let Shana talk me into putting one male into the new planted tank we are talking about in the other thread, when we first got the "starter" fish to cycle it. I figured, it was a type of stagnant/blackwater fish, and can survive in terrible conditions, so a great cycling fish. Like a goldfish, without the need to eat/uproot every plant it meets.
What has surprised me is, it might be the most perfect fish in the tank, social, but doesn't care about anything. And he LOVES the plants. Literally lays down to sleep on top of sword leaves if they are at just the right height, or under them. And he is more active than I than I ever thought a betta could be. He meanders around the tank all day, then just goes to bed at lights out. When I dip tubes into test the water, he comes up and rubs on me, blows bubbles on me, or just flashes all out at me, lol. he's a cute bright purple little bugger..
i actually found my Steve resting on one of the leaves of the silk plants, the bigger leafy lime green one, the next morning after getting him, it was really cute.
02-13-2017, 05:24 PM, (This post was last modified: 02-13-2017, 05:43 PM by Soapstone.)
well this is now a bummer, my 10 watt heater for a 5G tank apparently died. i noticed the temp had gon down to 78 yesterday and today it was down to 75, and I only noticed it after i went to clean the tank and am not sure what to do. I will be taking the heater back tomorrow, but in the mean time I got a tank that is half full of water in need of warming up and I am afraid of making the water for filling it up a little warmer to compensate. I heard that when you use warm water from the water heater you can get chemicals in the water that normally do not appear when it is cold, from the tap. I did decide to do it, trying to get the water from the tap close to the temp. in the tank. I hope it doesnt cause too much problems.
well it turns out the heater i had gotten had an annoying feature: basically if it gets to hot it shuts off permenantly and you have to discard it, that would be $16 down the drain every time. so i spent $20 to get a heater that is preset at 78 degrees and has an automatic temp. gauge so it turns of when the water is warm, and turns back on when it needs warming. this should be a permanent heater solution now. I was able to take the other one back and pay a difference of $3 for the new one.
Do not use the warmed up water other than if you used an aquarium heater. Warmer water not only might have chemical in there if you used it from the tap, it have less oxygen in it.
Your betta fish will be fine for a few days if your room temperature is not below 70F. Get a high quality heater is very important. I haven't had one broken on me yet.
In most cases, local pet stores only sell the least fancy betta fish. It is why they are going for like $2~3 each.
Those fancy ones like half moon can be sold for $30 or more on ebay or other places.
i got mine at petco, they sell ones that get up to $30 it looked like but they were full grown. i am not sure what breed mine was. i wanted to get a younger one so i went for the one titled baby boy, they had some baby girls as well. i like the males more cuz of the big flowing fins.
i did use it a little warmer but not by too much the tank was coolish so i tried to keep it the same. i got a heater that regulates itself at a constant 75 instead of overheating and crapping out permenantly, which is annoying for $16 the $20 one that keeps the heat at the same level is what i wanted. it has an LED light that lights up when it turns on to keep the water temp at 78 F and shuts off when it isnt.
Sorry for the late reply. For future reference if you are in an emergency and need to heat the tank up, the quickest safe thing to do is to get some type of clean, sealed bottle, fill it with hot water, and float it in the tank. This way you won't be introducing new water into the tank, and it will help heat the tank slowly. You need to judge the bottle(s) and sizes based on your tank, and should have thermometer in the tank to monitor what's going on.
On the flipside, here in FL, in places where people keep the room up to temp for tropical fish &/or reptiles, and also have goldfish (usually as feeders), they take water bottles and put them in the freezer, and then float the bottles in the tank and rotate them out.
Today, for some reason the video can't be played any more when I decide to take a closer look at him. Have you removed the video? It keeps giving me the error when I try to play it.
