BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Fish Journal - BETTAS ONLY

April, he sounds very pretty...are you able to post pictures? I'd love to see him !

(I can't get enough of my own bettas, I have to look at everyone else's too! Lol)

Logic,

Give your guy a little time to decide if he likes it. He may be swimming around so much because there's so much space and he's loving it. :love:

As far as the current, if it's not too strong, they adapt to it. If he gets sulky, not eating, hanging out on the bottom, then maybe put him back in the other bowl.

Jms,

My cat used to drink out of Glitz' vase until Glitz rubbed up against her one time. I haven't seen her go near the vase since. :rolleyes:

Wow...a lot has been going on since I've been gone!!

Jalapeno made the trip back home all right. His temps dropped almost 8 degrees in the frigid Wisconsin air, and I was pulling my hair out in worry of dropsy, but he pulled through all right. He adjusted right away to his new surroundings, and there is a light over his tank now because our house is considerably colder than the dorm, especially at night. He's still tearing up his fins like nothing else, but they usually heal right up in a day or so, so I usually just give him clean water and he's just fine. I can't figure what is tearing his fins up though! They split right up the "seams" if you will, and like I said, they heal right up very quickly. My cats haven't touched him, and they never bothered my other one either, so I wasn't concerned. And he has FINALLY gotten the hang of the bubble nest thing! I've never seen bubble nests so impressive out of either of my fish, so he must be very happy <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> . I'm trying to figure out if he likes the temperatures a few degrees cooler, as it's around 76 here, and nearly 80 at the dorm. Or maybe he just likes the shade. Or perhaps it's the whole "I don't have ich anymore and I'm a very happy fish" thing he's got going. Yeah, my money is on that...

I hope you all are having a good new year and had a good holiday season, and that all your bettas and fishies are doing splendidly <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> !

Elise

Well he wasn't eating is why I moved him back to his bowl. Now he is mad at me. Everytime I go near the bowl he swims to the cave I made with a cup and hides. He won't eat, and he is just ignoring me now. Hopefully he will get over it soon, and get back to normal. The biggest problem I had with the aquarium is that I am going to put some other fish in it. Due to the numerous negative responses I have gotten about mixing the betta with other fish I decided against it. Oh well I will let you know what happens with my Betta and my commmunity tank once I get it running. Thanks for all the help again. If anyone has any suggestion for cheering my fish up I would love to hear em. I think he did love the space of the aquarium, but unfortunately he couldn't eat. The current just swept the food away. So I figure in a couple of months I can afford to get a smaller tank, and just put him in it with no filter. I would love to see him swimming in a much bigger enviroment.

I wonder if you put a plant from the aquarium into his bowl with him. That happened with one of mine that I had to take out of his big beautiful home. He sulked until I put his lilly in the new tank for him. He's now swimming happily and blowing a great bubble nest.

I actually did put on of the plants from the aquarium into his bowl with him. Unfortunately they are not real, cause I couldn't find any real plants at the pet store the other day. i want to get a real one for him. Anyway I have decided that I am definately going to get him an aquarium and a heater. So then the water will be around 78 degrees and he will have much more room to move. The only thing I really don't need is the filter. I might even get one of those bubble wands, cause I think he really loved that thing.

They do sell those 1 gallon Aquascene tanks with no filter for a bit less than the filtered ones...but, those don't come with the light hood..which I "CAN'T do without !

Of course they have an order form in the the box for all the accessories that go with the tank, but you'd end up paying more for the whole thing if you ordered the hood than if you just buy the filtered tank to begin with...lol....

I am thinking that the best setup for my fish is one of those 1 gallon aquascene tanks....no UGF(undergravel filter/bubbler)....no gravel...just one SILK plant....thermometer....and...nothing else. Making sure to do water changes a couple of times a week. Seems very boring and less attractive but I have less problems with fin issues when my fish are in these tanks than anywhere else it seems. And they are easier to clean for sure.

Having said that...I do have a couple of fish in 1 gallon with gravel and two of them even have a plastic plant in with them....and these guys do fine..NO fin issues at all...EVER!!! (go figure)...but I do have a theory about that which I will post later, when I have more time. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Ok..morning oblations completed and have a few moments before getting the rest up for school...lol...

About my theory on why some of my fish are more prone to fin issues than the others....

I'll only discuss the males because I never have any problems with my females...I have 6 males which I have no fin issue problems with....3 of them I bought at PetCo..the other two are the last 2 male fry I have left from my spawn....All the rest of my male fish I bought at an aquarium specific store...sells nothing but aquarium/pond related products...and these fish are the ones I have fin issues with.

Here is my theory....I have been reading that higher PH water has more bacteria in it than lower PH water does. Fish that are raised in lower PH water have more difficulty in the higher PH water because they have not had the opportunity to build up resistance to the higher amounts of bacteria in the higher PH water...(blah blah blah...got that? ...lol)

My water runs at a fairly constant PH of 7.2-7.6. I am thinking that the source the fish I get from PetCo raises their fish in a higher PH water than the fish which come from the other fish store. Which really sucks..if this is the cause of my fin issues...because I get the prettiest fish from that "other" fish store, and they are the ones I always have fin issues with <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> !

Now, I can't say for sure if the PH has anything to do with it or not...but it's the only thing I can think of for the reason why some of my fish I have no problems with fins..and some I do(always the ones from that "OTHER" fish store :rolleyes: ) . Of course, the fry I raised myself have been in my water thier whole lives..and they NEVER have had any fin problems...(except for Pike, when his girlfriend "ATE" his tailfin when I tried a spawn with him <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> :rolleyes: ...but, he healed up fine with no problems whatsoever, and very quickly too!)

Does anyone have any ideas on this? Love to hear them!

Have you tried lowering the pH of the water with the fish that have the fin problems? Kind of like a test?