Fur/scale/feathered kids....what about finned?

[Deleted]

Hee hee.....my betta tank-the girls are near the top eating. My obsessive nature forced me to put together a Southeast Asian lowlands stillwater biotope......>I'm a geek< LOL ;D

[Deleted]

Awesome! And people think it's fine to keep them in a tiny jar their whole lives...

[Sherry]

That looks like a really great environment for them But I thought you could only have one beta per tank? Sorry- not overly familiar with them.

[Deleted]

With the right amount of space, a male can be safely kept with a harem of 6 (minimum) females. Just like as it is with ferrets, some individuals are too aggressive so if this is observed they should be switched out until there is relative harmony in the environment. It does take a lot of observation to get it right

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Yay Suzie! Another person who appreciates an aquarium with real plants! ;D

Here is my humble little setup, pardon the clutter on the table in front of it:

P1010571 by walkerstop, on Flickr

It is 10 gallons and contains all real plants, which I love! I have a sword, a java fern, an anubias, and I am actually not sure what the frilly stuff floating at the top was (it is NOT anacharis, i got so sick of that stuff). The frilly stuff came with some snails I ordered, and I love it. It grows vigorously, is very flexible about water conditions and such and stays healthy, does not shed, and the snails just love it. It grows so much that every couple weeks I have to cut half of it off and discard, next pruning session it has all grown back

For fish, I have 3 black skirt tetra, 2 Corydoras catfish, and 1 "upside down" catfish from Walmart (he is silly!)

Besides the fish, there are lots of red ramshorn snails (I breed them there and in a separate breeding tank) and some kind of teeny tiny speckled conical snails whose species I don't know, they must have hitchhiked in on one of the plants, but I like them a lot! Few if any pond or bladder snails, it seems the other snails out-compete them, though I have had some come and go.

I use a Penguin bio-wheel filter and an air pump, and I have this nice electronic timer that controls the light cycle. I have it set up to run the air pump to help aerate the water during the dark part of the cycle. The filter runs 24/7.

I LOVE this aquarium the way I have it set up!!!

Now you may be asking yourself, so? It's just a little 10 gallon aquarium, what's the big deal? Well, what is remarkable about this aquarium, and that my friends and family can hardly believe, is that it requires almost no maintenance! I pretty much just feed the fish regularly, then once every month or so I do about a 50% water change and squirt a measured amount of Prime water conditioner and Flourish plant food in there... Done! We are talking about 15 minutes of work a month maintaining this aquarium.

What about cleaning, you say? That's what is so awesome, there is none! I have had this aquarium for a year and a half now, and I have NEVER cleaned it. What little stuff you see on the glass is actually on the OUTSIDE, it's just water droplets that dried on the outside and I was too lazy to wipe them off. I feed the fish, then once a month I do a partial water change and fertilize and trim the plants. The awesome thing is that a combination of factors results in me not ever having algae problems. #1, the real plants compete for the nutrients in the water that the algae needs. #2, the cories and snails are a good cleaning crew. #3, the tank is not over-populated like most beginners do with their aquariums. #4, the timer I use to run my lights breaks up the photo period into 2 or 3 pieces a day, with a dark spell between them. Algae can't handle these shorter light periods very well, but the plants don't mind at all!

I wish I had known when I was a kid that you could have an aquarium like this. We had an aquarium, and lots of people we knew had one, but they always had plastic plants, too many fish, poor filtration systems, etc. etc. I remember what a pain it was trying to keep algae under control in an aquarium like that! And having to clean out the gravel, and who knows what else. Aquariums like that were so much more work!

Anyway rant over. I always strongly encourage friends interested in aquariums to use real plants, break up the photo period, use good fertilization techniques, have residents living there who will help keep things clean like sucker fish, snails, shrimp, etc... A well-run aquarium is such a treat and SO MUCH LESS WORK! ;D

But I'm probably preaching to the choir here

[Deleted]

Very nice-excellent filter choice. Teh Marineland equip. (Penguin)runs forever! My memory is horrible but the fuzzy plant looks like hornwort not sure though. I enjoy changing my water weekly (conditioning my girls for breeding, I spoil them wicked!) Running diy CO2 which is easy-new mix every 2 weeks. I have a heavy plant to fish quotient so the CO2 and Excel and Flourish work well so far! You have a nice balance there, and every tank is unique like that. Congrats on your sucess!

[Deleted]

I used to keep female bettas (as well as males, but I never put them together - I didn't think you could, except for a short breeding period. It's interesting to know you can house them together, if you're perceptive enough!). I've been toying with the idea of getting into it again, because I absolutely adore bettas. Your pictures just added to that - you have an AMAZING set up, and I'm jealous, since I've never had much luck with aquatic plants.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2011 1:07:57 GMT -5 @suzieszoo said:

I enjoy changing my water weekly (conditioning my girls for breeding, I spoil them wicked!) Running diy CO2 which is easy-new mix every 2 weeks. I have a heavy plant to fish quotient so the CO2 and Excel and Flourish work well so far!

Awesome! Your setup is beautiful, I would like to run CO2 some day. What's your lighting setup?

Do you hang out on any of the aquarium forums? I got a lot of help setting up my 10 gal (my first time with a planted aquarium) on the aquariacentral forums

My setup is pretty basic and I'd like to graduate to something bigger when I get more room and learn more!

BTW I love to see betta tanks, those guys deserve a nice home. I get so tired of seeing them living in tiny containers Hey have you ever tried using those leaves you add to your water that turn the water a tea-like color (due to the leaf tannins)? It's supposed to be soothing for the bettas and more like the water in their native home right? I forget what they are called...

[Deleted]

Every tank I have is planted! I'm especially fixated on paludariums. Here's the one I have at work that's been going for about four years. It has one male betta for some fauna amidst the flora.

Here's my square-marked toad terrarium at home. It also houses an overly healthy guppy population. This was taken shortly after it was planted, though, so I'll try to get a shot of the overgrown jungle it is now!

And I have a 12 gallon nano cube housing a gourami that is planted as well.

And yes, it's fantastic how little maintenance they require. Not NO maintenance, but very little Which is how I manage to keep them all going along with the ferrets/dogs/cats/snakes/geckos/husband...

[goingpostal]

So question for those of you who do freshwater. What would you put in a 135 gallon? Has to be something interesting. I'm really debating swapping my big tank from saltwater, I just don't have the time and money to keep it up right now but don't want the tank empty either and James said no turtles. I have almost no freshwater experience other than a betta tank with some plants in it. But years in saltwater. I'd like to have it planted. Need to switch my light though, I assume my halides would probably be massive overkill.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2011 13:54:59 GMT -5 goingpostal said:

What would you put in a 135 gallon?

My dream with a tank that size would be discus.
www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=830+834
Several large discus with a massive school of something small, like tetras!

Your halide lights might work just fine if you wanted live plants. Generally, you want 2-3 watts per gallon, but a larger/deeper tank could require more. And there are plant species that require "high intensity" lighting too, plus most intermediate plants will flourish under high light.

I have never made the jump to saltwater. The closest I have is a brackish tank of fiddler crabs at work, and I get annoyed mixing just five gallons at a time for them! There's actually a gigantic saltwater holding tank at work for people to replenish their marine aquariums, but it's practically on the other side of the building plus down a flight of stairs for me, so I said heck with it and just make up my little bucket in my cubicle ;D If I did start a marine tank it would either be just for invertebrates or a single angler like www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+19+76&pcatid=76

[Deleted]

I have been fishkeeping since introduced to it by my dad when I was like 8 yrs old......

Mikeybox-got a 20w actinic on with 5500k daylight. The actinic makes my blue bettas "glo" and the plants like the blue spectrum. I visit the forums occasionally to get different opinions, usually troubleshooting equipment issues on aquatic plant central. I haven't put in the Ketapang leaves yet, I wanted to get a small live one to grow.

Keri- Nice pics! Live plants help keep things clean a bit too, and a little maintenance is not work if you enjoy the habitat, right?

Goingpostal- Ah Discus or Angelfish with a heavy planting Vallisineria etc.......dreamlike! Freshwater is cake after saltwater! Check out aquaticplantcentral.com if you want ideas and tips as well

[Deleted]

I used to have a BEAUTIFUL 29gal planted tank. I had a DIY CO2 injector and some nice daylight bulbs. I had about 15 tetras of various types, and for awhile we had a tire track eel. I miss my tank so much! I also had a non-planted 10gal corner tank with my gourami.

[Deleted]

Wish you had some pics- mine is a 20 long. I will always have a fish tank, I find it to be a relaxing hobby and guests at my house always enjoy it!

[goingpostal]

I was looking at discus but James wants something aggressive, I was checking out some cute smaller fish and he said no way are we doing a peaceful tank that large. I thought about piranha, he used to have them when he was a teenager though and doesn't really believe me that we could just feed them frozen and pellets instead of live feeders, which you can't get here anyways. And sounds like the red bellies are rather skittish but they are the cool ones imo. He said we could do cichlids but don't know much about them.