Yanagi

Sorry, I totally forgot about this thread. I'm terrible at replying, hehe.. I'll try to comment on what I can, sorry if it's a bit scattered. I'm typing my thoughts as I scroll through. I don't use any particular method with my tanks and certainly not the walstad method. I'm more of a 'this requires little maintenance and basic light, shove it in the tank!!' kind of person, LOL. Black Widow Tetras come from cooler waters I believe, but not COLD water. No tetra should bother with short finned fish (female bettas or male plakats). 12 Hours of light a day is generally too much for the majority of tanks, stick to 8 hours a day. Adding salt to an aquarium is just simulating (most) fishes natural environment by adding back electrolytes and minerals that tap water lacks. It's also a pretty good preventative of a few illnesses and will aid in wound recovery at a higher dose rate. In case the LFS didn't tell you, you should take the rubber band off any plants you got and spread the stems apart to allow for growth and adequate light to the bottom of the plant. If they aren't eating, don't feed them. Let them starve for a few days, it's not going to hurt them. It may also be they don't like the food you're offering, find out what the LFS was feeding them.. I've had many customers come back after switching from a 'premium' brand of food and say they won't eat the supermarket rubbish.. Well of course not. You wouldn't want Mcdonalds after eating gourmet food, would you? lol Mollies and Platys make fine tank mates for bettas. Maybe not the longer finned ones, but they are absolutely fine for girls. From memory my veiltail male absolutely hated the mollies he was 'forced' to live with in a 4ft tank but they didn't bother him. Fish will vary. Definitely work your way up to at least 6 Black Widows to make them happy. You can add more a week or two after you got the first lot (sorry not keeping track of dates). I would however buy them from a shop that is keeping them in tropical temperatures already. Your pH is fine, don't mess with it. By sponge filter drajit82 is referring to a secondary filter made of sponge that is air operated. What you're referring to is just filter sponge/foam/floss whatever the heck you want to call it. I'll make no comment other than I don't like to clutter my own tanks with extra filters unless it's required (ie heavily stocked) but it doesn't hurt to have them. I'm not sure what these white dots you're referring to could be. Are they moving around in the water or are they on the sides of the filter casing? Worm shaped perhaps? Salt doesn't (or shouldn't...) mess with your pH at all.

Another one converted.. Mwuahahahaha.. I'll turn this into Aus Angels soon enough.

This isn't the big tank, just a scratched to bits standard 4fter I am trying not to give too much away with the plants and driftwood lol I got some great pieces.

This isn't the big tank, just a scratched to bits standard 4fter I am trying not to give too much away with the plants and driftwood lol I got some great pieces.

Cute :)

I look forward to seeing how this works out for you. I'm considering 2 30w LEDs for my new tank.

Freddy seems to be handling the blindness well. He'll get down in the gravel when he smells the bloodworms. Other than that he's usually found in the floating plants or sitting on the internal filter. Thanks. :)

The gals n guys in a 4ft holding tank, enjoying the 'huge' amount of space.. Wait til they get the BIG 4 footer. I have done some editting in some of the photos to try and hide the horrendous glass scratches (which weren't noted in the tanks sale ad.. RAWR ebay!) Blind Freddy the cory Sterbai.. One of the discus at work developed a taste for cory eyes. He took 1 eye out of 3 Cories and both out of this guy, poor little survivor he is.

I think I've heard of using eucalyptus oil to remove the sticker residue? Might be worth trying.

LMAO @ MJ Fish. This fish is seriously pretty ugly. I don't think the pictures display it well enough. It looks like it's got a case of pop eye (Doesn't actually! ), its mouth just sits open like that and if you look at the side on pic.. it's like got a bump where the eyes come out.. It just.. Enough said. Picture=1000 words and all that.

Now I've seen some UGLY fish.. But this thing takes the cake, lollies, biscuits and EVERYTHING ELSE TOO!! It came in with the Betta Simplex (we assume). However this has.. a demented face and a spade tail. I voted we kill it with fire but... So, anyone know what this creature of the undead is?

Happy birthday :)

The amount of plants in there did hinder the movement of the larger fish but they had their own open areas and the dense plants allowed for smaller fish to get in and hide if the need was there. It didn't really cause too much of a drama but I did end up removing the large fern in the left/off center as it grew to reach 3 sides of the tank and that really did hinder the fish. Even the largest Angelfish in there would just sit there infront of the leaves expecting it to move. He didn't seem to realize he was big enough to just push through it. For a bit more info on Angelfish, they're the sort of fish that have a LOT of personality. For every 4 that you buy, generally you will get 1 who decides he's going to be a @#$! He will harass, chase, bite and bully every other fish in the tank. Unless you get really unlucky and end up with 3 like that. (It's happened before, LOL) Also when Angels get larger they will eat small fish they can fit in their mouths such as small tetra. I would say pass on them for now and if you're still keen after a few months experience you can look at adding some, also if you get tetra early on then that will give them some time to grow so they will be less likely to get eaten.. that said, my angels haven't touched any of my fish, ever. I've never had any tank take 6 weeks to cycle, what I recommend is running the tank with water + conditioner, heater and filter running for 3 days to a week and slowly adding small numbers of fish each week with minimal feeding over the first 3 weeks. I would never recommend that anyone starts out with tetra, they are not a hardy cycling fish. Livebearers such as platys, mollies, swordtails etc are better suited to this and I've never had an issue cycling a tank with Betta(s) in it. Bettas seem to handle cycling tanks pretty well (not the fancy shmancy imports though). If you want to come up with a list of fish you like we can help you sort out what will be suitable and the order in which to add them. :)

Heavily-ish planted community tank which had Betta(s) in it. Majority ruled by Java/Indo/Windolov/Narrow leaf fern with lots of anubias and various sword plants. Floating plants include amazon frogbit, hornwort and water sprite. Various other bits and pieces thrown in just to see how it does in a low light situation. Mixing a male and female(s) Betta is a terrible idea all round, the male WILL get shredded, ignore the idiot at your LFS. The only time it is acceptable to put them together is during breeding. Suitable tankmates for male/females include platys, most dwarf gouramis (you get the occasional jerk), smaller tetra that aren't nippy, rasbora, corydoras, bristlenose, etc. I've watched 3 female Bettas team up to take down adult ghost shrimp, even they aren't safe. Angelfish are iffy, you need to get ones with the right personality. I wouldn't recommend a beginner mix them. I'm sure others will have more advice but I've got to run. Welcome to the forum. :)

Plants wouldn't last 5 minutes with those fish.. LOL Filtration looks as big as the tank does.

Great set up.. Wondering if it would be more efficient to heat the room rather than each individual tank?

Very likely, the two live in different depths in the tank and should not bother each other, ever.

Mucho jealousy on my part.