melbournebetta

Hey Pyrefly, Lettuce know what you've got lurking in them there tanks.

Hi b00f, Dont be put off by the forum's pace, The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be... but having said that - trawl back through old threads and you've got a genetic gold mine. I thought I might let you know that there's an upcoming Victoria Betta meeting at Clifton Hill on the 27th, you are most welcome to come along - you can even show your fish if you like (love the red/salamander guy!) or you can check out the Facebook page for more details. It's pretty casual, but lots of people will be there, with a table show, talks, food and more. Cheers, Ness

Hi Will, Welcome to Ausaqua, there are several bustling Betta communities around Australia - and as Brenton kindly mentioned, Victoria Betta is the Southern state group. The website is here The facebook page is here and the next meet is nearly here! July 27th will be the next meeting, this will include a table show (many of the fish on show will be for sale from breeders/showers) you also get to meet the lovely lot of buddies that are VB members. Feel free to come along (bring Jess) and have a look around, the day starts form 12:30 and we have various activities on during the day. /shameless spruke. Cheers, Ness

Brillant! I'm going to start digging in my ridiculous archives. Do you want a banner from me for winners (first second and third?) and short listed ?

Oh my god. I love these~! That blueHM looks like the best in show VIC IBC SEPT 2013

Hello Forum - you look so handsome! Any technical changes with images (i.e. are they hosted on the forum YET) and can we max out the number of posts per poster yet We didn't get any new fonts, boo. Otherwise, congrats on the upgrade

Hey Durro/Greg, Despite the tumble weeds around here, it's still probably the best forum for support and knowledge on betta. I've not kept wilds before, but you've certainly chosen some great fish to start with. Good luck - grab a photobucket account and share the pics! -Ness

I'm so excited about this show - I wanted to come up but I'm a bit poor for that. However I will be sending up some fishy ambassadors! I have some spawns that have been cooking away quietly and a few imports that will make it if their all still in-tact by show date. Any other Melbourne entrants interested in showing too? (I'll ask around) it would probably be best if we sent a box up by courier. S'gunna be great! Thriving show scene, weren't we just dreaming about this same time last year! Woohoo!

Welcome Shirley, there's a pretty vibrant community here so feel free to ask anything traul the forums and look around... lettuce know if you're looking for particular fish to breed with or display, there are a LOT of hobbiests on here. someone also has some killer fancy guppies and fighters to die for (Fishchick65 on Youtube) Cheers, Ness

ENOUGH BANTER go drill racks

These are bloody hard fish to photograph, they're really lovely shots Maddy! Keep them coming! Lovely! Exclaim!

Maybe send out some emails to industry, I'd target Bayfish and Aquarium Industries (Wholesalers) and see if they have access to them, then ask what retailers are buying those in your state. Then harass the retailers COS I WANT ONE mmmstripey.

I just LOVE these guys Ash - more photos of mister boy man! he's a spunk

It's an interesting conundrum, personally I do water changes from new water just adjusting heat with a boiled kettle (I don't like using the hot tap because of the copper content in the water) I always dechlorinate because I use water straight from the tap, I also have my tanks filtered so I want the Chlorine and Chloramine out of the water so it dosen't harm my bacteria. You could use both de-chlorinator and a liquid water-ager and work straight from the tap. When I had my breeding systems up at full-speed (and working full-time) I would do a 20 min routine once a day and take the weekends off, if you just put every tank on rotation, waterchange them on certain days or certain rotations. This way worked for me as opposed to getting overwhelmed on a Saturday that I had to change 400 lt of water at once. Goodluck!

Hello WeiBoyTeh, You'se got good wines, we got's good fush - match made in the heavens! Sounds like you've got a happy little tank, I like the idea of corys in with the girls. Have a look at photobucket for hosting images so you can share your beaudies! -Ness

Les: Obrigado les, quão sensível para você dizer isso na minha língua nativa THANKS DUDES! I LIKE PEANUTS! On my birthday I got a job and set up my barracks, it is EMPTY. JUST SAYING.

Why did I have to see this? I was just shutting down my miniature grow-out tank thinking - MTS isn't real, I don't need this tank AND NOW I WANT THEM ALL Great setup - do you have some ideas about what lines you are interested in with the betta?

HELLO

It's a tricky one, because he might just be looking at the reflection on the inside of the glass where the water meets the glass (we have fish doing that at shows that are carded in beanies) You have a few options, i would obstruct his view with a few pinches of gravel or some java moss - or an indian almond leaf would do it (soaked)

Really diluted bleach is good - but a bit of overkill unless the tank had fish in it (even then, still a bit of overkill) I use a combination of bicarb soda and vinegar and rinse and rinse and rinse and.... you get the idea... Scrub 'er real good and use warm/hot water to save yourself from freezing and loosens the grime much more quickly. Soak if you can!

What a shmexy little fish - I can't remember who's she is - maybe one of Roys salamander girls? Lovely little girly -the females are wonderful display fish too I rekon

Hey BT, Planning your breeding setup is a great idea, and asking as many questions as possible from those of us that have made the mistakes, might save you some hastle and money in the future, I had a pretty ORGANIC approach to my plan and ended up with more glass and water in my bedroom than actual living space. From the above description (if correct), it looks like I'll need up to four tanks. Is this where I need to start looking at a canister filtration system? Can they be setup to do all the tanks and possibly a barracks system as well? <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannister filtration is god, they're expensive and if you buy products like eheim, you'll have them for decades (mine is going on 12 years) however it can be over-kill on some tanks, and the water flow is particularly strong. I can't quite imagine your system without a diagram plan (artist brain) but if it helps, I've usually got a plan of my current setup written down somewhere. At a very basic level I have the following tanks (all with heaters) and the following filtration * Community display tank (just for my eyeballs) - Eheim 2217 cannister * Spawn tank 40 lt (filled only to 12cm for spawning) this also doubles as a primary grow-out until I'm comfortable to move them - this has an airline and a sponge filter bubbling at varying strength for the occasion. * Grow out tank 80-100 lt depending on size of spawn, This has two large sponge filters and bare bottom, I move the fry at about 2 weeks * Baine-Marie jarring setup with a large long & low under-bed-storage plastic container, filled with water and one heater in the bottom, where I float jars/boxes/tupperware and do daily changes. What about heating? A heater for each tank or does the cannister setup look after this for me?<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannister won't heat for you - unless you have an "in-line" heater witch is expensive and not really necessary. Heat each tank, that way you can monitor each temp - I'm suggesting you don't actually need a cannister for a betta breeding setup. <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Jarring - do I look at lots of small containers or can this be a barracks system? With Adelaide winters being particularly cold, no heaters really arent an option. If I go to a barracks (which is my first option, can they be setup to cycle water for filtration and heating? Does this mean another cannister setup or will one system be able to handle all of this? <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannisters are god, but have too much flow to slap into any betta tank directly... I've lost adult size male fighters in the intake of a cannister - HOWEVER if you can put it into some sort of protected sump area that the fish can't get to, it can work. Some people subscribe to the Growth inhibiting hormone, that means if young fish share the same water they stunt eachother's growth (I think it stands to reason) so I like to separately jar, others have sucessfully grown out in shared water barracks like the Aqua-One betta barracks. Has anyone had any dealings with Aquarium suppliers in this part of the world to recommend an establishement? I've visited a few and haven't been overly impressed with staff or products. I'm visiting another one this weekend (fingers crossed). Or can anyone suggest a place I can order from that won't kill me with shipping costs? Have a look through my bad DIY threads, I get tanks made up and go to bunnings and do all the plumbing myself with irrigation supplies.<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);"><br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">In addition to all this, I know I need to come up with a couple of live feed cultures. I'm thinking Grindal worms and Daphnia. Currently the boys are getting a once a week feed of frozen blood worms (which they love). The Grindal worms are cool because I'll be going soiless if I can source a starter culture, but the Daphnia will require their own tank won't they? Any suggestions on what that setup will be and where I can get a starter culture from?| Starter cultures are pretty available from gumtree, or if you do a shout-out on here most people will send you things - I really like microworms because I can't kill them (VE are good too) Grindals are stage #2 food, so I'd suggest training yourself to hatch baby brine shrimp too. GOODLUCK!

I'd agree with roydy - and be sure to only use wood from the LFS (or online specialty shops) but to be honest any driftwood I personally grab a big plastic storage box and drown for a few weeks outside first.

I haven't shown Kelson yet - I'm still annoyed he didn't collect us in his hummer on the last night and take us out for a big night on the tiles! Here is some stupidly rare stuff: