melbournebetta

Matt, I can't recommend these office works numbers highly enough, make sure to get the Geelong brand ones - they have hugely thick arms (sides) and the shelves area already laminated... and hello 350 KG PER SHELF! Turning them into drip would be okay, and you can hide the plumbing behind the wide horizontal struts... Bus - yeah we have a few of those in our shed, looking dangerously old and saggy under the enormous weight of the gumboots placed on the top shelf!! Yours look fine, probably a little more carefully constructed I'd assume. They're bloody handy. -Ness

....and lets be honest, if you' were standing in Bettarazzi's fish room, tell me you'd be looking out the window!! -Ness

Loving the names, Betta-O, you're a woman after my own heart (hazel/beryl/etc) heheh Drew has a nice big dorsal and nearly a HM spread.. lovely fishus you has. -Ness

has he settled in yet? can we put him in the spawn tank yet? -Ness

Sorority: 22 litre Aquaone thing with a filter and a light that was supposed to work :T I'm watching the two top gals have a barney, but its all pretty tame, the 5/6 copper girls are only 2-3 months old, so quite small in the body, and the dragon lady (heh) isn't really interested in anyone... so it's clear sailing. The copper female wont go back in there, she's a maniac. The turq lady might have a stint in there too, but I feel she might beat everyone up the copper/turq ladies aver VERY big... as big as my males, and I've got a few ideas about spawning with her, so she's in isolation getting very FAT. Very happy with the girls new setup, and yeah, they have ALL the plants in there, just to reduce the stress. I love those big W tanks, they're ace... i still do water changes weeky/biweekly but they're perfect as an alternative to a divided display tank.... all got lids and lights and filters. Once I get the reptile heater (in the mail) there won't be anything else they'll want! (except another dose of blood worms) -Ness

Hey Betta-O Looks like you have quite the loot! You mentioned the spawning tank, so - (I hope you don't mind) perhaps it's worth discussing a few things.... These ladies look like comb-tails or crown tails (I'm still a bit of a n00b when it comes to CT) Female #1 and "Kate" look to be from the same spawn- red with brass irids.... While they both have a fairly flat topline, I would consider putting them with a male with a good arc - have a quick peek at this beta splendens website looking at top line and 'crest' form here, he's a nice example of what I mean. Kate has a nice even anal fin, which gives her the appearance of the better female, but as a breeding proposition; part of me prefers the turq/red lady, she has a much better topline - a decent dorsal, good DR reduction and better over-all balance with length of dorsal/tail/anal.... paired with the right Crowntail male, she could produce some lovely CT fry. Do you have an image of Will? (Hope I'm not being too critical!) Good luck with the new boy, sounds like you're right onto treatments so you should be fine - I found Salt IAL and either Tetracycline or Tri-Sulpha for 7-10 days was really helpful for melt. Trick is catching it early. Regarding the wonky rays, it's a tricky one - it's either genetic or environmental causes - and a question I'm still grappling with, I have a big royal blue DT called "mong mong" (aka "ian") who I can't decide to breed or not, as he's a total idiot (for starters) but if he's going to have fry that eventually get bent/curled rays, what's the point? One thing I would suggest is that Female #1's wonky rays start at roughly the same point along the ray on all 3 fins, so unless she had damage/rot that travelled equally along each fin, and they've all grown back with this kink (unlikely) I would suggest that maybe it's part of her development and is genetic. Kate - who could be from the same spawn, dosen't seem to show these symptoms, and the turq lady shows a little bit of this wobble. It's always a bit of a punt.... If you are looking for breeding females, take a good look and pair them with something suitable - we always want better fry than the parents! All the best -Ness

thanks for that holycow, I know it was an old post, but i'm new to planted tanks, and that just simplified everything! I'm going to try planting babys tears submerged.... gradually. -Ness

Looking forward to seeing more shots of this in the comp.... hint hint..... xx

I don't know why.. it just seems so right. -Ness

d'oh I thought I was being all handy and helpful... Let me know if you need help - I work in furniture, might know some people who know some people... -Ness

errrr... bugger. Is that one of those suction cup barracks on the side of the tank? They're bloody useless... if it all needs to be contained in one tank, I'd recommend dividers or those floating guppy breeder tanks, they're a bit bigger and much easier to deal with. sorry about the damage. -Ness

Tell me about it! I've obviously let-go the idea I'll have a beautiful bedroom, I just need an organized fish room Another set of shelves for Jarring stages and the 4 ft grow out (I have a spare wall) Oh dear... I've become the crazy fish lady! -Ness

Shadoh, Believe me, I've had worse (Vanessa the undresser was my un-doing in year 8 thanks to that horrible show "Hey Dad!") Something I'm grateful for, my mother was going to call me Sara-Lee, but then the ice cream came out that year, thank god... I could have been "ultra-choc" justaboutanything-ness greatness, happiness, tiredness, it's all good. melbournebetta tho, hey.... that's genius. -nessness

Pyrefly, Unfortunately I'm a bit of a dill and put too many IAL in the spawning tank - yeah, so it's a bit pink under that lighting, but is actually dark like tea. Diluted now somewhat as the kids are 11 days old and I feel able to cope with some more water to begin filling up the tank, it's much more respectable now. Those tanks up top were what I started out with, and have just collected more and more - from big W, they're 10 litres and stretch back the length of the shelving (40 cm) so they're perfect for one little man, and to un card is easy. They have really soft filtration and a few LED lights, but no heating -which has proven an issue, so the room is quite warm until I purchase a reptile heat mat to place underneath. Really happy with the sorority now, I was so skeptical, but it's much easier to heat and filter these gals together, and when they're being conditioned for breeding I'll put them into isolation. Cheers, -Ness

oh oh I want a nickname, Bettarazzi called me Bubble Ness (t) which I thought was kinda cool, but I don't see that taking off at the pub.... Les - you're a cracker, I've watched your posts, the later into the night the funnier you GET! -BubbleNess.t

Super happy with the new shelving system (180 cm high x 90 wide x 40 deep) I was going to start a philosophy of "if it dosen't fit on the shelves I can't have it" but hey - when I start jarring up the 100+ fry currently in the big grow-out, I'm going to need to expand. Here it is for now: Messy, but it was just assembled (need to hide power cords and food etc) Looks much better in the dark: Oh, and here is the sorority: Looks much better in the dark (as does most of my bedroom actually....) Pecking order is as follows: Red HM Lavender HM Dragon HM 4 x copper ladies I had to take out "Fang" (Hazel) as she was basically playing dominatrix, you could hear the JAWS theme music as she ran around with her moth agape threatening everything in sight. Not a new nip out of any fins as yet - these are all relatively calm girls. Lavender and Red both have holes in fins after Mr Salamander's spawning 11 days ago. (Lavender said no, so she got pulled out; red said no, then yes) Bare bottom tank, with a pinch of shell grit, anubias on driftwood and some other lovely green plant I can't remember the name of - and a big fat fake plant up the back for protection. All hiding a heater, filter and apple snail somewhere in there. I'm wondering if I should re-introduce Hazel (Fang) and if it would be worth putting Beryl (the turq) in there too? they're both super duper big bodied alpha ....."Ladies" Hmmmmmzzz Opinions? Tips? My first sorority..... and no injuries - will this last? -Ness

Thanks guys, @Neff - He's a lovely boy, I think he's technically a SD as he's never once flared in my presence, I'm a bit concerned the top of his caudal is a bit... sort of stunted or something... I have the turq BF next to him swearing black and blue pacing up and down... still nothing. @MT The Armadillo (turq body with red/black) was from Coburg, one of the bigger HM's they had, there is some great form in the new lot they've brought out. ....also - I'm about to start a new thread in the fishy showroom with my new fish setup - the "fishroom" is also my bedroom, studio (art) and office (web design) all crammed into 3 x 4 meters with ghastly 50's paisley carpet. @Matt - part of me is so jealous that you can just waltz into Jodis, and the other half of me (the accountant half) is glad I can pay rent! @Spanger - thanks, I do love beryl too - she has 2 crazy rays in her anal fin, and it's a touch long, but she's always ready to go (full of eggs) takes very little to condition, and has learnt a few tricks. She's had her first batch of fry (100+) that should be blues... I'm hoping she'll have given me a few more turq ladies to add to the fold. -Ness

Took the plunge at Officeworks and purchased not this shelving unit but this shelving unit: From Office works - 910 wide x 40 Deep and 180 H carries 350 KG PER SHELF!!! Very solid construction and took me about 20 mins and not reading the instructions to assemble. - $89 bucks! Get the one (not yet on the website) called "Geelong Shelving" the other boltless ones are a bit cheaper and don't look nearly as solid. Note: The shelves are reinforced ply with a laminate finish - so I didn't even have to waterproof anything. Rubber mallet was handy instead of a hammer (noise) god knows how I got transporte the grow out/spwn tanks on to shelves The great part about these (that might be applicable to 'Razzi's original queery about 2 tier low shelving) is that it splits in half. The side supports (180 cm high on my unit) are actually two 90cm high arms. So you can create two low units with 2 shelves, or a tall unit like mine with 5 shelves (I left the top one off) Anyway - hope this helps, I'm a bit of a fan of DIY (to the point of being called the mad professor at my house) Close up of the top shelf, huge supports and thick wide brackets with a clever pressure-fit system to lock it all in place. ....and who can complain with this gunmetal hammertone finish? I should work as a rep for this company! -Ness

Sounds like different strokes for different folks... I've had 9 beautifully (Low-Fi) scaped tanks with rocks, plants, substrate et al.... and loved knowing that each of my breeding betta have lived in 5 star setups, but "Mon Dieu!" Keping them scaped beautifully between water changes, and getting them as clean as possible, just wasn't as easy with the bare bottom tanks. I've succumb to a more "Japanese Zen Garden" approach, with bare bottoms (oooh!) and the occasional pile of strategic rocks and plants (still a big fan of live plants) Jarrod, go for it! If the 'scaping bug has a hold - get your fingers wrinkly, I'm sure we'd all love to live vicariously through your enormous tank. I've just put together my first sorority, and find myself watching the ladies together more than I do my flaring males! -Ness

That is a VERY impressive yellow snakeskin, that tail is nearly as long as his body! Lovely boy - These are my favorite guppy colours... beautiful boys. -Ness

yes yes yes that dorsal is insane. Ohhhhh yeah I'm feeling a victorian salamander butterfly contingent on-coming! He's beautiful Jess, I'd throw him in the spawn tank with lady dragon pants... ohh! think pink! -Ness

Dee, You're definitely in the right place to fall in love with Betta. The veil tails are what are most commonly available in LFS (Local Fish Stores) but do a little research into the Halfmoons and Super Deltas They might help you spend more money than you had intended to, but there is so much more fish to look at! See someone's youtube channel here There are also lots of talented breeders in your area - so keep an eye on the classifieds, these fish travel surprisingly well by courier! Welcome to the fold! -Ness

Hey Planted Pants, Great to have you here! I've got heavily planted tanks and more lo-fi than you'd imagine (I just throw lovely green things in and they either flourish or melt) You'll get used to the photo harassment, so let me introduce you gently, can we please see some pics? -Ness

Wayne, I want to respond to the silicone queery, but I've already hijacked this thread enough! Will look at a new thread in DIY for patching naughty tanks. Thanks! 'Razzi, I'm going to dive in and get one of the Office works shelves (found one on Gumtree, comes with tanks too! Yikes! more tanks....) I'll let you know how they fair. -Ness