melbournebetta

Hey Neffy, How's this tank coming along? Photo request! -Ness

Paul! (love it) -ehhem- They're great abby - what a nice update.. they're so colourful your tanks must look fantastic. Keep the pics coming! -Ness

Handsome PANTS!

I Lov Lov! he's brilliant - and the el-natural version of these frightening fishes: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/tattooed-fish-sold-as-lucky-charms-in-china.html (creepy) Lov is great & with his marble genes- maybe he'll morph into to LOL or BRB (etc)

Wooooo another copper pair - I think I have found my Achilles heel! -Ness

Looking fantastic! Interested in seeing how the first one goes with spawning - his colour is fantastic (is he ventral-less or is it just the pic?) Either way - how would you address the red through his colour, as I recall his mother was a lovely extended red wasn't she.... Would you try to enhance it to achieve a solid red-bicolour, or would you try to eliminate the red wash? (I ask as I have a total weakness for fish such as the second one shown - a metallic with the clear red "Devil" though the tail) Lovely fish.... you scored! - Ness

Thanks Joan! As I've downgraded from a divided 3ft display tank to individual 15 litre tanks for all my breeding betta, I thin I'll stick to my expensive Anubus on driftwood for now... but good to know about the fresh Oak! The big tank is looking beautiful, great layout too. Nice work - Ness

Hey Roshantosh, You aren't far away at all, I'm in Northcote! Hello local. Welcome to the forum, there are some seriously knowledgable fish-nerds here - it's great to share all your fishy conundrums with, and saves your friends pretending they're interested in your most recent spawn/tank/aquascape etc. (Hey MT - soon we will have a legion of Melbourne Fishy Ausaquatarians! ) -Ness

Hi Haiiley, Welcome to the forum, you've just had a crash-course with some of the local inhabitants, and their various quirks I see..... Have a good trawl through the clinic threads - there's more information that I care to mention about fin rot (I've done my fair share of contribution to the clinic topics on rot ) If you can upload photos onto facebook / flickr / etc then copy the image location (right click / crtl-click over the image once it's on there) and then use the little [insert image] icon in the forum text tools (above the box you type in) you'll satisfy Sarah and Busman, and the rest of our curiosity.... We're all little voyeurs wanting to see your beautiful fishes what their issues are, and what the progress is of their growth/healing/treatment etc. Plenty of knowledgeable members for serious advice - they've saved my tail a few times. All the best with your little guy. We might see you at the Vic Betta meeting in March? (see the other threads for meeting details too) - Ness

Looks fantastic! Now I know what to do with my tower, now that my new MacBook Pro laptop has arrived....... *purrrr*

Beautiful! I have a weak-spot for inky....

Neffy, It' looks fantastic! what a great starting point for all these plants to grow, I'm useless at the science of aquascaping - so I'm living vicariously through this thread. Is that pennywort up the back on the RHS? I had some that grew prolifically in front of my window... I had to keep throwing it to the goldfish outside. Great 'composition' can't wait to see it all grown up with some fish in it! I have a few HM's that'd love to move in! -Ness

Busman, They're lovely mate - loving the DDR form Great work - they'll be off to good homes for sure. - Ness

Hey Steven, I just replied to "Lyrical" who had spotted the same tank.... might be worth looking at the thread: - Ness

P.S. Sarah - on finding driftwood on the beach, have a good look through here and online for treatments of 'found' woods on the beach - I've always understood they're best boiled, submerged in fresh water for weeks, and then boiled and boiled and boiled. (: The same goes for rocks found at the beach (It's a bit naughty, you aren't supposed to remove things from the beach) I used to have a swag full of beautiful rocks accumulated over the years that I never used to do much to, beyond a little scrub and dump into my 4 ft Ruykin tank... thankfully my fish were tolerant of my novice antics and there weren't any casualties. I have a feeling my imported betta might be a little more opinionated.... Rocks need a good scrub (obviously) and then a good boiling for a few hours.... even then use with caution- rocks are porous and sponges for toxins. Having said all that - I'm a big over-sized pebble fan instead of gravel (makes it easier to clean up) and replicates the bottom of creeks and freshwater spaces Betta might have found in Thailand.... my bare-bottom tanks are testimony to my focus on the inhabitants not the interior design (and current laziness) I think my spawning tank is the most planted tank in the house! -Ness

Hey Neffy, Sorry to hear about loosing the little lady... but we can consider the loss of the plastic stump a "design oppertunity " (any major f-ups in design industry are considered blessings in disguise, otherwise you'd be tearing your hair out every 5 mins) I've got an external filter, but the intake / outlet are real eyesores, so I have managed to mask them in the past with strategic planting and driftwoods. Oh - that reminds me, have a look at Joan's tank that she's setting up at the moment, she explained that you can use Oak tree cuttings as driftwood! (yet to find out what treatment she uses to ensure they're safe to use) I was thinking about you last night and remembered this tank I'd seen a little while ago, it's very sweet. But with the image you just suggested, along with the 'free oak option' (time to get out the hack-saw) ...perhaps you could create something with more vertical forest looking design - which you can see is hiding the heater on the LHS You could get creative with visual obstructions in front of the filter (so long as it has flow, obviously) Oh dear, I get as excited about the design of aqu-ascaping as I do about new fish, this fishy pursuit has stepped firmly out of "hobby" into obsession. Despite the recent 'design opportunities' I can't wait to see where you go with it next. -Ness

Hello Mekongbetta, Welcome to another Victorian, be sure to keep an eye out for the Vic. meetings that are coming up (details here) Plenty of clever betta keepers on this forum, looking forward to seeing your fish! -Ness

Joan, The hand-saw came in handy then I see with the Oak? It looks great, I might start trying to identify the oaks in my area - did you have to treat them / boil / anything? I went back to that store that I mentioned had the Anubias on driftwood for very cheap- unfortunately it looks like they upped the price to something more reasonable... thanks anyway to that work experience kid for selling me stupid cheap driftwood ! Where do you buy your Java moss? I can't get enough of it (must stop buying tanks) ...but can't find a good supplier in my area. - Ness

Neffy The tank looks great, those ladies are lucky little gals in their sorority tank. As much as I love a heavily planted tank myself - I'm more of you're 'trial and error' kind of aquascaper... so on the technicallities of each plant I can't help you (sounds like there's plenty of people here that can!) but I do know a thing or two about design and layout... http://www.blueaquarium.org/ You've probably already seen this site - but the reoccurring elements in the designs I personally like are: asymmetry / tension / negative space / density Angled substrate (particularly from the back to the front) or as in this case higher on the left creates the illusion of depth Also the balance of extremely thick foliage that works only because there is this quiet negative space on the right. (Below) This one is beautiful, the balance here is met by planting all the way to the top of the surface and exposing the floor of the tank...along with opening up a passage way that we can see right through - yes its in the middle, but there is tension in the placement of the driftwood making the left hand side look as though it's pushing into the right. And.. this is beautiful too... I noticed that the tank ages are around 4 - 12 months old, so I'd love to have some regular updates of how this tank is evolving for you, and so we can see how it grows. As with any design in a geometric shape (Tank) - the best way to break it up is create a line of sight (like the image above) the first time you look at it, your eye travels around the tank, not just in one place, because the driftwood points your eye in another direction. So perhaps a strong piece of driftwood, placed at the back left (up high) and slanting toward the front right (something like that ) or more dense planting to one side? I haven't had much luck with driftwood myself - some mysterious reoccurring white slime got me paranoid, so I donated the wood to a hermit crab tank! I love what you've done with your tank, I know my betta gals wouldn't mind moving in at all! - Ness

Great to see another Melbournian joining the ranks, looking forward to show and tell - ness

Hello Aus Aqua, It's been about 5 hours since I last drooled over a live betta, and around 15 mins since my last visit to aquabid.com I don't so much need advice as to how to reduce my addition, as expand it! Since trawling the 'net for months, after advice, tips and info - I've come across Ausaqua... and you've answered all my questions, without me even needing to ask them. Let me introduce myself, I'm Ness.. I've always had a fish tank teeming with something-or-rather, since I can remember. My 3 foot tank even moved out with me years ago when I moved out of home, the 'team' comprised of Large Ryukin / Shubunkin / Blackmoor... Throughout my fish keeping, there's often been a little Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splenden) in his own custom made barrack or tank. Around a year ago I lost the a-team when they sprayed our house for Bora (white ant) after reassuring me it wasn't that toxic, they all went belly-up... except my mate "Tim" a lovely little old Crown Tail who is a lover, not a hater. For the next little while, every aquarium had pretty average stock, and I wasn't feeling the love - so I handed over the 4.5 foot tank and setup to the kid next door and focused elsewhere. ...until, well... I was doing a little "research" at work, and discovered Jodie-Lee's youtube channel. Oh dear. So the head-count by the end of Jan will be: Pair Salamander Butterfly HM - someone Pair of Extended Red OHM (he's a comb-tail) - someone Pair of Copper OHM (he's a rose tail) - Thailand import Pair of Royal Blue/Turquoise OHM Double-tail pair - Thailand import "Tim" 5 year old Copper Orchid Crowntail (SD) I'm really interested in the genetics of colour, but my focus is on form... I'm taking the hobby a step further (into obsession) and trying a few breeding pairs... after all the research and science, I realize there's still an intuitive element to successful pairings and fry raising. Looking forward to sharing my experiences with you, and gaining from your wealth of knowledge! Cheers, Ness