splendidbetta

Cloudy ammonia is not safe to use because it contains detergent.

Welcome back Thomas :)

I do not know what to think of Easy-Life. It does claim a lot of functions, despite advertising that it is safe for children to drink undiluted, and that "it does not contain any chemicals". I could not find any information about the specific ingredients in it. But I also could not find an ingredients list for Aqua Star. Does anyone know where this info can be found?

I use Aqua Star from AOA:

https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/water_conditoners.php

Sometimes I use IAL extract.

From what I could find, Water Lettuce, Pistia stratiotes, is legal in Victoria and SA. It looks and grows in a similar way to Salvinia.

I once got some Pistia stratiotes from my local Bunnings gardening section.

Shutterbugs: http://ausaqua.net/forum/index.php?showforum=32

I buy my brine shrimp eggs from http://www.primo.net.au

The one I bought was "INVE GSL Artemia AAA <90% 425g Can $65.00". The hatch rate is great.

See http://www.primo.net.au/?page=catlist&id=1

A group could pool their funds together to buy a can and divide it amongst themselves, or sell small portions of it.

Lots of otherwise good fish shops sell stuff out of ignorance. If the fish are healthy and of good quality, and the products are good and reasonably priced, you can still shop there. Just don't rely on their advice, and independently learn more about things before you buy them :welcome:

LOL I drink very little. I just collect from friends and family :dontknow:

At certain concentrations, clove oil is an irritant. If you don't want to see your betta thrashing around violently in the solution, do not try it at doses bellow that used for culling.

(Unless you know the sedative dose and don't intend to kill your betta)

I use 2L coke bottles, unfiltered. I replace 100% of the water daily or every second day.

It does look suspiciously masculine. Have you tried to look for ovaries?

Fish do have arteries in their fins, albeit small ones. See the top of page 289.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=I7WhoP...nce&f=false

I have found papers explicitly confirming the existence of sensory and motor nerves in fins. I have not been able to find anything about pain-receptors in fins. However, it makes no sense that such large and delicate parts of the anatomy would not have pain receptors.

Fish fins often get damaged naturally, and they have the remarkable ability to heal and regenerate easily. I do not agree with trimming fins for aesthetic purposes, for example to reduce the length of the anal and dorsal fins to make them match a show standard. But I am fine with doing it to improve the fish's wellbeing :D

Yes, that's right

If the pectoral length trait is partially/intermediately dominant, the length may be different between heterozygotes and homozygotes.

The pectoral length trait might even be multifactorial, so it's possible that it will take more than 2 generations to see a noticeable increase in length.

As far as naming them after me, that would be awesome However I think the Thai's have already done this, because I have seen HMs with abnormally large pectorals, but I do not know how they made them.

This is the Red Dragon HMPK male that I bought from Nina at one of the Melbourne Betta Gatherings

Cheers :)

This is the red VT with the long pectoral fins that I am experimenting with, to learn about the genetics of long pectorals, as well as to try to develop the trait into HM and HMPK.

He is currently in the spawn tank with this green Symmetrical Halfmoon Plakat female bred by Aquastar71: http://superbbettas.com/Breeding%20Stock%2...01/P2063330.jpg

My hope is that the short anal fin and strong caudal fin traits that this female carries will compensate for the fact that her mate is a VT. I also suspect that developing HMs with long pectorals will be much easier using HMPK, since they are more robust, and the effect of the environment on their fin shape is much less. It will also be interesting to see if the HMPKs are able to express the long pectoral trait to any degree. I think long pectorals with a wider spread would look much better at about half the length of the VT's.

Cheers :(

You can start feeding BBS from free swimming stage until 3 months.

You can start feeding other foods from 3 weeks onwards, as long as the size is suitable.

VE and MW are good first foods, but I have never needed them. I feed my fry BBS the day they start free swimming, and they have learned to eat it by the day after free swimming.

A betta is never too old for BBS in my opinion. But other foods are more practical beyond a certain size.

Welcome :)

That's a really nice setup :blink:

Awesome, thanks

Do you need to change the water? I wouldn't think that's a good idea as it would remove the babies.

Thanks

So only the first few layers are submerged? Do the upper layers stay moist?

Thanks for the pics

Is the sponge porous enough for the worms to go through layers?

Sarcasm, Lissa?

Anyway, I've changed my sig banner dimensions and made my avatar look nicer :)

Is my current sig acceptable?

I found this:

2. Soilless method These types of bedding include open cell foam blocks, such as that sold for use with aquarium filters, and green scrubber pads, or even filter floss. I have recently begun an open cell foam culture and a green scrubber pad culture. Both are proceeding nicely.

:)