Nokternl Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hi all, I'm a new owner of 2 male fighters and a few tropical fish. Am interested in learning more about the fish (Bettas specifically) so I thought I'd sign up and meet some people with more experience with these beautiful fish. I've got the males in 2 large tanks and a single large tank (filter and heater) for the other tropical fish (3 Zebra Danois, 4 Black Neon Tetras and a Golden Algae Eater). Take care Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Welcome to AusAqua Jason! There's some pretty experienced Betta keepers on here Jason so just ask your questions and you'll get plenty of good answers.... What colour / fin type are your males? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGirl13 Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hi and welcome Jason, the guys here are brilliant. Haven't found a better forum for Bettas yet (lame i know!!) Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey mate. Loved Fremantle. Welcome to the forum. Sure you will find lots of useful info here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nokternl Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Here's my 2 Bettas. I know very little about what sort of bettas are what, but I'm trying to learn. I think that King (blue/red) is a Crowntail, and that Illurya is a Veiltail... but apart from that, please help! Also, do they look OK? I guess they're a bit sad and sorry for themselves since just being moved around into their new tanks but seem to be picking up... they are bubble nesting like crazy (especially King!) King Illurya Am looking at what lighting to get. Should you always light them from above? Is a CC Fluro or 2 enough to adequately light them? I've read that the lights should be on an 8 hour timer during the day and off overnight, I assume this is correct for trying to help them get a good day/night cycle? I'm actually quite a night owl, so I assume it doesn't matter too much if I have the lighting on from say 4pm-midnight (they will have some light but not a great deal from daylight hours), or am I best to leave them at a standard sort of 12-8pm time? Thanks very much, hope my questions aren't too newbie Take care, and merry xmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Nice boys you have there.... King could be a crowntail but hard to see his tail clearly to see if he is Crowntail or Combtail.... the other guy (can't pronounce his name) is a veil tail.... by the look of the bubble nests they must be reasonably happy in their surroundings Time to get them girlfriends! Just a normal fluoro light is fine for them unless you are growing plants that need special lighting.... the lights are more for you to see them with - they are ok with duller lighting really... re timing the lights - just have them on when you will be around to see the fish and off when you're at work.... too much light and you can end up with algae growing.... Questions aren't too newbie at all If you use the search facility on the forum there are many great posts full of info on Bettas (and other fish) that will help you too... but never be afraid to ask if you can't find something... everyone on here is tolerant of newbies as we were all in that category once .... And Merry Christmas to you too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Hi there. You have a couple of handsome boys there. Illurya (shouldn't you have saved the name for a girl? ) is definitely a veiltail. From what can be seen of King, I would say he is a crowntail. Feel free to ask as many questions as possible. I've always found there was someone who had an answer for me whenever I had questions! Merry Christmas!!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nokternl Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 (edited) The story behind Illurya is basically the start of the whole Betta thing for me. At a friend's wedding they had vases with a betta swimming around on each guest table. I knew nothing about the fish but thought it seemed a little mean. Not all the fish survived (and we spent most of the night watching a dead one at our table unfortunately) and at the end of the night some guests were 'gifted' the fish. I know, most of you would be cringing at this story (sorry) but that's how Illurya came into our lives. We brought "her" home and sorted out a vase (all we had around), got some food and proceeded to nurse him slowly back to health. It actually took me quite some time (we've had her for about a year now) to really get caught by the whole idea of keeping bettas/fish in general, but now I find myself researching/checking out pet stores/wondering what can be done to make our fish happier! So, we thought Illurya was a girl (girls are prettier, right?) until about a week ago when we walked into a pet store that's closing down around the corner from us... saw a *really* cheap fish tank (double tank for bettas), which led me to the Bettas for sale... none of which I liked... which led me new tank in hand to another 2 pet stores looking for a friend for Illurya (whom I had now been told was male, haha). So, enter King, the most awesome looking Betta I found across 3 pet stores in perth. Of course, then I started my research... and the cheap-ass 2 betta tank I had bought is still empty since I don't want to subject my bettas to a 15cm cubed home each. Now we have 3 large brandy glass shaped 'tanks' from a homewares store, one each for Illurya and King and one for the tropical fish I decided we needed to get because they were cute (haha) and filter/heater... Sort of considering getting a big(ger) proper tank to move the tropical fish into (read: to get more pretty coloured tropical fish), and to free up a brandy glass for another betta (female anyone?) and trying to talk myself out of having a go at breeding them to try for some really pretty colours. Of course I know that there will be quite a large expense for the 'trying', and I wouldn't want to do it dodgily, we are talking about living creatures here! Pretty ones at that! I am a little scared at the prospect of ending up with 100-300 little fish needing 100-300 containers to separate them! Are any of you breeding bettas on a small scale (hobby only) who could shed some light on whether the above "nightmare" of mine is actually correct? Would there happen to be any of you local in Perth? Also, I am heading to Bali for 4 days shortly... I know the bettas are fairly big there as well as Thailand... obviously I can't bring any back with me, but is there anything you know of that's really useful aquarium/betta wise that I could/should source in Bali and legally bring back? Thanks! Edited December 30, 2010 by Nokternl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nokternl Posted December 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 I shall start a thread in the general forum with some of the questions I now have... but I noticed that I don't have access to the "Coffee Shop" through not being an approved member. I seem to have access to everything else. Is this usual? Am back from Bali now, and have since made a nice little purchase that I'll put in another post with my questions. Thanks in advance for your help/answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Ha ha ha. Caught the bug. Breeding on a small scale? Wish I could tell mine how many fry to have..........they just don't listen. I do fortune reading on the side and will offer you a look into the future............ In the near future I can see LOTS of containers all over your house. Water, water everywhere. You are so busy, no time for anything else, water changes to be done. Quick I still have to organize a fresh batch of BBS. your friends eyes glaze over whenever they talk to you because you only talk about fish. Oh, forgot about new barracks system I am going to build, how do I do that? Where was I? Oh, that's right, welcome to our world!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.