I'm new here!
I found the link on google while looking for freshwater fish resources, this place has a massive amount of impressive information.
Recently my girlfriend bought me a 10 gallon tank as a christmas present. She also bought a pretty male blue betta that had no home other than a small container. So we setup the tank and started aging the tap water that I put in it. The tank was not seeded with anyone elses rocks/gravel because we don't know anyone with a tank or that was interested in sharing some of their gravel.
She bought the tank, filter, heater, thermometer, gravel, decorations (few fake plants and a piece of drift wood) at Wal-mart. Now I know Wal-mart has a bad rep for selling fish but she said that girl seemed very knowledgeable and she said she owned 4 55 gallon community tanks and had been rearing fish for years. I'm wondering if she wasn't just telling her a pile of lies because I'm aware that tanks should 'cycle' first before putting your fish in. The wal-mart girl told her to let the tank run for 48 hours and then take the water in for her to test it. Then we could put the betta in and in a short while we could put some other fish in that make good tank mates with the betta (she didn't say how long).
So in 48 hours we took the water into wal-mart to have it tested out and they said the water was no good (it was a different person that my girlfriend had talked too). The ph levels and ammonia levels were too high. We need to make sure we have good water before we can put the fish in the tank. So I bought some things to test the water and treat the water myself. The chemical based ph tester and chemical based ammonia tester. So when I got home I took some samples of the water and tested it (I did it 5 different times). I filled the test tube with the water and tested it, according to the color the water turned when I added the indicator, it looks to be about 6.6-6.8. When the girl tested it she said it over 8 and the color of the water at wal-mart was dark blue. Whats going on here? It didn't appear to us that she cleaned the test tubes that she used at wal-mart or even make sure they were totally empty of contaminated water.
So when I tested the ammonia levels, I am getting a 0 ppm reading for ammonia, I was told that if I could get the ph around 6.8 and the ammonia at 0 I could put fish in the tank because it was now safe. I am wondering why my water was so different at wal-mart, the employee made me feel pretty stupid and that I shouldn't own fish. We followed every single instruction we could get our hands on.
So the temperature of my tank is around 75F and I tested the water one more time before I put the Betta in the tank. He seems fairly healthy even though he was almost cat food for my girlfriend's cat (thank god he was in a sealed container with a hole in it).
So we put the betta in to help bring up the bio-life in the tank, the betta seems to like the tank alot but he seems to be hanging around the heater an awful lot. The tank is in a basement and this is a cold climate here...canada and my basement does get a little cold. The therometer is on the opposite side of the tank from the heater and it reads 74F at the moment. Again, we were told by Wal-mart to have the tank run in the "green" which is 70-75 on the termometer. Is my betta cold?
So we let the betta establish himself in the tank and he seems to enjoy the heater and the drift wood log which he goes inside constantly. I like the betta alot, hes so beautiful!
So, I did some reading about some good tankmates for the betta. I fould out that tetras, cories and such make good tank mates with the betta. So armed with little information we went back to Wal-mart and picked out some tankmates for the betta. I don't know if we got the right tankmates or not or if any of them were a good idea. I've become attached to my betta and I don't want something to happen to him because of who is in the tank with him now.
Right now we have the following in the tank:
-3 fruit tetras 2 females and 1 male (are these guys dyed?)
-1 betta male
-1 bala shark
-2 algae eaters
-2 dwarf frogs
-2 snails
Should I take the bala shark back? Will walmart even take him back? I read that he can grow really big really fast? If I don't take him back should I get another and make them a pair? The bala shark seems lonely, even scared of the active tetras.
Are these tetras dyed? They are pink and pretty. I can't believe I bought a dyed fish, why the hell are people allowed to sell something like that? Seems cruel to me, walmart said they were not dyed, they are called 'Fruit Tetras'. I think I will keep them even if they are dyed because its not their fault that they were dyed by a human. Its the human's fault =\
Were the dwarf frogs a bad idea? They seem to like the tank and like to play in the little ship wreck that is in the tank. Should I have something on the surface for them to sit on? I know amphibians like to go above the surface sometimes.
The algae eaters and snails seem pretty common additions to a community tank. Any problems?
So are these all bad tankmates for my betta? I was going to get corries and tetras but walmart never had any and our only other pet store has no fish. Is the betta and bala going to start fighting? I've noticed that male tetra seems to be harrasing the betta sometimes, he swims over by him but the betta only needs to turn around and hes on the move. The tetras are schooling together and look great, should I get another so they don't have the third wheel male?
I'm all ready considering buying a new tank in a few months since I'm reading that the bigger the better. I need to save some money though because I'm only a poor university student.... hehe
I found the link on google while looking for freshwater fish resources, this place has a massive amount of impressive information.
Recently my girlfriend bought me a 10 gallon tank as a christmas present. She also bought a pretty male blue betta that had no home other than a small container. So we setup the tank and started aging the tap water that I put in it. The tank was not seeded with anyone elses rocks/gravel because we don't know anyone with a tank or that was interested in sharing some of their gravel.
She bought the tank, filter, heater, thermometer, gravel, decorations (few fake plants and a piece of drift wood) at Wal-mart. Now I know Wal-mart has a bad rep for selling fish but she said that girl seemed very knowledgeable and she said she owned 4 55 gallon community tanks and had been rearing fish for years. I'm wondering if she wasn't just telling her a pile of lies because I'm aware that tanks should 'cycle' first before putting your fish in. The wal-mart girl told her to let the tank run for 48 hours and then take the water in for her to test it. Then we could put the betta in and in a short while we could put some other fish in that make good tank mates with the betta (she didn't say how long).
So in 48 hours we took the water into wal-mart to have it tested out and they said the water was no good (it was a different person that my girlfriend had talked too). The ph levels and ammonia levels were too high. We need to make sure we have good water before we can put the fish in the tank. So I bought some things to test the water and treat the water myself. The chemical based ph tester and chemical based ammonia tester. So when I got home I took some samples of the water and tested it (I did it 5 different times). I filled the test tube with the water and tested it, according to the color the water turned when I added the indicator, it looks to be about 6.6-6.8. When the girl tested it she said it over 8 and the color of the water at wal-mart was dark blue. Whats going on here? It didn't appear to us that she cleaned the test tubes that she used at wal-mart or even make sure they were totally empty of contaminated water.
So when I tested the ammonia levels, I am getting a 0 ppm reading for ammonia, I was told that if I could get the ph around 6.8 and the ammonia at 0 I could put fish in the tank because it was now safe. I am wondering why my water was so different at wal-mart, the employee made me feel pretty stupid and that I shouldn't own fish. We followed every single instruction we could get our hands on.
So the temperature of my tank is around 75F and I tested the water one more time before I put the Betta in the tank. He seems fairly healthy even though he was almost cat food for my girlfriend's cat (thank god he was in a sealed container with a hole in it).
So we put the betta in to help bring up the bio-life in the tank, the betta seems to like the tank alot but he seems to be hanging around the heater an awful lot. The tank is in a basement and this is a cold climate here...canada and my basement does get a little cold. The therometer is on the opposite side of the tank from the heater and it reads 74F at the moment. Again, we were told by Wal-mart to have the tank run in the "green" which is 70-75 on the termometer. Is my betta cold?
So we let the betta establish himself in the tank and he seems to enjoy the heater and the drift wood log which he goes inside constantly. I like the betta alot, hes so beautiful!
So, I did some reading about some good tankmates for the betta. I fould out that tetras, cories and such make good tank mates with the betta. So armed with little information we went back to Wal-mart and picked out some tankmates for the betta. I don't know if we got the right tankmates or not or if any of them were a good idea. I've become attached to my betta and I don't want something to happen to him because of who is in the tank with him now.
Right now we have the following in the tank:
-3 fruit tetras 2 females and 1 male (are these guys dyed?)
-1 betta male
-1 bala shark
-2 algae eaters
-2 dwarf frogs
-2 snails
Should I take the bala shark back? Will walmart even take him back? I read that he can grow really big really fast? If I don't take him back should I get another and make them a pair? The bala shark seems lonely, even scared of the active tetras.
Are these tetras dyed? They are pink and pretty. I can't believe I bought a dyed fish, why the hell are people allowed to sell something like that? Seems cruel to me, walmart said they were not dyed, they are called 'Fruit Tetras'. I think I will keep them even if they are dyed because its not their fault that they were dyed by a human. Its the human's fault =\
Were the dwarf frogs a bad idea? They seem to like the tank and like to play in the little ship wreck that is in the tank. Should I have something on the surface for them to sit on? I know amphibians like to go above the surface sometimes.
The algae eaters and snails seem pretty common additions to a community tank. Any problems?
So are these all bad tankmates for my betta? I was going to get corries and tetras but walmart never had any and our only other pet store has no fish. Is the betta and bala going to start fighting? I've noticed that male tetra seems to be harrasing the betta sometimes, he swims over by him but the betta only needs to turn around and hes on the move. The tetras are schooling together and look great, should I get another so they don't have the third wheel male?
I'm all ready considering buying a new tank in a few months since I'm reading that the bigger the better. I need to save some money though because I'm only a poor university student.... hehe