#betta plakat

[photozoi]

Originally, when setting up the 30 gallon tank, we got three tiny little threadlike Kuhli loaches. Two darker (above) and one lighter in colour. They are now big Chunkus Wyrms and thriving.

Just before the holiday we got a tiny, threadlike singleton Kuhli loach, rescued from being an "only loach" in a bare tank (no hidey spots.) He had buried himself in the group of Pygmy corys that were freaking out in the back of the tank as well. (Kuhli loaches need friends and hidey places.)

We brought them all home, Pygmy corys and tiny loach. I was concerned for the tiny thread who promptly disappeared into the vegetation in the tank. We did not see him for three weeks.

However, he has resurfaced!

And he is at least four times larger than when he was last seen diving into the foliage! How did he survive the Guppy Threat?

His protector, Wyatt, Bestest Betta in the Fishiverse.

Wyatt has been stuffing loach wafers under the Spiderwood, and chasing off the Guppies when they get obnoxious. And now that Tiniest Loach is starting to explore more of the tank, his bodyguard is never far from his side.

(Last photo shows Wyatt warning off a Guppy while Tiniest Loach peeks out from under the Spiderwood.)

[aeriona]

Got a fancy new book on fishkeeping over the weekend which prompted this study (that i spent too much time on whoops).

[shrimpapalooza]

💙💙 Beau 💙💙

[picturesoffishandotherthings]

Piccolo seems fascinated by the gravel today. Maybe he's hunting snails. I've seen him try to eat them a few times. Maybe he's finally figured it out.

[headlessandhellbent]

PERRL update 22.09.24

Beauty? Check

Grace? Check

Tumor? Also check 😩

PERRL can't decide if they want to turn blue or not and have just been continuously morphing between blue and white every week. Still refuses to touch blood worms, and will try to viscously attack me if I walk by the tank but will swim away scared so fast if I dare get close to the tank to say hello 🤷🏻‍♀️

[battfishe]

pretty boy my girlfriend and I saw today, he came right up to the glass and struck some poses in the light to show off the beautiful blue luster on his scales for us

(bonus pics of him in different lighting under the cut)

[pallanophblargh]

Maximus’ common sense does not include water siphons. Not to worry, he’s not in any danger.

[d-structive]

So, the past Saturday I went to "PetsFestival", an international pets-related expo that was happening not too far from where I live. Haven't visited it in a while. I was used to go almost every year, but after a while, we skipped it. Last time, it was three and something years ago.

And I got two bettas for my empty tanks. :D (Big Red, my fancy goldfish comes from there. Same breeding where these two bettas come from.). I love em.

[chipped-chimera]

Today in fish nonsense! 🐟🐠- Tank is good to go! Cool wood piece is cleaned and time to spend way too long on a plan painting.

More below the cut.

Tank has been set up, leak tested so it's good to go (after I overhauled the layout of my office ... still dealing with the fallout of that though lol) and the piece of jarrah/mirra? wood that my Dad grabbed from the tree he cut down on a farm (noting this specifically because it's actually now illegal to commercially harvest Jarrah in my state - this was on private property so it's legal) has had the absolute crap scrubbed out of it - I mean literally, in the process I found yet another interesting hole in it so that's cool, then high-pressure blasted with water so I am finally ready to think about scaping.

Which apparently means spending longer than I should drawing a plan lol. This piece is super awkward to work with I think - while functionally interesting it has a silhouette that makes me oscillate between 'boring' and 'awkward'. After talking to some artist friends, generally it was agreed I'd need to put more stuff in there to actually make it look better, right now naked glass is super harsh. Problem is, rocks and wood? Well in the aquarium hobby that shit is expensive. We're talking 60 AUD+ for pieces of wood. I mean they are fully cleaned and treated (?) and selected for being interesting, but I have a budget and I'd like to save as much of it as I can for more than just harscape sooooo planning is just the right idea here.

Thinking seiryu stone because I looooove the white veining through it, and then for the branches to break up the shape it's probably going to be spiderwood or something (as much as I love mopani wood I don't think it usually sells branched like this - but I will watch out for it) but the good part is these pieces are all probably going to be on the smaller side since I have my huge hunk of feature wood for free.

I don't know how this piece of wood will interact with inhabitants, I've soaked it for probably a month at this point to get a large amount of the tannins out (and I know it waterlogs, which is great because I won't have to play 'how long will this take to sink') but also to help the looser material come off so all I'm left with now is the hard stuff. It's also now sitting in the sun (and I mean sun - it is going to be 40C today and the next few days so that shit is gonna bake 💀) but prior to that has been sitting in the sun either here or the farm for a total of about idk ... at least a month? Maybe more?

I've struggled to find information on whether Jarrah or Mirra wood is safe beyond one post on a forum where someone-who-knew-someone at a local fish shop had put a piece of this in his store tank and all the fish died. Beyond that? no more context. According to my freshwater ecologist friend I caught up with, she thinks it's probably going to be okay given the amount of time/work put in. I have not done a bleach soak and I don't think I really need to given the amount of time it's been soaking in regular tap water (so already contains chlorine) and sun exposure. There will still probably be tannin leakage into the water but I'm okay with having a mild blackwater tank after seeing one in my LFS, I actually like the slight tannin tint of water and how it makes everything a little 'softer'. But I do ACTUALLY want to be able to see though lmao. I've also seen Jarrah seed pods sold locally specifically for blackwater tank setups so it might be fine?

Either way the plan is going to be: Scape, plant, cycle and then introduction of some cheap shrimp as my poor guinea pigs to see if that wood actually is awful.

Right now I'll just have to painstakingly go through plant choices and placement and making sure it lines up with the planned parameters for the community. I absolutely will take suggestions btw.

More soon. Fish nonsense will contain fish ... at some point. I swear lmao.

[mandsleanan]

Partner and I were very responsible- we went to the region's autumn Reptile Expo, and only left with one betta.

I always recommend people visit expos and trade shows, even if the primary focus is only tangentially related to your interests. I don't keep herps and I'm a novice with terrariums, but we like to go to gawk at what vendors bring and I peruse the horticulture offerings while Partner looks at the curiosities. Most people specialize in more than one thing, so it's like a treasure hunt.

First row I hit the jackpot- a reptile vendor who bred bettas on the side.

I must have spent fifteen minutes chatting with the owner and trying to decide which one I wanted. I was torn between a bicolor rosetail and a veiltail with coloring I'd never seen before. Since I couldn't decide I asked my partner to pick. They weren't interested in either of those, instead they were completely taken with a tiny male koi plakat shoved to the side in the first row. Not one I would have chosen but then I did hand the reins over.

Thus Mulberry entered our lives.

Frankly I think he should have been a cull. He's runty compared to the other stock the vendor was offering, and his mouth doesn't seem to be constructed quite right. He struggles to grab food. Truly a scrungly little man.

Then two days into quarantine I can't find the little fucker. It's a 5.5 tank. It's tightly covered. Filled with plants but not so dense I can't find a fish. Not behind the small internal filter, either. That left the filter itself. But there was no reason for him to enter, and it would be a tight fit even for a wee plakat. I opened the top and started pulling out parts anyway. Yep, saw a flash of scales in the murk.

Genius boy had somehow gotten past the two media plates in front and was in the main body, unable to escape. Brilliant little man.

God's Perfect Idiot.

[ainawgsd]

Poor Shinta is not having a fantastic fishie Friday. He wants to know where all his plants have gone!

[photozoi]

Four days til Fishmas! Is your tree decorated?

[shrimpapalooza]

He's gorgeous I love him so much

[picturesoffishandotherthings]

Feeding time!

PSA: Bettas are very intelligent fish. They all have different personalities, likes and dislikes. What works with one, might not work for another.

In this case, Piccolo doesn't give a fuck about guppies. In the beginning I put him in this tank temporarily, because he was wrongly delivered to me. I left him in there after seeing he doesn't mind the guppies and he's been there for a year now. Even if he didn't, I have many tanks, I could have put him in another.

That being said, if you only have one tank, do not keep guppies and Bettas together. Most Bettas do NOT like guppies. It's often unhealthy for the guppies (torn fins) and stress for the betta.

[headlessandhellbent]

PERRL is making a fabulous recovery. Gaining some body mass, colors deepening, being more active and curious...

Look at that unclamped ventral fin! The second time I've seen it unclamped since adoption day.

[oddinry]

i have a son now