Tyrannosaurus

I wish I had thought about this before the conference, but what the heck, it is still relevant now. (I apologize if this came up in previous years, I haven't been around all that long.) But I thought that maybe it is time for the FNZAS to take some action to get those tiny 20 liter-ish tanks outlawed as 'goldfish' tanks in New Zealand. I've heard that in countries like Sweden and Germany, goldfish 'bowls' are illegal, but in New Zealand people are still selling tiny tanks and telling customers that the fish will 'grow into the tank'. Just today on TM I saw a 23 liter tank being touted as 'good for 3 goldfish'. This is obviously wrong and I'd say should be a crime. If they were selling puppies and telling people they could live in a closet all their lives, something would be done. Nothing is done when retailers sell people equipment not suited to the fish they are buying and essentially guarantee the deaths of the fish involved. Not only does it not make any sense, but its tantamount to animal cruelty. If any NZ body cares about the welfare of goldfish, surely FNZAS would be it. Have we tried to do something about this practice in NZ as yet? If not, should we? It's not so much the fact that these small tanks need to really be outlawed (they're awesome for fighters) but people should know that you can't put goldfish in them, and pet stores that perpetuate the lie should be punished for doing so.

Yeah, I was always splashing water everywhere with them, and keeping them clean meant taking out a bit of water. I do think they would probably be okay for just separated males maybe, but I'd prefer the coke bottle method after having tried both now.

I have hm, 5 males at the moment. Two are separate entirely in their own place, and a couple are separated but in bottles in a community tank with females. There doesn't seem to be much fighting at all as yet between the females, at least, not that has resulted in any serious fin nipping. Because there's a couple of males, the attention of the females is fairly split. The water movement in the barracks can be manipulated from a mere drip to a fairly steady stream capable of moving the fish's debris about the tank. The current is actually not bad, but I did find that many fish looked depressed and worse than that, cramped in them. I've gotten rid of mine with the caveat that they're only good for short term storage and early fry separation.

I took mine down last night, I didn't have them up long enough to lose any fish, but there's one female who still looks miserable from her short stay in there. Kind of an expensive mistake to make eh?

I always wondered about this, quite often the females get their breeding stripes on and I wonder if that is bad for them.

Yeah, the only way I have been keeping them clean is by siphoning out all the mess at the bottom of the tank daily. I do agree that the fish don't look overjoyed with them, there is an awful lot of filter noise too for such a small tank. I think that's kind of the death knell for the barracks, which is a pity. (I didn't put the fighters you sent down in there, Adodge, they're currently chasing danios about in the community tank quite happily. It's actually amazing how well they traveled.) Secondary question for anyone who knows: Is it okay to have males and female separated but in the same aquarium where they can see each other if you're not planning to breed?

Hi, Just wanted to know what experienced betta keepers thought of the Aqua One Betta Barracks as shown here: I've been trialling them for a few days and my results are mixed, some fish stay active in them, but look sort of stressed, others quickly go into 'lie there' mode, others don't seem too bothered. I like them for their convenience, but I'm not sure they're good for the fish. There's only 10cm by 10cm by 12cm of swimming space, after all. What say you guys?

Thanks Caryl I've already agreed to take them, so I'll put them in the 20 gallon long for now. I'll update the thread with some pics later.

We were visiting some friends and came across three goldfish they'd had for 2 years living in one of those little Marina tanks. You know, the ones that probably have a max 15 - 20 liter capacity and are always sold by idiot pet stores as goldfish tanks. Anyway, these three have managed to survive. There are two comet looking fish about 10 cm long and one bigger one that may or may not be a fantail that is at last 20 cm long. They barely have room to turn around in there, but aside from that, they actually all look very healthy and well. They apparently get 90% water changes every two weeks or so, and they've managed to grow in that, though they are probably still stunted I would guess. I said that I'd take them and find them new homes, (because anything has to be better than living in a tank that can fit about 5 neons in it). In the meantime, would it be better to put them in a 60 x 30 x 30 tank that I have, it's still not big, but it is at least 2.5 times bigger than what they're currently in, or should I move my 10 danios and fighter fish into that tank and give the goldfish the 20 gallon long I have. Also, whilst I am at it, does anyone have a pond in Christchurch that would have room for these guys? One's a very pretty koi colored fish that looks lovely, the others are just your stock standard orange goldfish.

Keep us updated! It will be interesting to see what you can come up with.

I'm by no means an expert, but the fish I have was produced by crossing a dark bodied, red finned crowntail with a purple / red female that carried the blue / green genes as well. There were no obvious short finned genes in that pool, but this little guy popped out anyway. I know that when you breed animals like pigeons, wild type is usually only a few out-crossings away. It wouldn't surprise me if betta fish were similar, but I could be wildly wrong.

I could be crazy, but doesn't interbreeding very quickly make fish revert to wild type? I refer to one of my own spawns that looks a lot like the picture, not quite as dramatic with the red in the fins, but already getting very close back to the wild type coloring, wouldn't you say?: http://imgur.com/vaBFG.jpg (Leaving a url, because the image thing is broken.)

Good news everybody... it works fine.

Accidentally left the top of an eheim ecco submerged in a bucket of water for 10 minutes. Is this now a death trap, or will it be okay once it dries out?

Thanks for the encouragement guys

This is one of the fry from my very first betta spawn, he is 6 months old now and he may not win any awards, but I'm pretty proud of him. In this picture he is flaring at his sister, who he apparently finds very attractive indeed. Apologies for the water stained glass.

:lol: I'm sensing the beginning of an exciting new morbid trend in fish tank decor

Sounds like a simple case of constipation then? I'm really glad your guy is looking and feeling better, that is great!

Wow, I'd love to see pictures of the other marbles too. Really great fish you are breeding!

I'll preface this by saying that I am an almost complete newbie. Also, you say your fish is getting better, so none of this might be relevant at all. However I have had a fish who presented with the same symptoms your boy has, and maybe this will shed some light if his condition doesn't improve after all. This looks precisely like what one of my very first bettas probably would have died of if I had not euthanized him. (He was hanging on, but I'm not of the inclination to keep fish around to die slow, painful deaths.) If you visit Ultimate Bettas, you'll see that they call it 'Mystery Bloat'. It's sort of like dropsy in the way it presents, but you just get a steady, slowly increasing swelling at the lower front of the fish where his belly is, usually no pineconing. http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?showtopic=29190 Here's a pretty informative thread related to it. With my guy, I tried a range of vet prescribed medications, including trichozole. Also tried epsom salt baths. I added a little salt to his water. I gave him daily water changes. I was really very fond of him and wanted him to live badly. He was the first betta I ever owned and the daddy of the first spawn I ever had. Nothing worked. He developed a secondary infection with white cottony fungus and I decided it was better to euthanize at that point. The cruel thing about this seems to be that the fish hangs around so active and happy for such a long time, but quite heinously bloated. He would eat, flare, and swim about, but eventually he started looking miserable, though to be honest, I think that may have been from all the treatments more than the bloating itself. Throwing bunches of medications at a fish in this state doesn't seem to help much. You can try a range of treatments, unfortunately, as far as I know, there's basically a 0% recovery rate. I would advise (and again, take this with a pinch of salt because I am a newbie,) to minimize treatments and keep him comfortable as possible in clean water until his time comes. Just my two cents. I sincerely hope your outcome is better than mine.

I love marbles. It's great to watch them morph over time. Great fish!

Interesting, probably a good place to start for a beginner, I guess too. Thanks!

Heh, now I have two conflicting statements, one that they're over priced, the other that they're brilliant Thanks for weighing in It certainly is tempting, I might do a little more research and experimentation before I leap into lighting.

These are absolutely stunning! Congratulations!

Thanks for the reply Sam To answer your first question, my response is only 'I don't know, plants?' Maybe I should research plants a bit better before I buy lights. I'm willing to spend maybe 150 or so, I'm just a beginner and don't really want to drop a whole lot of cash on something (unless it is entirely necessary and worth it.) Aesthetics are somewhat secondary to me. I'm not great at DIY, but I know a guy Ideally I'm looking for an 'out of the box' set up, but if there is a better way to do it with not too much technical know how involved, I'd do that. I think I saw one of your set ups Sam, that just had three lamps over the tank. Would something like that work in this instance?