Shelley

sounds like an amorous fish to me

*mops up the drool* what an absolutely fabulous arrangement......I absolutely LOVE these fish!

I am kicking myself for not having bought a beautiful male at Animates when I was in Christchurch weekend before last.....The Moorhouse Ave animates that is. I bought 2 female bettas from Ferry Road maybe 2 months ago....one is shaping up to be possibly male. There is a filthy tank full of poor sad looking fish at Critter Kingdom in Blenheim Road. I am going to write to the manager about the state of the tanks.....I was upset about other stuff on the day and couldn't face an abusive sales person if I complained directly...but came out of there feeling very sad. Lots of dead fish in various tanks, many being canabalised.....and in the wee tiny containers holding individual male fighters....maybe 4 dead ones..... and several very very sick sad depressed looking fish....with bigger price tags than animates (beautiful healthy looking males for $14.95....damn I wish I had bought that beautiful boy!) Haven't been to Redwoods for a while. I did visit Animates off Blenheim Road too and can't remember if they had any fighters....if they did they can't have been that spectacular.

i think you've got 2 males.....I had a 'female' like yours....that practically ate all the males I ever put 'her' with......until the penny dropped that she was actually a he....i put her with another female and he was one happy fish! It is deceiving when you cant see those long flowing fins but it is just the type of fighter he is. I have another 2 females now and I'm not sure but I think one of them might turn out to be a male also, her/his colour is much deeper and the ventral fins are long like in your fish....i am feeding them up on brineshrimp now which also helps bring the colour out and condition them a bit which might make it easier to see which is which. good luck

I'm so jealous! What gorgeous fishies!!!

That is one SPECTACULAR looking fish! Congratulations!

yeah...personally i don't get it....fish shops have walls of tanks and although male fighters will kill each other they are a pretty peaceful fish in with others....there are only 'some' other fish that give the fighters a hard time so why can't they put a male fighter in each of the 50 odd tanks (even if you minus the 10 or so that might have incompatable fish)?

Well I'm actually just north of Temuka, sort of between the dairy factory at Clandeboye and the main road at Orari. I have been in the South Canterbury area for 20 odd years. I like Temuka too. Mark are you a member of the fish group in Timaru? Sod it! I've just realised I missed the meeting which would have been this Tuesday just gone. Paul had said he might go too. Would very much like to get some more fish, but it won't be for a little while yet. My female sword died the other day (damn it all, she was about to drop some fry too). The tank need some more bright colour....ohhhhhh have you seen the sweetest wee sunset honey gouramis (is that what they are?) so so pretty!

I have some better pictures of Richard now and am sure he is a bloke as opposed to a sheila! Phillz I've got a shot with his 'ventral' (???is that right) fins....and i have what I am pretty sure is a female in the mesh breeder as they introduce themselves!. She is behaving more like a female in that she does this funny backward dance thing with her head bowed low and her tail up....it is quite hard to see what her colour is doing behind that gauze stuff because she her colour has intensified since showing off to Richard. She does have the little white opening at her vent. He hasn't guilt her a bubble nest yet but is looking mighty impressed (at long last you stupid woman,....says Richard...... you've brought me a female and not another male! lol :lol: I'll let you know how it goes. Here's the pics. http://photobucket.com/albums/y128/smee2004/?sc=1

lol yes I called in there a day or so back and they do have some interesting new stock.....so what did you bring home with you? I was VERY good and didn't buy anything....but I've added a few things to my want list

Heehee...Rachel, I live about 10 minutes drive from you! Yes the Timaru shop is much improved. I had a trip to Christchurch last week and had a quick squiz at the shops....actually they were looking pretty grotty last week which was disappointing, although animates shops are always clean with nice looking tanks. Happy fishing

Excellent help there Alan...and great to hear of your success Shannon....isn't this exciting stuff!

Niloc....great fish by the way but what I really wanted to ask was about the filter you have. I want a 'soft' filter for the breeding tank. I was told a sponge filter is the way to go so I got one, but the damned thing bubbles like mad in much the same way as an undergravel filter. I really cant afford to be buying more filters right now but want to get the breeding tank set up....it is only a small tank, and I have it only half full of water with no stones....just a few ornaments for hiding places and some floating plants...but NEEEEEED a good gentle filter that will keep the tank clean, help keep it cycled, yet not disrupt bubble nests, breeding fish or the fry once the adults are removed.

What amazing pictures! So beautiful! I LOVE these fish!

heehee....I'm still not sure WHAT the heck she/he is...but I did get 2 female fighters yesterday...currently they are in another tank, they are a little young yet and need some quality food inside them before I move she/he to the breeding tank in anticipation for introducing...having said that i figure he/she's offspring may be disappointing too in that we wont be able to tell if the juvenilles (or even adults) are male/female...until they start killing one another! The ventral fins you mentioned, phillz, are reasonably long and when he/she is flaring they glow quite reddy-purple in colour....I am not really sure what the eggsot would look like (I have seen photos but it doesn't look like much to me)...but yes....I would have thought so...he she can swell in the lower belly around the ventral fin area and appear to be paler in colour.....in the past this has happened a few days after her seeing a male in the outer tank and I assumed was her preparing for motherhood..... the bubblenest is now quite high.... maybe half a centimetre high...before it was just bubbles along the top, and reasonably impressive, but the added height has made it look like he/she is very serious for business....he she has gone off tending it now as there are no fishies to show off to. I did try a mirror...but she either didnt see herself...or didnt respond. Sounds like a great book you've got, MRSkz..... I bought a siamese fighter book but it is a little disappointing for information, although I picked up a few tips from it. I will keep you posted

welcome and hi...isn't it cool to pick up new and helpful advice...good luck with the tank craze

Hello oh Dodgy one...... glad you found us....lots of fun people here....your poor lil catfish...(aren't cat fish cute?!...in an ugly sort of way)

Nahhhhh....your cat wont feel neglected....you just got it it's very own tv! My cats love the fish tanks and spend hours looking wistfully at the fish swimming about....and then they climb ontop of the wooden lid to go to sleep and enjoy the warmth from the light underneath. Welcome to the site.....what big fishies you have!

Hi Rachel. I'm in South Canterbury too. Sorry to hear of your rocky start....but nothing quite like being thrown in the deep end (no pun intended) for a steep learning curve. My daughter and I had to go to Christchurch yesterday...and although I had no moiney to spend my daughter did...we came home with 2 female fighters, 2 male guppies and one female guppy (already have 2 girls in the tank)........ Would love to have bought some bristlenose...and saw some nice swords and platties...actually apart from animates, some of the fish stores had quite grotty tanks! we saw a lot of dead fish and some really scungy tanks..... never mind....cant wait to find some funds to REALLY go shopping...my tanks are looking a little on the light side

Hi Tim and welcome......hope you have as much fun exploring this site as the rest of us

Poor you!..... It was only the last picture I could tell that the red was faded, the others looked perfectly normal to me. I have had a neon or two fade a bit like that....to be honest I am not sure if they have died or got better.....i have quite a few neons and it is hard to do a count up....but I haven't come across any corpses (and I forget how many neons I had in the first place.) I have noticed that fish do pale when they are feeling a bit put out...recently i shifted my 2x three spot gouramis...and one of them hasn't taken too well to the shift. I am quite pleased to see her coming out for food, but her spots at times disappear completely...and immediately the other fish know she is feeling a little sluggish and give her a bit of a hard time. She is one of my favourite fish...and i really hope she makes a full recovery. The best you can do is just keep the water quality as good as you can without stirring the fish up too much. I don't think cycle can hurt. I also use and thoroughly recommend a water conditioner...it just seems to help settle the fish after a water change...the one I use is called aqua plus. Good luck.

Hi Dave and welcome ..... I'm sure you will find someone with the same fishy interests and will learn heaps...they are a great crowd. LOTS to read up on. Hoe you have unlimited internet access because it is very easy to kill a few hours reading here

He/she does change colour and appears at times to have a stripe running through her body. This seems to be when he/she is feeling less happy...his/her colour pales and a brownish stripe appears right through from mouth to tail....her deep blue/purple goes back to the softer baby blue/soft lilac/mauve sort of colour (hows THAT for a description!) but she doesn't stay like this. Definitely with good feeding her colour comes out and she becomes more keen on becoming a parent...just WHICH parent is the confusing bit. She has been working on a bubble nest today (no other fighter in the house to inspire her ....of either sex)....and it is quite a nest! The food situation is bleak at the moment. I am out of frozen brine shrimp and have been feeding flake mostly until some dollars come in and i can get some quality variety back into her (his?) diet. Colour is good and rich at the moment. I only put her in this tank about 2 or 3 days ago. Her tank mates are a couple of corydoras and a few neon tetras. (I may have said this already?) :roll:

well they say a change is as good as a holiday welcome back Steve

I had 3 males at one stage all at the same time, but in separate tanks. All up i have had 4 males. We have 7 tanks so we can juggle them around a bit. Although Raquel/Richard LOOKS like a girl.....I think she must be a boy .....