Melanotaenia Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 Does anybody know where I can get a quality female betta or two? I'm in the wellington region... :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 in the NZFC magazine there are a list of recent breedings of many fish. Do you belong to any affiliated club. (sounds complicated doesn;'t it?) I am a member of the Marlborough Aquarium Club even though I live in Ashburton and I have had so much help with many fishy things. Good luck in your search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 I am a member of the Marlborough Aquarium Club Same here, and I live in Auckland ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Hi there Melanotaenia, Can't help you with the fish, but a warm welcome to the fishroom. So what are these four tanks you have, and what do you have in them ..? Intoduce yourself in the welcome pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanotaenia Posted January 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 in the NZFC magazine there are a list of recent breedings of many fish. Do you belong to any affiliated club. (sounds complicated doesn;'t it?) I am a member of the Marlborough Aquarium Club even though I live in Ashburton and I have had so much help with many fishy things. Good luck in your search. Good point and where I was also headed...I think jane from kapi-mana might be hearing from me soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanotaenia Posted January 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Hi there Melanotaenia, Can't help you with the fish, but a warm welcome to the fishroom. So what are these four tanks you have, and what do you have in them ..? Intoduce yourself in the welcome pages. well...it all started about 6 months ago when I bought my daughter a couple of goldfish in a 20 l plastic tank. My 'day job' involves botany so I then bought Diana Walstad's 'Ecology of the planted aquarium'....which meant I then had to get a tropical tank in order to grow the plants...which off course meant that there then had to be tropical fish in it! I think it was Ms Walstads 'ecological' approach that got me hooked, and the last 6 months have been a huge learning curve. However for the last two months (perhaps because of the extra attention while at home) I appear to have got the knack and everything has been flourishing hence I've been feeling the need to expand... Currently my two foot tropical has lots of plants, a large rose quartz, some black hutt river rocks, two paua shells, 4cm potting mix/gravel/beach sand substrate, two 'cheap white' fluros (12 hrs a day), 2-3 hrs sunlight on back off tank, about 5 sq cm of sparse 'green hair mat' aglae on one rock and some black 'fur' aglae or fungi I'm not sure lurking in darker places. One heater and NO air pump and NO filter. I suspect the no filter will raise more than a few eyebrows but you should read Diana's book. Since you probably don't have it here is an explanation in short... Filtration can divided into three kinds, biological, mechanical and chemical, My plants and bacteria do all the biological filtration. In fact I haven't changed any water for 6 weeks. I'm a bit scared too, cos it might cause an algae bloom. Anyway the water is fine I've tested it. In fact after the fouth week with no water change and absolutely no ammonia detectable I got paranoid that the ammonia test kit wasn't working anymore so went and bought some window cleaner to see if it could detect the ammonia in it. The results indictaed that A) my test kit was working fine and b)One should never put window cleaner anywhere near you fishroom . Mechanical filtration clears the water of debris but if it is already clear why do you need it? I did have some mechanical filtration initially but found it did nothing but deplete CO2 levels. In an ecological system you want all the chemicals still in the tank sending their 'ecological message' out in the environment, so chemical filtration defeats the purpose.. Also I occasionally bubble Co2 (yeast bottle) in the water to give the plants a boost.. pH 7.7 KH 60 mg/l 24-28 C OHH and the fish...! 8) 4X Peppered Corydoras more fun than I imagined... 1 X Melanotaenia lacustrus - Lake Kutubu Rainbow He is the survivor of a group of 6 that were the first inhabitants. The first five died so that the aquarist would learn from his mistakes to never make them again ( 2 x fin rot, 1 x jumped out, 1 x 50% water change, 1 x 'algal toxin disease') 5 X Melanotaenia praecox - Dwarf neon Rainbow I gotta say I love rainbows. In fact one day I feel sure I am going to go sea kayaking around papau new guinea and do forays up rivers collecting new rainbow species. I would do it tomorrow - it's just that I'm not that hot with an AK 47. Anyway about 4 weeks ago these guys started breeding. This freaked me out...firstly if you've ever seen it you will know what I mean...the 'beaming headlight' and all. It also told me that the fish must be pretty happy and that the tank was reaching new levels of health. It also almost caused a divorce. 'YOU ARE NOT GETTING INTO BREEDING' I never would have harvested any eggs as rainbows can hybridise....so in order to put them out of their mood and keep me entertained I got... 1 X Betta Splendens - male siamese fighter who certainly put the rainbows off sex...but each day has become more and more colourful and more 'flaring' at the rainbows.....yesterday he started on a second bubble nest (back to one large one today)...so I just can't ignore his testosterone anymore. As a fellow male I feel obliged to at least attempt to get him a date. I know the frustration he feels. Breeding bettas looks like great fun too and I wouldn't mind ten jars around the house. He has also damaged the lacustrus so I might need to separate them. I pick up the one damaged and 3 hopefully good 2 ft tanks tomorrow... My partner doesn't know.... I'm not sure how to break it to her. Any advice from those that have been there before? Do I have a pathologocal obssession? Anybody know any good shrinks? I will start with a substrate that sits under water for 6 weeks to condition the soil before I do any planting. BTW large kudos to the moderators/adminstrators etc who set up this site. It is easy to use, one of the best internet sources and most importantly filled with great people Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 You have a medically certifiable case of MTS - Multiple Tank Syndrome :lol: It is easily treated by buying as many tanks as possible. Try pointing out to your partner that at least she knows where you are and you are staying home more often. Of course, if she actually wants you out of the house more you might have to consider building a fishroom at the bottom of the garden :lol: How old is your daughter? Fish keeping is a great way to teach a child responsibility and is useful for older children as it provides lots of ideas for doing great Science Fair projects. A very educational hobby and well worth encouraging. If a tank is set up correctly and balanced, filtration is not needed. Someone I know who has bred fish for over 60 years always told me he never used filtration. May I suggest you remove the paua shells? Your pH is a tad too high 7.0 - 7.5 would be better but fish get used to different levels and if yours were trying to spawn they can't be too upset I love the dwarf neon rainbows and have them myself. They look rather plain at first glance then you notice how they catch the light - beautiful! I am sure Janey will look forward to hearing from you. The Kapi-Mana club is very active and social at the moment and members appear to have a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 Fantastic post Richard. Was wondering when you would get around to telling us about the tanks. For someone who has only been "bitten" for six months or so, you seem to be heading down the right tracks, and spawning the rainbows no less Great stuff, and thanks for sharing your "obsession" with us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guppylover2 Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 great post richard! it's selena here! have also gotten hooked on betta lately, and am keen to get some female bettas. also looove catfish, just can't get enough. justin appears to have accepted it all, he is really very tolerant of me and my fish obsession. my only betta (beautiful red male) managed to get himself sucked onto the jebo filter intake. i then put him in the 3 foot catfish tank and he seemed ok. a couple days later appeared to have some scrapes, am still not sure whether from catfish or filter escapade. anyway, he's still active, am melafixing him, and have put him back in the jebo with filter wool over the intake. send us an e-mail some time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoezealand Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Fish keeping is a great way to teach a child responsibility and is useful for older children as it provides lots of ideas for doing great Science Fair projects. i did i science fair project a couple of years ago on whether goldfish had a 3 second memory (i timed them around mazes and stuff) And the project won first place! (and enough money to supply my fish for a few months :lol: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 13, 2005 Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 Good for you zoezeland. My kids used fish to do science fair projects too. One won and the other came second. One tested which food white worms preferred and the other tested plant tabs, liquid fertiliser and no fertiliser at all to see the results on plant growth. Judges love a project that took a lot of time so the plant one did well as he measured plant growth over 3 months. 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.