Hi! I thought I'd introduce myself since I'm new. I'm about to (literally any minute now) get a tank full of fish I know nothing about and I'm rather nervous!
So the story is, I've had this beta for quite a number of months now. I've had him in a 5 gal tank. I read ALL about betas. He has a heater. I keep it at 78 degrees. I do lots of water changes since I don't use a filter. I check his water stats. My water was a little hard so I got him a piece of drift wood. I fed him a variety of foods--soaked pellets, soaked flakes and frozen blood worms. This fish should have been very healthy and happy. But no. His fins were are chewed away--despite trying to fix it with some meds and softening the water. I suspect he might eat them 'though I never caught him.
I pretty much began looking upon him as a burden and an ugly reminder of my giant fail in beta-keeping. See I had this beta in college and I only knew what the fish store guy told me. So he was in half a gallon bowl, whose water I change only once a week, who only got pellets--not even soaked, no heater or anything. And that beta was really healthy. Look beautiful. ARGH!
Well anyway, my neighbors saw my beta and wanted him. (don't ask me why he looks like crap, though his temperament is pretty feisty which I liked) and they have a 35 gallon tank full of freshwater fish (actually the tank and equipment used to be mine from quite a long time ago but my mom gave it away). So we're trading.
I don't know what these fish are or anything. I'll find out as soon as they bring the tank over. And then I'll probably have about a million questions! LOL
I've always wanted to have a planted tank but I'm guessing that's near impossible once you already have fish set up in the tank huh? Hopefully I won't kill off all these fish since I couldn't even do right by my poor beta.
Probably I sound like a horrible person! But I promise I'm a good animal keeper. I have three horses and two cats (as you can see) and I work really hard for all of them to make sure they have the best care. One of my cats has IBD and I spent a long time studying it and figuring out what to feed her. Now she looks great and no more symptoms. Two of my horses are old and one in particular has cushings and needs special treatment and I make sure he gets that and they all look fabulous. It's just this beta that I had so much trouble with! LOL I'm hoping my neighbors will have better luck with him.
So the story is, I've had this beta for quite a number of months now. I've had him in a 5 gal tank. I read ALL about betas. He has a heater. I keep it at 78 degrees. I do lots of water changes since I don't use a filter. I check his water stats. My water was a little hard so I got him a piece of drift wood. I fed him a variety of foods--soaked pellets, soaked flakes and frozen blood worms. This fish should have been very healthy and happy. But no. His fins were are chewed away--despite trying to fix it with some meds and softening the water. I suspect he might eat them 'though I never caught him.
I pretty much began looking upon him as a burden and an ugly reminder of my giant fail in beta-keeping. See I had this beta in college and I only knew what the fish store guy told me. So he was in half a gallon bowl, whose water I change only once a week, who only got pellets--not even soaked, no heater or anything. And that beta was really healthy. Look beautiful. ARGH!
Well anyway, my neighbors saw my beta and wanted him. (don't ask me why he looks like crap, though his temperament is pretty feisty which I liked) and they have a 35 gallon tank full of freshwater fish (actually the tank and equipment used to be mine from quite a long time ago but my mom gave it away). So we're trading.
I don't know what these fish are or anything. I'll find out as soon as they bring the tank over. And then I'll probably have about a million questions! LOL
I've always wanted to have a planted tank but I'm guessing that's near impossible once you already have fish set up in the tank huh? Hopefully I won't kill off all these fish since I couldn't even do right by my poor beta.
Probably I sound like a horrible person! But I promise I'm a good animal keeper. I have three horses and two cats (as you can see) and I work really hard for all of them to make sure they have the best care. One of my cats has IBD and I spent a long time studying it and figuring out what to feed her. Now she looks great and no more symptoms. Two of my horses are old and one in particular has cushings and needs special treatment and I make sure he gets that and they all look fabulous. It's just this beta that I had so much trouble with! LOL I'm hoping my neighbors will have better luck with him.