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I just don't get this idea that people have that a few generations of breeding somehow overcomes millions of years of evolution.

I was just saying in another thread. Water changes aren't just to fix bad parameters. Although they do that. The reason we do frequent water changes is to keep the tank water stable so that the parameters never get bad in the first place. Personally, I rarely check water parameters on my...

My first culture did crash. As expected. I decided to start a new one each week and have 4 rotating cultures. I was going to clean out the crashed culture and reuse the cup. But it was absolutely disgusting. It's going to take a little time to get used to that.

This is my koi plakat betta. His name is Dandy Chiggins. He lives with a few small ramshorn snails in a 10 gallon tank. He's very active and inquisitive. He mostly eats live foods like mosquito larvae and grindal worms. Sometimes frozen blood worms. Occasionally flakes or pellets for...

When it comes to water changes, think of them in a different way. Instead of doing them "when necessary", do them on a regular schedule. If you do weekly water changes, that keeps your water stable so that the parameters never get bad in the first place. And the fish like it. Fish love...

If this is the case for the OP, then a schedule of frequent large water changes would stabilize the pH. That's just a good idea in general.

Argh! I messed up and the ammonia was up to 4 ppm. Did a partial water change to get it back to 2-3. I would really like to get these new fish this weekend. But I won't compromise their health by putting them in an uncycled tank.

For my betta tank, I cycled a sponge filter in one tank while I grew plants in his home tank. Then the day before I got the betta, I just added the cycled filter. Worked like a charm. I've been doing a new cycle in that tank with a new sponge filter. It's almost ready to be a quarantine...

I don't think the word "live" would apply for very long.

That's true. But personally, I'm not interested in dogma. I want to hear other opinions. I get that they want to specialize in a particular method. But that's not for me. I saw a comedian who talked about how people now scoff at "do your own research". He was like, "We used to call that...

It doesn't usually work out with just two. You might see it at a store, but the fish at the store are usually stressed and disoriented so that isn't their normal behavior. Once they get adjusted to a new home, then they can start becoming more territorial. You could be correct that the...

I mean, a lot of us have strong opinions about fish keeping. And to some degree, some of those strong opinions are backed by science. But then you get into areas that are more subjective and not so clear cut. Problem is that this turns into confirmation bias. People only accept what conforms...

You unfortunately learned a lesson that many other fish keepers learned the hard way; pet store employees often give bad advice.

Bettas are naturally territorial. Putting them in with other fish is always a gamble. Exponentially more with other bettas. There are sorority tanks. But those are large tanks with lots of space for territories, a lot of hides and breaks in lines of sight. And they have more than a pair so...

Separate them immediately.

Dogma is the antithesis of science.

That makes sense. You might want to get a test kit just to be certain. When any of my fish show any signs of illness, testing parameters is always my first step.

Not to be confrontational, but how could you know if a tank is cycled if you don't have a test kit?

He built a bubble nest. I know that's not a definitive sign of happiness. But I'm taking it as a good sign. I'm going to try to preserve it during water changes. Maybe I'll put it in a bowl while I do water changes.

Another trip to the dollar store to pick up some plastic storage bins and other things for the fish room reorganizing. I have a shelving unit due from Amazon today. Starting another wingless fruit fly culture. And then watching WWE SummerSlam tonight.

It's best to limit the feedings. A betta will eat whatever it can when it can. There's no way to assure she wouldn't catch all the daphnia in a short time, since they are trapped with her in an enclosed space. You have her in a large (for a betta) tank with live plants and decor to explore...

I had actually been storing boxes of books I meant to donate there. I finally got those out of there. Including a box of comics and graphic novels that went to a lucky young relative. I got a shelving unit off Amazon and some plastic storage bins from a dollar store. I also got some plastic...

Yes. Since it's the first media of the filter, it can get pretty gunked up.

Most of the water had evaporated out of my bins. So I started over and refilled them with fresh water. I did a little experiment. One of them, the larger one, I put in a mesh bag with grass clippings and an apple core. The other one I poured in a little milk. They both produced larvae...

Yes, but those visuals on the fish give them the ability to school when they feel like they need to. Take rummy nose tetras. One of the things that gives them the ability to school as tightly as they do is their distinctive red faces and striped tails that are a visual cue to the other fish.

They absolutely can tell. By sight and by pheromones and other senses. Why do you think some schooling fish have distinctive colors, lines and patterns? It's so that they can see each other to school with.

I had a bad experience with that brand once. I put some in a bucket to rinse it off. I added water and got this...

Very exciting weekend for me. I have a kitchenette area that hasn't been used for that purpose in years. I've been using it to store stuff, mostly fish related. I bought a new fridge so that the rest of the house didn't have to share a freezer with frozen mosquito larvae and daphnia. I just...

What kind of test did he use? Was it reagents or strips?

He's still surprisingly difficult to get a good picture of. I changed his name. His new name is Dandy Chiggins. I realized that since I have another fish I named Tony Gunk, I wanted to keep that theme going. He's doing well. Super active. I purposely chose a short finned betta as...

Yes. It's tedious. But I see it as one of those tasks you only have to do once. So I clean mine very thoroughly and it pays off. My tanks' water never gets cloudy when the sand is disturbed.

I use plastic plants. It gives the fish something to explore or hide in and is easier to disinfect after the quarantine. And something like hornwort or anacharis, that I don't mind just throwing away after.

I just use play sand. It's cheap enough to discard after the end of the quarantine.

I only keep a very small amount of my fish food at room temperature. That's in little plastic jars I bought. Here's a couple of them. I keep the rest sealed up in plastic zip lock bags in the freezer. Then I refill the plastic jars as needed.

Some degree of terrestrial grains are unavoidable. They use them for binding. You just have to find something with as little as possible. In this case, only one of the top five ingredients is pretty good. Especially looking at the rest.

In some cases, it wasn't necessarily cost as much as supply chain issues.