my betta sorority

[bettamum]

thats awesome! ill get some of those snails then

 

[thrujenseyes]

No betta deserves to be named Kim Kardashian.

nothing deserves that!

I'll be following this thread, I can't wait to see your sorority come to life!!! Good Luck!

Oh and I don't vacuum either as I have a heavily planted tank. Before each water change I stir up the gravel that I can get to with a long fork and then siphon the water. Works like a charm for me and my water is crystal clear.

 

[bettamum]

I'll be following this thread, I can't wait to see your sorority come to life!!! Good Luck!

thank you very much!

Oh and I don't vacuum either as I have a heavily planted tank. Before each water change I stir up the gravel that I can get to with a long fork and then siphon the water. Works like a charm for me and my water is crystal clear.

thanks for the tip! ill remember that when i do my water change tomorrow!

 

[NickAu]

thats awesome! ill get some of those snails then

If you got plants from a LFS you already have snails.

MTS are a touchy subject some people consider them pest snails, when in fact they are highly beneficial to a planted tank.

By: Ryan Wood

The Malaysian Trumpet Snail is a great to have in any aquarium. There are some with different patterns, shapes, size, dark or light colored. It is a beautiful snail to see up close in person. In some forums as well as blogs the Malaysion Trumpet Snail is instead used as the acronym MTS.

There is a lot of bad rep that all snails have received. A lot of hobbyists tend to think that having any type of snail in their aquarium is horrible and all must be removed immediately. There are even chemicals that are solely meant for killing snails in the aquarium. I highly recommend that you never use any chemical meant to kill snails in a tank with shrimp. Snails are not bad for your aquarium. Overfeeding your tank is what causes snail outbreaks. Most snails will actually leave your plants alone and instead eat the algae off of the leaves as well as glass. Do not think that a snail is a pest, they can be extremely useful in any aquarium.

The Malaysian Trumpet Snail is actually a benefit to any aquarium for several reasons. It will not eat your plants at all. This snail also will not "muscle" your shrimp off of food meant for the shrimp. The Malaysian Trumpet Snail feeds on detritus and leftover food that is underneath the substrate. It actually burrows in the substrate and moves around throughout. You will rarely see this snail during the day. Occasionally it will emerge from the substrate. A cool thing is that sometimes you will see the substrate move and you will know that there is a Malaysian Trumpet Snail underneath doing its cleaning duties.

The fact that this snail burrows and eats detritus is an excellent perk to having it. Another great perk is that while it is underneath the substrate moving it is at the same time aerating the substrate. Substrate aeration is a great benefit to planted aquariums as it promotes air exchange and root growth. They will not disturbed any plant roots or move wood/rocks around your aquarium.

The Malaysian Trumpet Snail reproduces live young and does not lay eggs. They can reproduce rapidly however. Rapid reproduction is a sign that you either need to feed your inhabitants less or vacuum the gravel extensively. You do not want to rely on this snail to do all of the gravel cleaning. High temperatures can also result in rapid reproduction if coupled with overfeeding.

This snail is an all around must have for most aquariums. They are very cool to look at, extremely docile, do not eat plants, aerate substrate, eat detritus, and do not harm other inhabitants. I highly recommend this snail to anyone.

http://www.planetinverts.com/malaysian_trumpet_snail.html

 

[bettamum]

If you got plants from a LFS you already have snails.

yeah, i have some snails. theres red ones with a spiral shell and white ones with cone shells. they lay eggs sometimes, but even before i added more plants i still didnt see them often.

the malaysian trumpets sound great, ill contact my LFS about them!
also, i added the perspex on the tank back. a few of my plants have become uprooted tho (because one of my species doesnt have any roots for some reason) so i want to replant them before i take a photo.

 

[bettamum]

sadly, there has to be a delay in the tank progress. my siphon broke (it got a crack in the tube and leaks everywhere), so i have to get a new one.
it was a hand pump, which meant i had to take the end of it and thrust it back and forth in the water. i want to get something better than this, so i dont mess up the tank or disturb my fish. any suggestions?

 

[NickAu]

I just use a bit of hose, Put one end in the tank and suck on the other don't worry if you get tank water in your mouth, I always pride myself on water quality and as I always say " If the water in my tanks is unfit to drink, then its unfit for my fish to live in ",

 

[bettamum]

well thats definitely one way to do it! ill check out the prices of siphons, but thats definitely a low-price option i can keep in mind

 

[NickAu]

You could always try this.

 

[thrujenseyes]

Put one end in the tank and suck on the other don't worry if you get tank water in your mouth,

Ha, I do this also...as my tank is just a teeny little 6 gallon so using a pump would be kind of ridiculous.
And oddly as weird as I am about germs, that doesn't bother me in the least.

At work (I run a salon) and customers often accidentally leave their water bottles on the desk when they check out and my employees always tease me because it absolutely skeeeeeeeves me out.
One day a friend asked why it bother me so much and I replied "because their mouth was all over it"!!!!
And she asked "and where on earth do you think their mouth was, they've been here for two hours"?!?
My reply "I don't know...they could have licked the toilet seat in the bathroom".
Her reply "yeah, cause that's what people do"?!
Kinda funny.

If the water in my tanks is unfit to drink, then its unfit for my fish to live in

This is a GREAT quote!!! It should be on t-shirts!
And posters!
I love it!

 

[bettamum]

what i think ill do is get a piece of hose and use that, and maybe in the future ill use the hose to build the vacuum in the video

 

[bettamum]

hey! i know i havent updated for a while, sorry about that
my friend made an electric siphon for me, with some piping and an air pump (i think). its pretty cool, and now i can do my water changes!
so ill be doing a WAY overdue water change. there arent any fish in, but i didnt do it last week so ill take about 35% out maybe?

 

[bettamum]

okay, kind of a big update that may disappoint you.
due to various reasons, i thought a lot and decided not to do a sorority after all. why:
-some of my plants withered a bit and the tank didnt look planted enough
-my plants with no roots come uprooted sometimes and i have to replant them
-i couldnt afford to buy enough plants to feel safe with it
-there is no good place to buy female bettas near me (my LFS can order them in, but when they arrive i have to take them even if theyre sick or aggressive)
-i dont have backup tanks in case one of them is too aggressive
-it would cost a lot to buy 5 bettas
-i didnt feel confident enough generally

because of all these reasons, i decided to stock my tank differently.
i bought a male betta instead of females.
i would still like to try a sorority, but i am saving it as a future project when i have more experience.

 

[bettamum]

my new betta is red with a white speckly face a bit like koi patterns, and he has some blue in his fins so they look purple sometimes. he likes hunting snails and swimming around. hes very chilled out.
he doesnt have a name yet, but i made a list and asked a lot of my friends to vote.
ill post this list here and you can give me an opinion too maybe.

 

[bettamum]

-pasi
-onni
-nobu
-niilo
-milo
-luca
-goyo
-elio
suggested by my friends:
-bepis
-jelly jr (my nickname is jelly)

a lot of these names are finnish. i think finnish names are very cute. i know these names are a bit unusual but i like them.
please tell me which one/s you think is/are the best.