Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

PonyPlantedTanks

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    485

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by PonyPlantedTanks

  1. PonyPlantedTanks
    I feed him Xtreme betta pellets and vibra bites with the occasional freeze dried bloodworm. I haven’t tried him with a mirror or really any other enrichment. Do you think that would help? I figured he was getting a little old but wasn’t sure if most “elderly” bettas fins look like his. He just looks so raggedy😂
  2. PonyPlantedTanks
    Hello all I’ve posted once before about my Betta having fin rot, but it’s been off and on for the past little while. I’ve had this betta for almost a year and a half now. He’s from a big chain store so I assume has around 2 years old ish. His fin rot recently came back and it’s worse than before. He still is eating fine but has been acting a little more lethargic than normal. He spends a lot of time hanging out on the gravel and especially under the big fake wood “cave” decoration I have in there. The fin rot shouldn’t be a water quality issue bc this tank is consistently 0ppm Ammonia and Nitrite and under 20ppm Nitrate. He shouldn’t have any stress factors besides the nerite snail living with him that he occasionally flares at. Basically I am just stumped as to what is causing this continual fin rot. His fins just don’t look as full and nice to me as they used to. There’s currently a catappa leaf in there as well. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks guys! please ignore the hair algae and Cyanobacteria. Currently in the middle of a massive hair algae battle🙈 Here is a full tank shot. It’s a 10g, heated to 78F, filtered with a co-op sponge filter.
  3. PonyPlantedTanks
    Salvinia and Dwarf Water Lettuce have been the two bulletproof floaters in my tank. RRF and Frogbit fizzled out and died which I was disappointed about🥲 Ive heard good things about Guppy Grass as a floater as well.
  4. PonyPlantedTanks
    If you have shrimp or snails, that is pretty much their favorite treat!! They’ll gobble it right up haha
  5. PonyPlantedTanks
    nerite man hanging onto the weekend😂 me too buddy, me too…
  6. PonyPlantedTanks
    I think your stocking is great for the moment. It will take a minute for your guppy population to explode, but when it does it sounds like you have a good local store to send the fry to 🙂 Aquadvisor is a great tool but I personally find it to be pretty conservative (which is helpful) but it also doesn’t take into account plant load and how much of the work plants do lol. A lot of times I don’t think a tank is “maxed out” until it’s about 115%ish on there. Assuming the tank is pretty planted up.
  7. PonyPlantedTanks
    You really do have such a stunning tank! Where on earth do you acquire so many different plant types?!😂 And what light are you using? I think you mentioned it’s one of the hyggers? Seems to be doing you pretty well lol
  8. PonyPlantedTanks
    I’ve also never quarantined snails. I’ve never really heard of them bringing diseases to fish or anything so I don’t see why it would be necessary. Of course there’s always a risk but in this case it is slim to none😂
  9. PonyPlantedTanks
    Not at all, I super appreciate it! You are very knowledgeable on this topic and that is awesome! This is honestly a great idea! Literally having a little enclosed jar of plants and dirt would make me happy. Lol, this hobby is so weird😂
  10. PonyPlantedTanks
    I would for sure keep on top of doing water changes because even a slight amount of ammonia and nitrite can set a fish off.
  11. PonyPlantedTanks
    I am really curious - how long does it really take for the soil to essentially “run out of nutrients”? What are the pros and cons to using actual dirt soil versus something like fluval stratum? I’m tempted to dip my toes into dirted tanks but I think I would start with a nutrient rich substrate. I’m still scared after watching Girl Talks Fish video on her experience with it and a bunch of her shrimp dying?!😂
  12. PonyPlantedTanks
    The co op algae sponges have always gotten stubborn GSA off my glass. Just put in a little elbow grease and you’re good to go, and you know they won’t scratch your tank 🙂
  13. PonyPlantedTanks
    I’ve always been curious about dirted tanks, but I’m definitely too scared to try it😂 The convenience of never having to plug in root tabs sounds reeeeeeal nice, but eventually you’d have to redo the entire tank which I don’t love. The thing that I don’t like the most is the thought of disturbing the dirt whenever I try to stick plants in it or uproot anything. Releasing that into the water column is not a nice thought for me😂 If I was going to do it, I’d do it in a nano tank and I’d probably use Fluval stratum (versus actual soil) and cap it with gravel. That’s the other problem, I feel like people like to cap theirs with sand to hold it in better, but personally I don’t like using sand. I think I’m just paranoid, but for me I’m fine to plug in root tabs every once in a while and target feed my heavy root feeders lol. Maybe someday I’ll try a dirted nano scape!
  14. PonyPlantedTanks
    I’m pretty sure that just means you have high pH and hard water. I remember Cory mentioning in a video that if the GH reading was purpley pink like that it just means you’ve got hard water! If you followed the directions on the back she checked it at 1 min that should be the most accurate result you’re going to get 🙂 I haven’t seen that KH reading before but it also looks like you just have really high KH as well.
  15. PonyPlantedTanks
    I’m smitten with these guys! My very first club auction I went to there was a bag of these and I don’t know why, but they were so interesting to me. I’m a sucker for more rare-type livebearers. Someday I for sure want to keep these guys!
  16. PonyPlantedTanks
    @Ryan1988Just curious what your stocking is? I’m wondering what that schooling fish in the pictures is. I recognize the Acara in the back😍
  17. PonyPlantedTanks
    That is awesome that you’re trying to upgrade your new Bettas tank! Good for you! Some more plant suggestions would be floating plants. Something like dwarf water lettuce, Amazon frog bit, or guppy grass all can grow floating at the top and Bettas tend to love hanging out in their roots. like @FLFishChiksaid I would recommend getting a bottle of Fritz Zyme 7. It’s a bottle of beneficial bacteria that will kickstart your cycle and help it get going faster! For tank mates I would also agree and start with a mystery or nerite snail. Nerites are great little algae eaters and bettas usually don’t bother them. Shrimp can be super fun but depending on the betta, they can pretty easily become an expensive snack😂so be cautious with that. One last tip to keep your betta healthy would be to have a variety of foods🙂 A staple pellet like Xtreme Betta pellets are great along with the addition of some other foods (such as Fluval bug bites, Hikari vibra bites, frozen or freeze dried bloodworms, etc). It looks like you are taking this seriously so kudos to you! Have fun with your new friend!
  18. PonyPlantedTanks
    If your budget can allow it, the co op light truly lives up to the hype. You’ll pretty much have it forever and it’s grown everything I throw in the tank! Adjustable and fits a variety of tanks if you ever wish to upgrade or something. 🙂
  19. PonyPlantedTanks
    The Aqueon pellets are a little on the bigger side for betta pellets, so it could just be a preference issue. Some bettas will snarf down anything, some are picky. If he continues to not eat, you could try a new kind of pellet (I like Xtreme Betta Pellets, they’re fairly small and bettas seem to love them)!
  20. PonyPlantedTanks
    I wonder if this is my problem. I feel like I’m doing it pretty accurately but it must not be for the readings to be sooo off from the test strips. The strips may not be precise but I feel like they’re closer to the truth than the api kit may be at the moment😂
  21. PonyPlantedTanks
    That would make sense. The API test obviously seems more precise I just can’t believe there’s such a huge difference lol. Would the API test be reading high for some reason or is the test likely accurate? Now I feel like I can’t use the test strips😂the stress! Haha
  22. PonyPlantedTanks
    I still can’t figure this out. I’ve recently been using the test strips to test water because it’s so much quicker and more convenient. But today I decided to pull out the liquid kit to test nitrate. Test strips said nitrate was nearly 0 (take note this was right after a water change) and what the heck, the API kit says nitrate is anywhere between 40-80. Like everyone suggested, I followed that thing to the best of my abilities shook the poo out of bottle #2. To me it’s just confusing bc the first time I did this (at the top of this thread) the co op strips were reading way higher than the test kit, and now I’ve got the opposite readings going on. And I don’t know how on earth my nitrate could be 40-80 after a 20% water change. I hadn’t dosed any ferts or anything, and this tanks bioload is extremely small (one betta and one nerite). I guess it’s possible, but how, I have no idea. I’m still not sure which test to trust! Ugh! here’s a picture of the tank so you can see what we’re dealing with. It’s got Anubias, an amazon sword, crypts, Val in the back, and a few straggling dwarf water lettuce floating on the top (and one dying stem of Pogo Stellatus that we don’t talk about😂)
  23. PonyPlantedTanks
    Great idea. I’ve seen people do this and it works quite well bc most floaters don’t like to be blown around or splashed by the filter!
  24. PonyPlantedTanks
    Mollies aren’t any more aggressive than platys, just a tad larger. You’ll see the same sparring between males for a female as you would with your platys 🙂
  25. PonyPlantedTanks
    They are such darling little things😍 If I had the time to feed frozen every day I would have a pea puffer tank in a heartbeat!
×
×
  • Create New...