xXInkedPhoenixX

@BaRanchikIs that your betta girl as your profile pic?

So, those tiny snails you have from the plants? Those are bladder snails. The eggs? Those are their egg sacks. You can remove them if you want or leave them there. I've heard of the ones you see there are likely more. Most people find them beneficial.

Hi. So with the new tetras does that make it 6 fish now? You've added a bit more bioload (every fish, new bioload). Every time I add fish to my tanks I start Seachem Stability (just my method- and with the history here I'd say it's not a bad idea) so even if you haven't finished your first cycle of Stability treatment, I'd start the 7 day treatment over again from the 1st day you added the glowlights. If I were in your shoes I'd continue testing periodically, every other day maybe, during that time then scale back to 1x a week. When you've tested for some time with 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and say 10-20ppm Nitrate (you want a Nitrate read for your plants) (and some time I'd say at least a month or 2 of consistent testing) THEN your tank is probably pretty stable/cycled and you could consider adding more fish. Personally I'd wait a couple months at LEAST. We're avoiding something called new tank syndrome- if you keep adding fish while your tank is technically still cycling you could also shock the system and end up with spikes toxic to fish (which is why I say keep with the Stability) You could consider going to get a nerite snail now if you had a hankering to add something but I wouldn't consider adding any more fish now and maybe for a couple months. I'd let the fish settle and the plants grow more so the tank is better prepared if that's the plan in the future. I say these things because I'm being cautious with your newness to the hobby and the disasters you've already experienced- I don't want you to have to go through that again- BUT I understand our want in the hobby to keep adding things to new tanks. I've been waiting patiently for my baby Otos to grow big enough so I can sell them to the LFS and finally get my Hillstream Loach that I've wanted for my second tank since I started it 3 months ago. I have to be patient- I need the tank the Otos are in for a quarantine AND I will be able to trade to get that fish anyway.

As to the colors of your fishies those are genetic things I have not enough knowledge on to comment! I'll let the experts here handle that one if they care to. 🙂 (the breeds of fish I have always come out looking like their parents)

Totally get it. When you look at the breeders if they are still not what you need for your tank and you don't figure out another way to rig a homemade one you could try a temporary holding tank or a plastic bin set up like a quarantine. It doesn't take much more than that, a small filter or at least an airstone and likely more frequent water changes depending on size and amount of fish. I got the biggest one of this particular temporary holder and it has come in handy a few times. Going on the cheap a plastic bin of your choice (best with a lid for the jumpers) should be around 10 bucks, sponge filter less than 10 usually, and if you already have an air pump you could splice a line into the holding tank with a limiter and turn it up/down easily.

@Sassyhippo see I've had other bettas that would be the case, patience and trying as they weren't quite as motivated so I never tried it much before. But I guess I started to pay attention more when on the 1st try she'd take food from my finger tip.

They're cute. Hard to say if it will work long term but the net seems to be a comfortable size for now. How did they get out? Did the net just sink down too far?? If the container is in the net and you have holes in it the only concern I would have is if they got caught between the 2 (net/container). If you can get yourself a more permanent style floating breeder- if this is going to be a regular thing you'll need one anyway. If you wanted you could release them when they're too big for anybody else to eat with the caveat that you won't know if anybody would pick on them anyway and it'll be harder to keep track of them but that might not be an issue.

@BaRanchik ah, I'll have to do more research and think about that. Yeah, she's in a 3 gallon cube for now and 1 inch below the rim is too far for that kind of tank. However if she truly can't jump far then I might still consider it, BUT I bet you that the not being able to jump too high thing might apply more to the male bettas as they have much more cumbersome and heavy fins. This girl is pretty streamlined, she *might* hit the high jumps! 🙂 More research will be done.... Does your female have bigger fins?

@BaRanchik that's very cool! I saw a youtube video that had a mix of tricks and that was one of them. Doesn't the jumping make you nervous? I have no doubt that I could probably train her- but I don't want her to make a habit out of jumping and I was actully going to skip that trick. She has a very secure heavy glass lid but I could see a nightmare of her jumping out when I have it off for maintenance and her trying that business.

@James Black I will absolutely update. Hopefully I can embed a google video as I haven't nor do I want to start a youtube feed. 🙂 I have seen that fish kit before and I have been tempted as well in the past! If she does well I may get it. I think I remember the treat stick being exceptionally cool- it has some sort of trigger to release the treat. The sports fields might be too big for her 3 gallon tank but the balls and hoops should still come in handy. We'll see how this plays out.

Too many fish usually means that the tank can't handle the bioload. My 20 gallon Tall has 10 Harlequins, 3 adult mystery snails, 1 baby mystery, 2 nerites, and about 14 or so Otocinclus catfish. I have lots of plants and 2 air driven filters. My tank tests great and is stable. If you have a heavily planted tank with good filtration and your tank already tests well, there is potential for more.

It's a great feeling to save one of our fishy friends isn't it!? 🙂 Congrats on the success. One of the neat things about this hobby is that if you stay open minded there is ALWAYS something to learn.

I think it looks great as is and when it grows in it will look pretty awesome. 🙂

Yea she's already touching her toothbrush so I might use the end of that for treating. I don't think she'd be afraid of a ping pong ball but it's awful big- I'll have to make a trip to the craft store and see what I can find. I actually do have ping pong ballls since they make great cat toys. She is seriously FEARLESS. This is her day one in her feeding ring, figured it out in under 10 seconds. Probably didn't help that the big box store likely starved her.

@Streetwise well and that's some of the behavior mine displays, she seems to always know where I am. Comes immediately to the front of the tank when I come over. She has ZERO fear of my fingers- she comes right up and dances around them. I can already finger feed her. Was no need to train her on her feeding ring. Today I was toothbrushing the sides of her tank and she happily followed the toothbrush. So @H.K.Luterman First of all your Igor is adorable. What a cutie. I don't think I'm going to have ANY issues training my girl Spark- I'm going to make one of those hoops. One video I watched had a betta pushing a small floating ball. Where the heck does one get one of those? Any ideas of floating household ball items?

So after my last beautiful betta died I gave it a good year and some. Recently got a female. She is displaying the eagerness to interact with me. I've heard of people training bettas, seen a couple videos in the past. Anyone here have any personal experience? Is there a trick that's easy to train? Good tools to use?

I like it!! What kind of plants do you have left?

I have a local plastics place that can cut acrylic and/or other plastics. You probably don't need much that's very complicated- maybe you have a place like that in your area. According to my tank volume calculator on my app it is about 36 gallons, I gave it 2" leeway from the top for water and didn't put substrate into the calulations. As to lighting I'll defer to the larger tank experts.

@Just Renee actually no, I'm in central CA. But I'm still a friend. 🙂

@Just Reneevery interesting! I'll have to try that. My red roots do ok, they just don't explode (which frankly is fine for the tank they're in, but there's a lot of surface agitation in that tank). I put some of mine in my Mum's 3 gallon African Dwarf Frog tank and within a month she's got HUNDREDS of new baby red roots- low aggitation. I'm going to see if I can propagate some outside! It was 113 here today!

Oh it doesn't prevent them, they just go to the glass lid -my water level is always high enough I don't see the water line behind the rim. I"m not terribly worried about ME having to remove sacks, more concerned that they might be shortening their lifespan by so much activity and they're getting no offspring out of it.

I personally wouldn't think so but a lot of others seem to think the small caves work best. I can say I have an aquarium decor log in my tank with Otos, while they don't breed there they love it, opening there is about 2.5. I say you should try your 3" and maybe try another size or a garden pot. The animals will pick for you.

Seriously though! I feel bad for my females and wonder since I don't want to breed if I should move my male to another tank.

Yep, water only is fine!

My snails do that too. They're so funny. 😂 That's 2 girls and a boy- the lightest one is a male.