Keeg's Fish: Journal

[Keeg]

On 9/13/2021 at 6:52 AM, Tihshho said:

You're definitely going to have some Bettas ready to find new homes soon, the look like they are getting to the right size for sorting and selling (if that's your plan.) Great work! 

Not sure if what I'm seeing, but is this a mixed fry tank? In one area where there is that bright object in the picture it looks to be perfectly illuminating some baby.

If you plan on doing more Betta's in the long run, you might want to consider an auto water change system/sump for the jar setups. I've seen a few when I was overseas that were simple. When I was in the Philippines a store had the males on jars/vases on a rack of egg crate that had a gutter system below it. From there the jars were fed water from a sump or source (couldn't exactly remember) and then would slowly overflow into the gutter system. From there you could route the gutter to a sump or drain. 

This is all good fun for me. I just found a store that's willing to pay 10$ for each betta once full grown, and from what ive heard, its a bit better than what the co-op offers so... they'll be getting the leftover after friends and family😂. And you're right! Those floating boxes also held some fry but I sent those to go live with my brother as he needed the brine shrimp hatchery for his fry. 

I plan to have a nice little side business, not for the money but for healthy bettas for people and fun. When I was young, there was this amazing seller and breeder in Seattle. For 10$ you'd get 3 fighting kings (his shop burned down and he couldn't afford to rebuild). Now days you can get 1 imbred king with guaranteed deformities for 20$ and if you're lucky 15$ when labeled wrong. I will definitely run an auto water change system once I decide to go bigger, I like the ones in Vietnam the most. 

Update on my nano tank with the solid tail dumbo guppy. He's still active/ eating well and his tail is slowly but surely healing just fine. Everything is basically the same behavior wise, his right fin was partially detached and doesnt have signs of healing unfortunately, but I still love him. 

[Keeg]

pk betta fry update: The black, blue, red/ black and red plakats have been moved with my brother as he needed the brine shrimp hatchery for his mahachaiensis betta fry. So they're not going to get an update for awhile, but they're doing good and settling in just fine. I will post photos when I can

[Keeg]

On 9/17/2021 at 1:22 AM, Nooby said:

@Keeg can you imagine going back to that store and seeing them sell your fish for 20 bucks 🤣

They offered 1/3 of what they sell at. And this particular store (no names because of guidelines lol) is pretty pricy, like the co-op is pricy but not this kind of pricy 🙄. So while I'd love to sell my bettas by myself, I dont want to have to deal with customers that will return the fish, have DOAs from shipping, or selling them in a cup. If anything, id run it out of my garage and be a word of mouth store like the ones I grew up with. But that's the future and I need a quick solution now. 

PS. I only bought my golden dumbo pk because some teenage employee completely misjudged its worth. 

[Keeg]

On 9/17/2021 at 2:34 AM, Nooby said:

@Keeg the way I did it was operating only in a certain radius from my house so I could hand deliver my fish

Im in a rural area and fish keeping is a medium hobby in my community, like people will have a betta in a quart of water or a 3 gallon glo-fish tank. I think after this batch, I might try one of those trading things (co-op supports the greater Seattle aquarium society) so who knows, maybe they're the best ticket

[Eyad Jamus]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:01 AM, Keeg said:

Awhile ago I bred my super red plakat betta with a red crown tail in hopes of a red crowntail plakat. They're still pretty young but I'll be updating their progress on this journal. I dont have any great photos of the female, and she had a large tumor grow on her shortly after breeding which she died from. But here's the male, definitely one of the most beautiful bettas I've owned 

He's gorgeous 

On 8/26/2021 at 10:01 AM, Keeg said:

Awhile ago I bred my super red plakat betta with a red crown tail in hopes of a red crowntail plakat. They're still pretty young but I'll be updating their progress on this journal. I dont have any great photos of the female, and she had a large tumor grow on her shortly after breeding which she died from. But here's the male, definitely one of the most beautiful bettas I've owned 

He's gorgeous 

[Keeg]

I finally figured out how to set up my router in my dorm, only took a couple hours. Moving in was kind of hectic, when I first used my key, I broke it in half and had to wait for a repair guy and then going through the process of getting a new one. But now everything is going smoothly. Due to restrictions, I can only have a 5 gallon tank (mine is 5 gallons when you add substrate, hardscape, and plants 😉). So I have my female gourami, 3 guppies (meant to eat the pods before I left and forgot about them, whoops) and my baby bichir. In a minimalistic vase, I have my golden hmpk dumbo betta. I dont want to do hardscape with him because his fins are massive and beautiful, but I'll upgrade his living conditions through out the year for fun. He's doing great, doesnt like pellets or flakes, but he does like blood worms. My gourami tank's design was destroyed during the move, rocks shifted, moss fell out, and plants are now floaters. But that'll be a fun project tomorrow. 

Glad to have access to the forum on my computer again, I was getting tired of using my phone. 

[Keeg]

College dorm tank finally replanted. They definitely took a hit but I think with some easy green and light, it'll bounce back in no time. Also im afraid my dorm can't keep a stable environment so I might have to shell out on a heater at the co-op and a divider to add the betta. Oh well, I guess ill have to go back to the best place ever 😉. Other than this, everybody is settling in just fine. I can smell chorine in the tap water (im used to well so this was pretty obvious), so ive been dosing conditioner as if it were chloramine and heavy metals in the water to be safe. 

[Guppysnail]

It so breaks my east coast heart that you “have” to go back to the coop store….NOT. I’m sure they will bounce back. If you smell chlorine test and see how much. Most conditioners treat 1 ppm. Mine comes at 2 so double dose. They periodically flush the system and it comes at 4 ppm so I have to mega dose and off gas. Good luck at school what’s your major? I cant wait to see what those black pods were. 

[Keeg]

On 9/22/2021 at 2:42 AM, Guppysnail said:

It so breaks my east coast heart that you “have” to go back to the coop store….NOT. I’m sure they will bounce back. If you smell chlorine test and see how much. Most conditioners treat 1 ppm. Mine comes at 2 so double dose. They periodically flush the system and it comes at 4 ppm so I have to mega dose and off gas. Good luck at school what’s your major? I cant wait to see what those black pods were. 

Sorry for the late response, I havent checked this journal in a while. I ended up dosing 3x the conditioner because there was also heavy metals. Seattle water sucks compared to home 😂. Im majoring in environmental science and I want to work in conservation. I will be posting about the black pods in a that thread. 

[Keeg]

College tanks update:

I ultimately decided to move the baby bichir and gouami back home where their environment can be better monitored and controlled. With fluctuating parameters and temperature here in the dorms, the gourami started to decline in health and behavior. While I love those fish and love watching them at my desk, it would be unfair to them to keep adding chemicals and equipment to their tank just to keep them relatively healthy (bichir was doing fine, gourami started to turn black in her 'feeler' and anal fin 😕) She's doing wayyy better now though. So while its good to keep fish healthy, its another thing to allow them to thrive. Back home they'll be in a room where the temperature stays stable and chemicals of any kind won't need to be added for safety. 

On the other tank. the golden dumbo plakat betta is doing great! He was never on well water and is thriving like I had hoped. I heavily planted his 'tank' with no hardscape (have to protect those beautiful fins). He's loving it. Im trying to get him onto presoaked pellets but he only goes for blood worms right now. Also I decided to name is Aurum, latin for gold. 

 

[Guppysnail]

I hope college is going well for you. Your gold betta is poetic beauty.

[Keeg]

It has been a fat minutes since ive posted here. 

Here's an update to my college life: I am now a junior, majoring in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences with a thick scholarship, and I have been approved to minor in marine biology so I should set up self up well in the fresh water and salt water world soon. 

Update on my college tanks: I had to bring the gourami tank home shortly after bring it there because she seemed to decline in health but after bring it home, she perked right up and is doing great. The bichir has grown a little bit and has been eating larger worms

The golden betta (Arum) and the Blood Red (Soku) both died from an unknown illness that killed them both within a couple days, this was early April after coming home from vacation. Everyone else has been doing good, my batch of babies from last year are almost a year and I am in the process of choosing which to breed. 

Mini Bob has taken large bites out of all the large anubias plants I was growing for years and most of them rotted because of it. So that's a huge bummer. And now that I am back for summer, I can start posting here more 🙂

 

[Guppysnail]

Sounds like you are embarking on a fantastic college adventure.  Congrats on the scholarship.  Enjoy a very nermy summer. 

[Patrick_G]

Speaking of thick, it looks like mini bob’s been really enjoying his snails! 😁 

[Brandon p]

I hope you are enjoying college, it makes it easier enjoy summer.