The Puffer Forum

Thanks for the input, folks. That puts my mind at ease a lot. I moved the tank tonight, and hope he will be okay!

Will give an update when I get back. My flight is in less than 24 hours and I still have a lot of things to do!

Thanks again!

-helium

Hey folks! Long time no talk! Quick question - as mentioned before, I am leaving my little friend for two weeks - leaving tomorrow! I have arranged to have the building manager feed him once a day. However, he asked me to move the tank to the entryhall. That's not a problem, BUT - that area gets ALM...

Phaedrus, Thanks! I work well by seeing, and in this case 13 days was DEFINITELY seeing. I was kind of experimenting because I will be away from home for 2 weeks soon and I was hoping to NOT have to teach someone how to do the water change, but it looks like it is necessary. However, I wonder if I d...

Just finished a 70% water change and MAN was that dirty. Woke me up a bit to how important that really is. I managed to vacuum about 1/4 of the gravel, which also stirred up a bunch of GUNK that seriously clouded the tank water still in there. It is all nice and clean now, after the gunk settled, an...

Hey folks. Just keeping you up todate. I have not touched the tank for 13 days now - NO water changes. Had the cover on the whole time and lost about an inch of water due to evaporation. Checked the params just now and show ZERO Nitrites or Nitrates, and pH is steady. Definitely cycled. Overfeeding ...

Hey Phaedrus and everyone else, Well, I skipped a water change, checked NitrAtes, NitrItes, and pH and all the levels are in good shape. So, I think my ammonia rising was all in my head. I do think the tank is properly cycled. So now my question is - once the tank IS cycled, what the heck is the poi...

Cheers on that! I have come to understand that most of the tanks that are sold in the pet stores are completely useless. The 13 liter tank I have was one of the BIGGER ones they sold. They had things as small as 5 liters and advertised them for geeping goldfish or guppies. The pet store I got my cur...

I will ask at the LPS about Ramshorns. Gotta translate that, but I think I can manage. As for beginner thanks, my thinking was that, BECAUSE they are more difficult to take care of and sensitive, going to a larger tank might feel like a comparative heaven. In my situation, having now dealt with a 13...

No visible snails right now, just some shells. Is that something you can buy or get at most LPS? I kinda figured it was something like that. When I had snails, the tank was a LOT cleaner.

On a side note - thanks to everyone's help here, I am actually starting to ENJOY this hobby. Apart from my temperature issue right now, this Bettta is incredibly fun and has a GREAT personatity. I have gotten him to take food directly from my hand - something prior to starting a tank I never even co...

Thanks Phaedrus! I'm not sure what I'm talking about here, but I'll take a shot. When my last Betta died, it was due to an ammonia spike because some of the live plants in my tank disintegrated very rapidly. I believe that the ammonia rise I have observed is due to the fact that I have no mechanical...

When I am back in the US, I am going to get a bottle of Prime - a BIG one. Mostly just because nobody here knows what 4in1 is. However, I do have an electronic chlorine meter, and the stuff ZAPS the water instantly - it's clean of at least Chlorine, and I have tested my tap Nitrates, Nitrites, and p...

Thanks for the responses! Poo is always fun. ;-) I read some more info on Betta behaviour and everything really seems fine now. After the Big Poo he really got a lot more energetic. His water is now between 28 and 30 consistently - usually at 28 until I kill the AC and open the windows. I wish I was...

Hey folks. Been pouring through different web sites and forums trying to find the answer to two quesetions: 1. Where is the Betta's butt? And, seeing as I just found a great picture of the Betta anatomy as I was typing this, the only reason I am going to leave this question here is because MAN did h...

Hey folks. I did the fan thing today and I am surprised at how much it helped. Lost about 2cm of water through one day, but the temp stayed at 29, which I consider okay. Actually haven't changed the water yet, but checked the ammonia levels and they are still at zero, so water change will wait - so ...