The Puffer Forum

http://www.planetcatfish.com/ took me to the Planet Catfish site...

sorry used .net

Does a betta fish have big teeth?

No

My favourite cories are: Pepper, Sterbai, Smudge Spot and Skunk. I think they all thrive at slightly different parameters but they are all really lovely.
Ooo! So are Adolphus. Even though they may be too small, Habrosus and Pygmeaous (I apologise profusely for my appalling Latin spelling) are adorable, Polystictus are quite lovely too and Trillineatus (Three Line). If you can get them where you live Green Lasers are incredible! But can be costly. True story-one of the biggest cory experts lives and works near me and he's working on breeding a Blue/Teal Laser.

I REALLY love cories (can you tell?), think they make a fantastic addition to any tank and a tank with a large group of cories and a Betta with lots of plants would look wonderful. I know some people have luck keeping Betta with other fish it's just not something I personally would risk. Not when you can have a stunning tank without the risk of in-fighting. Either way, the plans for the tank sound great.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:Sure. Swords, java ferns, java moss, crypts, anubias, wisteria - all of those would grow in low light. plantedtank.net is great for getting started with live plants.

When you say low light, how low are we talking? Like does a regular T8 bulb work and do they need supplements still?

I have kept amazon swords successfully with no supplements. The only plant I could keep alive. They need slot less pruning and care when you do add ferts tho

would upsidedown catfish work? they look like upsidedown corys to me. I was doing tank matnence yesterday and my beta came right up to my hand and started biting me! is this an indication that he will do the same to tankmates?

I don't think so, my betta bites me all the time. Granted he doesn't have tankmates other than shrimp which he does well with. He will attack snails to death (his). Attacks until he's so exhausted he collapses in a plant, recovers, and then attacks. So, obviously he can't be with snails.

I think it will be trial and error to determine what your betta will do well with. I would not try an upside down catfish. You want a fish that isn't territorial and lives in a different area (ex. the substrate vs the top of a tank). I'd be tempted to add sterbai cories (all cories need a sand substrate) as they do well at the higher temperatures that bettas need. Plus I have a fondness for cories.

I'm glad he's enjoying the new tank

sand? right now i have aquarium gravel, what king of sand do i need? how do you clean sand, will it all get sucked up in my siphon hose? i read somewhere that the benifitial bacteria lived in the substerate is that true? will taking out my gravel have negative affects on the tank?

Low light in a 30g is 0.5-1.5 watts per gallon (WPG).

To clean sand, you run the siphon near the surface of the sand. It can take longer to get the dirt up, but most of it will stay on the surface, so you don't have to worry about digging into the sand and sucking it up. Pool filter sand is cheap, and it's heavy enough that you can actually get really close to the surface and even dig around a bit without losing much sand.

It's true that substrate holds a lot of bacteria. To preserve it, you'll want to remove it gradually. One popular technique is to take out the gravel, put the new sand in, and put the gravel in pantyhose. Then you put the gravel back into the tank. Over the following weeks, the sand will get colonized by bacteria, and you can remove the gravel bit by bit.

ok, i recently rescued a plant from my goldfish pond and im wondering what it is, but i cant seem to figure out how to post a picture how do you do it?

also, when i put the sand in the tank will it cloud my waater or get into the filter ( i heard this is a problem)

Upload your pictures to Photobucket and post a link.

Sand can definitely cloud your tank, so rinse it first. The simplest way is to get a bucket and a hose, put some sand in the bucket, fill it with water so the dust clouds it up, pour off the water... repeat until the water stays clear... repeat till you've rinsed all your sand.

I've never had trouble with sand in my filter. How close is your filter's intake to the substrate?

As I know we have a lot of betta experts here I will throw in a question. Hope no one minds. My betta was a rescue fish I took in with a large tank and many other fish. That was years ago and he was full grown when I got him. Now he seems to struggle to swim a little, he is very lethargic. I am in the process of setting up a solitary tank for him. All I have for filtration are canister filters. So I am not gonna filter it. It will be a 90l tank with gravel from established tanks and I will perform 30% daily waterchanges. Is this old age or could it be something else? Water params are spot on in his current tank but he looks pasty. Any ideas? He does not seem too distressed he just chills out all day instead of swimming constantly. I would post a pic but laptop seems to be broken.Cheers guys