briztoon

It's not you, it's natural instinct. Quite simply most of your fish are food for larger fish, and birds that dive from above. Any light, bright or not, above a pretty sparsely decorated tank will send your fish hiding, especially as they never know what kingfisher is sitting above the light where they can't see. Dimly lit water is a bit safer to move around in. In the LFS, usually there are many fish in a small tank, and it's a case of safety in numbers. The fish know there is a much greater chance that the predators will pick off some one else in the school. Also tetras like to be in schools of the same species. They are much more skittish when there is only one or two of their own species about. You can put 20 different species of individual tetra in a tank and they will never school and they will feel lonely. I know people like to see differences in body shape and colour, but many fish like to be in a school of their own type. I don't know how big the tank is, but your tetra would be happier if they were in schools of at least 6 per species.

Ahhhh you're Jays friend then.

Welcome Greg from one wild fan to another. I keep wild Splendens and Coccina complex species. Though I really like B. foerschi and almost bought a pair from JL. Did you go up to the Caboolture show on the weekend and see all the wilds that were entered? A pair of B. albimarginata won the wild division. Hermanus from Indonesia was the head Judge and supplies Fishchicks with many wilds, he gave a talk on how he keeps and breeds wilds If you are interested, Betta Australis meets in the Ace Comics game room in the arcade third Tuesday night of every month, and quite a few members keep and breed wilds.

I have ferts left over from when I used to have some low tech planted tanks and occasionally add a little to my betta tanks, but realistically I don't have to. I've gone months without using ferts that I know they're not needed in my tanks. I zip tie Anubis, Java fern and Java moss to driftwood in my betta tanks and have Water Sprite floating at the surface. Water sprite has amazing roots and absorb so much from the water column. It's a fast grower and throws so many "pups" that it's self sustaining. I usually throw the larger plants from my tanks in to my tubs out side.

Root tabs only really benefit the plant they are under. Some plats like Anubis and Java fern absorb nutrients out of the water column, while others absorb nutrients from the substrate. If you are considering fast growing plants you might need to look at a high tech set up with Co2, etc.

I'm by no means an expect or even an average aquatic green thumb. I just throw some plants in a tank and they just grow. What plants are you trying to grow? I just use low light plants, they're easy to grow, don't need fertilisers. Plus Bettas like them. If you are having problems with algae I would look at what is causing the problem. Do you leave the lights on too long? or is the tank next to a window or door where it receives too much sun light? Are their nutrient sources that are promoting an algae bloom? All tanks grow algae, but if it's taking over you're either not staying on top of your tank maintenance or you have something causing a bloom and this needs to be addressed.

Better stop procrastinating Jarrod, I'm home already. Yes it's a week ahead of schedule. Hopefully I'll get permission to come along on Tuesday night.

Looking good Jarrod. I'm jealous. Very interested to follow this thread and see how your fish room develops.

Ramshorn snails are good. They eat algae off the glass and plants. But they much prefer to eat IAL, and can leave quite a mess. I love them personally. I just change my water change levels to suit the bioload of the tank.

Australian native riffle shrimp are good filter feeders. They grow between 2cm and 3cm TL, and don't have pincers, but rather fan like claws that they use to filter stuff from the water column. I've kept them with Apistogramma species and wild type Splendens species no worries. They do prefer cooler temps, but can handle high 20's and low 30's celsius.

Also tetras will eat any fry once they are free swimming. Dad will try and protect them, but against tetras he'll fail badly. If you want to breed bettas, best to only have snails as tank mates.

Hmmmm, I'd pack it out with as many plants as possible. Seriously lots.

If the tank is well planted you can have a pair of Smaragdina or Mahachai in a 2x1 tank. If the tank is complex enough, you can have two males and four females in a 2x1 with little problems. If you have large clumps of Java moss and Subwassertang some fry may even survive in the tank. Or you can have a large breeding net like I have in the tank and keep the female in there. I just used the grill that is supposed to sit in the bottom as the lid to keep the female from jumping out in to the main tank. Make sure you keep about 2cm of the net out of the water so the female can breath at the surface. I also found Water sprite and floating Java fern very good plants for bettas to rest on.

All my wild betta tanks look similar to this. Bare bottom for ease of cleaning, and for pairs to pick up fallen eggs. I have some small lengths of floating drainage pipe that the bettas love hiding in and even building bubble nests in.

Hey guys, Every time I try posting a response in a thread (About setting up a new tank for betta smaragdina) I get redirected to the HOME page.