Leaderboard

As people are probably aware of by now, if it's not simple, I don't do it - in regards to my fish keeping I'm happy enough to put in an effort to begin with to make things easy later on - big believer in doing things right the first time. So, I'm not particularly keen on keeping jarred out individuals in separate beanie boxes or take-away containers etc. I went out and got one of those little three bay things that has no sump or anything, and doesn't share water (holds a touch over 2L in each compartment) and heated it from underneath with a reptile heating cord. But I'm over having to do the water changes and cleaning every day (and I'm not impressed with the temp fluctuations with the cord) - bottom line - I wanted something bigger, something kept at an even temp, and something easier to clean and do water changes on, and for said water changes to be less often. So, I'm going to build a holding system. This will be self contained in a single 2 and a half foot tank. It must be able to hold around 18 individuals in their own container, while carding them from others, and be able to share water so I only have to have one filter and one heater. And I started this thread to give me impetuous to actually get it finished in a reasonable time (cant hide when everyone knows (oh, how's your fish room coming Razzi? ) This is what I started with: 1 x 2'6" tank 1 x sheet of black corflute 18 x 1.25L soda bottles 1 x sponge filter 1 x heater This stuff was gathered over the last year and was currently sitting around doing nothing - so cost has been negligible. I'm losing out on the $1.80 I could get from returning the bottles...but I think I can live with that. Tools: 1 x scissors 1 x knife 1 x ruler I began by cutting the corflute to size so it fit down the length of the tank and the cross pieces to fit snuggly across the tank. The idea here is to have each bottle sit in its own little compartment. I've still got three bottles to put into the above shown configuration. I can fit more than 18 bottles into the tank, but wanted to leave room for the filter and heater. I'm still toying with the creation of the bottles/containers. Those above have been cut a little below the level of the surrounding corflute, and have holes in the bottom to allow water transfer, but I'm thinking I may change this to bottles with only holes in the sides. It will mean I need to siphon out the crap a little more often, but transferring the fish in and out would be easier (and I'm all about things being easier). Remember, this is a temporary holding tank only for the fish I'm moving on to new owners. My breeding stock is held in different barrack systems. Now my offsider didn't have much input into the design, or the actual putting together of the thing, but his presence was still appreciated... Once I've decided on the bottles configuration, I'll move on....stay tuned

Congratulations you have skipped directly to fishkeeping level 5 which was to conscript your spouse to your hobby. You now have 67 levels opened up for you. Good job!

Lovers, enthusiasts and quite honestly addicts of all things Betta Splendens...

Just sharing some of our endler guppy hybruids. tehy are really hard to photograph and theres so many names its a bit confusing but im planning to do a bit more research on patterns and colour genetics so maybe that will tidy it up a bit Pink platinums also sometimes called a blonde scarlet.. I got these from a breeder in queensland the first lot of fry were hybridised with gold leaopard which resulted in a fair few neon oranges or 'pink' leopards. cute but not what i was going for. so a melbournite has the offspring. theyve recently dropped new fry though which should be more like the parents as the parents have been seperated from any otehr fish (besides cories) for 4 montsh now. This is ayoung male same strain the red layer comes in first the blonde or platinum over lay which makes them appear the baby pink/fairy floss colour comes in later Hybrid gold patterns. we have a mix of tigers, leopards and snakeskins. Neon tuxedos. chest is one colour, back half is black like there in some groovy orange and black tux. Japanese blues. this isnt my photo of them but they are my newest strain from a different queensland breeder i adore them

The limitation of 5 photos per post has now been lifted. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while. It was first put in place when people were having trouble with their bandwidth. At first we tried adding "image heavy" warnings to the title but then chose to place a limit on photos. Technology has advanced since then and I think the limit isn't necessary any longer. Let me know if you have any questions or still experience problems.

I've been known to take a hundred shots to get one I can use. Good lighting is the key. Helps your camera focus. The other thing is getting used to the delay in your camera's reaction time. With bettas you can sometimes anticipate when they're going to start or stop. With guppies OMG remove sharp objects to prevent self-harm.

This is not my idea, originally, but one I've altered from other posts I've seen here and elsewhere (cant actually remember the thread I saw it on here - sorry, memory like a sieve). The one's I've seen before allowed for the fish to see each other, I wanted them isolated, but still able to share water, and take advantage of the bigger volume of water to help keep parameters stable. I've come to the conclusion that cutting the bottles a little bigger, (so they hold a litre if free standing - around 18cm on a 1.5L bottle), and then drill a ring of holes around the bottle 8cm up from the base, and then another ring of holes a bit further up, but below the water line, allows the transference of water in and out, but when I want to lift the bottle/container out (for sending fish or photographs), I can slowly lift the bottle up and allow the water to drain out of the holes, leaving the fish, and 500ml of water remaining in the bottle (no nets required). It means I'll have to siphon out each bottle, but that's a small effort compared to trying to get the fish out of the containers with a net or by hand (not that my hand fits all that well inside a 1.5L bottle anyway). So, now I have to come up with another 15 bottles to configure in my newly decided upon way - more creaming soda for me. At 18cm, I fill the whole tank to within 2-3cm of the cut bottle tops - this comes to 30L as an overall volume of the tank to hold 18 fish. A closer look at my guinea pig...a young expendable (cull candidate) F1 Black Orchid CTPK (she was separated early due to fin melt but she's recovered quite well - just cant put her back with her siblings now or chaos would ensue...)

Thanks for the info. Obviously I am still finding my feet. Thanks for that. This is several days later. About 18 fry visible.Mainly on the l/h side

Betta Enthusiasts Adriana from Melbourne I started with a 60 litres tank with a gorgeous betta male half moon tail a couple of months ago 🥰

Here's a little video of my new 50L cory tank! I managed to get all of my fish in frame at once! haha 10x Corydoras trilineatus (aka "julii"), and a BNC Plants are some compact blehiri swords and some chain swords, in fine quartz sand

Welcome back Roc! Giants have developed a little bit more in the last few years. We still need more breeders in Australia working on them. 

That's awful that your tank got poisoned. I'm glad you're back into it now.

Nice. Playmates are good.

It had started to rot in less than a week? Didn't realise it was that quick.

Hi Ineke I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say you know Jay He contacted me recently about his "shrimp mama" and her wish to give Betta a go in SA - welcome to the forum...you've come to the right place! Unfortunately, lavender jumbo (or big ear, or ee) plakats aren't my specialty. I'm located in the northern suburbs and am currently playing with Crowntail plakat lines and a line of white doubletail plakats. Feel free to look me up on Facebook See you around the boards BT

I like them both. :)

my relatively new midnight blue male guppies and my fav original blue female which made me go looking for blue males

Welcome Joe. Great to have an experienced breeder join us. Threesome spawning sounds interesting.

These guys are such rabbits, The tank I have full of these guys looks amazing in the dark with there eyes shinning like blue lamps. I am going to start growing them in troughs this summer just to save space as room is of a primiam

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! I'll try to post some photos now bettarazzi. The tank. The corys resting. The cory eggs.

had some old 10mm glass in the shed from a few years ago when i was a glazier , decided on the weekend gone that i'ld use it to make a new tank as i've already done the main structure i'll show a quick run down on how i was taught as an apprentice obviously draw your design , then cut the glass / get it cut allowing for silicone joints ( that depends on size generally between 2-5mm ) and deducting the width of the glass for the ends so the front runs through and the ends but up to the front ( maybe confusing pitures below will show then i drew out the tank some timber and screwed down blocks of timber to hold the sides up right by this stage the glass would be taped with about 3mm in on the is ide for a better seal and on the out side almost flush (1mm) i haven't as just doing a quick demo as i'ld already finished mine the blocks underneath just lift it off the bottom so you can access it when siliconing rather then having to cut off big blobs later down the track then i just use old roofing lead and cut and shape it to hold the top solid and level the below photo shows how one piece of glass will run past with the other butting up to it and about a 3mm gap for the silicone joint then next you would pump the silicone into the joint , a clean cut nozzle at the right angle and size is the key as well as not being to shy by making sure it comes out the other side as well . running up or down at a slow smooth speed you can always wipe more off but if you don't use enough you'll get air bubbles and higher leakage chances using a spatula like this on the side you used the silicone gun use the above or something square and that won't scratch the glass or ripe the tape off and hold it quite flat (vertical) at this stage you want to push as much as possible out the other side you don't want to be wiping the excess off just yet you want to be pushing it through to get rid of air bubbles now on the other side you can hold it more horizontal to remove excess then you do the same on the first side then once more on the other side now you can peel off the tape and let dry for atleast 24hrs unscrew the timber blocks , remove the lead then i used the timber blocks under the base and under the newly siliconed sides to lift it off the floor so you can access the base to do the same as what was done on the sides with the base (caution the sides will be quiet flimsy until the base is in place ) and you should end up with something that resembles this i'm yet to put removable dividers and waiting till wednesday pay day to buy the lights i want before i can get the measurements for the light supports that will need siliconing in place which will determine where and how the dividers go otherwise if the light support goes over the divider with the system i'm looking at doing which is slide up and down i wont be able to remove them so i just got to wait for the light first CAUTION GLASS IS SHARP AND CAN CUT, BREAK extreme caution should be taken when handling SILICONE :most kitchen/ bathroom silicones contain anti-fungus which can kill fish most bathroom silicones are neutral cure which means it doesn't seal glass to glass as strong a good quality acetic cure silicone with the recommended cure time with a few wash outs before use is highly recommended as clear as mud ? i've got enough glass to make another the same size so i'll take proper photo's of a step by step when i do that one

I've forgotten which model number it is but it was the biggest one they had - just maybe not big enough, I guess? I'll have a hunt for a bigger one and see how I go with that now that I know it should do the trick. Cheers, Brenton.

Welcome the forum Tye.

.. basically, I should pull my finger out and charge my DSLR!

Sharpening stones. Yes. I think someone mentioned that once but it fell out of my head. They didn't mention the part about the stone not being good for knives afterwards though. Ok so cheapie it is.

Very nice. 1st - not sure? 2nd - Crowntail 3rd - Veiltail? 4th - Halfmoon 5th - Veiltail I'm probably wrong on 3 & 5 LOL.

Oh wow! I think this is the first time we've actually had a glazier show us how it's done. Thank you! I have to admit I didn't entirely follow all of it. I think I need to read again slowly. So how big is this tank?

Is that a mermaids tail? :gasp: :faints:

Guppies like water with high conductivity (total dissolved solids) My guess is water with high ph is also likely to be hard and have high conductivity Personally....I wouldn't change it I'd bet it's not worrying the guppies....;)

Hi Will, Welcome to Ausaqua, there are several bustling Betta communities around Australia - and as Brenton kindly mentioned, Victoria Betta is the Southern state group. The website is here The facebook page is here and the next meet is nearly here! July 27th will be the next meeting, this will include a table show (many of the fish on show will be for sale from breeders/showers) you also get to meet the lovely lot of buddies that are VB members. Feel free to come along (bring Jess) and have a look around, the day starts form 12:30 and we have various activities on during the day. /shameless spruke. Cheers, Ness

Again, experience - nothing can be rushed in this hobby, but lots of trial and error will help. If you have a pair that you want to breed, condition them up (this is the most important part of the breeding process). Read the logs on here, ask the questions in the breeding forums, etc - and give it a try. The more times you try, the more experienced you will become, and the more the Betta bug will bite The intro forum is probably not the place to continue this though...

Not selling at the moment, but will be giving away a few in about three weeks at the cost of postage - mainly females though. I didn't get many males in the current two spawns (at least not many making through to maturity ). I'll be selling them from F2 onwards when I think they are worthy of me asking a price for them. Shipping is by overnight parcel express and is around $15, I think...stay tuned if you're after females carrying the CT or PK genes...plus a few others

Bummer - but welcome anyway!

Ok - I've not gone into things in that much detail to be honest. I feed my guys once a day on Attison's pellets when not conditioning. I feed my pairs frozen bloodworm three or more times a day when conditioning. I also keep them carded and only allow short introduction periods to begin with, and then anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks later (depending on how the fish react to each other), I'll put her into his tank inside a clear tube (drink bottle with top and bottom cut off). I give her a chance to get used to the new surroundings and once everyone is back on the same page, I let them go. That's the short simple version of what I do

welcome adam! and welcome back to the hobby

Hi I'm in NSW Far South coast, around a 3hour drive from Canberra. Breeding Bettas ATM.

You can possibly get in touch with serkan he keeps a lot of killifish but also has some wild bettas and plenty of knowledge plus local hobbiests he can point you too Also Holger at second nature aquariums I know its orange not Canberra buts he's a lovely fella and all his anks are inspirational To visit And yes plenty if people on here are happy to ship fish ( also keep your eyes peeled in may for the Vic beta inc show fish )

Hello everybody, Rowland from Brisbane here, introducing myself. I currently have a pair of B. burdigala & a trio of B. smagadina and am raising a spawn from each. Nice to be here.

Happy Birthday Brenton! May you have a wonderful year ahead. Thank you for the wonderful contribution you make to our forum!

Born Sept 2013 SHELDON balloon CT BUBBLES balloon CT ROCKY balloon CT

Gardneri were my first species of killi. Have a soft spot for them. Love their cute smiling faces.

Welcome! I'm sure Brenton is over the moon having someone else from SA on here. We all love seeing fish pictures, so don't hesitate to post any. And if you want to breed there is heaps of info in peoples spawn logs.

To get the ph down to roughly 6.8-7 I would do a 250-50% change and make up an ial tea and pour that in.

Yes, you are correct James....please ignore my posts.....

I am sorry but it is impossible to compile a list of Wingei and Endlers keepers in Australia as the Wingei keepers will just not going to distributed their fish freely just becuase of $ as they fear that as soon as they releasing their "Jewels" fish will immedaitelly get hybridise and "Evil" keepers will just keep on cheat and lies about the purity of stocks as per Europe and US. If you dont like the infor on the net then My only sugeestion to you is to Go to EndlersUSA forum and read the whole site start from the begining....there is no movie version for this...hihihi...

And everyone can add their experience and unlike a care sheet it will be like a care thread for each species. But I like the idea. It's definitely hard for newbies to find info and if each species had their own topic it would be much easier! The only thing I ask is you make sure you spell the names right! It frustrates me seeing misspelt names in an information section... The 'Betta' should have a capital letter at the start but the following word should all be lower case, no capitals. I.e macrostoma not Macrostoma. Just one of my pet hates :P

Hi Ronny, Welcome to the nuthouse.... I mean AusAqua forums. Please enjoy our free hospitality... Yada yada yada. In all seriouseness, nice pair but I would be looking at the anal fin within the fry. The males is a bit long :)

Welcome Floss. The link doesn't work Brenton?

I actually like the "like" button. I have used it and I am also posting. Personally, I will not let a button dictate whether or not I will post a comment. Sometimes I felt that I was posting to myself in my spawn logs and a few "likes" here and there would have let me know people were following my posts and just not commenting...