Questions

[Hetty]

I read the FAQ but I'm a bit confused.

Do I need geo liquid? or other water treatments? Can't just use tap water?

I'm planning on breeding bettas, and I saw something somewhere about the females needing treatment after they've been in with the male, what would this treatment be?

And the spawn eat brine shrimp? Can brine shrimp just go in water or should I buy one of those brine shrimp kits?

Sorry if this should go in the breeding section, I'm not really sure.

Also, has anyone bought from isellfightingfish.com? if so, were the fish good quality?

Thanks :(

[Bettarazzi]

Do I need geo liquid? or other water treatments? Can't just use tap water?

You may or may not need extra water treatments depending on your tap water quality. To start off with just use tap water and treat it with a good dechlorinator eg Prime. Then if you have problems you may need to change what you do with your tap water. But fishkeeping becomes a real pain if you can't use your tap water and simply treat it with a dechlorinator to remove chlorine and chloramine. So start with that and see how you go.

I saw something somewhere about the females needing treatment after they've been in with the male, what would this treatment be?

Not necessarily. Only if they are badly injured. There are some basic medications which you should keep on hand in your fishroom. This is because as hobbyists we generally only notice our fish are sick when the shops are closed. When the shops are open we're at work or school or uni or a family bbq. Things I recommend you keep on hand: salt that contains no additives, Indian almond leaves as whole leaves or an extract, something to treat whitespot/ick, something to treat fungus, Melafix, and if you still have money leftover Pimafix.

And the spawn eat brine shrimp? Can brine shrimp just go in water or should I buy one of those brine shrimp kits?

The fry eat newly hatched brine shrimp. You buy brine shrimp eggs and hatch it in a hatching cone or upside down coke bottle using a mixture of salt and water. Search the forum for brine shrimp. There's bound to be some instructions somewhere.

[Hetty]

Thanks

And I forgot to ask - I'm building a betta tank with the instructions on the 'setting up a male betta tank' thread, do I need to set up one tank for the male, and one for the female? (with heaters, filters, etc.).

[y2jdaze]

you can't keep the male and female together, only for a short time while spawning them, otherwise you will probably end up with one being killed by the other (as a general rules)

boys can't be kept with other boys, girls can in groups of 3 or more (not 2 because they will fight, but one on their own is fine)

[Hetty]

you can't keep the male and female together, only for a short time while spawning them, otherwise you will probably end up with one being killed by the other (as a general rules)

boys can't be kept with other boys, girls can in groups of 3 or more (not 2 because they will fight, but one on their own is fine)

Yeah, I knew that, I was just wondering if they need the same set up (or if the female could have something a bit simpler). I am trying to cut costs but I won't do it to the detriment of the animals.

[Bettarazzi]

Here's a link to the brine shrimp hatching topic to save you searching.

[Hetty]

Here's a link to the brine shrimp hatching topic to save you searching.

Thanks :(

[y2jdaze]

give the girls the same care as the boys - heaters, filter etc, they are no less important and their needs are the same :(

[y2jdaze]

actually my girls get spoiled, they are the only ones to have a filter and heater year round, and the boys don't get filtered at all, my girls also tend to be overfed lol

[Callatya]

You don't need anything other than dechlorinator.

People are using various treatments at the moment to get around some of the water issues they are having with the intermittent rainfalls etc. Depending on where you are and the success you have with the clean water, these might be worth looking at, but otherwise just go with the KISS style tank

Females (and males) can get a bit beaten up, and sometimes it can be good to put them in some antiseptic type medication afterwaerds, but it depoends on many thing. Again, clean fresh water is usually enough to help them heal and recover. Meds can be stressful so it really depends on the situation as to if they are required.

I'm a bit confused about the brine shrimp question, do you mean can you hatch them in the tank itself? If so, than the answer is no, but there is no need to go and drop $40 on a hatching kit. A good sized plastic cup or half a coke bottle will do the trick ;)Most people have different ways of hatching the eggs, I like glass juice bottles with air stones, Lilli likes beer cups under her 4' tank hood, and I'm sure almost everyone here has some variation on the theme

Someone on here has the signature for that shop, you might want to look through the posts to get a feel for it. If anyone has dealt with them and wants to provide less-than-splendid feedback, it might be best to do it via email, but good feedback can go here :)

[Hetty]

Oh, I wasn't talking about hatching them in there

And I'm relived about the brine shrimp thing, this is getting rather expensive lol. I hate being a student.

Thanks for the help everyone :(

[Hetty]

I'm sorry to be so bothersome, but I am just ordering everything I need over the internet for my bettas, so I want to make sure I haven't missed anything. I'll buy the tanks and gravel at Petbarn (as well as any frozen food). I am trying to get everything I need for breeding as well as keeping.

25W heater X2

sponge filter X2

air pump X2

check valve X2

air control valve X2

thermometer X2

Brine shrimp eggs

Betta food

Aqua Star (dechlorinator)

am I missing anything?

Thanks :(

[jeni]

Hetty, You dont need two pumps.. just run the air hose with a splitter in it to both sponges from the one pump..

Check valves yes..Air control valves yes..

You can buy cheap stick on thermometers, around $2.50..

When you say Betta food.. not sure what you mean..

Might be the best bet to get frozen blood worms from the local pet shop, or live blackworms..

Most Betta's hate pellets, and they constipate them..

I would advise that you run your tanks, and see how your fish go and get some experience before you try to breed them..

A few meds to have close might be.. Melafix & a white spot cure, maybe some aquarium salt..

Dont forget, as soon as you have babies.. you need another growout tank.. with all the setup.. and then something to put all the babies in when they grow.. it can end up being a large cost...

Not trying to put you off, just a warning..

HTH

[Bettarazzi]

Yeah you definitely don't need two airpumps.

My bettas primarily eat pellets. I rotate with Atison Betta Pro, NLS Small Fish Formula, Tim Addis Red Crumb and Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. The Hikari is probably the least popular but I think that's mainly because it's a slightly bigger pellet and the smaller fish in particular don't seem to like taking it in their mouths.

Edit: typo -- I meant you don't need TWO airpumps :welcome:

[Hetty]

Oh, sorry! that stuff is to set up two seperate tanks, for the male and the female.

I was just going to buy Wardley pellets, but I should look for one of those brands?

Edit: whoops, I read that wrong. Okay, I'll get one pump for the two tanks, and try and find the splitter thingo :welcome:

[Callatya]

I found the Wardley pellets a bit hard. I had a lot of difficulty getting the bettas to accept them, and ended up feeding them to the cat (who was very pleased with them!)

Check your PMs :welcome:

[Hetty]

Okay, I'll look for a different pellet. And I can't seem to find this splitter thing?

It says I have no new messages :/

[y2jdaze]

I found with the wardleys ones only the bigger boys will eat them as they are quite a large pellet, however when I break it up into smaller pieces most fish will eat them, however the best pellet is probably the Tim Addis type, it seems to be just the right size, some others are too small and my boys just ignore it and of course others too big lol!

I try to rotate my foods, just get a heaps of different ones and rotate, not only will that mean a better variety of nutrients but they won't get bored of the one type all the time

Also you can get your frozen foods and freeze dried foods as well, also rotate them

Most of mine will also eat nutrafin flakes (for bettas) and I've recently introduced them to the occaisional spirulina enhanced flakes as well which most took to with no problem :)