My head is spinning....

[chocolatepuppy]

I've been keeping bettas for years. I've had a few live nearly four years. (which means they were older than four) I keep them in two gallons tanks. No filtration. I do a full water change every five days, you might make it six or seven days. I feed them 4-5 pieces of food twice a day. There are lights in each of the tanks to help warm them during the winter months and I have thermometers in each tank to watch the water temperature.

[sallyandsnowx]

I as well own a betta. I feed him four pellets of betta food twice a day. The tank does not have a filter, so I change the water in his tank about once a week. The tank is also smaller than 5 gallons (I'm not too sure exactly how big it is.) I keep gravel and plants in there for him and the tank also came with a light which I keep on during the day and turn off at night. I've read that bettas like around room temperature water; it is not too good for them if the water is freezing cold or boiling hot.

I've had him for maybe two months or so. Not long, I know, but longer then any goldfish I've ever had. They're easy to care for and not to mention very pretty!

[zippy-kat]

For what it's worth... I say jump in with both feet and go salt!

I always put it off because I thought it would be much harder. It isn't and I find it more fascinating. (Still love a planted tank with fancy guppies, though!) If you want A fish (or maybe 2 really small ones), you can keep a nano-reef of 5-10 gallons; the only drawback to one that small is that, as with fresh water, the smaller the tank the quicker the water quality declines.

Good luck with your adventure!

[pomtzu]

For what it's worth... I say jump in with both feet and go salt!

I always put it off because I thought it would be much harder. It isn't and I find it more fascinating. (Still love a planted tank with fancy guppies, though!) If you want A fish (or maybe 2 really small ones), you can keep a nano-reef of 5-10 gallons; the only drawback to one that small is that, as with fresh water, the smaller the tank the quicker the water quality declines.

Good luck with your adventure!

- even I was never brave enough to take on a salt water set up. Both my brothers had salt tanks, and they were just beautiful, but what I consider a lot of work. And the price of salt water fish??? - talk about sticker shock!!! YIKES - big time!

[zippy-kat]

- even I was never brave enough to take on a salt water set up. Both my brothers had salt tanks, and they were just beautiful, but what I consider a lot of work. And the price of salt water fish??? - talk about sticker shock!!! YIKES - big time!

Yes the fish are a little bit pricier but, in my experience, they lived longer, too. (That said -and my guppies aside- I got bored and didn't do regular maintenance with the freshies.) I didn't venture into the $$$ saltwater fish - just stuck with the hardier, cheaper ones (most of mine avg'd about $20). I also bought coral fragments and waited for them to grow rather than purchase the whole specimen at one time.


This was my "box of water" near it's prime:
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...ight=saltwater

Before the black clownfish, I had this guy and he was my favorite fish of all time (i LOVE jawfish)... even though he was a pain in the rear.

He had personality plus! He would stack the snails then get really mad and flare up at them when they moved. He also dug holes in the substrate and made a burrow. After he had his dinner, he'd plug his burrow with a shell (sometimes he'd try a snail) and go to bed. He also had a habit of stealing coral and hiding it in his burrow; I guess he wanted some decor.


When I bought my house and moved the tank, I lost EVERYTHING except the snails. I now have a 30g long in my kitchen but I don't have corals just Herbie the clownfish and a handful of snails.

[Andie]

We are thinking of a salt tank after we get more room and we find out if I inherited my mother's fishie death hands.

The SIL donated her 10g tank to us with all her equipment that we are going to portion of for 2 Betta with plexiglass.

[zippy-kat]

We are thinking of a salt tank after we get more room and we find out if I inherited my mother's fishie death hands.

The SIL donated her 10g tank to us with all her equipment that we are going to portion of for 2 Betta with plexiglass.

Good luck on your adventure! Can't wait to see pictures!

[pomtzu]

Yes the fish are a little bit pricier but, in my experience, they lived longer, too. (That said -and my guppies aside- I got bored and didn't do regular maintenance with the freshies.) I didn't venture into the $$$ saltwater fish - just stuck with the hardier, cheaper ones (most of mine avg'd about $20). I also bought coral fragments and waited for them to grow rather than purchase the whole specimen at one time.


This was my "box of water" near it's prime:
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...ight=saltwater

Before the black clownfish, I had this guy and he was my favorite fish of all time (i LOVE jawfish)... even though he was a pain in the rear.

He had personality plus! He would stack the snails then get really mad and flare up at them when they moved. He also dug holes in the substrate and made a burrow. After he had his dinner, he'd plug his burrow with a shell (sometimes he'd try a snail) and go to bed. He also had a habit of stealing coral and hiding it in his burrow; I guess he wanted some decor.


When I bought my house and moved the tank, I lost EVERYTHING except the snails. I now have a 30g long in my kitchen but I don't have corals just Herbie the clownfish and a handful of snails.

I went back and took a look at your other thread with all the pics - just beautiful. I'm not sure what size the tanks were that my brothers had, but they were huge in comparison even to my 40 gallon set up. Wish I had the patience to start over again, but I would be starting from scratch and putting out a lot of money that I don't have to splurge with!