Help with betta fish!

[candice clews]

Hows your fish doing

[Enh98]

Originally Posted by Reduce Reuse Hamcycle

Hey! =]

I tried to type up a long reply but the short of it is if you use fast-growing plants, and you use enough of them then you don't have to cycle your tank because the plants absorb the ammonia and use it to grow. As a rule if you want plants that help with filtration get fast growers. The reason Watersprite is my all time fave is it's fast growing, low to mid light but stands up will in high light, and it propogates like noone's business. Any small bit of leaf will grow babies if it;s ripped off. Which is great if you're a perpetual dead thumb or a plant destoryer by nature. if you get rid of all the roots though and don't allow new ones to grow then you will lose it.

Here's a few helpful threads on Planted Tanks:

How to: Natural Planted tank

LONG Water Sprites!

--- A Hand-drawn Plant Guide ---

Also check out "Ripariums" A Riparium is where the bulk of the filtration for a tank is made up of emersed roots or half emersed plants. I like Ripariums a lot. I had one set up for a year, although I never put any fauna in it. (I was told I'd be kicked out of my family home if anyone so much as saw a fish! :'D I was a tad bit fish crazy in college... just a bit)

The plants I recommend are Zebrina (Wandering Jew) both the fuzzy kind and the not fuzzy kind (though the not fuzzy kind seemed to do better), pothos (almost everyone has access to purchasing this plant or knows someone or somewhere that they can take cuttings from), peace lily, and any other low-mid light and mid-high water requirement.

Really all you need are the plants, the patience, and the light/lights and you're good to go.

Here's the end of a small tank thread (1-3 gallons) where you can see an example of a riparium. from this page to page 117 you can watch his riparium evolve.

1-2 gallon tanks/bowls - Page 114

How's the little guy doing? Is he still alive?

There is something to be said for the thrill of getting a result that you're looking for when cycling and being able to change tanks relatively easily with less start-up cost. Cycling gives you that quick stability (well quick if you already have cycled media). I'd have loved to have gotten it right at somepoint but it just never did work out for me. I was happier underwater gardening anyway though. :P

Gosh darnit you've gotten me hooked again! XD It took years to break my fish addiction now I'm plotting another riparium that I'm not allowed to have! XD

Haha! Sorry is rekindled your passion for fish! The last I checked (last night) he was still alive. I can't imagine he can survive long, he hasn't eaten in several days. I tested the water again and my levels seem okay (pH 6, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and possibly nitrate 5.0. I say possibly because the difference in color between 0 and 5.0 is tough to determine, at least for me. Thank you for the tips on plants! My next tank will definitely include some live plants. I really want low maintenance! I'll have three kids (including a newborn), two dogs and of course a hamster so I don't really want to have to be pruning tank plants. Do these fast growing plants need to be cut back every so often? Do they overtake the tank? Next question - when poor Fishy passes on and I wash everything in the tank (using just hot water? Or
Is there a safe product recommended) and begin to cycle it...do I decorate it with all of the decor and plants before beginning the cycle? I assume so. Basically everything but the fish, right?!?

[Enh98]

Originally Posted by candice clews

Hows your fish doing

I haven't checked on him yet this morning but he was still hanging in there last night. He actually looked a bit perkier at times, like maybe he was trying to swim. Poor guy. I hope he passes peacefully and soon! Lol. I can't take the stress. My 6 year old son is very cute, always checking on him and helping me test the water.

[BrainGirl]

It's nice to have a planted tank but unless you really know what you're doing I wouldn't advise trying to replace the filter or avoid cycling by going that route. You will need a LOT of plants and they will need to be kept very healthy. Any dieback will only add to your ammonia.I have planted tanks but even though there's barely room for my single fish to swim through I still run a cycled sponge filter and do water changes to keep the waste products under control.

[Enh98]

I would definitely keep a filter and complete a proper cycling process. I would like a few easy, low maintenance plants for decor and to help maintain water quality.

[BrainGirl]

Originally Posted by Enh98

I would definitely keep a filter and complete a proper cycling process. I would like a few easy, low maintenance plants for decor and to help maintain water quality.

Awesome That's what I do and apart from looking good and being relatively easy to maintain, my bettas really seem to enjoy the plants too!

[candice clews]

Originally Posted by Enh98

I haven't checked on him yet this morning but he was still hanging in there last night. He actually looked a bit perkier at times, like maybe he was trying to swim. Poor guy. I hope he passes peacefully and soon! Lol. I can't take the stress. My 6 year old son is very cute, always checking on him and helping me test the water.

Aww! It took ours a couple of days to die. We kept feeling really bad just leaving it on its side at the bottom of the tank.ours wouldn't eat or swim round, occasionally he would try to put he would just flop back down ha ah we wished that too. As it causes so much hassle lol.Aww!

[Piebald]

I've heard a humane way to euthanise a fish is to freeze it. Can't speak to the accuracy of that I just pass it on. Poor fishy. Bettas get it bad a lot of the time.

[Enh98]

Originally Posted by Piebald

I've heard a humane way to euthanise a fish is to freeze it. Can't speak to the accuracy of that I just pass it on. Poor fishy. Bettas get it bad a lot of the time.

I've read that too and I've also read that clove oil is a humane way of putting down a fish. I might have to stop and get some.

[candice clews]

might be the best thing to do, if its suffering x