1x3 triple cube aquascape concept

[Rcguerra]

Overall picture. First tank on the left can only be scaped after the other 2 tanks have quality water for the betta/shrimp.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

On the betta breeding side project, nothing like being friends with batenders...9 down, 91 to go.

How do these work? Are they like the equivalent of the cups that Bettas are usually sold in?

Anyway, DHG, in my experience, takes time to acclimate and take off. The E. parvula I have in two of my tanks are like this. When I transferred some from my 12g to my 26g, it practically all turned brown, melted, and sprung back to life with runners and all.. I believe on the 26g, I'm getting about 30 PAR at the substrate. So w/ the 12" FugeRay at a little less than 12" distance, you're getting about the same PAR. So I think light it adequate and co2. It probably just needs time.

The ammonia... well, that's common with ADA AS. Just don't know how long its suppose to last before it dissipates.

 

[Rcguerra]

How do these work? Are they like the equivalent of the cups that Bettas are usually sold in?

To answer your question, I have to spend some time and give you a little bit of background.

Breeding bettas involve a bunch of steps, but basically, these are the main:

1-pre-conditioning: that's when you feed the male and female with special diet, raise the temperature and add almond leaves to prepare them to mate;

2-conditioning: that's when you let male and female see each other. Male will reduce aggressiveness, start to make a bubble nest and female will start to get ready from a biological perspective;

3-mating: if the male doesn't kill the female, they will mate and collectively place the eggs inside air bubbles from the male nest;

4-population control: as soon as the female is done with her initial role, she will turn aggressive and starts to eat some eggs. Female needs to be removed;

5-week 1: after hatched, fry has tiny small mouth, and during this time special, almost microscopic diet is required. Feeding must me often but controled, otherwise the stomach disdends, generating an atrophy of swim bladder. Father goes into population control mode and must be removed as well or will also eat fry;

6-week 2: swim bladder issues continue, feeding must be done every 3 or 4 hours;

7-week 3 and 4: betta fry becomes normal fry. Regular carnivorous diet can be introduced, some culling starts to take place (the deformed, the ugly, the small and the slow are all removed)

8-week 5: females form seroroties, and males start to develop territorial behavior. Females are removed to 10g tanks (groups of 5), aggressive males are "jar'ed".

The tequila bottles you see are low profile glass bottles that will be used to jar my "generic" males. These are the ones that survived cullings but are not receiving special treatment. They will be gifts, trades or sold for $1 to $5. I expect aproximately 20 to 50 of these, so I want 100 jars to have a rotation on cleaning and conditioning the water. They have enough volume to allow 24hrs without water changes, are low profile in one dimension (making life easy to photograph) and come with a good price tag: FREE!

I also expect 3-5% of the entire process to be very good fish. These are the "champions", and will be raised on heated tanks with almond leaves' extract. I expect to keep one female for F2 with the father, one male for tank 3 of my triple aquascape and (if any left) sell the remaining ones for $15 females and $40+ males.

If the overall experience ends up being positive, I will attempt F2 with the same father and the best female from the set before weather gets cold again in FL (late september).

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well now... you seem to have done your homework thoroughly. Sounds like you have the science locked down. I would be interested to see how this all manifests down the road. Sounds like fun!

 

[Rcguerra]

I am positive that it will be less fun than it sounds, if you consider the fact that it deals with life (therefore, death and unwanted losses will be part of the equation), but it will be an opportunity to practice the zen art of "letting go"...

 

[Rcguerra]

If anybody from this thread wants a betta, you can get one free of charge. You just have to come pick it up in swampy Dagobah, I mean, Florida. I have no intentions to make fish endure shipping.

 

[Sillyfishies]

If anybody from this thread wants a betta, you can get one free of charge. You just have to come pick it up in swampy Dagobah, I mean, Florida. I have no intentions to make fish endure shipping.

I got excited... Then depressed... Haha it's ok I understand!

 

[niks97cobra]

That sounds like a ton of work! I hope it works out for you. Looking forward to seeing your progress. MTS is hitting me a bit myself. I haven't even gotten the fish yet and I already want to set up a tank on the other side of my desk.

 

[Alyxx]

So, I think I found my jarring solution! Got directed to this site from the IBC forum.

http://www.joshsfrogs.com/32-oz-deli-cup-100-pack-no-lids.html

Just need to figure out a DIY lid for them! 100 32oz cups for $20, can't beat it!

 

[Rcguerra]

That might work. For the lids, rubber band and your choice of cover (old t-shirt cut to fit with holes, manila paper cut to fit with holes, mesh fabric from local fabric store, etc...

 

[Scottyhorse]

When I start breeding mine, I am going to use something like these: VT8126 Vo Toys Betta Container | eBay They are more expensive, but they have room to swim around, can have heaters/filters and will allow for larger fin growth. I decided it would be better for the fish to be in these than 32 oz cups, I personally feel better about these then the cups. The females will be a lot easier, since they will be in sororities.

 

[Rcguerra]

Red plants finally arrived: Red Cabomba and Ludwigia needle leaf.

They were in really bad shape, leaves coming out just by placing them on slow current.

Tank #1 is just a blob of plants, and tank 3 is the only one I am happy with.

Only thing remaining is a fresh batch of dwarf hairgrass and Rotalas Coloratas for the final hint of red on the outter edges. I hope to finish them by the 4th so I can have a week to setup the betta breeding corner.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Looking good! Glad to see things coming along! This has got to be the sweetest Beta setup I have ever seen!!! Can't wait to see when things get finalized and settled in.

 

[Rcguerra]

Last night I was listening to some songs from the 70s, one of them has the writer Paulo Coelho as a co-author, and talks about this guy that has the desire to be ever changing, even if that means contradicting himself (Metamorfose Ambulante, "the walking metamorph", by Raul Seixas).
I went back to my tank #3, removed the driftwood, and rescaped it. The driftwood was "heavy", I will have something smaller in the future.

The concept is the same, an extension from the center piece, just lighter. I feel that the plants are no longer competing with the wood.

 

[Zimmanski]

I though tank #3 looked good either way but its which ever you like more of course! Have you thought about maybe putting the cabomba in tank #1 in the back of that tank?

 

[Rivercats]

I Have you thought about maybe putting the cabomba in tank #1 in the back of that tank?

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's overpowering all the other plants being in the front.

 

[Rcguerra]

I though tank #3 looked good either way but its which ever you like more of course! Have you thought about maybe putting the cabomba in tank #1 in the back of that tank?

Tank #1 is not "addressed" yet. Is the only tank that is cycled, so I have to wait for the other 2 to be safe for fish and shrimp before addressing it.

The idea for tank #1 is a mirror version of tank 3: greens on the "inner" part, yellows in the middle, reds on the "outter" sides. The font/foreground will be predominantly dwarf hairgrass, as an extension of the left side of the center tank. The Cabomba will be on the background only.

Basically, ignore tank #1 for another couple of weeks.

 

[Zimmanski]

Tank #1 is not "addressed" yet. Is the only tank that is cycled, so I have to wait for the other 2 to be safe for fish and shrimp before addressing it.

The idea for tank #1 is a mirror version of tank 3: greens on the "inner" part, yellows in the middle, reds on the "outter" sides. The font/foreground will be predominantly dwarf hairgrass, as an extension of the left side of the center tank. The Cabomba will be on the background only.

Basically, ignore tank #1 for another couple of weeks.

Haha ohh okay gotcha, my bad. Sounds good!

 

[Rcguerra]

Bad news = good news.

Last night Cassius showed up for the first time ever horizontal lines. I can say that I have been spending A LOT of time with my fish, so I new even without the lines that something was wrong with him. After petting him and leaving my hand in the water for a while (he feels safe next to my hand I guess) the lines went away, he was eating again and even playing a little, going after the mosquitoe larvae that I would send dancing his way.

It ended up that, with the arrival of pretty much all the plants and the big mess tank #1 was, Cassius ripped his dorsal fin while entangled between red cabombas (the ones looking ugly next to the front glass).





Almost 1/2way to the dorsal region.

Well, with him out of the tank, I decided to see that as an opportunity instead of a problem.





Learning from the past...





Meanwhile, within less than 5 minutes, I could see vertical stripes on her!!!

Tank #3 is fine, center piece is waiting for DHG and tomorrow, I will have more pictures.

 

[Rcguerra]

Aprox. 24hrs. With the rescape and reds.