Hello all,
I just became a member and thought I would introduce myself. My best friend of the last ten years, Sandy, a Shepard mix died a few months ago, and left a real hole in my life. I don't see myself owning another dog for awhile, but I do like to come home to something alive and beautiful. I've kept small aquariums most of my life, but never had any great success at it, but when I saw my twin nephews Christmas presents last year, two nano tanks, I decided I was going to do it right this time, and beautifully. I knew I wanted a beta but I wanted to give it a nice home. For about fifty dollars I bought a 1.5 gallon bowl, a small heater, some gravel, a plant, and an under-gravel filter. Ares was beautiful red and blue fantail and doing great, and I was frequenting a local Pet store when I saw the unusually orange colored Brun and made him my second Beta. I created the same set up for him. Both are doing great, but I wanted more. I always loved Panda Cory's and thought they would be good in a Beta tank. Instead of doing my homework I ran out and bought four Panda's, two for each Beta bowl. I told you I was never very successful. The Beta's beat up on the Panda's. I had to get them out of there and quick. I ran out one Saturday and bought a ten gallon bow front, some gravel filled it with plants and added the four Panda's. Only two survived. Well now I had a 10 gallon with two fish. I added four Rummy nose tetra's again without and research. They were skittish and hiding all the time, and after finally doing some reading, I thought it might have to do with the fact that they prefer a larger group. I went out and purchased two more. They perked up immediately. Water changes were done with Poland Spring water that has a great PH and hardness as well as 0ppm Nitrite and Nitrates. They were thriving. They would dance for me at feeding time it was wonderful. At this point I made a mistake only I don't quite know what it was. First was using condition tap water instead of the tried and true spring I had been using. The second was trying a treat a feeding time.I gave them some frozen food. Shrimp/Bloodworms/algae. One of them or both was a BIG mistake. I guess they developed some stomach disorder that led to stressing them out which led to ick. I lost one of my six Rummynose's to it, and the others haven't quite recovered there colors yet. I'm currently in the process of upgrading to a twenty gallon tank. I have all the equipment, just waiting on an under-gravel heater for some convection current, and substrate. While waiting for all this to arrive I came across some beautiful Ember Tetra's at my local pet store, and couldn't pass them up, and I have added eight to my ten gallon. They should be alright with the other fish in the ten, until I set up my twenty. Believe me I am now doing my homework, I'm going to get this right, and being a member of this forum will hopefully help. I have attached some pictures. I can't seem to get them the right way up. Sorry.
I just became a member and thought I would introduce myself. My best friend of the last ten years, Sandy, a Shepard mix died a few months ago, and left a real hole in my life. I don't see myself owning another dog for awhile, but I do like to come home to something alive and beautiful. I've kept small aquariums most of my life, but never had any great success at it, but when I saw my twin nephews Christmas presents last year, two nano tanks, I decided I was going to do it right this time, and beautifully. I knew I wanted a beta but I wanted to give it a nice home. For about fifty dollars I bought a 1.5 gallon bowl, a small heater, some gravel, a plant, and an under-gravel filter. Ares was beautiful red and blue fantail and doing great, and I was frequenting a local Pet store when I saw the unusually orange colored Brun and made him my second Beta. I created the same set up for him. Both are doing great, but I wanted more. I always loved Panda Cory's and thought they would be good in a Beta tank. Instead of doing my homework I ran out and bought four Panda's, two for each Beta bowl. I told you I was never very successful. The Beta's beat up on the Panda's. I had to get them out of there and quick. I ran out one Saturday and bought a ten gallon bow front, some gravel filled it with plants and added the four Panda's. Only two survived. Well now I had a 10 gallon with two fish. I added four Rummy nose tetra's again without and research. They were skittish and hiding all the time, and after finally doing some reading, I thought it might have to do with the fact that they prefer a larger group. I went out and purchased two more. They perked up immediately. Water changes were done with Poland Spring water that has a great PH and hardness as well as 0ppm Nitrite and Nitrates. They were thriving. They would dance for me at feeding time it was wonderful. At this point I made a mistake only I don't quite know what it was. First was using condition tap water instead of the tried and true spring I had been using. The second was trying a treat a feeding time.I gave them some frozen food. Shrimp/Bloodworms/algae. One of them or both was a BIG mistake. I guess they developed some stomach disorder that led to stressing them out which led to ick. I lost one of my six Rummynose's to it, and the others haven't quite recovered there colors yet. I'm currently in the process of upgrading to a twenty gallon tank. I have all the equipment, just waiting on an under-gravel heater for some convection current, and substrate. While waiting for all this to arrive I came across some beautiful Ember Tetra's at my local pet store, and couldn't pass them up, and I have added eight to my ten gallon. They should be alright with the other fish in the ten, until I set up my twenty. Believe me I am now doing my homework, I'm going to get this right, and being a member of this forum will hopefully help. I have attached some pictures. I can't seem to get them the right way up. Sorry.
