Recent content by DonnBallenger

in addition to a ton of fake plants and 2 little "tunnel" ornaments, i purchased a small "breeder trap" from the LFS. its basically a small clear plastic box that floats made to catch the fry as soon as they're born. Now if only I could keep my days straight and remember to put my females in...

About a month ago, i introduced 3 female and 1 male guppies (as suggested by the pet store) to my cycled 10gal tank in hopes of breeding them. I own 5 operating tanks ranging from 10gal to 50gal and have had great success with all other types of fish I've purchased. I used the standard "float...

No live plants. I had a few lilies and some amazon swords, but between the pleco munching on them and the oscar uprooting them, they didn't last more than a few weeks. I have the lights set on a 12hrs on 12hrs off timer right now. would it be okay to go to 14 on 10 off or is that too much? i'll...

I drained the water half way and herded him into a 3 gallon rubbermaid bucket. he was pretty pissed when i tipped the bucket up and he realized he had been tricked, and started thrashing around and slinging water all over the place. I eased the bucket into the new tank (which i had drained to...

I recently purchased and cycled a brand new 75 gallon tank. The temperature, pH and overall chemistry of both tanks are reading the same, so I'm ready for the next step: getting my 9" oscar into his new home. First off, I don't want to net him. Last time I moved him when he was about 4" into...

I know that IE7 is probably a little buggy still, but for some reason when i go to view topics, the messages are aligned all the way to the right and i can only see about half of the message. is this something i can patch or do i need to revert back to IE6?

my oscar bites. hard. when he was smaller, he'd nip just about anything out of my fingers. now he's more selective and will only take bits of fresh meat (mostly raw steak and chicken) and some fresh veggies out of my hands. I'm learning that if i keep my fingers a certain distance from the...

wal-mart does sell painted fish, at least around here. personally, i would never buy one, but i guess so long as there is a demand for them they'll keep on selling them. you can't educate everyone and you can't expect everyone to subscribe to the same ideas as yourself. the best we can hope...

between the oscar and the frog, they chomp thru a dozen good-sized goldfish in 2-3 days. he and the oscar have a nice system where the oscar nips the feeders' fins and once they've been sufficiently wounded, the frog jumps in for the kill. I'm pretty sure he's capable of catching his own meals...

The froggy lives in the 50gal with the oscar and the pleco. He's about 4" long. I've heard that they're vicious little creatures, but this little guy is only a worry to those that will fit in his mouth. He and the oscar are great pals...maybe a little too close....

here's a few more pics. it is a bit harder to clean with the large rocks. i usually remove the larger decorations (the big rock, the driftwood and the fake coral) and honestly, i feel that i get it cleaner this way.

my sister's (asian theme) is 10gal mine is a 55gal

here are a few pics of both mine and my sisters tanks. im not very good at decorating and arranging them, so please feel free to comment and make suggestions (good or bad!) My tank is a mix of both fake and live plants and some rocks and such I've picked up over the years. There's definatly no...

I think its cruel to put any fish in anything less than 10 gallons. However, from what I've seen bettas aren't the fastest swimmers and they have a lot of "frill" that other fish can grab ahold of, so they probably dont make the best community tank fish. The betta I'm caring for has only two...

i rescued my sister's betta to a 10 gallon rectangle tank. the little guy loves it in there! he swims around non-stop and is healthier than ever. most people don't realize how active these fish can be. they're so much more fun in a bigger tank where they can swim free!