Hello everyone, and thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts. I'm new here, but I think my recent experience will be a good "what's wrong with this picture" exercise. I've only been feeding the aquatic habit for 4 months now, but the lessons learned have been enriching. My tale begins thus:
My girlfriend had recently moved into her dorm, and found the idea of a Betta for show a great idea. I had established a ten gallon tank 7 years previously and thought I could lend a hand. The idea of a Betta however, appealed to me as well. Right off the bat I purchase a Splendis female and a ten gallon tank with a divider and moved both fish into it. The chemical requirements were completely lost on me at this point, but both fish survived and did well. As I am prone to do I began researching the Betta's and decided that I could breed them myself, easily. Keep in mind I didn't forsee fry at all and didn't consider rearing a lot of potential fish in a second floor apartment. The fish however were both very aggressive and refused to "do the deed". She took her Crowntail home and I picked and purchased another male. The new male wasn't nearly mean enough and after 3 weeks recovery time grew back the lost fin post-female encounter. Chemical balancing eluded me still.
With no luck in the end of breeding, I decided to purchase some tank mates to liven up the home aquarium experience. Amidst purchasing a nice employee of the local store gave me a bit of a rundown as to keeping fish. Not to be deterred by most likely toxic water, I picked and purchased several White Cloud Minnows, Fancy Tail Guppies, a Golden Dojo loach, a Black Ghost Knife, a Plecostomaus, and several Mollies. Understand my ten gallon tank looked like an uncomfortable elevator with one last person trying to squeeze in. The added Mollies went straight into nibbling the female Betta, and within the day were replaced by two Neon Blue Gourami. Researching again the needs of fish I find the Knife has the potential of nearly two feet however unlikely in the home aquarium. I won't have my fish living in bad conditions, so I pick a 20gallon tank being sold used for a great deal. After rinsing and adding gravel, everyone is moved into their new home with little distress. Did I forget to mention at this point that I have a 20 gallon tank and a ten gallon tank on a glass topped table? True to form, after about eight hours the table gives way. Minus one Guppy and one Minnow, everyone is recovered to a large cooking pot, and a ten gallon tank is bought with all speed at the local Wal-mart, at 12pm. The Black Ghost Knife died one week later from the stress I'm sure, but I'd never seen him eat. I find another used tank via Craigslist, and purchase a fifty gallon. It came with two Channel Cats that I resold to make room for my current population. Another failure of conduct, the previous owner had no filtration or heating. Once a month someone would clean her tank for her. As I found out, poorly. After 2+hours of rinsing brown gravel that turned out to be red white and blue, in the tub of my second floor apartment, The tank is set back up and everyone is added to it. The population grows to 4 Golden Dojo Loaches, 1 Striped Raphael Cat, 1 Black Ghost Knife, 1 Kuhli Loach, 5 m/f Fancy Guppies, 2 Plecos, 5 Green Tiger Barbs, 4 Harlequin Rasbora, 2 Neon Dwarf Gourami, 2 Opaline Gourami, 2 Red Tail Gourami, about a dozen Ghost Shrimp, 5 Mystery Snails, 1 Common Brown Snail, 1 Peacock Eel, and 1 Glofish. The ten gallon was converted into a tank for two Red Tiger Oscars and a Pleco. Stay with me now, as the elapsed time in between each setup is not enough to complete the chemical circle. I find that loaches love to dig in sand, so I purchased a 29 gallon rubbermaid, 50lbs of play sand, and a 5 gallon bucket. After about 6 hours of rinsing sand in my second floor apartment bathroom, the tank is re-resetup. I begin at this point to feed common Creek Guppies to the Oscars. 1 month after this has been arranged, the Oscars make it clear that a ten gallon tank will not do. The went from 1.5" to 6 and 5" respectively. Shortly after the month, they are donated to the local Petco. Any sane person at this point I'm sure would take a break but I'm not one to pause, let alone listen to reason.
To keep me on my toes, the 50gallon tank has started a leak along the front bottom seam, and is losing about 5 ounces every 10-12 hours. I find an eighty gallon tank, and purchase. Another 50lbs of play sand, and the population resolves at this. 5 Green Tiger Barbs, 5 Mixed Fancy Guppies, 4 Golden Dojo Loaches, 1 Black Kuhli Loach, 4 Black Ghost Knives, 2 Plecos, 2 Bamboo Shrimp, 4 Harlequin Rasbora, 4 Golden Platys, 6 Snails, half a dozen Ghost Shrimp. The ten gallon tank is running a breeding experiment with guppies. My plant life includes Anachris, Cambomba, Chilensis, Bamboo, and an Anubias. Everyone has plenty of breathing space and even the Knives are rarely aggressive towards each other. I realize I need a bigger tank to comfortably house the Knives, but I do have some time as they are still awfully small. That's my story, take from it what you can, I hope it helps. With any luck some of the pros will point out exactly what I did wrong on the way, and give me some pointers are getting my Knives as big as possible. Thanks everyone.
My girlfriend had recently moved into her dorm, and found the idea of a Betta for show a great idea. I had established a ten gallon tank 7 years previously and thought I could lend a hand. The idea of a Betta however, appealed to me as well. Right off the bat I purchase a Splendis female and a ten gallon tank with a divider and moved both fish into it. The chemical requirements were completely lost on me at this point, but both fish survived and did well. As I am prone to do I began researching the Betta's and decided that I could breed them myself, easily. Keep in mind I didn't forsee fry at all and didn't consider rearing a lot of potential fish in a second floor apartment. The fish however were both very aggressive and refused to "do the deed". She took her Crowntail home and I picked and purchased another male. The new male wasn't nearly mean enough and after 3 weeks recovery time grew back the lost fin post-female encounter. Chemical balancing eluded me still.
With no luck in the end of breeding, I decided to purchase some tank mates to liven up the home aquarium experience. Amidst purchasing a nice employee of the local store gave me a bit of a rundown as to keeping fish. Not to be deterred by most likely toxic water, I picked and purchased several White Cloud Minnows, Fancy Tail Guppies, a Golden Dojo loach, a Black Ghost Knife, a Plecostomaus, and several Mollies. Understand my ten gallon tank looked like an uncomfortable elevator with one last person trying to squeeze in. The added Mollies went straight into nibbling the female Betta, and within the day were replaced by two Neon Blue Gourami. Researching again the needs of fish I find the Knife has the potential of nearly two feet however unlikely in the home aquarium. I won't have my fish living in bad conditions, so I pick a 20gallon tank being sold used for a great deal. After rinsing and adding gravel, everyone is moved into their new home with little distress. Did I forget to mention at this point that I have a 20 gallon tank and a ten gallon tank on a glass topped table? True to form, after about eight hours the table gives way. Minus one Guppy and one Minnow, everyone is recovered to a large cooking pot, and a ten gallon tank is bought with all speed at the local Wal-mart, at 12pm. The Black Ghost Knife died one week later from the stress I'm sure, but I'd never seen him eat. I find another used tank via Craigslist, and purchase a fifty gallon. It came with two Channel Cats that I resold to make room for my current population. Another failure of conduct, the previous owner had no filtration or heating. Once a month someone would clean her tank for her. As I found out, poorly. After 2+hours of rinsing brown gravel that turned out to be red white and blue, in the tub of my second floor apartment, The tank is set back up and everyone is added to it. The population grows to 4 Golden Dojo Loaches, 1 Striped Raphael Cat, 1 Black Ghost Knife, 1 Kuhli Loach, 5 m/f Fancy Guppies, 2 Plecos, 5 Green Tiger Barbs, 4 Harlequin Rasbora, 2 Neon Dwarf Gourami, 2 Opaline Gourami, 2 Red Tail Gourami, about a dozen Ghost Shrimp, 5 Mystery Snails, 1 Common Brown Snail, 1 Peacock Eel, and 1 Glofish. The ten gallon was converted into a tank for two Red Tiger Oscars and a Pleco. Stay with me now, as the elapsed time in between each setup is not enough to complete the chemical circle. I find that loaches love to dig in sand, so I purchased a 29 gallon rubbermaid, 50lbs of play sand, and a 5 gallon bucket. After about 6 hours of rinsing sand in my second floor apartment bathroom, the tank is re-resetup. I begin at this point to feed common Creek Guppies to the Oscars. 1 month after this has been arranged, the Oscars make it clear that a ten gallon tank will not do. The went from 1.5" to 6 and 5" respectively. Shortly after the month, they are donated to the local Petco. Any sane person at this point I'm sure would take a break but I'm not one to pause, let alone listen to reason.
To keep me on my toes, the 50gallon tank has started a leak along the front bottom seam, and is losing about 5 ounces every 10-12 hours. I find an eighty gallon tank, and purchase. Another 50lbs of play sand, and the population resolves at this. 5 Green Tiger Barbs, 5 Mixed Fancy Guppies, 4 Golden Dojo Loaches, 1 Black Kuhli Loach, 4 Black Ghost Knives, 2 Plecos, 2 Bamboo Shrimp, 4 Harlequin Rasbora, 4 Golden Platys, 6 Snails, half a dozen Ghost Shrimp. The ten gallon tank is running a breeding experiment with guppies. My plant life includes Anachris, Cambomba, Chilensis, Bamboo, and an Anubias. Everyone has plenty of breathing space and even the Knives are rarely aggressive towards each other. I realize I need a bigger tank to comfortably house the Knives, but I do have some time as they are still awfully small. That's my story, take from it what you can, I hope it helps. With any luck some of the pros will point out exactly what I did wrong on the way, and give me some pointers are getting my Knives as big as possible. Thanks everyone.