Letters of a Betta Addict

Well due to weather conditions and current un-employment my spawning plans have been pushed back a little bit. Dad is over run with Mud at home some I went home on Wednesday to help. I’m back in the city today to do water changes and check the fish then I’m gone again till Thursday.

Speaking of water changes there’s a few more then usual today. I hadn’t gotten around to taking apart various now empty tanks. The QT set-up has been dismantled, as has Draco’s tub home. Rose’s 3 gallon will be taken down as well (I may try to sell it on kijiji later), and the 10 gallon QT tank that I moved her to for easier medicating is coming down as well. While I’m at it I’m “organizing” a bunch of my fish stuff since I’ll be honest since the move it’s just been a mish-mash of things all over the place. Hopefully I’ll finish the tear-downs and the rest of the water changes shortly and can get to cleaning the rest of the apartment as well.

In other news there’s a BBC meeting tonight at 8pm that I’m definitely looking forward to. Hopefully there’s a good turn-out for it :).

Well I guess the break is over time now to get back to work,

A (wet) Betta Addict :p

Things are getting hectic around here now with finals starting to breathe down my neck so posts “might” be a bit scarce for a little bit. However I thought I should give an update since the move.

I’m learning that the 56 will need a few… modifications, the sound of running water is driving me up the wall so there will be some DIY on that in the next week or so as I finally start buckling down for finals and can’t take the noise anymore. I don’t know if I’ll do an upgrade on the whole canopy then or not. It’s tempting since I’ll working on it anyway.

All the Betta tanks handled the moves like champs, except for the hood on shimmers 5 gallon. For some reason I’m having issues with the light and if a new bulb (to pick up tomorrow) doesn’t fix the problem I may have to get serious and DIY a whole new hood and light for it. I know finals must be near because the thought of that is making me giddy with delight (dang procrastination streak). If I do decide to go the whole DIY route expect that I’ll just make 3 new ones since both Mama and Max have “faulty” lights of some sort or another.

Red is still in the 20 gallon though I’d hoped to have him back in his 32 gallon by now. The 32 is currently sitting empty and taunting me. Another finals project? Possibly, more likely I’ll push that off a bit more for now. As much as I’d like to get it up and running it’s too cold to work outside on it and I don’t believe that I have the ventilation in the suite necessary to work on it indoors.

On a happier note I’m working the quirks out of a design for a Betta Barrack system so by the end of april I hope to have that ready to go.

That’s all for now,

A betta addict

Well I wrote up the first of the betta genetics articles last night and strangely enough that seems to have stuck in my head this morning. I was just doing the morning sweep through AquaBid and I found myself looking that the colors from a “slightly” genetic point of view. Sort of like looking at a melano and a white betta and going, a cross here would give me multi colours. Why? Because of the interaction of the alleles in the color layers.Ok so I’m still on the search of understanding in regards to the white/platinum genetics. I think I’d like to try working with a platinum CT line but I’m not familiar enough with the genetics yet to be sure.

There are so many colours and patterns out there to work with, Dragons, Coppers, Melano’s, Butterflys, Marbles, and then the traditional colours, the Blue, Greens, and (extended)Reds, and of course we can’t forget the Multi-colour varieties. There are more than I listed (MG’s, Bi-colors, pinapples, etc.) but I’m mostly trying to make a point that there are so many to choose from that it’s hard to pick the stock I’d like to work with. Then there’s the various tail types that can be combined with each of the colours and I’m torn about those two.

I suspect that I’d be smarter to work with an HM line since they’re so rare here in Saskatoon it’s possible that finding homes for these guys would be easier and (dare I whisper) profitable? lol. Never get rich at this but homes would be nice to find for the fish I don’t want to keep as breeders. Also with all the work being done on HM’s around the world right now there are way more of them out there to choose from. However I’ve also got a weakness for the CT’s and the PK’s. I don’t have room to run three lines so I need to start making some decisions in regards to what I want to do.

Tough choices. For now I’ll keep working my way though the possibilities of my Rose TailxVeil Tail Line and getting Ruby up to breeding condition.

Speaking of Ruby I think that I’ll be doing some tank swapping with the move and all. Right now the 10 gallon is really a pain in the neck to deal with so I think I’ll throw a wanted ad out on kijiji for a none broken 10 gallon hood. The piece of glass I’m using is just starting to be more trouble then it’s worth when it comes to working with the tank.  I’m tempted to move her into one of the 5 gallon tanks and move either Mama or Max over to the ten gallon. Haven’t decided who yet though, maybe all three will play musical tanks before I’m done.

Sincerly,

A Betta Addict

I’ve never had a community tank. Not really. Red my Red-tail shark has never been what I would call tank-mate friendly, and I’ve never had a tank large enough for him where I would try tank-mates. I’d need to upgrade his 32 gallon to something like a 55 before I felt comfortable doing that simply because he’s grown so large and his tank-mates would need to be so big as well.

I suppose the 20 was sort of like a community tank but really the Cory’s were little anti-social bits of adorable that fled whenever I entered the room and the WCMM just stayed in the top few inches of the tank nothing really exciting happening there. Well with the leaking of the 32 Gallon tank earlier this week I comendered the 20 Gallon for Red until I get his tank fixed and so moved the Cory’s and the WCMM into the 56 gallon with the goldies. It’s an interesting learning curve.

The 56 is a bare-bottom tank with a bit of an algae carpet thing going on. There’s river rock in the two front corners, and then various decor scattered around 3 pieces of drift wood. With the canister from the 32 currently running along with the Whisper 72 EX along with a box filter that I’m keeping cycled… you could defiantly call it over filtered at the moment.

My three Goldies (Charlie, Sin, and Sam) seem to have adapted well to their new room-mates. Charlie ignores them unless he feels like bossing them around. Sin and Sam spar with the Cory’s for the shimp pellets I slip in on the sly. The White-clouds seem much more active, swimming in more area’s of the tank now and loosely shoaling where ever they may. The bare-bottom doesn’t seem to bother the Cory’s and I see them out and about allot more now, the loner Cory even stays with them more as they wiggle along in search of their next meal.  Overall I have to say that no-body is to un-content with the new set-up.  Well, no-body other then me anyway.

I’m happy with the stocking. I’d have loved to add a goldie or two more but I’ll have to try to resist that temptation. No what bothers me are two other aspects of the tank. 1 the lack of live plants and the lighting. Both of these are fairly easy to rectify but will have to wait until I move into the new place. The other is an aspect of a community tank that I knew of, had heard of, but didn’t really understand. The concept of have 3 different species needing 3 different diets. I suppose I could teach each group to spot feed but that’s almost too much hassle. I’ve been soaking the Goldies pellets in garlic guard to help soften them out so that Sin and Sam could have a better chance at getting some. The WCMM seem to end up getting whatever kind of flake I have so I’ve moved them from a Tropical Flake over onto a crumbled up Goldfish Flake now. That way it doesn’t matter if the Goldies decide to eat that. The Cory’s are getting a shrimp pellet dropped in the far corner from where the others get there stuff. This way once the Cory’s find it they have a chance to have some before the Goldies wander by and try for a share.

Until Later,

A Betta Addict

Well a few hours online and my mind is spinning.

I think I’m found a “jar” that I like, it’s from https://www.containerandpackaging.com and it’s #P075C: .75 Gal Clear EZ Stor Can, I’d also purchase the lids (PL6075EZ: White lid for .75 Gal EZ Stor). Right now I’m thinking 50 of the containers and 55 of the lids (for extra’s). Ideally I’d prefer to buy a whole case of the containers and ten lids more then I need however limited space and funds means that isn’t the most viable option. I still think jars would be something to consider but I don’t know where I’d find them in bulk cheap. Maybe I should throw an add out on kijiji? lol.

Oh Whisper just showed me the containers that she uses they’re the B102: 48oz Clear Square PET Container. For 80 of them and 85 of the L246UB: 89-400 Ribbed Black Lid it comes to approx. $210 including shipping. I like this idea.

Ah well that’s what I wanted to get written down tonight to remember for next so until then.

Take care,

A Betta Addict