ebbandflow

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Three new buddies in my tank and then their tankmates.

Attached Images

	white female.jpg (39.3 KB, 41 views)
	white female 2.jpg (38.9 KB, 38 views)
	white female 3.jpg (44.6 KB, 37 views)
	blue female.jpg (48.8 KB, 37 views)
	blue female 2.jpg (34.3 KB, 37 views)
	red female 3.jpg (54.5 KB, 36 views)
	harlequin rasboras.jpg (52.1 KB, 38 views)
	peppered cories.jpg (64.5 KB, 37 views)
	snail.jpg (48.1 KB, 37 views)

divakeeks

<img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy0045.gif"><img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy0034.gif"><img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy0064.gif"><img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy0065.gif"><img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/happy0158.gif"><img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/animal/snail.gif">


Ok, so the smilies really say it all but, YAY!! What great pictures and what BEAUTIFUL fishies!!!!!!! I am SOOO jealous!! I want more bettas!!! <enter tantrum here>


Nicely done! Glad things are working out so well for you!

-Kelly
<img src="http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/animal0028.gif">

inari

love ur bettas,

i have a male and female and they aren't exactly getting along so i'm trying to c y I thought maybe my male was just trying to be well a typical male and mate with her but the amount of damage is concerning and when i separate them he doesn't eat much I'm hoping this area will help me out if u have anything pls e-mail me at
goku48180@yahoo.com and put in the subject line bettas

i'm pretty much a noob at this so any advice is more than welcome

thanx all

Inari

chickadee

Congratulations on Your Beautiful Babies!!!!

They are so Beautiful and healthy looking. Tell us all about it. Did you find them at the same place? How do they get along? They remind me so much of mine!! Do you have names for them yet? (you surely knew that was coming didn't you? LOL) Keep us informed on their little comings and goings. We need to have a thread or section on this Section just for the little female tanks.

Congratulations again and I am so happy for you. Isn't it nice to have babies in the house?

Rose

ebbandflow

It really is great to have them. They add so much to the tank. I already dont know how I did without them :P.

I got them at one of my local stores. It was such a surprise. They never have female bettas so as soon as I saw them I knew that I had to get them. And i found these three. So cute . If I hadnt found three that I liked I may not have gotten any but luckily I found them. Well, I take that back. I've wanted females for so long now that I probably would have gotten any three and fell in love later :.

I havent named them yet, for two reasons I guess. Havent thought of any good names, plus I want to give it a week or so before I name them. I'm probably worrying for no reason but I'm just afraid to name them and then... lose them. I get attached way to easily... and in this hobby you get hurt a lot. Especially buying from the LFS.

So the dynamic is that the blue one is the definite dominant one. I have a relatively long acclimation process when I'm adding in fish but I had to cut it short cuz the blue one kept attacking the white one.... and i got scared. Once they had all the room of the tank to swim around in they seem to basically mind their own business, with a little posturing from the blue one every now and then. Feeding time you still see some bullying. But everyone gets food. I actually manage the hand feeding. Two of them will have their backs turned and I'll drop a bloodworm in front of the other. Then one will be alone for a few seconds and I'll drop her a bloodworm. It works out surprisingly well. One question. I'm feeding them less then I feed Satin cuz they are so small. Four bloodworms each. Is that right?

Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks for the nice words everyone.

chickadee

Well actually since they do not look full grown and are still probably developing, they can eat that much even 3 times a day since they are not big enough for a big betta meal at a time. But they will do okay with that much and grow fine. Just watch the nitrate levels as it is a damper on the development of still growing babies.

They are so Beautiful!!!

Rose

ebbandflow

Ok I will... so nitrate levels under 5 then? Yeah they are definitely still babies. Probably half Satin's size.

chickadee

As low as possible. I can't get mine down below 20 but considering that I usually run around 80 that is good. but under 5 would be IDEAL.

I cannot get over how much your little white lady looks like Misty. I had to stop and make sure I was where I thought I was. LOL Red, White, and Blue - neat!

The snail is a Zebra Nerita Snail. I have 2 of them. I can tell from the little white spot on the dark shell.

Rose

ebbandflow

lol... yeah i only noticed the patriotic colors after I bout them! I was thinking of working there names around that but I still havent found anything that I like. I dont know if you saw in my other post but I got the white one cuz of how much she reminded me of misty.

My nitrates out of the tap are zero (im lucky i guess) so keepin them low just takes some water changes. If i need to keep it real clean I just do 10 % every other day. So I'll just do that to get it down and then go back to 25% every week.

Hmm... zebra nerita. I'll have to look that up. Its not just one spot. They all have a bunch of them on there bodies. The plants that the snails hitched a ride on came from florida. Would this make sense?

chickadee

Mine have the spots of varying sizes all over too, but the one seems to be more prominent. I think the ones I BOUGHT were from Florida. Lucky!! They were $6.95 each.

Rose

Gunnie

Your male will kill your female if they are both together in the same tank. When they are bred, the female is removed immediatly after spawning because the male will commonly attack her. Please separate your male and female betta ASAP!

inari

gunnie,

Thank you foir your concern. and they have been separeated as soon as Inari(male) would not leave Tenshi (female) alone. I definately should have done more research before i got these two beauties.

thanx

brent

0morrokh

Ebbandflow they are so GORGEOUS!!! That white one does look kinda like Misty. I love the Cories and the Harlequins and the snails too! Apparently they aren't Pond Snails like I thought. I don't know anything about Zebra Neritas. Lucky, you got them free and Rose payed like 7 bucks each! Once again the Bettas are so beautiful.

ebbandflow

Thanks. Yeah turns out in buying $30 worth of plants I got $100 worth of snails! And they keep reproducing too so just call me the money tree. Think I can sell them to my lfs? Or better yet trade them?... for more fish! (Oh god, just drooled all over the floor).

inari

sorry total noob here what is lfs?

ebbandflow

Local Fish Store...

No prob. We've all asked it at one point.

0morrokh

Maybe the lfs would take them if you could convince them they could sell them for something. I probably have $100 worth of snails too but who wants Pond Snails? Well I don't care, I want them!

ebbandflow

They are pretty cool looking. If you shine a flashlight on them their bodies fluoresce. Today I saw a little baby one in Satin's tank. Seriously the size of the head of a pin. I dont know how I spotted it. Then I looked away for a second and couldnt find it again. Crazy...

0morrokh

Yeah, at first I only caught fleeting glimpses of one little snail, but now you just glance at the tank and can count a dozen easily. They are really cool.

inari

sounds like they all but take over ur tank or do ur fish kinda keep them in check too?

chickadee

Local Fish Store. It took me a while to get through the shorthand around here too. LOL

Rose

0morrokh

Oh trust me I've asked so many "dumb" questions about abbreviations...everyone does at first.

Their reproduction rate is directly affected by the available food supply. In other words, if the tank is clean, they shouldn't take over. Some fish will eat snails but most don't. It really wouldn't be a problem though if they did "take over" because they cause no harm at all. The only time snails are a problem is if there are a bunch of big ones adding a bunch of bio load, or if they eat your plants. I guess aome people don't like them, so it is easy to get the misconception that snails are bad. They actually help by cleaning up dropped food and eating algae, and some help aerate the substrate.

inari

i don't have much if any algea but when i get a 5 gal i'm thinking about getting a few ... do would they still eat like normal flakes that Tenshi and Inari (my bettas) don't like or would i need a special 'sinker food' for them?

j/w thanx

chickadee

Snails don't swim as such, so they will need to have some food that is going to sink. I feed my snails OmegaOne Veggie Rounds or Hikari Algae Wafers. I cannot hardly get them to eat the Algae Wafers now that they have had the Veggie Rounds. Butterfly has told me about getting them some pellets that are used to feed crabs and I have ordered some for them so that I can make sure that they have enough calcium for their shells.

Rose

inari

ok then what kinda of snail should i get then to help keep algea down one that won't get too big

0morrokh

Well, if you are ok with having a bunch of little snails, you could always just buy a cheap plant from a store that is infested with Pond Snails. Most fishkeepers are always trying to get rid of these guys but I don't see why. I have quite fallen in love with mine. If you are looking more for a single bigger snail, most stores sell Mystery Snails...although I'm thinking one would outgrow a 5 gallon. You may have to look around online and order a snail off the internet.
I'm not sure how effective snails are at keeping algae down. Mostly I think they just clean up the gravel, but who knows what's out there...try doing a Google search.

inari

I know they do keep the gravel cleaner so that would reduce nitrites./nitrates at least slightly right? Just thinking. and U said that a mystery would out grow a 5 gal...ok i might get "a plant infested with them then" how fast do they reproduce and well Inari (Male Betta) bug them at all like o say a midnight snack or something?

thanx

brent

0morrokh

If anything snails would increase the nitrates because they produce waste too. My snails reproduced at alarming rates (one to 2 dozen in a week or two)...however it was because I was cycling and there were tons of flakes everywhere for the snails to gorge on. I know Chickadee had pond snails but they took a long time to go from one to six, since they were in a clean tank with other snails and fish to compete for food. Inari probably would make a snack out of some of them though (didn't think of that before)...so if you don't want that you may need to try to find another kind of bigger snail. Pond Snails are only like a half inch long. If you are ok with the idea of them getting eaten, I think at least some would survive, and anyway not all Bettas have a taste for snail.

inari

Who knows maybe that will suit his fancy...he won't eat normal stuff anymore :-S
anyway another post i won't hijack this thread too :P