Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping => Gallery Showcase => Topic started by: shakyj on March 15, 2017, 11:11:47 PM

Title: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 15, 2017, 11:11:47 PM
So I got a Flex 34 for my birthday a bit back.

Decided to go planted and added a betta recently called dave
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zz4J-Fw8MWJDQyF5MziMeM9TLy3-M8ERnq4m5stUJCDZMNI1IbHeI0KHgKB7bfdmFE2QQvG62xunrIpH3leI13DoKrK_XFXDk-32FexPmQo9j-EIiJcdbVm-H1IuLGBDEWqqiGpdKLTYrD_45R0j6aujutVLOZcXAmzhTd6cLRHU3Hm9Mlml_buwdHl_C5zNGS6QUwdMYlJHqxk-83GthzM9XacrS4kIemzZSc0XRAz7FpvvxBZCPjttmnSlQOCKVIpLNVmcuOFCNpPk-NLowGe2AR6lTYw6hQLTRFqhnoMmafgk4irMcFKeATkx3Mce4j0j6m9chUZrl53GI-plVFLqU8-9PfwhDfNGOYhcMi4cjPJmDLI-alLOvi7EYXS1bufvwu-GpUkn4Q92dxRKOzfPah5h4mvQvG6vWXbuWlrqWsgTiwVksLG_s5-Ux3kfE8ENxltRfgMLsp0JMNNQ60o8kide_uxTYJWIBZxgy7PydhwXaaXB0cv8fN_4lpsCYt2vOK_x11_ub8xm7OLB6nqpARIqw6_3OPzknwy9R3NzSjURg9uQRDAMijgRHVHfaImOidk-p4Qw37dc3sZpG3cAIbxJnI671YIHPLpzMNys9jy2Bw=s1109-no)
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Littlefish on March 16, 2017, 07:58:26 AM
I can't see your picture.  :(
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 16, 2017, 11:13:04 AM
I can't see your picture.  :(
http://screencloud.net/v/jzZ2m
try that
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Littlefish on March 16, 2017, 12:18:11 PM
Dave is a lovely looking chap and seems very happy with his nicely planted tank.
Well done.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: fcmf on March 16, 2017, 06:38:14 PM
Dave is indeed very handsome and I'm sure will be very happy in his lovely home.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: MarquisMirage on March 16, 2017, 08:30:35 PM
Green/blue mustard gas half moon.  Very nice indeed.  Was it a UK breeder or import via somewhere like aquabid?  I'm curious as some time this year (most likely the last quarter) I'll be getting a new betta and the only purebred bettas I've seen are direct from Thailand.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Sue on March 17, 2017, 02:20:10 PM
I've had some nice bettas from local shops. My current old man is an orange half moon and he came form Maidenhead Aquatics.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 17, 2017, 10:11:51 PM
Green/blue mustard gas half moon.  Very nice indeed.  Was it a UK breeder or import via somewhere like aquabid?  I'm curious as some time this year (most likely the last quarter) I'll be getting a new betta and the only purebred bettas I've seen are direct from Thailand.
I got mine from Maidenhead in Ashton(Manchester). I went round about every LFS I know at least twice before finding him. A lot of them had the standard black with blue/green or red/blue ones and a few had some nice white + colour ones but he was the first mustard I found and quite unique from what everyone else was selling
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 17, 2017, 10:15:18 PM
Struggling with algae at the moment though and I'm not sure if he's bullied/killed one of the 2 amano shrimp in with him as I can only find one and he won't come out and eat the algae
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Littlefish on March 17, 2017, 10:21:55 PM
My current lavender butterfly plakat (aka handsome boy) was from MA. Went to the store for something else, fell for the betta, and completely forgot what I'd originally gone shopping for.

Wait and see with the shrimp, they may just be having a bit of a rest, or moulting, or something. My betta shares a tank with panda cories and is very chilled about the whole thing. I have amano shrimp in several tanks, and as long as they have plenty of places to hide then they seem to be fine.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 17, 2017, 11:10:33 PM
The tank looks like this (http://screencloud.net/v/ii8Ep) at the moment and you can see the algae on the bogwood close up here (http://screencloud.net/v/z9Usb) which I got the 2 amano to remove but I can only ever see 1 and he's always under the stones and doesn't come out
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Matt on March 18, 2017, 06:17:48 AM
Looking at your picture I would say that's not algae it's a fungus/mould associated with new pieces of wood that you can remove with a siphon, it may grow back a few times but after a couple of months should never return. It is not harmful to the fish/shrimp ext and whilst they probably would eat it, There does seem to be quite a lot in your photo. Have you tried manually removing it?
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: fcmf on March 18, 2017, 08:18:13 AM
If it is what Matt says, and I agree that it looks like that too, the best way to remove it is to buy a cheap toothbrush ànd give it a scrub with that.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 18, 2017, 11:22:44 AM
Looking at your picture I would say that's not algae it's a fungus/mould associated with new pieces of wood that you can remove with a siphon, it may grow back a few times but after a couple of months should never return. It is not harmful to the fish/shrimp ext and whilst they probably would eat it, There does seem to be quite a lot in your photo. Have you tried manually removing it?
I removed the wood and cleaned it all off about 3 days before that photo. I have this (http://screencloud.net/v/33Sfz) all over my grass which looks similar too
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Sue on March 18, 2017, 12:10:37 PM
It's hard to say exactly but the stuff on the grass does look a bit algae-ish. The stuff on the wood looks different, more like the white jelly I had on my wood when it was new.


If your betta has eaten your amano shrimp, you might think about nerite snails as algae eaters. They come in various sizes with the smaller ones being suitable for small tanks. Looking at this (https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/gallery-showcase/snail-photos/) thread, I have a snail of type #1 in my betta's tank and the other small one I have is the bee snail (type #6). They came from Maidenhead Aquatics. With nerites, hardly anything is visible outside the shell, just a pair of thin antennae. There is very little little for a betta to get hold of. My current betta does flare at his snail when it is on the glass, but not when it's on the tank floor or decor.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: MarquisMirage on March 18, 2017, 01:22:47 PM
The Amano shrimp need a cave of some type to hide in.  That'll give them confidence to come out more to forage.  Maybe get a couple more as they're quite social.  Unless they were under 1 cm it's unlikely the betta ate one.  They can disappear for a while and resurface when least expected.  All normal behaviour and nothing to worry about.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 19, 2017, 02:07:00 PM
The Amano shrimp need a cave of some type to hide in.  That'll give them confidence to come out more to forage.  Maybe get a couple more as they're quite social.  Unless they were under 1 cm it's unlikely the betta ate one.  They can disappear for a while and resurface when least expected.  All normal behaviour and nothing to worry about.
They have a cave from 2 bits of slate in an inverse V and the bog wood has a lot of nooks and crannies on the far side. If he's not into killing them I might get some more and add a wave shape ornament i have that will also create more caves.

I got a zebra snail for the tank yesterday too so that could help with the glass that's staring to get spots of algae on it.

I may have to put his light on a timer as it ends up staying on for longer than it probably should
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Sue on March 19, 2017, 02:12:57 PM
A timer for lights is well worth buying. It means you can't forget to turn it off, and it means the light is on at the same time every day which is better for the fish.

Start with the lights on for 6 hours a day and see how the plants do with that. You can always increase later if the plants look like they need more.
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: shakyj on March 20, 2017, 04:26:36 PM
I have loads of home automation stuff I just need to hook it up and set a schedule on it. In fact the 4 gang his tank is on is a energenie one I can automate. I just need to sort out a schedule for it. Always feels bad keeping him in the dark for too long.

Would turning down the brightness help too? It's a Fluval Flex 34 he's in with a remote you can do all the colours/brightness with
Title: Re: Dave...
Post by: Matt on March 20, 2017, 10:21:45 PM
Yes adjusting the brightness will help too, I've found regular light timings have really helped my rams though so I'd say this was just as important :)