Aussie Betta's

[LittleBettaFish]

Going to join in your plant talk.

I have a crazy high T5HO light over one of my tanks that is only 18cm tall. The plants in there go nuts. I barely get much algae either. I have the weirdest assortment of plants from mini java fern to anubias nana to some stray strands of pennywort and riccia.

However, my favourite plant for betta set-ups is hydrilla. I got some from Dave at Aquagreen and mine just spreads and spreads and spreads. It looks like elodea but it doesn't mind higher temperatures. It will happily float or grow rooted (it actually grows roots unlike plants like hornwort) and is a great nutrient sponge. I didn't even have to cycle one of my tanks because I had so much of the stuff. Here it is in the foreground of my killifish tank.



I purchased some hornwort (I kill/cannot get this stuff to grow in every single one of my set-ups except one) some najas tenuifolia, vallisneria nana and giant duckweed that is getting delivered this week as I want to plant up a soil-based sorority tank. Going to be all really young/small cambodian CT or VT females I have decided.

That is all. Also if anyone from Melbourne ever wants to come and pick-up some native duckweed free of charge they are quite welcome to. I have some growing in an outdoor tank with a handful of aquasoil in the bottom and it has gone nuts! Trying to get the azolla I scooped out of the water plant section at Bunnings going as well in there but I think they sort of compete with each other.

[Batmantha]

Hey looks like this thread has come back to life - how is everyone's tanks going with the heat?

Any tips on how to make sure the temps don't rise too much?

[aokashi]

hmm.... my tank is off heating... but gets a few hours of daylight. if you run a fan over the water surface it will help cool it down.


on another note, if anyone wants some free Charale from me feel free to PM me. I'm in Sydney, Greenacre/Hornsby.

This stuff is a really interesting/messy plant and grows like a weed. I've nicknamed it the bad hair day plant. guaranteed to keep your parameters at 0. lol


I also have some free Java moss (though I wouldn't mind if we trade for plants ;)

[LittleBettaFish]

My tanks have been fine, but my house has air conditioning upstairs near my bedroom so the temperature in my room is only around 26-28 degrees. It was so hot here the other day though.

I know people float frozen bottles, position a fan so it is blowing over the tank surface and do a couple of water changes with cooler water to keep their tanks cool. Someone else might have some better ideas. I have never needed to do it so not sure what method is best.

My poor live food cultures though did not like even the 28 degree heat. I have to move them downstairs to where there is exposed slab to keep them cool. They started stinking up my bedroom so it smelled like farts of all things.

[Sparrowhawk]

I had a bit of a heating scare on Friday when the weather was awful, but the temperatures didn't rise to dangerous levels and luckily my heaters were all working properly (that is, not turning themselves on at all during the day) and since have put a bottle of pre-conditioned water in the fridge, just in case I need to cool the tanks slightly. We made sure to very clearly mark the bottle "FISH WATER" complete with pictures, haha.

@Pasqua: As far as I'm aware, there isn't a need for fish to have substrate, but many plants do need it. Anyone more knowledgeable than myself, please correct me if I'm wrong! The number one reason I went bare-bottom was that I was paranoid about missing things with the siphon during 50% water changes, I'm always second-guessing my ability to do things right so I eliminated the possibility of little poops evading the siphon, LOL! I then discovered I quite liked having bare-bottomed tanks if the decor and plants looked nice enough. XD Makes 100% changes much easier too when they're necessary.

@LittleBettaFish: The plant in your picture looks really nice. I'm pretty jealous of people whose plants grow quickly, mine grow but fairly slowly in comparison to some of the awesome growth I've seen here.

[Polkadot]

Originally Posted by SarahandOscar

You may find bits and pieces cheaper at either Petbarn or Petcare2000 but they are general pet stores and although they have live fish take atrocious care of them, as in they are in those round shallow plastic "take away" food containers and don't get water changes.

The particular Petcare2000 store we go to is very good.They take really good care of the Bettas there,they keep their water clean and keep them each in the larger glass rectangular 'tanks',not in the shallow food container type containers thankfully.They always have beautiful Bettas for sale,lots of colours,most are veiltails and crowntails,male and female.I have bought all my little ones from there. I also buy my boys tanks,decorations,food etc from there and they often have great sales on tanks where you get alot of equipment free with it etc.I have always found them to be really good.

Auburn Aquarium have some really beautiful Bettas (and a much wider range as far as tail types & Giants),but they are very pricey and the customer service is lousy.They don't really have all that much as far as decorations go and their tanks are way over priced.I was very disappointed with that place.Worst of all there were 2 little Bettas who had passed away in their tanks & it looked like they had been there for ages.Terrible.

[Starchild21]

I'm from Victoria :) Subbing to this!

[aokashi]

hi!

[Gogee]

Guess I better sub to this too, given I'm a Vic

[Sparrowhawk]

Woo, so many people from Vic here! *grins*