New To Owning Fish...

[Adastra]

Epic posts make my wrists hurt. :( I can't imagine working for a pet store and reciting them aloud. My face would be putty after a few hours. And fish are just one part of the very large small animal category that pet stores cater to--all the reptile, rodent, amphibian, and invertebrate care products are just as horrible as the betta products out there.

[BeFree]

Thanks SO much everyone...I'll definitely be spending a lot of my time reading through all the threads and learning as much as I can. I was very unprepared, but I'm also excited for the new challenge of caring for a fish.

Originally Posted by Ajones108

I wish I could get a job in my local PetSmart and educate people, but the dude in that fish department already scares me.

Please do! I WISH someone would have taught me more about them beforehand. I went to Petco and Walmart (bought my supplies at Walmart, and got advice from the pet specialist). Then I went to Petco and bought the fish, where the guy said the same thing about them. We could use more knowledgeable people in pet stores.

[BeFree]

Ok, so I'm looking at getting a five gallon tank for each fish because they're going in different rooms. Each tank will have a heater, a filter and an overhead light installed in the hood. Does this light stay on all night?

The heater I'm looking at is the Hydor Theo Submersible Aquarium Heater 25W UL. I read the reviews and it definitely seems like a good heater for it's fair price of $20. Any other recommendations?

I haven't looked a filters yet, but I was also hoping for some suggestions.
I'm also hoping to get a variety of frozen fish foods as well as a water test kit.

Any other advice?

[bettafish15]

The light is on during the day, and off at night :) I feed my betta freeze-dried bloodworms and hikari betta pellets, and it works fine, variety is great for your betta :D

[Adastra]

I use the adjustable 25 watt Hydor Theos in all my tanks, I haven't had a problem. Sounds like a good plan! I use timers on all my aquarium lights, they're only about $3 at the hardware store, and it's nice never having to worry about turning them on and off when I want to stay out late or leave town for a couple of days.

You should really take some time to research the Nitrogen cycle and invest in a good liquid test kit like this one: http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4454

I highly recommend doing all your supply shopping online. Pet stores mark up each item about $10 or more in order to recoup the losses they incur by having to pay for maintenance, utilities, the mortgage on their stores, employees, etc. Online stores don't have to worry about many of these costs and pass the savings on to you. If you order multiple items, you'll end up saving a ton, even with shipping factored in. Things like gravel, silk plants, heaters, gravel vacuums, test kits, dechlorinators, decorations are great items that you can save a lot of money on if you buy online. If you live in the United States, I prefer to do my shopping here: http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...lies/pr/c/3578

If you're Canadian, you should give this shop a shot: http://www.bigalsonline.com/

[Alex09]

Most 5 gallon tank kits already come with the filters :) You may however need to baffle it (do something to reduce the water flow intensity) as these filters create alot of current in the tank. Long finned bettas arent particularily strong swimmers so without a baffle it may be hard for them to be swimming against the current of the tank. I created a baffle for my filter using a sponge I found at petco for a dollar or so and attaching it to the output of the filter with a rubber band. Here's how I baffled my filter. As you can see it hardly disturbs the water.