Does anyone have fish?

Any fish owners here? I have bettas.

Not anymore, but we used to have a lot! My dad used to love fish, and has dabbled in breeding some guppies for a while. We had 3 tanks, two large ones, and 1 smaller one for the guppies. We had all sorts of fish, and even two little frogs. I remember one fish we had was particularly awesome; it was a big, mean old catfish. Good times.

Love Bettas and fish. Aquariums and fish are so peaceful and graceful to me; since I cannot go diving anymore, it allows me to be closer to their world without being in it.

Do you know what kind of Betta(s) you have by chance?

I raise Bettas. I also have a 36 gallon Gourami (Blue, Gold & Opalines) tank, a 40 gallon community tank that has albino Tiger Barbs at the moment awaiting more fish, and an established 50 gallon community salt water tank.

I have a delta tail male, and two female veiltail. They are so pretty and the male is pretty good looking himself.

Would you know the best way to clean a fish tank without doing a 100% water change every week? I use a gravel vacuum once a week to pick up the old food bits, but the tanks still get a little poopy.

I do enjoy fawning over them and watching them. One of them likes to watch and follow me. Having them does help with my depression.

I once had guppies.

My cat ate all of them.

TRUE STORY...

Over the years though, we grew up with having Betta fish. Those were pretty to have.

I don't have any currently, but have in the past. As others said, I find them restful to watch.

If it is a filtered aquarium, I will do a 1/3 water change with cleaning out the gravel every week for two weeks and a 2/3 water water change with gravel clean every 3rd week.

If it is an unfiltered aquarium, then I will do 2/3 water change with gravel clean every week.

Poor or no filtration, and/or overfeeding can be a pretty common causes of water quality issues, as the left over food accumulates and/or waste dirties the gravel and water.

No way around the water changes of some sort though.

I don't mind the water changing-- but how do I know if I am overfeeding them? I feed each of them two pellets. Maybe go down to one pellet per day?

I would imagine with two pellets that they are eating both of them that there would not be any left to murk up the water. Their stomachs are only as big as their eyes so this amount is good. I would not decrease this amount either unless, however, you find they or any fish are not eating all the food you give them and there are leftovers, then consider giving less. It is a delicate balance. Otherwise it sounds like you are golden.

I used to have a lot of betta fish when I was younger. but my 2 cats knocked over the fish bowl and ate/killed them while I was away

Oh no, that's terrible!! No cats around for me with fish!

Fresia, I think the problem with my tanks is I wasn't feeding them in a way to allow them to eat what was dropped in the tank. I sort of kept "dumping" the food in without giving them time Oops. Now, I just wait for them to eat what is dropped in their tanks before giving them more. I have to crush the pellets because they are too big for the little girls' mouths

Is it normal for the fish to grow slightly in size? My girls' fins have gotten a tad larger compared to when I bought them 2 months ago. Their coloring is also more vibrant, too.

That is a good sign if they are growing, especially if their fins are getting longer, and if they are more vibrant; very good sign of health. As long as their bellies, slightly below and behind their gills, does not start to bulge, which is sign of overfeeding, then their overall growth is good. It is a sign you got them when they were younger and will have them to enjoy longer.

Pictures of normal to out-of-control Betta bellies:
betta food

Way, way overfed Betta, poor thing

I've actually run across that site before, very useful information. I was able to determine that I was feeding them waaaaay too much. I feed them less and they do seem satisfied with the food amount. No food is going to waste, and their tanks are cleaner! Yay!

Poor fish When fish are overfed that way, is there anything to do to treat them?

I'm thinking of things I can give them to provide entertainment. In the future, I plan on putting more plants in their tanks to make it seem more "rice paddy". In the meantime, I want to give them something relatively cheap and safe that will provide stimulation. Any ideas?

Also, have you ever heard of bettas swimming as if they're pacing back and forth a lot? One of the female fish does it but she seems to really really like swimming The other female sometimes darts, but she doesn't mess around with the plants or the substrate. I check my fish weekly under a light or ich and velvet. They're all healthy. Maybe they are bored :/

Giving them a blanched pea (the insides, no skin) helps to clear their system over a few days. Then feeding them less, 1 pre-soaked pellet every 2-4 days until their belly clears some times works, but that old food is festering and bacteria forms, which might kill them first. A friend of mine rescued his neighbor's betta and brought him to me. His stomach was even bigger than the one above. He could not swim. I had to get new ornaments to prop him at the top so he could get air easier. It took 9 weeks, alternating the cooked pea bites and soaked pellets every 3 days before his belly went down. The sad but nice thing was that he was a juvenile, bless his heart so it was nice that could save him, and I enjoyed his company for 6 more years after that.

That is really nice of you to do. I will add/change out the ornaments and plants or change the ornaments around in those tanks that have them. If you don't have an aerator, which they don't need, but can put one in to turn on once in awhile; some like to play in the bubbles. They don't like a strong current all the time though so not to leave it on and be sure to get a really small one. They also have floating rings now and floating caves that Bettas like.

A word of caution about the betta mirrors for boredom: Some people advise getting mirrors to show their bettas to stimulate their fighting response, decrease boredom, and they love seeing their full finage bloom; the problem is that has been shown to cause undue, significant stress for them and is not recommended as it makes them prone to illness and shortens their lifespan

If they are pacing in place, moving a cm or so, they are sick, a viral dirorder that has attacked the nervous system and nothing that can be done; more likely though as this is rare, if they are swimming forward and backward several a few inches or more, they are just being territorial. It is a sign they are protecting their space and like their home. However, if concerned or there are other fish they are becoming aggressive towards, changing the plants and ornamentation can help ease the territoriality issues.

Awww I was a Betta mommy in college! Good memories.

I keep hearing about this pea business! Does it really work? My bettas aren't overfed, but I wonder if feeding them a pea could help "clear out the system" so to speak. They are such pigs, if I kept feeding them they would eat and eat and eat

I considered getting non-toxic small balls for them to play with, or making hoops out of plastic tubing that I can submerge under the water for them to mess with. I am too paranoid about the mirror business, because sometimes when the male betta sees his reflection he gets aggressive and wigs out for a few minutes until I put my hand by that area.

The one female who paces does so in long "strides," and then stops with her top fin up and turned like a little rudder, haha. She is cute. I'll have to look into changing their plants and adding decor for interest. Now, if I change out their plants won't that mess with the pH in their tanks? I don't do 100% water changes so there should be bacteria in the substrate and on the plants.

You are right about the live plants. If you have live plants, don't change those; it will mess with your chemistry. So many Betta owners have fake plants, bad assumption on my part and should have mentioned it. Sorry about that. Please forgive me.

Pieces of pea can help clean out their system once in awhile but be prepared, not all will eat them. May have to remove it from the tank if uneaten. It will really dirty the water otherwise.

I have silk plants I've considered live plants, but I don't have the right substrate for them. However, I was wondering if silk plants have bacteria on them. I just don't want to make so many changes it stresses them out. A couple weeks ago, it stressed out a couple of the bettas when I would use the gravel vacuum!

I do think silk plants are nicer alternative to the plastic ones, if going artificial, much more natural look to them. They will have bacteria on them, but they will not change the chemistry because this amount of bacteria are not giving off gases in significant quantities; they only have a thin slime coat that will easily be replaced over time on any silk or plastic plant you replace it with.

It is funny how they react to vacuum. I have several that it stresses (necessary evil for them) and a couple that are always so curious; they get right up to it and like to play with it. I am always afraid of sucking them up. It drives me insane how close they come following it around and no matter how much I move away from them they move with it. In that regard, I would rather them be stressed that they avoid it.

Okay so I am going to sound like a really worried betta mommy but I have some more questions.

Two of the tanks I have are smaller-- 3-4 gallons-- and I don't have a filter for them. One of them stays really clean, but the other one ended up with this weird milky skin like stuff on it. It went away after I did a water change, but I found out it was from overfeeding and it was from the proteins and fat from the fish and food. How do I prevent this? I think feeding them less will help, but I get paranoid that I am not caring for my fish well. The other fish has a larger tank-- I fill it with 7-8 gallons-- and hers always has this weird oily film on the top of the water. It mostly goes away with a water change but I am thinking I need to just get a filter for hers because it's so much water. Last night I really worried when I noticed my male fish sitting on the bottom on the substrate every now and then. I plan on testing ammonia levels this weekend. I am such an uptight pet owner This is the first time I've ever cared for fish and I don't want any dead bodies soon.

We have a parrot fish an oscar, algae eater, catfish (little ones) and a snail

I am also worried about one of the girls having an infection I don't know about. Every now and then, she darts fast and swims into the substrate and the plants. Then she won't do it again for a while but since I've had her she's done it a few times.

I wouldn't worry about the darting as they do this periodically; unless they are darting back and forth to constantly rub up against things or more in place, back in forth within a cm or two.

The films are a concern though. Filtration will help with that. Any tank over 2 gallons will benefit from filtration and there are filtration systems available for smaller tanks, 3 gallons - 10 gallons in particular.

It must be a lovely tank to watch. Love Oscars. I once had an algae eater that grew so large that he outgrew a 40 gallon tank and I had to find him a new home for him. I never expected that it and it was unusual to get quite that big, but they are fun to watch.

What kind of filtration do you suggest? I've been reading reviews and it seems a lot of them geared to smaller tanks have poor performance. Or they cost too much.