Hi Readers!
Wow, I can’t believe all the amazing emails I have gotten full of great questions. You guys sure do keep me on my toes and thinking about all aspects of betta care and aquaria. To make things easier I am putting together some helpful guidelines. These guide lines will help me to better answer you in a thorough and timely manner and will also get YOU thinking of ways to be proactive about your fish care.
1. Grammar & Spell Check: Many of the emails I get are so riddled with bad grammar, spelling and incomplete sentences I need an expert in hieroglyphics to decipher them for me. I promise you that I will return your email with a well thought out response written in complete sentences and proof read before I send it. Please do the same for me. I understand you may be REALLLY!!!!!! REALLLY!!!!! ***FREAKING****out… and have MAJOR quesTIONs?????? but seriously, I don’t need all those extra exclamation points and questions marks. Besides, I have to fix them in order to post them on the Blog and it takes time away from answering you.
If English isn’t your first language, no problem. I’m cool with some grammar/spelling issues. Just do the best you can. If English IS your first language, no excuses. 😉
2. Give Adequate Information: Of course people new to fish care may not know what exactly is enough information to give. I understand that so let me help you help me… uh… help you. (or something like that) A broad question will get a broad answer. “Why is my fish lethargic?”, may be answered with 20 possible options. The more information you can provide, the more detailed a response you will get. Here is a list of helpful information to include in your email. If you don’t have all the answers, include as much as you can.
1. What is your tank size?
2. Have you tested for ammonia- what were the results?
3. Have you tested for nitrite– what were the results?
4. Have you tested for nitrate- what were the results?
5. Have you tested for pH- what were the results?
6. What temperature is your tank?
7. How often do you perform water changes, how much water do you change?
8. What water additives are you using (please include any conditioners,
salt or medications)
9. What type of food are you feeding, how often and how much?
10. What kind of tank mates, when were they added?
11. Is your tank planted?
12. What are the symptoms, when did they begin and is there anything else
we should know?
3. Beware of EMERGENCY questions: Remember, this is email and I do my best to answer as many questions as fast as I can but this is something I volunteer in my free time. Please keep in mind that responses may take several days. I pretty much answer them in the order in which they are sent. If your fish is in a life and death situation you may be served better at a live online aquarium forum. I love Aquamaniacs.net for fast replies to urgent questions. Of course you may still email me and you will get a response but it may take awhile.
Well that’s all I have for now. I hope these guidelines will help to better serve you. Thanks for reading and for your emails.
View Comments (2)
Hi,
I am currently trying to breed my bettas for the first time. I have conditioned my fish and they have been together for two day now. In the first 24 hours the female hid a little bit but was eager for the males attention soon as he started his bubble nest. when his bubble nest became quite large she would swin up to it (It’s around a piece of styrofoam) wiggle her tail and bow her head. then the fish would chase and flare at each other. It is now over 48 hours later and the bubblenest has shrunk considerably, infact almost gone completely. The male does not seem to be repairing it but is still occupying the styrofoam. The female still wants to mate and still has bright verticle stripes (and a few fin tears). She has a bit of a swollen belly and has a little white dot on her anus. She seems like she wants him to breed with her as she is very submissive but her just keeps chasing her away. Why has he forgotten about the maitenance on his bubble nest? and how do I know when to take her away.
cheers
Caroline Johnston
Hi Christie,
I really hope you will help me with the problem I am facing.
I have had my male veil tail betta for about 6 months now and not 2 days have passed without his fin getting damaged.
He lives by himself in a cycled 15 gallon tank with a lot of live plants. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings are 0. His tank is constantly at 26 or 27C. The pH of the tank is ~8.0.
I change about 20% of the water once a week. The water is aged for about a week, conditioned with stress coat and Indian almond leaf. I add Vitachem and Sea Chem flourish during water change.
I initially thought that he was biting his tail due to hunger, but I feed him a lot of food. He gets about 5 bloodworms/ live brine shrimp, about 4 fruit flies and about 3 pellets every day. I cannot starve him for a day because he will bite his fin!
There is nothing except a rock covered with java moss. There is practically no disturbance on the tank surface (HOB filter with zip lock bag around outlet). The filter intake is shielded as well.
I am very confused as to why he bites his tail. I should admit that I have never caught him in the act, but he does not have fin rot as I see new growth almost every other day. I am infact surprised that his tail grows back. It is his caudal fin thats messed up.
I have made a video of him too which shows his tank (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9iatIpDxg)
I REALLY hope you see my post and give me some suggestions to cure him of this habit. Its really sad to see his tail missing everyday I come home from work..
Thanks in advance.