5 Gallon Planted Journal - R.I.P. Mr. Betta and little tank! (!56k)

[Karackle]

I'll have to look up Jobe's, where do you get them?

Yes DW can be a pain when it doesn't feel like looking pretty at any angle i choose for it! But man, that anubias really has gotten big and would probably do ok pushed to the back as more of a background plant now. I'll see what I can do!

Heehee old man look, i can picture it! I love it. Bettas definitely are awesome, I love your Avatars! George is so pretty! Do you have a journal or thread of any kind with pictures of his tank? or does he live in the 55? I'd love to see a picture of his tank, feel free to post it here if you don't have a thread / journal for it! Speaking of avatars, I suppose I really should change mine since it's a picture of my Betta who passed away, but i just love how he's peaking out of the plants like that! Perhaps if I can get a good picture of orange boy I'll switch it, i think i'll leave it until then I'm glad someone is in love with my tank by the by, because I am not very much at the moment it seems so empty to me! I plan on fixing that this week though

[sewingalot]

Hey, your tank is what inspired me to upgrade George's digs. I actually teared up when I read about you having to euthanize him. I love that picture, by the way. He looks really happy there.

Jobe's can be found anywhere: http://www.easygardener.com/index.cf...ategory_ID=129. You can even get them at Walmart in the plant section. As long as they are fully covered, you can use them in the tank. I get the fern and palm, there is an awesome journal out there that uses them. Just a warning, some claim they cause algae if they get uncovered. I never had a problem, but I don't have any diggers, either. Just research them. I still say for 97 cents, you can't be the price.

I actually set up a journal today for George - you can find the link in my signature. I am home sick, so I had some spare time. The water is cloudy in the last set of pictures since I was stirring up the unwashed flourite. (Didn't know I was supposed to rinse it in the beginning, lol!)

Your orange betta looked cool when he flared in the first set of pictures you took of him. Do you ever show him a mirror? George loves to "win" fights that way.

[Karackle]

Sara - Yay for inspiring you then! WAHOO! I added some guppy grass that I pulled from my 20g to make more hiding room for Bettastic (that's what i call him ) I will replace it when I get more plants, but it should do for now!

I teared up when I had to euthanize the poor thing. Thanks, I love that picture too. That was his cabomba bed he used to sleep in....before the cabomba got too leggy and ugly, then he switched to sleeping in the Wisteria Wow, you really CAN'T beat that price on the Jobe's! Heehee I'll have to look more into it with regard to small planted tanks, but thanks for the idea! Cool cool! I looked at George's journal, I love it, I commented there Bettastic flares at himself in his reflection on the back of the tank

So, i figured out how to set the shutterspeed on my camera by accident and managed to shoot some great pictures of my little guy.

Enjoy!

He is swimming up to get some more dinner


And here he is eating his dinner of live baby brine shrimp by picking them off the glass (you can see them in the picture too)


He says "woah! didn't see you there watching me eat"


"what ah...whatcha got going on there? your face looks weird. what is that rectangular thing in front of it?"


"ok seriously now, why are you still watching me? I was trying to eat!"


That's all for now
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[Complexity]

I didn't know you could use Jobe's stick ferts in a tank? I may try that some day.

Kara, I bought some of the Wonder Gro Tablets, but the only tank I saw any change in was my little 5g. It might be because I don't dose that tank with any ferts at all while the EI method already gives my plants in the other tanks all they need so giving them more didn't seem to do much.

I have seen an improvement in my plants when I've used the Flourish Tabs. The plants seem to grow faster and stronger when I use them.

[Complexity]

Wow, I love your pictures! You're not kidding, you got some really good ones! I think the 3rd one is my favorite. I love how he's peeking through the plants. Perfect focus on it, too!

[Karackle]

Vicki, thanks for the info! I'll look into those options as well I'd like to find out more about the Jobe's, I worry a little about using non-planted tank specific fertilizer in such a small tank as my 5.5g, so a little more research might be at hand

[Karackle]

Thanks! I think that one is my favorite too, though I think the clearest focus is the one where he is picking the brine shrimp off the wall, but the peeking through the plants might just have to be my new avatar

[Complexity]

Yeah, I'm not sure how the peeking one would look once resized to an avatar, but if it doesn't turn out good, then I vote for #2 which I think is the one you mentioned, as well. Or you can use #1 if you rotated the pic and cropped it so the plants won't look funny being sideways.

[Karackle]

heeheehee all excellent points, I will have to play with the various pictures and see what works best

[sewingalot]

Originally Posted by Complexity

I didn't know you could use Jobe's stick ferts in a tank? I may try that some day.

Kara, I bought some of the Wonder Gro Tablets, but the only tank I saw any change in was my little 5g. It might be because I don't dose that tank with any ferts at all while the EI method already gives my plants in the other tanks all they need so giving them more didn't seem to do much.

I have seen an improvement in my plants when I've used the Flourish Tabs. The plants seem to grow faster and stronger when I use them.

I saw that you can use them on Chuck's Planted aquarium http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_p...izer_intro.htm. I used the fern and palm and also, I used these http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=18673 which were for ponds. However, I didn't use them that long, so I would definitely look up details. Some are for and some are against them.

[sewingalot]

Soooooooooooo handsome. Are you sure I can't have him?

I feel your pain with euthanasia. I just lost the battle with my platty that had dropsy. His dropsy got better, but he just started laying on his side barely moving. I actually had to get my husband to euthanize the poor guy because I was so teary-eyed.

Your tank is looking awesome. How often do you feed Bettastic brine shrimp. Cool name, by the way.

[Karackle]

YIKES!!!

I got home today and my bettas was sitting near the surface of his tank. I thought he was dead at first but luckily he wasn't. UNluckily the water was nearly 100 degrees! I noticed it was high yesterday after a 90degree day so i turned the heater down. Apparently i turned it up!

I quickly did a 50% water change with some cooler water to cool him back off. Is there anything else I should do? Is there anything I should keep an eye on or out for as a repercussion?

Any input would be appreciated!

thanks!

[sewingalot]

Oh no! I would just keep an eye on him and put in extra air if possible to get the oxygen back up. Luckily, they like higher than normal temperatures, so I think he will be just fine.

[Karackle]

Yeah, he was floating near the top (i imagine in order to breath) so I got nervous, but as soon as I put in cool water, he was swimming around like nothing was wrong.

I think I'll have to keep a closer eye on the plants to watch out for die-off due to high temps so i don't get an ammonia spike.

[Karackle]

Oops! I never updated this, Mr. Bettastic is doing well, but I did lose a lot of plants (including flame moss) during the temp spike. Bummer. But I am going to get some major renovations done in the next couple of days with the gorgeous plants from SewingAlot (thanks again!) that still need homes, so stay tuned!