Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

I don't like to spend a lot of money when it comes to pets. Mostly because they have a tendecy to die on me pretty quick. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Lately I was thinking about getting a Puffer Fish. The Figure 8 Puffers at my local pet shop were pretty expensive for little fish ($25 apiece), so I thought I'd buy a small 2.5 gallon tank and see if I could keep one of the less expensive fish at the store alive. If I could, I'd go ahead and get the puffer.

Long story short, I managed to keep a miniature catfish shark alive for 2 days before it wound up dead. It really doesn't make sense to me, I made sure the temperature and PH levels were alright. I think it might've been because he wasn't eating (even though I fed him what they told me to).

My girlfriend of 2 years has 3 Betta's (2 male, 1 female) that are perfectly healthy, the oldest of which is a little over a year. They don't live together (she says they can't, but I think it'd be fine to keep the female in the tank with one of the males, then again, what do I know, I'm a fish killer.)

After consulting some free websites on the care of Puffer Fish, I'd like some input from people who own these so I don't wind up killing this one. Recommended reading/buys would be appreciated.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

beta's are also called fighting fish, and i'm pretty sure you can't keep them together at all.

a 2.5 gallon tank is pretty small too, should be really easy to throw off any kind of balance in there. Get like a 10 gallon one and start it off with a fish or two that's generally pretty tough to kill (cory catfish and swordtails are two that i've used).

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/ - two plus two for fish

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

get a dog FTW.
It can feed its self, hence it is such a special animal.

also, as far as I know, there is alot more to fish then pH level and food.

gravel/rocks you use, density of plants, water temperature, other chemical levels, oxygen, tank size, and filtration all play significant roles.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

i should have said the first time, that when you first set up a tank, bacteria has to grow in the filter/gravel to take away the amonia the fish leaves behind in waste, during the process (like a month for a 10 gallon, i dunno for one as small as 2.5) the PH levels wont be steady and it's pretty stressful on the fish, it's common for the starter fish to die. There are some chemical ways to cycle a tank in a couple days, but it costs more and i don't know much about it.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

There's a chemical that you should use to treat the water before you put a fish into it. I forgot what it's called but it's some kind of enzyme that both removes harmful chemicals/minerals found in tap water and also coats the fish's body to prevent bacterial infection during its first few days in its new environment. Treat with this for 24 hours before putting the fish into the tank. Freshwater fish are usually pretty hardy. I've had a 40gallon tank full of 15 freshwater goldfish for 3 years now without ever doing anything special to change or monitor the temp/pH of the water.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
beta's are also called fighting fish, and i'm pretty sure you can't keep them together at all.


[/ QUOTE ]

how do they reproduce if a male and a female cant be kept together without a duel to the death?

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

how sick would it be to bet on beta fights? Like you raise and train your beta, and then you play like 100$ UH games till death.

or 100$ SNGS where last beta gets the 8 or 9 BI prizepool.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

From wiki - [ QUOTE ]
While they might eventually mate, keeping a male and female together may prove too volatile since the male will often be much more aggressive and mating conditions must be precisely conducive. Often, breeders have a special container so the female may display without being harmed by the male prior to induced breeding.

[/ QUOTE ]

But also they said that females can be together in a community tank sometimes (3 in a 10 gallon was the number they gave as a max)

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
how sick would it be to bet on beta fights? Like you raise and train your beta, and then you play like 100$ UH games till death.

or 100$ SNGS where last beta gets the 8 or 9 BI prizepool.

[/ QUOTE ]

HU 4 rolls?

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

I have had many fish tanks cause they are kind of baller. You should get at least a 20 gallon tank for puffers or really any fish for that matter, it will be alot less work for you. If you want puffers they like water that has extra salt in it, i forget what type of PH they like but they have special needs. All you need to do is set up your tank, put in the necessary chemicals and let the filter run for like 2-3 days tops and you should be fine. Once you have the puffers, those guys can eat live fish which is real cool and I even had one puffer that I could hand feed a fish to. Just make sure you have a good filter and the water temperature is good and the fish should live a while.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

Its unlikely that she has a female betta because they aren't as nicely colored and they have short fins. I think all of the ones you see in the store are typically males.

For a small tank, if you're not interested in anything sophisticated, an Eclipse tank is def. the way to go. As a starting small tank I think your best bet is a 10 gallon glass tank and one of these eclipse hoods

http://www.amazon.com/Eclipse-Lighti.../dp/B0002APZU8
I know the eclipse tank is more expensive than getting a tank, filter, and cheap light, but you'll wind up with a much nicer looking tank when its done instead of wires and crap hanging all over the place.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

Update: Bought the Puffer Fish today after letting the gravel and water set and let the filter system run for 2 days.

Screwing around with the saltwater mix and using the gauge to make brackish water was a real headache, but I finally got it up and running and he's in there.

He's stayed alive for about 3 hours now so I'm assuming I did not kill him due to shock or screwing up his salt levels.

P.S. He puffed up when the store owner scooped him out. It was pretty awesome looking.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

pictures would greatly enhance this thread.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

You need to cycle your tank.

Go to www.about.com and search for aquariums... Then for "cycling".

I'd like to add that Puffers are tough fish to keep alive and um.... you need to really really do your homewor kon this.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
You need to cycle your tank.

Go to www.about.com and search for aquariums... Then for "cycling".

I'd like to add that Puffers are tough fish to keep alive and um.... you need to really really do your homewor kon this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I woke up today and he was hugging the bottom of his tank lookin' real sick and not moving much. I changed the water and now he's swimming around happily. Not sure if it was because he was trying to take a nap or if it was because there was a dangerous level of toxins in the water.

Please explain more on the cycling business. For a small tank, should I just go ahead and do a full water change every few days for the next couple weeks?

That link said that I should take out 10-15% of the water and put it back in. Is that just for larger tanks or is there a reason I want to keep some of the old water in there?

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
beta's are also called fighting fish, and i'm pretty sure you can't keep them together at all.


[/ QUOTE ]

how do they reproduce if a male and a female cant be kept together without a duel to the death?

[/ QUOTE ]

Erm ... fish, at least most species, don't have teh secks. The females release eggs and the males typically come along later to spawn.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
how sick would it be to bet on beta fights? Like you raise and train your beta, and then you play like 100$ UH games till death.

or 100$ SNGS where last beta gets the 8 or 9 BI prizepool.

[/ QUOTE ]
this is an awesome idea

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You need to cycle your tank.

Go to www.about.com and search for aquariums... Then for "cycling".

I'd like to add that Puffers are tough fish to keep alive and um.... you need to really really do your homewor kon this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I woke up today and he was hugging the bottom of his tank lookin' real sick and not moving much. I changed the water and now he's swimming around happily. Not sure if it was because he was trying to take a nap or if it was because there was a dangerous level of toxins in the water.

Please explain more on the cycling business. For a small tank, should I just go ahead and do a full water change every few days for the next couple weeks?

That link said that I should take out 10-15% of the water and put it back in. Is that just for larger tanks or is there a reason I want to keep some of the old water in there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats for all tanks. You will want to siphon out 10-20% of the water 2x per month. If you remove too much, your nitrates and nitrites will get out of balance and the ammonia levels will shoot up and may kill your fish.

I have had aquariums for ~15 yrs and currently have 94g bow front corner w\ a 30g tank for a aump in my basement.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

GIGANTIC TIP: Use distilled water. Seriously.

I have a 60 gal. tank. I used to have all kinds of problems with ick, the fish gasping, balances off etc. Then I started buying distilled water everytime I changed the tank and have been almost problem-free for 2 years. Those chemicals used to treat tap water cause a lot of stress to the fish and throw off the other balances in the tank.

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

don't tap the glass

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You need to cycle your tank.

Go to www.about.com and search for aquariums... Then for "cycling".

I'd like to add that Puffers are tough fish to keep alive and um.... you need to really really do your homewor kon this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I woke up today and he was hugging the bottom of his tank lookin' real sick and not moving much. I changed the water and now he's swimming around happily. Not sure if it was because he was trying to take a nap or if it was because there was a dangerous level of toxins in the water.

Please explain more on the cycling business. For a small tank, should I just go ahead and do a full water change every few days for the next couple weeks?

That link said that I should take out 10-15% of the water and put it back in. Is that just for larger tanks or is there a reason I want to keep some of the old water in there?

[/ QUOTE ]

Read what I told you to read.

You're going to be responsible for MANY fish's deaths if you do not read at least 100 pages worth of material on caring for fish. Stop being so goddamn lazy. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Tell me about. . . caring for fish.
 

TJ, you've got a good chance of killing your fish. Use a high quality dechlorinator (Prime is the best, Chloram-X is good as well) and learn about the different types of filtration (biological filtration vs. mechanical). In short, your filter has to be able to strain poop and leftover food out of the water (mechanical) while fostering beneficial bacteria that helps convert poisonous ammonia and nitrites (waste by-products) into less harmful things.