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My daughter's had mollies and she'd been told to salt the water slightly. Do you not salt your water, or is a little salt okay for bettas? Susan

Great suggestions :) I love plecs but can't seem to find any but the larger varieties around here. I'll keep looking, because I really do love them... I'll consider upping the oto count as an alternative. I'm surprised that a betta would be considered "at risk" against schooling fish. Mine...

Great, thanks for your suggestions -- time for research :) Susan

Hello! I'm considering what to put in a 20G planted tank. A betta's a given, but I thought I'd add some schooling fish to this tank. So far, this is what I've thinking about: 1 betta 3 cories 2 otos I had thought about a half-dozen neon tetras until I read advice not to house them with a...

Hello! I'm considering what to put in a 20G planted tank. A betta's a given, but I thought I'd add some schooling fish to this tank. So far, this is what I've thinking about: 1 betta 3 cories 2 otos I had thought about a half-dozen neon tetras until I read advice not to house them with a...

While my betta is snapping up his dinner on the surface, I drop an algae tab in the back for my oto. It helps to feed the oto later in the day, when otos tend to be more active. Susan

Seashells (calcium carbonate) change the hardness of the water as they dissolve, eventually affecting the pH. Amethyst is quartz (Silicon dioxide -- glasslike) which is probably okay. To be sure, drop a little vinegar on a sample. If it fizzes, your rock will be a problem. (In the case of a...

I do a 50% water change every week, which is perfect for my teeny tank (see sig). I, too, wind up removing the 50% just by siphoning the glup from the bottom. I've never had a problem caused by too much cleaning. Susan

I have one tall java fern that simply would not root on its own, so I rubber-banded it to a rock. It's still not rooted, but it's doing just fine. After almost four months, my little fern is finally loosely rooted. It can take a while... I also have a floater, really a leaf that brokeaway...

Check out my sig -- Beta prefers to linger between the leaves of a tall plant, so he prefers the Amazon sword. The tall Java fern is also quite tall now and leafy enough that he's paying attention to it. Susan

1 gallon every week. Susan

Oddly enough, I haven't found that to be true. My office temperature sits around 73F, but my tank's light (compact fluorescent- see sig) puts out enough heat to keep the water at 80F. I installed a low-wattage heater but have never had to use it! I'm waiting now to see if the office air...

I agree -- it's not the garbage I'd be worried about, but the germs picked up in the environment. Susan

They're called planaria, and they can hide in gravel if they're not eaten. If your substrate is gravel, give it a good vacuuming. (You should anyway, to deal with the extra food, but now you're worm hunting...) I missed a few the first time -- some went swimming. Made a great live dinner for...

Pretty much -- plus they pretty much want to be ignored themselves ;) Susan

After my betta divebombed my oto's algae tab, I started feeding the betta in the morning and the oto at night :thumbs: Susan

I voted activity because I equate it with health and balance. It doesn't mean that everything in the tank has to zoom around, just that every occupant feels free to do what's natural for it. Susan

Yeahhhhh, buddy... ;) I remember somewhere from biology class that the spontaneous mutation rate for amphibians is very high, but I was really surprised that the little guy made it to market! Susan :alien:

I was in PetSmart tonight and saw an ADF with an extra limb growing out of its face! I wonder how often this happens... Susan

I don't think so, but they will get uneaten food at the bottom. The best small algae eaters are otocinclus -- they look like teeny plecos but they school, and they are a bit fussy about water quality, but they are adorable :wub: Susan

That's what counts ;) Teeny tanks (mine's at work) are much more work to keep stable. I'm looking SO forward to having a larger tank at home :wub: Susan

I was initially afraid of vacuuming the gravel too much, but I went for broke when I found planaria in the tank. Now I vacuum weekly -- no uneaten food, but lots of fish poo! :-( This is probably the Curse of the Teeny Tank. I test regularly and have not had any problems with spiking. I...

Killing off the algae (regardless of method) will leave you with loads of dead algae. You have several more water changes ahead of you. Consider one more big water change to get as much of it out before you try again. Susan

I use black gravel in my teeny tank -- it's okay, but I would have preferred Tahitian moon sand. I decided against it, though, because it's expensive, even in the smallest quantities I could buy, which was still way too much for my teeny tank. The greatest thing about Tahitian moon sand is...

Yeah, the worms are probably planaria. I had them in my teeny tank a few weeks ago because I hadn't been vacuuming the gravel well enough during water changes. Overfeeding is the number one cause; I've cut back on the algae tabs for my oto. Planaria aren't generally considered harmful to...

... and I suppose you're going to insist on "colour" and "honour" and all that other funky stuff :D Susan

My betta is MACHO, always patroling, always checking things out :P Susan

Welcome, Jessieh. My personal pet peeve is it's vs. its :P Susan

Do not trim the leaf for now. Place the rock on the gravel -- do not bury it. Susan

I voted for live plants, but I have a decent algae eater as well. In extreme cases (not this tank), I've used a single dose of algicide. I have my tank light on a timer (low wattage, 12 hours). My tank's past the brown algae point -- the oto's taken complete care of it. I've got a little...

Depends on my mood. Mitty brings out the mommy in me -- s/he is too tiny and so cute :wub: Beta is not your basic languid betta -- he's all over the place, but I love to watch his fins ripple :nod: Then there's my daughter's pleco -- he's my hero. He's lived through way too many of her...

The plants in my teeny tank (see sig) are planted in plain gravel, too. My tap water is very soft (about 2 dH), so I decided to add fertilizer. With such a small tank, I didn't want to use two fertilizers, so I eventually settled on Flourish, a liquid. As it is, I have to use one of my...

Pennywort looks like this Susan

I let my oto work on the tank for a while on brown and green spot algae. When he started slowing down, I supplemented with algae tabs. He still eats tank algae on the weekends. Susan

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Quite funny :lol: Susan

Check out this planting site. Sounds like you have 'rosette' plants. Susan

How hard is your water? Susan

I've discovered a few planaria in my tank. Even through there's no obvious uneaten food lying about, I'm going to do some extra water changes this week and really give the gravel a good scrub, including taking out some larger (2 - 4cm) stones I've placed in the tank so I can get to everything...

The other possibility is that your nitrates are running a little high. Otos are more sensitive than many other fish -- anything over 20 should be of concern. Susan

Java ferns would not require anything special by way of substrate, and they're not particularly picky about light. My betta likes his sword, though, which is not quite as easy. Certain floater plants like java moss might be okay, too. Susan