Educating My Dad....

[Azaezl]

Last night I decided to turn off the filter in my bettas tank as I think it's alittle too powerful for him, so I've decided to have it on for half a day and do water changes twice a week(is that too much?) Anyway this morning he built a bubble nest I was so pleased as now I know he's really happy and healthy.

Anyway onto the post subject, I was speaking to my dad earlier and he was asking how my new fish was and I told him about the nest to which I got " a bubble what???" I explained to him what it was and he had no idea what I was talking about. He said he'd kept bettas for years and none of his did that, I told him that not all of them do but it's a good sign of a happy betta. I asked him what he kept them in and he said he just had them(well 1 at a time) in his community tank with neons . I told him they were best kept on their own but he insists that they aren't really that aggressive, just with other males, I told him it varied but generally they do better alone or with suitable tank mates. It was funny knowing more about bettas in the short time I've had them than my dad's years of keeping them, that's all down to you guys!!!

I have some concerns about my dad's fish philosphy, apparently black fish are more prone to white spot???
It's very difficult(near impossible) to breed egglayers and keep the babies alive and fish only grow to the tank size you give them. I do tell him as nicely as possible that he's wrong, but some people are just too set in their ways, I'm just glad he doesn't keep big fish, he sticks to small things like neons, guppies etc.

 

[Nevergone815]

I have some concerns about my dad's fish philosphy, apparently black fish are more prone to white spot???

My input on all this, black fish "get" white spot or ick more because you can see it better than on a lighter/white fish

It's very difficult(near impossible) to breed egglayers and keep the babies alive

It is hard to breed most egglayers, especially if you have htem in a community setting. If kept in a species tank and a ittle bit of reseach dne, most of many of them are doable

and fish only grow to the tank size you give them.

I read somewhere in the Tropical chit chat the other day, that this myth is true and false. Most fish will kee growing, its cyprinids like goldfish and fish like salmon that release hormones that supress the growth of the other fish so that one can stay slightly bigger, stronger and generally better. This doesn't occur in the wild because of the large amount of dilution from all the water they're in, but in home aquaria its pretty effective. Mostly water quality is to blame for this.

Ummm... I'll try to look for the thread I read this on and include it in here...

That's just my $0.02

Edit: Here's the thread...
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=183660

 

[Azaezl]

Yeah I pretty much told him what you said, it's probably bad advice he's been given by his lfs that he thinks is true, I thought the comment about black fish being more prone to white spot was classic, I really had to bite my lip not to laugh! I think I'll keep a log of all his 'fish facts' just to chuckle at, I'll keep correcting him and point him to this forum next time I speak to him. I just find it really funny that I know so much more then him from a little research on here then he's discovered over the years he's kept fish(which is 20+ years)

 

[Nevergone815]

Yea I've been having similar problems with my parents, but they are slowly coming around

Definately kee us up to date!

 

[Jaded12]

LMAO my parents have never been into fish, but since I've started keeping them they've gotten quite an education, they actually find fish quite facinating, but my mom doesn't appreicate the smell