I Have A New Betta. Is It Normal For Him To Sit On The Bottom?

[Lynda B]

The prophet of doom makes very valid points.....

 

[branjie]

I agree that being well researched/informed is the best safegaurd against being ripped off. I can assure you I was really taken for a ride with the first fish shop I went to. The guy charged me $320 for the things I "needed" to set up my tank (tank not included in this price), and told me that as soon as I'd put in the bacteria solution, I could put in any type of tropical fish I liked. Silly me, didn't know better, and bought about 10 fish which were incompatible, and then all but one died because if the high ammonium levels. I didn't know that though, and went back to the same fish shop. They gave me some "medication" which I now know would have done more harm that good. I only found out about cycling when I went to my current LFS who tested my water a lot of times and gave me stacks of advice during the first weeks. They flat out refused to sell me fish on a number of occasions because my water was not up to standard, so they won my respect. They warned me about the Betta not really being suitable, but were really busy and didn't have time on the day to fully explain. I was an idiot to get it, I just fell in love with it's beauty and made an emotional decision instead of using my head. The Black Ghost came from another fish shop. I should have asked how big he would get. I can tell you, I have really learned my lesson the hard way, to research a fish's needs, compatability, and fully grown size.

Anyway, in a few hours I'll be off to the fish shop to see about a new tank for my Betta. I'm really nervous, I hope I don't mess things up and kill him.

 

[-germ-]

Have you got any pleco pics?
Rubbish when you learn the hard way, kind of kills your trust, glad you found a decent lfs though
Sadly all the LFS near me (while some do have good intentions) generally can't hold a particularly knowledgable conversation when it comes to fish.......

The Black Ghost came from another fish shop. I should have asked how big he would get

IMHO while you should always ask, you shouldn't have had to, particularly considering you are fairly new to fish and any decent salesman would have picked up on that; theres two forms of selling;

They flat out refused to sell me fish on a number of occasions because my water was not up to standard, so they won my respect

The good one...

The guy charged me $320 for the things I "needed" to set up my tank (tank not included in this price), and told me that as soon as I'd put in the bacteria solution, I could put in any type of tropical fish I liked

The bad one

Annoying thing is the bad probably get stuck in a cycle of dishonesty and have to sell more (via dishonesty) to keep their custom going.....

Research, research, research...
Glad you've found somewhere suitable for fish related advice and i really hope you manage to get everything sorted.

 

[branjie]

germ I have taken some pics of one of my plecos, but the thing is moving from side to side eating all the time, and the pics are too blury. I've looked at stacks of plecos on the net, and still have no idea which type I have. Mine don't have clearly defined markings like the ones in photos I've seen. It looks at though I may need to get a tank for large fish eventually.

Well, I had a big talk to the people at my LFS, and the conversation came back to my way too powerful filter as usual. I was asking about a new aquarium for the Betta, but they thought he may be o.k with a less powerful filter. I wasn't so sure. In the end, they said I should go home and try turning off the filter for a while, to see if this changed the Betta's behaviour. If not, they could exchange him for another type of fish if I wanted. Anyway, I went home and turned off the filter. Sure enough, straight away the Betta got up and started swimming around. My husband said I could buy a new, less powerful filter, as he has thought the old one was ridiculously powerful from the start. So, I've got a new filter now, and the Betta actually seems happy. He had some brine shrimp for tea, and seems quite perky. The other thing is that the old filter was really dirty. I didn't know, because it was a black box one, and I couldn't see inside. The new one is clear. Anyway, I squeezed out the dirty old filter sponge into a jug of community tank water, then put the new filter sponges in there, to pick up the bacteria or whatever, so I shouldn't have to cycle my tank. Anyway, the tank looks cleaner, and there's much less current in the water which seems to have made my Betta happy. I'm keeping a close eye on him though, and if he doesn't get along with his tank mates, I'll move him.