I was just at the pet food supply shop yesterday buying some plant food where I picked this fellow up on the way to the counter. A totally spur of the moment thing as they had half a dozen jars there and I thought the red one would go well with my red lotus plant.

Just picked up his little jar and carried it to the counter with the plant food, and that was that. A new home for this little guy!



I didn't notice he has some sort of blister or deformation on his bottom fin until I got him into my tank. It's that lighter patch on the fin you can see there. The blister is actually on the other side in this photo. So he's not a perfect specimen, or even one of those exotic finned types, but I like him!

He seems to be doing okay so far in his new tank (a 2' tall planted tank, about 30 gallons) along with his 20 Flame Tetra tankmates who don't seem bothered at all.

I just held up a mirror to the side of the tank to see how his fins look when flared up. For such a handsome fish, he doesn't seem to like his reflection much!

Lol AW He really is a handsome little fella. I think Spur is a great name for him.

It looks like he's screaming at his own reflection

I like the red ones.

He might just a fantail, but he's GORGEOUS!

congrats AW!

He's beautiful! I love the blue hints you can see in the first pic. Congrats on your new little one!

He's very pretty! Congrats!

Yes, he is very, very preatty!

The red is stunning!

Congratulations! Spur is gorgeous!

Spur thanks you all for the compliments!

Ooohh Spur is GORGEOUS. Looks just like my Diablo.

aww!! he's gorgeous! i love his colour

I think the proper term for a betta of that finnage is "veiltail"

You kept him in with flame tetras? Oh no, better prepare for the inevitable "haircut" he's gonna get from those guys....

Thanks again, everybody!

Diablo is a great name for a red Betta, Erin! I really like this red. I wish you could get goldies a deep red like his!

Man Yu, I thought it might be a problem too, but he's fine. They totally ignore him. Maybe because there's so many of them, they're too busy with themselves to worry about strangers!

Ah! That's the word I knew there's something wrong with "fantail" hehe thx Man Yu

Great find there-Spur is a beauty.

Better be watchful then, rippling fins are often an all-too-powerful temptation for characoids since many of their family are natural fin-eaters in the Amazon

he's beautiful! he looks alot like my new boy blaze.

WOW that is one GORGEOUS betta! I love him! Spur is a great name for a betta! It's manly and tough! (just the opposite of my betta! I think he's a lover not a fighter) Congrats on your new betta I love him!

Thanks again everyone!



Well, I've had him two weeks now and the Flame Tetras leave him completely alone. Very peaceful fish!

Flame Tetras minding their own business...



Outta the way, coming through!



He just swims right through them and they dart out of his way. No chasing or fin nipping at all!

Here's his home by the way. A 2' tall (30g) on my desk, which I just set up 6 weeks ago. Can you see him there? In front of the left hand retaining wall there:



Full CO2. 110watts light. It's still early days so the plants are still growing in. Here's how it looked on it's first day, 6 weeks ago, for anyone interested. I used some left over spanish-style roof tiles to make 'tiers'.

Beh AW do you have to always show off your ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL planted tanks?

I just put some Java Fern into my goldie tank and they're eating it! It's Java Fern! And they're eating it! Argh!

Spur is simply in heaven there

riz- heehee. why not try putting them in a tank thats not for goldies then?

awrieger- As for the flame tetras leaving his fins alone, well... two weeks is hardly a lifetime. Just hope they'll never be urged by a devil-garbed tetra to temptation...

I still would have recommended neon tetras instead or pencilfish but oh well... if you're happy, that's all that matters

Amazing job with the plants, BTW. I love the hairgrass sod!

At every opportunity! lol.

It's not like I can take all the credit for them anyway as the plants do 95% of the work. I just give them CO2, light and fertilizer and just watch them grow!

Your fish are eating Java Fern?!? I remember reading somewhere that Java Fern exudes a chemical which makes them distasteful to fish which is why it's so highly recommended. So your fish must have no taste! Just kidding! lol.

Well, that's interesting. Maybe it's what I was mentioning about them eating plants that are already soft and dying. Or just tearing them apart for fun at any rate. Are you fertilizing and providing at least 1.5watts per gallon of light? I'd also recommend using Flourish Excel as a substitute carbon source (in lieu of CO2) to help them grow. Carbon comes second to light in importance for plants.

Man Yu, I think it's a matter of the number of fish. Tetras in large groups behave differently to only a few individuals by themselves.

how many are in there anyway?

What effect does carbon have on plants?

Twenty one.



Well, carbon is essential to all life on earth. You know in Star Trek, they refer to earthlings as carbon-based lifeforms'? It's the basic building block of life. Without it, there's no building. Which means no growing.

We get *our* carbon from plants, or animals which eat plants (or other animals that eat plants) etc etc down the food chain.. Plants get their carbon in the first place from the environment (air or water) usually from CO2, less usually from dissolved organic carbon (water).

Yikes! I sound like my old biology teacher! Well, actually I don't because she would never have mentioned Star Trek when explaining about plants!

Ohhh... I'm trying my hand at a planted tank right now in my 10 gallon. I think thats too small for CO2? Is it? Will adding the black filter charcol to the filter help them? I'd never heard that plants needed carbon!

The light in the tank is about 1 watt per gallon, and unfortunately I don't use CO2. I think I'll have to use it soon cos this morning I'm seeing more leaves getting munched up
Any suggestions on what brand of CO2 thingy I should use, AW?

Kissy, the activated charcoal in your filter is a different thing to liquid/gas carbon. See if you can buy some Flourish Excel (liquid carbon).

Riz, 'the experts' only really recommend using CO2 with light higher than about 2.5w/g, otherwise it's just wasted and not really worth the effort or expenditure. I'd recommend Flourish Excel for your tank as well.

Used along with a fertilizer liquid fertilizer (like just normal Flourish), Flourish Excel carbon will make a big difference. Ack, I'm starting to sound like an advert for Excel, lol!

PS. There's a whole bunch of 'Flourish' in Seachem's range, so be sure to get 'Excel':
Flourish - the actual fertilizer (macro)
Flourish Trace- trace elements (micro)
Flourish Excel - carbon
Flourish Iron - iron
Flourish Potassium - potassium
Flourish Nitrogen - nitrogen

twenty-one... hmm, ok, I guess that could work.

I've looked at Flourish Excel's page, and is it correct if I assume that I have to add 5ml everyday?

This is for your 60g? That sounds about right. 5mls per 50g. The label says every day, or every second day. It depends on how you observe your plants are going. If you only have a few plants, every second day should be okay. Cut back or increase the dose based on your observations.

The instructions on the bottle also says 5ml per 40L (10g) after each major water change, so you'd do 30mls on that day. Do that the first day you get it as well rather than starting withjust the smaller daily dose, to kick start your tank carbon-wise.

I even do the 'water-change' dose of Excel in my tanks which already have CO2. It helps control algae as well.

Man Yu, I think it's literally a case of 'safety in numbers', so they feel far more secure and relaxed instead of being scared/defensive/aggressive all the time towards other fish if there are very few of them, or heaven forbid one all alone by itself.

5 ml everyday whew! It's gonna be an expensive practice might have to get the 20 L jug

Flourish Excell with regular Flourish fert? Okay, I've already got the regular stuff. Do the sell excell at Petsmart? I've only seen the regular fert and the iron for sale there, and none at petco. Should I get the iron too? I have some baby swords and what I think could be few red tiger lotuses (surprise--came from a pack of apo bulbs ). I dunno if those will survive long term in my tank or not though ._.

I'm really not sure Kissy - no Petsmarts here! But if they have regular Flourish, then they should be able to order the Excel for you from their supplier.

Flourish fertilizer has some iron in it already so it should be fine. The separate nutrient ones like Flourish Iron, Flourish Potassium etc are for when you notice specific nutrient deficiencies in your plants (which usually only happens with accelerated growth from CO2 etc where they use it up faster). Like lack of iron is when the new leaves grow in very pale yellow instead of green. If you experience something like that in your tank, that could just mean you just need to add more general fertilizer instead of just more iron.

Your swords and lotuses should actually be fine in your tank. They're what I have in the Flame tank there. They really take off with CO2, but will do fine in non-CO2 tanks as well. Just grow slower. The only problem I think you would have with them is keeping algae off the leaves! (Rams Horn snails are great for this btw!)

Hope that helps!

One month anniversary!

Here's Spur and the gang going to inspect some new tankmates yesterday (4 x long-finned Bronze Corys. And no, no quarantine!).



I thought I'd use a flash as the tank light is set back a bit so they'd be silhouetted otherwise. But flash really shows marks on the glass! Well, there's Spur with all his fins completely untouched and intact after a month in a tank full of Flame Tetras, so your concerns about them being fin-nippers appear to be unfounded, Man Yu. At least these particular ones at any rate.

PS. I'm actually thinking of calling him Flame instead now. I refer to this tank 'The Flame Tank' because of the tetras anyway, and he's red too, so it seems more suitable...

That's very, very good to hear At least you have made special precautions and you obviously did your research before putting the fish together. Kudos!

That picture is beautiful! They are all coming up to say hello. Too cute!

Wow! I just read the bit about Flourish Excel helping against algae! Man, Aw, you are a gem when it comes to plants. Not when it comes to anything else, but plants, sure. JK! Anyhow, we've got hard water here along with posphates out the wazoo. Tons of algae! Even at the Petsmart I work at. I've been dreaming of planting up my 55 goldie tank, but as the light conditions will be low, and I have greedy goldies to battle, my plants are mostly limited to slow growers. And I'm certain that the algae will end up setting up housekeeping on my plants too. I've been on the fence about filtering out the phosphates b/c I don't want to screw up my nice pH for the goldies which hangs at 8.0, my really great GH/KH levels, or cause a pH crash. You've given me a little tip that I'm going to try. Thanks man!


Edit: LOL, and Flame is one gorgeous fella too, Aw.

nice tank