Aquariums

[TNHawke]

What you are seeing is different body types of bettas.

The 'droopy' ones are probably veil tails- the original fancy bettas.

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The spiny ones are crown tails (my personal favorites)

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Spade tail has a tail that comes together at a point

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Halfmoons are the current "this is the ideal, breed for this", and especially hard to get, which is why they are expensive.

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A true halfmoon should have a tail that makes a vertical line close to the body when they display. They generally have the fullest fins.
You can also mix things like crown tail and halfmoon. A delta tail is when you're trying for halfmoon, but that leading edge isn't completely vertical, but only spreads to a slant. These are often sold as halfmoons in stores, so be careful what you're spending your money on.

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Double tail (and I've heard of triple and heart tails too) - this is a normal growth pattern, not damage or illness.

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A newer type I've seen on the market are the Dragonscales. These guys have a high, metallic sheen on their scales, and usually have it up to the head, where many other bettas have black over the front half of their body. All of the dragonscales I've seen have had the plakat fin type, very short, natural, wild fin size.

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Plakat - don't confuse these guys for females!

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http://watershed3.tripod.com/types.html here's a nice page with decent pictures of many tail types and colors.

Some bettas will have extra ballooning (finnage) between the rays (the supportive spines). Some folks like me, think it's very pretty and encourage it. Some folks don't like it and avoid it. Sometimes, the bettas get blown around their tank too much and may even chew their own fins off if they have too much ballooning, which would be a reason to avoid it. Sometimes, the rays in the fins get curves or curls. Again, some people like the effect, others don't. i actually had difficulty finding any good photos of bettas with healthy, curled fins, most of the photos are of straight fins. But, here's a crown tail with ballooning and a bit of curl, and I found another with lots of curly frills.

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Here's a betta with fin rot. Look for fish with even fin lengths, not ragged like these

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Also, avoid clamped fins

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Rolled up fins is another thing to avoid. It's an illness that usually responds well to fungal treatments, but I'm not certain exactly what causes it.

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Fins will grow back, so if there is a split or a chunk missing from the finnage, but the fish is otherwise active and appears to have a healthy body, and the color is one you like, go ahead and go for it.
Pretty much look for the same things in any fish. You don't want to see them laying listlessly on the bottom of their cup. Even when they are resting, they should stay vertical. You don't want to see them in a cup full of old, decaying food. Don't get any with any kind of white spots or patches (that aren't normal coloration)This is not a sick betta. This is normal white patches of color.

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The scales should all be smooth, not sticking up.

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Even pastel or white bettas should look bright, vibrant and glossy in their color. Sick bettas will sometimes loose their color and just look pale, even white, like this poor guy.

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I, myself, just bought a female betta who I thought was a neat yellow and orange color. It died that same night and I realized that she was supposed to be a green and red, and had just paled out. She had been sitting well in her water and appeared active, I didn't realize she was sick. There were two others in cups on the same shelf who looked like her, all appeared active with no other signs of illness. I figured it was just a color morph. When I took her body back for the guarantee, I noticed the other two were gone as well. They probably also died.


http://splendidbettas.webs.com/commondiseases.htm here's a great page for helping diagnose fish diseases. Not all of the photos are of bettas, but it's a great resource.

Anyways... I would do some online research, get really familiar with what is normal for betta build and color, so that you know when the fish you are considering looks healthy, and when you need to avoid it because something about it just looks 'off'.

[Piney]

Oh wow thanks for all the info! I never thought that the spiny fins were a kind of betta.

[TNHawke]

I've always affectionately referred to them as "super frill" rather than crowntail. Lol.

You're welcome! It was fun looking through lots of photos of bettas to find a few to share here.

[pegasi1978]

Looking for a little advice. I have a 10 gallon tank with a single goldfish in it. Since he was moved into the 10 gallon tank, we've had an slight problem with green algae. Some of it I know is because we haven't been quite as regular about cleaning as we had been. We also realized that we were overfeeding. We've cut back on the feedings (and are planning to get better about cleaning).

Lately though, I've noticed the airstone has a coating of algae on it. Any advice on cleaning it? It's one like this (though not as long).

Beginning to think it might be time to add an "algale eater" to the tank.

[TNHawke]

You can try scrubbing it with a stiff bristle brush. I will admit to having bleached them with mixed results- fortunately, none of which have been dead fish. Often, it's best to just replace it.

Big black mystery snails are usually your best bet in a goldfish tank. Plecos really should have heat and goldfish don't want heat. The lack of heat will make chinese algae eaters and oticinclus very unhappy fishies. Chinese algae eaters also have a tendency to get big, aggressive and stop eating algae and start eating your other fish.

How much light is the fish tank getting? A good bright bulb that's on for 12 hours a day is good for the fish, but the algae loves it too. If the tank picks up any sunlight from a window or anything, that really encourages the algae growth.

[pegasi1978]

Will keep the black mystery snails in mind then. We were debating replacing it anyway, possibly with a bigger/longer one (current one is a 5", next size up is a 10"). The tank isn't getting any sunlight (it's on an interior wall in the center of the room and all the windows are a good 5' away and covered in blinds.) I turn the light on in the morning when I feed Jack (o' Lantern - he came from a Halloween festival last year ) and it gets turned off in the evening after I get home, so it's on 12-14 hours. We started Jack in a 1.5 gallon, but quickly moved him into a 5 gallon. The move into the 10 gallon came late May/early June. He's gone from 1.5" to 3"+ since we got him. He's a common goldfish in the orange/gold coloration.

[TNHawke]

Coolies. Sounds like you're doing good with him too. Check out a page or two back, if you missed it. We were discussing goldfish and their necessary housing and stuff.

I think the biggest goldfish I grew up was a white and red comet that I had named Isaac. She started as a little feeder comet and when I gave her to some folks with a pond, she was a good 5 or 6 inches from nose to rump, plus long, flowing tail. I found out Isaac was a girl when I temporarily put her in a bowl and the sudden shallow, warmer water made her dump eggs all over the place. She ate them, but I don't think they would have hatched anyways.

[TNHawke]

New random question...

Does anyone know anything about keeping fresh water mussels? Or any other fresh or salt water bivalves?

[Sinornis]

i reccamend guppys or a betta for beginers. guppys cuz they are easy to take care of and bettas cuz they can live for quite a few years and are hardy. it's either that, or i'm just a geniuse on how to care for these guys .

[shiggity]

Well, i don't have fish anymore, but i do have two red-eared slider turtles. They are in a 40 gallon tank along with one snail. They are real interesting to have and fun to watch, although they do have a tendency to bite. I got them last year as a birthday present as hatchlings. They were about an inch long and now are almost four inches long. They love lettuce and cooked chicken.