"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
Neons are dead cheap but are prone to disease.....you could get a good
group or find yourself replacing them at a few bucks each time as they get
depleted......I've always managed to keep around 5 out of a school of 20
but this is very disappointing.....my best success has been with Cardinals
(totally unsuited to my water) where I have had no losses at all.....
Cardinals seem to be much hardier. I had a few that lasted for a long time
but I don't always see them in the stores here. I'm getting around pretty
good now and can wear a normal shoe on the injured foot, so hope to get to
at least PetsMart and PetSupermarket this coming week.
..but don't just think of tetras.......one of my fav tanks houses
a couple of ember tetras and 6 cherry barbs......very pretty fish and
hardy with it and not as nippy as their relatives - I have 3M/3F and the
colour display is awesome....
I also want to take a closer look at those Rainbows you've mentioned. How
large do they usually get and are they long lived?
I'm going to skip angels for this tank because they get large, and once
they pair off you have WWIII on your hands.
Well, that's cichlids for you.....my pair are in the 6 foot tank and
haven't created to many problems yet - although I do have them as number
one suspects in the decline of the smaller fish
I love Angel fish, especially the marble and the gold ones. I only wish
there was some way to keep them from breeding and creating havoc in a tank.
I love to watch a small group of them swimming through the vals and around
the driftwood. But then the day always comes when they want to breed.......
Dunno about the water changes....it is always a constant point of interest
for me how much the pH varies in my freshwater tanks bearing in mind that
they all get the same water and quantity of changes......I'm about to try
the API plant tabs - I've been using the nutrafin ones for a while so want
to see if I get any difference (the API cost an awful lot more).......
The tabs work well but the Miracle Grow is cheaper and faster to use. I
just dump a Tbs. full into the filter outflow once a week or so. No mess no
bother. And no ammonia spikes. :-)
When you mention Miracle Grow are you talking the liquid plant food? It's
done wonders for my houseplants but I've never thought of putting it in
the tanks....
I buy the powder form for houseplants that you mix with water. But others
work as well and are cheaper.
Yes, I like my platies.....I don't worry too much about the sex these
days....if they breed the best of the batch survive or the rest become
fish food - I haven't bought any platys for years.....but the population
still maintains itself without being a problem....
Mine would get out of hand so I gave most of them to my daughter-in-law.
She was very upset to lose most of her fish to a cracked heater. We gave
them a 30Long for one of their wedding presents 19 years ago and they've had
tropical fish ever since.
If you can get nice female bettas and the tank is large enough go for
it.....but have a back up plan.....I rather suspect that the nicer female
bettas might be boys in disguise....
This is possible but I also found out that for awhile unscrupulous breeders
in Asia were treating female bettas with testosterone to grow enough finnage
to pass as males. I don't know if that is still being done.
Enjoy.....part of the fun I find is looking at what is available and then
plotting - wallet stays firmly in the bag until I know what I
want.....fishy window shopping :-)
Oh, I know what you mean! :-)) It's all part of the fun of fishkeeping.
Good luck - I'm sure that eventually you will end up with what you
want......research of course is the key but I will admit to falling fowl
of the odd impulse buy.,...
Gill
--
RM....
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
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