Something's Fishy !!

[Mousey Girl]

I ended up with 3 snails. They are doing a wonderful job at eating the algae, right now they are the only thing in the tank that has any green.

It took a while for my tank to stabalize, but it seems to be doing well now. I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 different sizes and types of goldfish.

[lashbear]

I'd love to train a snail to eat just the algae from the front, and leave the rest on the sides to benefit the eco-system.

[Mousey Girl]

I was not thrilled with the whole snail idea, but they are the only thing that can survive with the gold fish. They are really neat to watch. Eventually I will get some tetras again and turn the tank into more or a tropical tank. I had to start with the goldfish, because of The Boy. He had won a fish at the fair.

[Disneyphile]

We had 3 medium snails until Otto, the behemoth goldfish, decided to have escargot one evening.

We should have seen it coming, considering we named the three of them Ess, Car, and Go.

Sadly, their little shells are all that remain.

[Not Afraid]

I have a question about ssetting up a goldfish tank. When I have had a simple goldfish bowl in the past, I put water and a dechlorinate in the bowl, along with gravel, waited 5 minutes, put the goldfish with the bag into the bowl to get the water temp the same then dumped the goldfish in the bowl. II changed the water ever week or so and that's it. Fish was fine for a long time.

So, why is there time needed for a tank to neutralize (or whatever it's doing)? I know that in a saltwater tank, it takes time, but it doesn't make sense with a fresh water tank.

[katiesue]

Betas in my experience are easy to keep and hard to kill. Ours have lasted two to three years or longer.

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by katiesue

Betas in my experience are hard to kill..

I don't know.. a mallet ought to do it.

Sorry, that was totally un-Lashbear like.

Back to the real me.

[katiesue]

Originally Posted by lashbear

I don't know.. a mallet ought to do it.

We had one that jumped out of the bowl and onto the floor when I was at the store. I came home and thought it went down the garbarge disposal because it was sitting next to the sink ( I was cleaning the bowl). I was home for at least 15-20 mins before I decided I should check and see if it was on the floor. It was, kind of under the cabinets. So I finally decided I'd have to deal with the dead fish. I went to pick it up and it jumped. Scared the bejebbers out of me. It's name was Marilyn but Maddy started calling it Jesus because it came back from the dead

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by katiesue

Betas in my experience are easy to keep and hard to kill. Ours have lasted two to three years or longer.

Hello, Real Me™ here.

I think we'll look into the Beta thing further then.

[blueerica]

I'm no expert, but I always enjoyed the fish we had at the dental office I worked at. We kept a tank of aggressive fish and one plecos, and death was rare in that tank. Only thing is, once one is slightly down and out, the others will go after it, but I figure it's survival of the fittest, and that sort of thing doesn't bother me.