Bettaffection @bettaffection - Tumblr Blog

fishkeeping is such a trap, because you think it’ll be a fun little hobby where you get your hands wet and then just watch your fish for hours; but in actuality, it forces you to learn about chemistry and biology and gardening and plumbing and electricity and woodworking and even latin bc you’ve unconsciously memorized hundreds of scientific names, and a couple months later, you’ll find yourself in aisle 13 of lowe’s picking up another box of #0 x 2-7/8" structural lag screws, smelling like algae and sawdust while you rack your brain trying to remember what aquatic plant species naturally occur in the peat bogs of northern kalimantan

5835737535847575-deactivated201

fishkeeping is now gay culture 🐟🏳️‍🌈

hotbabespaghetti

This is probably the cutest

kaijutegu

This is the perfect pet for people who want to keep a small container of water with something pretty in it. Even though it’s a plant and not a fish, it’s way cuter than a sad, cramped betta- and less maintenance, too. A marimo is perfect for that pretty aesthetic or your college dorm room. Want a mason jar aquarium? A marimo will be perfectly happy in there. Want a fishbowl with pretty rocks? Get a marimo, or even a few of them! I can’t overstate how wonderful and cute marimo are.

fuckyeahaquaria

Flame Arrow Goby | Sicyopus zosterophorus

#i miss my goby

aquatictimes

This is honestly something I see in my nightmares.

lifebehindtheglass

The 20 long’s plants finally arrived! My Himalayan lowlands hill stream is taking shape! The plants came in pretty beat up, so hopefully they bounce back and start filling in. It was much more lush in my head….

This is how they sell fish in Finland. (The second picture is a betta tank)

The smallest display tanks are 15 gallon. All the tanks are heated and filtered and all of them have live plants and hiding places.

This is the smallest tank they were selling in this store:

It’s a 10 gallon tank. Some stores sell the Fluval Edge 6 gallon tank but it’s always referred as “a snail/crab/plant tank”. The biggest pet store company in Finland that sells fish (called Faunatar) has this on their page about betta fish:

“Male betta fish enjoys living alone even in a 10 gallon tank”

What this means is that I have never seen or heard of anyone having a fish bowl in Finland. (I’m sure that there is people who keep fish like this but it’s extremely rare). When I was young my idea of fishkeeping was that it’s expensive and difficult because all of the fish tanks I had seen were huge 30+ gallon tanks and all of the fish keepers I knew were chemistry nerds (the last one is still true :’D). Sure I had seen fish bowls in american cartoons but then again I thought that yellow school buses were a myth too.

So the “young kids with cheap and easy fish as their first pet” are not the target group in our pet stores. That’s why there is no need to keep 50+ betta fish in the stock at all times because there is not that many fish hobbyist around. Which means that there is space in the actual fish tanks for the bettas too.

The controversial part is whether or not keeping betta fish in community tanks is good for the fish, because most of the times the bettas have tank mates (never other male bettas though).

Here is a list of one of the male bettas tank mates (Lambchop rasboras, catfish and snails). I haven’t seen betta fish being kept with other colorful fish and most of the times the bettas in stores are very active and don’t seem to be in stress or are hiding. (My betta has bottom dwellers as tank mates so I’m not against keeping bettas with mates as long as the tank is big enough and the breeds are well chosen).

I wanted to make this post to show what pet stores look like after children are being thought that fish are living creatures and not decoration.

#in other words i understand that bad fish keeping is almost always because of misinformation and not cruelty #betta fish #bettablr #betta #fishblr #fishkeeping #fish #petstore #fish tank #petblr #aquarium #fishtank #bettafish

quiet-nymph

Photography by botanygeek

genderfuckt

These are sooo beautiful! I would love to have a wet garden in my home

#hearteyes

elhazar

Timelapse of my Betta tank

#this makes me happy!

gunpla5935

Day 20: everything seems good

aquariadise

Before and after. The little boogers have fattened up and grown a little 🐟

Full Amazon puffer caresheet

Aquariadise on FB

thesingingfishtank

“Everybody…swim this way!”

anabantoid

Beyond the Betta

I want to preface this: I loved bettas, at one point when I was about 15 I had well over a dozen bettas. Nothing could stop me, especially when Minibow 5’s were constantly on sale. I still like bettas, I think they have a ton of personality and they’re really fun, engaging fish that are incredibly accessible and are pretty cheap to set up. The unfortunate thing is that bettas are sick, they’re overpriced genetic disasters which can be a grab bag of problems. Bettas ten years ago aren’t the same bettas we have now, we have so many different varieties in such a short span of time, all due to inbreeding offspring to parent or offspring to offspring in order to preserve, expand upon, or replicate a desirable trait that sprung up from the genetic mish mash that bettas are. I still assert that non-dragon scale plakats, normal veils and crown tails are some of the healthier bettas you can get.

Now, I am NOT saying that you’re a bad person for having a betta of whatever variety, healthy or not. I am not telling you to get rid of your betta or to never ever get a betta again. You can have your bettas, you can get future bettas. This isn’t an article that’s telling you to get rid of your bettas. I know that everyone leaps to that conclusion any time I or others make posts critical of modern bettas and their ‘designer’ varieties.

But the thing is, you don’t always need to go back to bettas. You can expand your horizons and choose healthier fish in tanks that people normally just leave for bettas. All of these fish have their own charms and quirks, and while some might not have the same pizazz that you expect from bettas, they’re still worthy of appreciation.

Keep reading

narelleart

A great list of great fish to consider keeping in you nano tanks!

Just remember if you are interested in fish like licorice gouramis and wild bettas, most are imperiled species and would be best bred to preserve the species through the hobby. Make sure to do thorough research on all of these fish so you are aware of their status and other needs before you get them!