Just getting by

I know quite a bit about tropical fish, cats, rabbits, and dogs. I also train dogs in my spare time. Biology > Hobby.

[ddwfr]

So I am thinking of getting a fish!! A betta fish to be exact. I'm looking to get one that isn't being cared for properly. Whose a little worse for ware. Who needs love. I just need some help is all. I am getting a 10+ gallon tank, for the fish, and I want live plants too. I just dont know how to set up the tank and everything in it. Can I have tips and advice?

Sure! Here’s some guides that’ll help you (I tried writing it all down in my own words but it ended up ridiculously long, haha):

Plants

Comprehensive Planted Aquarium Guide 

Plant Journal

List of low light plants

Plant care guides

A little ask I answered with some beginner plants

Planty Post Collection

How to set up a low-tech planted aquarium 

A basic guide to aquascaping 

8 easy aquarium plants 

9 low light aquarium plants 

Floating aquarium plants

Betta stuff

Betta Care Sheet

7 Tips for Building a Simple Betta Tank

Pet Supplies You Need to Care for Betta Fish

Healthy Vs. Unhealthy Betta Fish

Betta Tail Type and Colour/Pattern Cons

Caresheet: Betta

The Relationship Between Water Quality and your Betta’s Health

Betta food & feeding

Betta than a Bowl: betta fish aquariums & betta tank inspiration

General

Fish Nutrition and Types of Food

How to clean an aquarium filter

Aquarium Maintenance 101

Aquarium filter 101

Aquarium nitrogen cycle & cycling a fish tank

Choosing an aquarium substrate 

Aquarium thermometer 101 

Quarantine tank 101  

How aquarium filters work 

Indian Almond Leaves  

Aquarium driftwood 

Cheap & DIY aquarium filter media alternatives!    

I hope these guides help, but if you need me to walk you through anything don’t hesitate to message me. 

The best piece of advice I can give you is don’t be shy. Ask for help as much as you need. When I seriously started in the hobby I was always asking people questions. Even if it sounds like a dumb question, ask it. You’ll be in charge of a little life and it’s better to ask and be sure than to sit on it and then something happens. Use the bettablr tag too. Usually, someone will answer your question within a day. Don’t trust random forums, don’t trust shitty facebook groups. Find a good local fish store too. Chain pet stores are eh, a good LFS is where it’s at. 

Most of all though, enjoy yourself. It’s a great hobby, both fishkeeping and aquascaping. I’m sure you’ll love it, anon, and I’m sure whatever fish you adopt will love it too.

[drferox]

This is Chupey

Hello! This my 6 month old pup named Chupey, short for Chupacabra. His DNA test puts him as mostly Pitt/rott mix….but you wouldn’t know it! Most of his deformaties seem to be external rather than internal. We have done blood tests and had several physical exams and things seem to be mostly in order. He had deformed genitals and was cryptorchid, so we neutered him last week. Now he is drinking and peeing more since the surgery. A blood test a few days ago showed elevated liver enzymes but nothing else of concern, kidneys are fine. So we are trying to get the enzymes under control and hopefully he won’t have to go under the knife again!

But he is happy and loving life so that’s all that matters. He is such a sweet pup and I hope I get lots of time with him!

I just wanted to see what you thought of his funky appearance(especially his ears. His embark DNA test revealed nothing in his genes that would explain why he looks the way he does). If you want to see more pics of him, he has an Instagram @cheers.for.chupey  :)

Just superb, you funky little cryptid.

[zooophagous]

I would kill for Chupey

[probablyafish]

Why does he have wirey hair if he’s a Pit/Rott mix? He’s a funky little guy for sure, I’d have thought he was some wire haired terrier/Chinese crested mix. 

[probablyafish]

How not to own a pet. 

[veterinaryshitposting]

“if it’s bad for him, why does he eat it? he would know if it’s bad for him!”

buddy, pal, my dude…how do I explain this

cows will drink motor oil and eat all the laundry on your clothes line because they can. they literally don’t give a fuck

cats and dogs like antifreeze. it’s definitely not good for them but they like the taste well enough to destroy their own kidneys

parrots get addicted to sunflower seeds, which have little to no nutritional value for them and get really pissed when you try break the habit

animals don’t have nutritional wisdom. and neither do children for that matter. that’s why we teach kids these things and why you should know what not to feed your dog. they rely on you. im willing to bet you also eat stuff that isn’t good for you

[straightboyfriend]

instead of declawing your cat heres some things you can do instead: • fuck off • stop caring more about your furniture than your cat’s wellbeing • give me your cat instead

[ravefromthegrave]

i don’t even trim my cats claws. i asked a vet why we’re supposed to trim them and she said “so they don’t mess up your furniture” and i was like “ok but is it beneficial for the cat somehow?” and she said no, unless they get like ingrown claws or something

i’d rather have fucked up furniture than unhappy cats

[fins-and-ferns]

EXACTLY HOW NOT TO HOUSE A BETTA! A woman called the store and said she didn’t want her 4 bettas anymore and if we didn’t take them she was going to flush them down the toilet. She’s had them for TWO YEARS in these vases and bowls. No heater, no filter. I put them in spare cups and floated them in an empty tank to warm them up and they all changed color soon after. I texted all of my usual betta regulars and a few people are going to come take a look. These poor babies…I’m going to make sure they’re going to a proper home.

[probablyafish]

Two years my ass! These are no more than a few months, as bettas deteriorate after a year. She didn’t want them once they lost their color and didn’t flare anymore from stress. 

[the-cosmic-goddess-deactivated2]

How do you tell if your betta is stressed?

[probablyafish]

@thegoddessobsidian There are a few different ways! The most common way is to look a their color, if the tail is thin and translucent, and the body is pale/dull in color, they are stressed. Long term stress will cause them to clamp their fins (squeeze their fins together). Their fins should be full and open without flaring. Also, if they are sitting on the bottom and not moving much it’s also another sign of stress or boredom. They need lots of enrichment and space to explore. The blue Delta one there is angled upward because his tail is too heavy, and his dorsal fin is clamped. 

[animalsandtrees]

[probablyafish]

Common/Comet goldfish cannot live in tanks! 

Fancy goldfish are the deformed variety, and only get to be about 8″, so they can be housed indoors, 50+ gallons for each adult pair, as long as they’re provided enormous amounts of filtration. They produce crazy amounts of ammonia. 

Capitalism has destroyed them, the least we can do is take care of them. 

[fins-and-ferns]

EXACTLY HOW NOT TO HOUSE A BETTA! A woman called the store and said she didn’t want her 4 bettas anymore and if we didn’t take them she was going to flush them down the toilet. She’s had them for TWO YEARS in these vases and bowls. No heater, no filter. I put them in spare cups and floated them in an empty tank to warm them up and they all changed color soon after. I texted all of my usual betta regulars and a few people are going to come take a look. These poor babies…I’m going to make sure they’re going to a proper home.

[probablyafish]

Two years my ass! These are no more than a few months, as bettas deteriorate after a year. She didn’t want them once they lost their color and didn’t flare anymore from stress. 

[humbledink]

Go support. That is all.

[candoia-aspera]

Do not support the King of DIY. He’s a garbage fire of an aquarist who does minimal research on the species he keeps. His marine setups in particular have been nothing but a complete disaster, one that was 100% avoidable. I can’t say anything of the others because I don’t watch, but Joey at least is terrible.

[justnoodlefishthings]

Solid Gold has basic husbandry at best too.

Rachel advocates for the incorrect “plop and drop”, is best friends with Joey, and overstocks her nano tanks out the ass

[pettaryplantaries]

1) solid gold doesn’t claim to be the best. Just trying to be better. You can’t start at perfection- you have to work your way up. Her fish since the parasite spread have been pet only.

2) Rachel explains why she does that as well as Joey explains that once you open a bag that’s been in transit for 24 hours or more, the ammonium comes in contact with air and becomes highly toxic concentrated ammonia . Leaving them in the bag to “drip” is far more deadly than taking them out immediately into clean and perfectly cycled water. For nano fish, if you are doing adequate water changes, there really shouldn’t be an issue. And you make it sound like she has an army of overstocked nano sized aquariums.

3) people make mistakes. As long as they are not covering it up, learning from them as well as owning up to them, and growing as a result- people shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Dustin and Rachel are considered experts in their field by - not average people who are not hobbiests - but by world renowned planted tank fish keepers everywhere. So maybe that means something.

I haven’t seen anyone say a damn thing about Dustin yet, where is his love. If your gunna harp on the negatives- at least be consistent and talk about the positives.

[justnoodlefishthings]

Solid Gold has a long list of wrong husbandry

Rachel and Joey’s assumption about plop and drop are wrong. There is air in the bag and gas exchange is going on whether its exposed to atmosphere or not. Plus, you can just use a breather bag and completely avoid any risk at all. That’s why they exist. Plop and drop is so much more stressful and riskier to the animal’s health than drip acclimating will ever be. If ammonia is a concern just overdose on Prime and move on. 

Rachel literally published a book where she recommends a slew of horrendously overstocked nano tanks. We’re talking about a dozen active fish crammed into about a foot of space. All the filtration in the world doesn’t matter when you’re restricting active animals to tiny enclosures. It’s unethical, and she is no “expert”.  She thinks pH and gH aren’t important, which plot twist, they are.

Some examples of her suggestions include:

-A 5.5g blackwater community with 5 green neon tetras, 3 gold tetras, 1 oto, and 3 dwarf corys (Not only is this very much overstocked but she is keeping highly social animals in groups of three and even singly?? All these fish are highly active as well, she’s giving them almost no room)

- A 5.5g “rainforest pool” with 9 chili rasboras, a pair of scarlet badis, and Malawi shrimp (again, very overstocked. Chili rasboras are small but they are active and need big schools. Also, Malawi shrimp literally live in some of the highest pH and gH conditions in the wild, and she puts them with blackwater fish? Does she want them to melt? )

-A 10g “latin festival” tank with 5 red flame tetras, a single clown pleco, and Endler’s livebearers. (Clown pleco is too big for a 10g and Endler’s literally live in liquid rock why are you keeping them with acidic, soft water loving fish)

I don’t know who Dustin is so I cannot comment on him. Pet YouTubers are all the same, they have shitty, bare minimum husbandry and get as many new and exciting pets to get more viewers. They’re nothing but wannabe idols who think they’re a master of a subject because they said so. 

[wastecreature]

I wouldn’t say that all pet youtubers are bad, but yeah, the VAST majority are. Almost all the popular ones are crappy. The only ones I really recommend are Serpadesigns (bigger focus on plants that animals tbh), Emzotics, and Flock-talks (who has an excellent Tumblr as well). And just because I like them and trust their content doesn’t mean I’m not judging everything and seeing if it lines up with the information I already have. They aren’t infallible.

[justnoodlefishthings]

besides emzotic being a massive bitch who attacks people’s personal life issues, she has shit husbandry too and is prone to impulse buying new pets. I wouldn’t trust them with anything.

They aren’t infallible and yet they only own up to mistakes when people get angry at them, if at all.

[probablyafish]

Yess! Emzotic is a very nasty person and encourages beginners to seek out and house exotic animals poorly. She also loves drama and attacks you if you question her. Another very bad pettuber is Taylor Nicole Dean. The last time I watched a TND video, she had a Leopard Gourami housed with some Angelfish, and if I’m not mistaken she also had a puffer fish housed in a saltwater community tank? Yet people love her because she’s rich and looks cool with her hoard of animals. Yes, she is an animal hoarder. 

The only good pettuber I’ve seen so far (and I’ve seen A LOT) is AntsCanada. He never sets up any sort of habitat unless it’s biologically appropriate or a biotope. Anytime he makes a mistake, right away he addresses the problem and teaches people what to do. 

Just because your favorite pettuber has big tanks and exotic pets doesn’t mean they are good people or house their animals correctly. 

[aplpaca]

That rabbit/hare post is messing me up. I’d thought they were synonyms. Their development and social behavior are all different. They can’t even interbreed. They don’t have the same number of chromosomes. Dogs, wolves, jackals, and coyotes can mate with each other and have fertile offspring but rabbits and hares cant even make infertile ones bc they just die in the womb. Wack.

[aplpaca]

These

are more genetically compatible than These

and that’s why morphology-based phylogeny has Issues

[probablyafish]

Twitter animal care: Look at my exotic squirrel his name is Sparky I just got him and he is adorable

Facebook animal care: Look at my empty 30 gallon tank with 2 tetras, a dwarf gourami, guppies and a betta fish. *gets mad and says they’re fine when people say they shouldn’t be housed together*

Reddit animal care: This is Koda, he is a rare jrgbuvjve snake from Africa just look at those scales, you can visit him here at the ___ sanctuary! 

Tumblr animal care: Nowlistenherebud fuck anyone else who says you can do that, that’s neglect and you should only house him like this *shows beautiful set up* with these conditions and feed him biologically appropriate food

[dragontribeadventures]

So I decided to make a puzzle toy…

And now Damascus is trying to figure out the fruit fly dispenser.

[kngshxt-deactivated20180831]

[littleturtleduck]

[stormesandshowers]

That show was ahead of its time

[probablyafish]

Ya’ll act like black people don’t care about animals and would rather a dog starve or be beaten then have to care about it.  

[cosmoandco]

my lfs puts their bettas in their own 2.5 gals :’)

[probablyafish]

That’s great and all but they may as well keep them in cups with the extreme lack of plant life in these tanks stressing the fish even more.

But it’s a start.

[zhekiel]

“the fish has a lot of space but its not a collectors habitat so might as well take that one good thing from their lives away from them” is a bad take

[probablyafish]

I said it’s a good start, don’t be an ignorant ass. Most of these fish will never make it out of the stores, because after they start to stress their tails clamp and their colors fade. Only a 1/4 of the fish sold will actually be given adequate care. So the least we can do is give them some plants and a place to hide before they’re sold. My local pet store houses each of the bettas in their own 3-5 gallons with a ton of real plants and fully cycled water, and they sell the set ups with the fish. 

2.5 gals isn’t even the minimum for a Betta, they should be in 5 gallons minimum if it’s a pet store or non-bio app hobbyist. Keepers who give them biologically appropriate care wouldn’t even keep them in anything less than a 20 gal long for the best results and longest life even if they’re bred to deteriorate after 6 months. 

Those tanks are not a lot of space what are you talking about. This gives neglectful people the idea that they can be kept in small tanks without any heater or filter, and then when people who care try to correct them on it, they’ll look back to where they got the fish and be like “see! My local pet store had them in small empty tanks, why can’t I?”. Without any enrichment, you may as well be keeping them in the cups because all they’ll be doing is nothing, and bettas are a fish that needs a ton of stimulation. Bettas are stressed by too much open space, (not large tanks). 

[thedogfamily]

He totally just pulled expert fetch skills right out the bag

[probablyafish]

pet owner doesn’t understand that dog breeds have specific natural instincts

[thedogfamily]

tumblr user probablyafish is probably a twat

[probablyafish]

An expert twat :)

[doggie-girl-deactivated20230214]

[liberalsarecool]

Republicans are disgusting. Here is your tyranny, brought to you by the cowards in the GOP Congress.

[spaceasianmillennial]

There’s a protest held by the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe.

You can give to the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe here.

[vmohlere]

“Party of small government” my juicy ass

[nonbinary-entomologist]

I have been watching this unfold for months through twitter, listservs, and other places. Here is a way to support the people whose land is going to be fucked over by the wall. It’s not just butterflies, it’s also Native American people

[nanonaturalist]

LINK TO THE CARRIZO/COMECRUDO TRIBE FUNDRAISER [link]

If tumblr breaks that link like they did to the one above, copy and paste:

http://gofundme.com/carrizocomecrudotribeoftexas

😪 can confirm bulldozers were parked on the property earlier this week. Remember, this portion of the wall was already funded last year, but the feds have repeatedly violated the rights of private landowners by tresspassing and destroying vegetation even *before* they obtained legal routes to do so.

I have heard this portion of the wall was funded only because the GOP presented it as “levy wall reinforcements” designed to safeguard land from the effects of flooding. In reality, it will magnify effects of flooding, massively worsen erosion, devastate the area, and every non-flying, non-swimming animal south of the wall will drown the next time the river floods.

For those unfamiliar with Texas and our relationship with our rivers: they flood. They flood regularly. They flood massively. When it rains in Texas, the downpour is torrential, if you don’t have an umbrella, you may as well have walked fully clothed into a shower. Every river and stream with a low road crossing is accompaniedby a flood gauge, some go up to 6 feet, some go higher, and some have been completely submerged.

We get these kinds of floods several times a year. Even in Austin, there are several days a year I have to work from home because parts of the major highways are underwater. All of this rain goes into the streams, which go into the creeks, which ultimately go into one (or more) of the rivers. They all flood. They all flood regularly. You can count on it. That’s why we have things like levies.

If this wall is built, the next time the Rio Grande floods in Mission, the loss of wildlife will be catastrophic. I saw so many cute javelina cleaning up under the bird feeders. Every single one will drown.

Guys, I can’t.

These aren’t pigs. They’re their own thing. They live in packs of 50 or so and this was my first time ever seeing them and it breaks my heart thinking every single one will be dead the next time the valley gets a hard rain.

I’m planning to write up my post(s) from the trip I made last week after tomorrow night. This month is horrible.

February 5, 2019

[drferox]

More Tired Veterinarian Cat with a nutrition theme, because I am exceedingly tired of the ‘vets know no nutrition’ trope

[birdfightingbigotry]

Question.

Why do some vets highly recommend brands like Royal Canin and Science Diet while others say those are low quality and recommend natural foods like Wellness, Orijen, and Acana? 

[drferox]

‘Natural’ is just a marketing word to make you feel good about your purchase. Anything you get out of a bag isn’t ‘natural’, and in any case ‘natural’ wolves live about 5 or 6 years, which isn’t a great role model.

In my specific case, we stock RC and SD because we need their prescription products to do the job that we want them to do, using food as medicine. It’s convenient to keep a few bags around of the non-prescription lines so when someone is coming in that’s feeding their pet inappropriately, you can correct it then and there. If you send them home with a bag of food, you know they’ll feed it. If you send them to a pet store with a list, you can only hope that they will actually go, and that they wont be talked into whatever product is offering most incentives that week for the pet store employee to sell.

Orijen and Acana are produced on the other side of the world, and I’ve not seen either. Them in a pet store for years. I don’t think you can get it in the country anymore. Can’t recommend food nobody can buy.

Wellness it looks like I could get, if I was willing to go for a long drive. It actually looks more promising than the other two anyway. However, it isn’t available through our wholesalers, we can’t buy it to stock and sell through normal channels. It’s not easy to get, but like all foods if the pet is doing well on it, I’m not going to change it.

And you might notice it’s a very effective marketing tactic to say “Other people don’t know what they’re talking about, but I do! Trust me! Buy from me!” Buy trying to discredit other vets/sellers, they are promoting their own sales.

[birdfightingbigotry]

Your response makes sense, but I’m talking specifically about vets who recommend high-quality grain free options (like Wellness CORE, for example) even though they do not stock it in the shelves of the clinic. My vets stock RC and SD but mine never recommends them unless it is necessary for the medicinal content. My cat has allergies and digestive sensitivities, and while I was discussing food options with my vet, in addition to having done my own research, I was told that if I am going to feed kibble to my cat along with wet food, it should be a grain free food with a non-seafood meat as the first 2-3 ingredients, and to stay away from fillers like corn and soy. He specifically told me to avoid brands like Whiskas, Friskies, Iams, and Purina, and that Royal Canin branded foods are not much better in terms of the ingredients that go into it. I asked about Science Diet, and he said it’s okay but I could easily find better options.

This vet obviously went through vet school, as did other vets who wholeheartedly recommend RC and SD. What makes some vets stand by those foods and other vets all but call it crap, when they’re all stocking the same brands and formulas?

Honestly I’d trust a vet who is recommending brands they don’t stock, over a vet recommending a brand they do stock, for the same reasons you’re explaining.

[drferox]

Allergies and suspect food allergies are a different ball game, because if you are lucky you can alleviate symptoms with a novel protein diet. This means finding a food source that does not contain any ingredients that the pet was eating previously, and the so-called ‘natural’ diets do this well, as they often use conventionally obscure ingredients like duck, kangaroo, venison, crocodile etc. Considering that the two most common food allergies identified are beef and chicken, they’re worth a try in chronic cases.

Whiskas uses a lot of beef, Friskies is just vomit central, RC uses a lot of chicken and the other two I admittedly haven’t read up on as much lately.

Why do some vets recommend some food, and others dismiss it? Why do some doctors dismiss vaccines? Like many areas where you have a myriad of options you will rarely get complete consensus. Personally I love RC for weaning abandoned kittens, it’s given me the best success rates so far, that and the prescription lines are what I use it most for.

Like many things with diet, it’s a matter of if you’re not having a problem, don’t change it. In the case of allergies the food might be a problem, so it’s worth changing as a trial.

If a vet has seen a run of problems on a particular food, they will stop recommending it. I don’t recommend eaglepack or blackhawk for that reason. Not a fan of raw feeding for the same reason.

We stock SC, Advance and common prescription lines with the ability or order food in for special cases. Basically we stock what we feed in hospital. We have two shelves of food, which is not much at all.

There is also such a huge variety of food, that unless a vet is deliberately going to pet stores and reading all the product information (and getting weird looks from employees) then you probably don’t know everything that’s available. If a food manufacturer really thought their product was equivalent or better than the standardly stocked ones, then why not allow their product to be stocked by vet wholesalers or send us the brochure with the analysis? Probably because we sell such a relatively small amount of food that we’re not worth talking to, but it would save so much time.

And there’s probably a degree of bandwagon jumping-on too. SD brought out a grain free version, not because it’s better nutrition, but because it’s what people want to buy. People want to feed their dogs like they feed themselves. Natural. Preservative free. Grain free. Organic.

For your body’s cells, it doesn’t matter where a nutrient came from, as long as it’s there.

[northern-snoots]

My vets stock the usual royal canin prescription stuff but they don’t stock other brands because they don’t expect me to be buying their food there unless it’s prescription. They’re a vets not a feed shop.

They don’t recommend a regular diet to me if I’m not experiencing issues I can’t solve myself. In that situation they will recommend the prescription food. They recommend prescription food because it has documented success/failure rates, they are very familiar with it and it works in a known predictable way. They know if I’m feeding a set amount of weight loss kibble and the dog isn’t loosing weight either a) something else is wrong or b) I’m feeding too much food. They don’t know wellness as well, they don’t know the ingredients or analysis, success rates, what feed amounts work etc. Will other diets work? Sure and I’m free to try them but it’s easier for my vet if i use the same food as every other client in doggy weight loss clinic.

[probablyafish]

you guys are literally defending a bag of SD wheat gluten over whole balanced dog foods without by products...? I discussed why Science Diet is garbage here

Wheat gluten is an absolute no in dog foods. It causes the stomach lining to become porous over time, their skin becomes dry and they shed much more. It’s also linked to behavioral issues. You may as well be feeding them dirt. 

Corn has no food value at all, and they don’t eat it in the wild, even if they are scavenging. It’s not part of the diet and shouldn’t be there. IT HAS NO FOOD VALUE, so it’s used to bulk the food. The bulk of the food should be something nutritious, like whole meat and veggies. This post is a trainwreck because yes, an $80 bag of whole balanced dog food is that price because the ingredients are fresh and sourced either locally or humanely. Other cheaper food brands get their meat in bulk overseas. Not all whole balanced food is expensive, you just have to look. Look beyond the vet. I found a very good locally sourced food with 40% whole duck/turkey and 60% veggies, no grains or fillers, “certified humane” a 25 lbs bag all for $50. I love my dog, and I will pay that for it if I know she will have better results. 

Please feed your pet balanced grain free diets that are balanced I can’t stress this enough. You’ll end up getting better results and a better looking/behaving dog if your dog is fed something whole and balanced with no grains or fillers, rather than something cheap, full of by products and fillers. If you love your pets you would be willing to do what is best for them.