hi ll. any of u keep freshwater fish ? if so what do u keep ?

currently i have . . .

4 bristlenose plec's (2albino 2 brown)
3 albino cory's
1 anchor catfish
13 baby guppies (bout a month old)
8 assorted swordtails (3 males 5 females)
1 kissing gourami (1 died just yesterday)
1 assassin snail

What u all keep ?

Cant count mine as I have over 60 but these include:

Guppys
Mollys (6 are pregnant)
Endlers
Albino Catfish
Catfish
Bristlenose
Harlequinn
Golden Apple Snail plus babies

Going to get a Betta this wkend but worry he wont get on with my other fish

they are normally ok with other fish to be honest dan but othdr fish can be bugger's with them especially the likes of guppys and endlers. my endler woudnlt leave the fins of the betta alone. its coz they r jealous of their fins. and what size is ur BN dan ? any what speices/colour? a common brown ?

Yeah BN seems to be a common brown, hes about 6inches long.

Iv got a 4ft tank so I think that will help the Betta, i'll ask the pet shop if I can return him should they not get on with him.

were u gettin him ? carr farm , pulton road , waterworld or andy's ? they all should take him pack depending on the fin nippage. if the fins r propa stredded (which they will afta a whole night) then they wont take him back. what i sould do is do u have a breeder/fish trap ? the clear vented boxes that float in the tank or clip to the side ? id stick him in that over night so they get used to having him around. then release him the next day at a time were u can keep an on him for a few hours. then he should be ok hopefully but if not and the pet shop u got him from wont take him back just fone andys aquatics or carr farm and say av got a male betta will u let me swap him for another fish / credit.

Thats a good idea robbo, I have a breeder box here. Not sure where to get him from, guess I'll go Andys or Waterworld.

andy's have got a few nice ones in at the minute like. they hve a superdelta thats blue/greeny coulour but he's like 8.95. they have a few others in fom 3-4 kwid. all got nice long flowing fins with no nippage like. carr farm have a blue 1 in. not sure of the condition. theirs is like 3 kwid i think and not sure about waterworld. aint been up there in a while as there was literally a dead fish in every tank so got abit put off.

If you put the fish you want in your tank all at the same time they get to know were they swim in line?
when you add new fish to tank the fighting starts
I know is hard to do that but you will have a good communal fishtank

1, red tail shark
1, Male Siamese Fighting fish
1, bristlenose plec's
guppies 2,Males 1,female & 5, babys 2months old
Males & female swordtails. female ready to drop
Mollys 2, Males 2, female both pregnant, did have 3 females but one give birth to about 30 odd yesterday and died. and 19 babys about 3 months old.
Male & female Platy. female ready to drop
5 neons
2 Red eyed tetra
and some kind of Catfish forgot the name of it now.
and to many snails.

do ur males not harrass ur female to death ?



what colours ? and any goin once its dropped ?



any of these going too ? and what colours ?



what colour platys ya keep ?



as in the kind u have bought or infested with the little bugger's that come with ya plants and stuff ? if u want rid get an assassin snail. do a well good job for me. am gunna get some more.

wot sex's r ur babies ? wanna swap however many of the 1 sex u have for the same amount and sex of mine ? to prevent interbreeding ? av got 13 just over a month old. they r gunna be the guppies with yellow tails that look snake skin type. think the boys might be blue and green in the body with the same snake skin body's can't really tell yet tho. ur's colouring up yet ?

Just been out and bought a Red Betta

yeah very much but thats what they are like, (sex beasts) mollys are the same. lol




black / orange with a bit of yellow. dont know yet bud got another tank to set up in the other room so some will be going in that. but saying that she give birth not so long ago an they all died.





can't tell colours of babys yet mums an dads are black, white, orange, silver, mixed so could be any of them. may be if they all survive will let you know bud. the 19 are takein well 15 are i like the look of the others so ther for the other tank.





the male is like a blue green black, female is another orange an black. more orange an black in my tank than any other.




yep them bugger's. will get one i think, sick of then, ther everywere.

lol get yaself a good few assassin snails. id say go andys tell em u will give em a tenna for 5. coz they r like 2.65 each. and they will breed like mad too. not as bad as the little infested snails but they breed loads too. then u can sell em. on ebay on ere anywere. u can send em in the mail without heat packs. pretty hardy the snails

I take it this is them.?? thanks for that bud, like i said ther doin me head in now. would not like to say how many ther is lol!!

yup they r the ones mate. another good method is place a plastic cup in the tank on the bottom. put a peice of potatoe in there with some skin still on. just a corner of a potatoe. then leave it in over night. then in the mornin scoop the cup out before turning the light on and do that for a few days till u get urself some assassin snails. that will reduce the number's for when u gat ur snails. also if the assassins manage to clear the tank of the snails they will survive on either algae wafers and blood worm. they do eat other stuff but they r the main 2 foods iv'e seen mine snacking on.

Nice one bud. someone told me about the cup an a peice of potatoe. but i thought they were takin the piss lol!!

Nice love betta's am gunna set up a small breeding and breed some nice thorough bred betta's off the net. cost like 25 kwid to 40 kwid a fish tho. u can get giant betta's too. exactly the same but can grow like 5 times the size of a normal. just aint as much selection in the colours yet.

but id stick urs in the breeder box for the night. let him out tomoz if any of em go for him or he goes for any of them. catch him again and leav him in the box for longer. then keep doing that till they/him accepts they have gotta be friendly. another REALLY good method (but requires a tank without a hood. is to get a 2 litre empty bottle. burn lotsa holes is in with a solderin iron. cut the top off and dangle it in the water. then stick a stick thru 1 side and straight thru the other side so the stick goes acrosse the tank and suspends the bottle in the water. hard to explain but u probs have a hood so just use the breeder.

no probs mate. hope u get abit more snail-less in the next few days lol.

Yeah WW also advised to turn the light off when I put him in so they all sleep, come morning they'll be friends. I just popped him in and had no problems

we have a beautiful gold fish called goldie , !

3 tanks.
i love my tanks.

One 3ft holds
6 red eye tetras.
7 white cloud mountain minnows.
7 neons.
2 black skirt tetras
1 albino shark 3/4 inch long
Never had any trouble with the shark as he went in from tiny and doesnt see the other fish as food.

One 4ft juwel 360.
15 cardinal neons
1 breeding pair of spotted cats
7 bronze cory cats
5 black skirt tetras
4 four inch juvenile silver dollars (argentus myletius).

one 3ft
one ranchu goldie
one fancy goldie
2 four inch shubunkins who let you stroke them ,just like pets.

Also kept gouramis varieties but we never had much luck with them.

Gotta love Andys Aquatics

and maybe the answer to your betta problem might be to get a piece of clear thin perspex the height/width of your tank and carefully slide it in and section off an area you could keep him in without him fighting . That way you could still watch him flare .

Ps Burn small holes in it 1st mind so that your still get water movement/oxygen to him

Betta is perfect, no problems from him!

is right. glad for ya danny lad as it can go bad sometimes. shit dat they r so hard to breed like and to keep together woz would be good to have a male and female swimming round ta tank togeva.

I've not got too many fish at the moment, used to have a nice range in my 3 foot tank but that now belongs to my hubby's rat and she doesn't like sharing lol. My 2 daughters have a small moby dick tank each, one is tropical but only has 2 large tiger barbs and a small plec. Have kept male and female bettas in it but the longest they live in it is about 8 months. If there's only a male they seem to last only a couple of months.
The other daughter's tank contains 5 fancy goldfish and 5 white cloud minnows. We also successfully relocated our one last neon tetra and a solitary gold barb into the same coldwater tank with no problems. She also had two very cute hong kong plecs for about 2 years but now somewhere in the garden after being found belly up a few months apart.

can anyone tell me why this post has 5 stars on it ???????

ahh its rating. anyone selling any fish ? or want rid of any ?

some more fish i got today to add to the list. only because 2 fish died (red tail shark & female swordtails.)


2 Rainbow Sharks & 2 female 1 Male swordtails added to tank.

were ya go jase andy's ? wshat them rainbows sharks like ? any good ?

poulton road wallasey very good ther. they are great the sharks, they are more layed back than the redtails not as territorial.

One of our small tanks 18" by 12" by 9" with the temperature set at 25C only has two tiger barbs and a smallish plec in it. I would like to add more fish but am aware that barbs can be aggressive. Can anyone suggest good neighbours?

Rainbow Shark, Red Tail Shark, Gouramis, Platies, Swordtails, Mollies.i had one sometime ago he assassinated all me Guppies. lmao!! so dont get any of them. i have been told if you have six or more Tiger Barbs in your tank they dont go for other fish

By the time I've got 6 barbs there'd be no room for other fish anyway lol. Tried sailfin mollies once but they were in the same tank as a siamese fighter and I think he took them as competition cos he was forever chasing them round the tank.

A bit narky them Siamese fighters, should never be put in a tank with other fish, or even ones of the same breed unless they're female. A bit like Stu really.

I have and i no of loads of others that have had all kinds of fish with them. if anythink the other fish go for the fighters. tiger barbs & Rainbow Sharks are more narky.

betta's (fighters) are generally fine with other fish. fair enought there will be odd cases where they arent but the majority r ok. but CANNOT an i mean CANNOT (only in rare cases) be kept just as a pair. if ur keeping female fighters. it is suggested to have a minimum of 5 as they fight for dominance otherwise. but if there is 5 they sort of choose a leader and follow that leader. (dont know y they dont do the same with just 3. they just dont) and NEVER keep 2 males together. will be certain death for 1 after a week and the other's fins will be shredded to bits. the odd cases where betta's r kept as a pair r when u can get hold of a REALLY dosile male. but if they were to breed. the male instantly kills the female after spawning. he will chase her round the tank till she dies of stress or just ram her to death. but all in all betta's on their own r a great adition to a community tank.

as for tiger barbs. my gf had 2 in a community tank an d they were fine,. they were mixed with guppies, neons, harlequin rasbora's, rummy nose tetra's, mollies. and other fish. only problem is when they grow on abit they tend to kill each other lol. may not be all of em dat do this but i know of a few that have.

I've told this one before but someone emptied all the fighters out of their little jars in the Oxton Rd petshop years ago and they were all at it. They used to be displaying at each other all day long which is what attracted people to look at them and some to buy. It was a bevvied bloke that let them all out. Can only go by what I saw. The books at the time also recommended the advice and I kept fish myself in those days (4 big tanks) but didn't go against advice.

what u mean all at it ? flaring up at each other (sign of aggression) ? or hanky panky ? lol. if hanky panky was the case and they were friendly with each other its probs coz they can see each other through the containers and got used to being around each other. if av got this wrong please explain wot u mean ?

even betta's born in the same brood fight when they hit a certain age. u have to split all the males up and keep ALL the females together. if u brake the females up into small groups or pairs they start fighting.

Just thought i would update my list as i have just bought a breeding group of 5 bristlenoses on ebay


9 bristlenose plec's (2albino 7 brown)
3 albino cory's
1 anchor catfish
13 baby guppies (bout a month old)
8 assorted swordtails (3 males 5 females)
1 kissing gourami (1 died just yesterday)
1 assassin snail

Wow Rickie, you sure have some dealings with siamese fighters. My daughter insisted on having 3 females to her male and that worked just fine till one of them jumped out of the tank. Once the status quo had gone, so did the fish.

lol. yea. they can be fine. i know a lad hu had a male and added a female and they were fine for ages. he was even defending her and stuff. if another fish came near her he would shoot in front of her and flare up and make the other fish back away. then 1 day about 2 months after introducing the female. the female was found ripped to shreds in the tank and all he kept other than then fighters were mollies and platys. without a doubt the male fighter. if u want quantity get 5 females (maybe 3 could survive without killing each other. but dno i only had 2 and they killed each other off.) but if u want it for looks get 1 and order it off aquabid.com bout 30 kwid a fish with delivery but they r stunning. u can also get giant betta's(fighters) can grow to about 7" really nice fish betta's.

Nice one Robbo, they start displaying aggression and changing their colours and flaring out their fins and doing a sort of fishy war dance, hence the little jars they are kept in so that they don't get at each other. Should imagine the pet shop people (no, not the effin group : that's for the smarties), know what they are doing and ditto the people who write tropical fish keeping books. It is a fascinating hobby and you are gutted when your kids find the anti-white spot fluid and pour it in the tanks and kill all your fish and that's when you pack it all in. Funny now but it wasn't then.

devastated mate. dont hve kids so aint gunna happen lol can't wait for my breeding group of bristlenoses arrive tomorrow tho

o yea and if ur a betta fan. y not go for something like these ? GIANT betta's

http://www.giantbettasworld.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=538642998&Ntype=1

can get em on sites like aquabid.com. but make sure u tell them ur from UK before bidding. as some dont ship to uk.

Just noticed that someone had turned the socket off which had the multi-plug adapter to this tank and the water is stone cold. The plec is still ok but both barbs have sunk and are belly up. However, although I can't see any discernable gill movements, they both still look shiny and clear eyed. I'm hoping they are just unconscious from hypothermia, so i've turned the tank back on, the heater is only the size of a thick pencil so it should warm the tank very slowly, I don't want to shock them if there is any chance of them coming round.

Blimey bobi, hard luck on that one. It's the only way you learn by stuff happening, a bit disappointing at times but you learn fast. Fascinating hobby and suddenly one tank isn't enough and you want to breed some.......and so it goes on. Keep at it.

I once mixed my fish and I've learnt from my experience.

I left 3 fish fingers and 2 fish cakes in the freezer. Next day, there was just 3 fish fingers.

Then I remembered I had the fish cakes for supper.

I did actually keep fish. I use to buy them from the pet shop that was on Conway Street. The Pet Shop is demolished now of course. I go home with 4 Black Mollies and the next day there be loads of small black fry's swimming about frantically trying to escape from being eaten by their parents. Those were the days! (late 1980s)

Think the barbs have pegged it. Still belly up 7 hours after turning the tank heater back on. On the up side, the plec is still fine and now I can pick and choose what goes into the tank next cos there are no aggressive types in there. Still sad though

sorry to hear this bobi mate. at least the plec survived like. could have been alot worse. what pleco is it bob ? not sure if ive asked u this before ? :S

My common brown bristlenose's have bred and the male is fanning his eggs in his cave as we speak. look to be at least 100 egg's in there like so should have alot of BN's for sale in a month or 2 if any1's interested. gunna put a few more caves in today and tomorrow to hopefully get the other female going. keep u all updated.

Mine's a common plec Hypostomus plecostomus. He is as happy as Larry since his tank was vacated. His markings have become more distinct, his fins are up and he has been swimming round like a mad thing. Might leave him like that for a while to see if he remains happy, if so I'll let him have the tank to himself, if he starts sulking I might buy another plec but I don't know how to sex them.

Mine yesterday was a Haddock and the batter was lovely too, homemade.

Bought 7 guppies on the spur of the moment, 2 males and 5 females, one is pregnant. Looks like the plec will be getting a lot more neighbours soon.

Just bought some fish to put in my aquarium today! Was so happy, but the attraction has now worn off.

I was going to post something similar but you beat me to it!

got some baby bristlenose's available if anyone wants any.

baby bristlenose's

They all look quite rare Violet? Where did you get them from?

Sorry Rickie

I'd love a couple but my tank is now swarming with baby guppies after two broods appeared within a month of buying the fish. I was warned they breed like mad but this is ridiculous. They are fit and growing really quickly for now, dunno what to do with them when they outgrow the tank, there's about 20 or so in there with only 3 remaining adults (one male, two females) and the plec.

You could see if your local pet shop could sell them on for you (if you get too over crowered)not sure how they work, if they buy them off you or sell them for you, could become a regluar thing if your fish keep breeding like mad lol

how bigs ur tank bobi ? andy's aquatics give u 50p per guppy. but u have to grow em to about an inch and a half and they colour up. they wont really take plain 1's. coz people aint really interested in them. if ur afta a quick getting rid of them i know some1 who has a little tank just for baby guppies grows them on then re-homes them for free.

It's only 18" by 12" by 9" so it won't handle them all when they have doubled in size. I might get another tank for them cos my daughter might not want to get rid of any of them (she's only 12), but if I can make her see sense I might get back in contact with you to see if your mate will take them. Thanks for the offer Rickie.

here r a few piccies of ma babies bn's and their parents.

bristlenose babies 1


bristlenose babies 2


bristlenose babies 3


bristlenose mum


bristlenose parents