Hey!

Hey everyone, I'm completely new to fish keeping and starting of with a Betta fish. Just brought a 45 litre tank today and its settling at the moment with its bamboo and plants awaiting its first male fish once Ive finished window shopping .
Quick question for anyone, when I take a sample of the tank water to check it at the aquarium shop, what do I need to check for and within what limits, I know about pH and have water conditioner for the chlorine but don't really know about hard/soft water.
Thanks everyone
x

Oooh an this is the tank, little murky as this was taken about 5 mins after I put it together
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hi ellie, first welcome to the forum

When you take your water to your lfs (local fish store) they will test it for Ammonium, NitrIte and NitrAte. All 3 are poisonous to your fish, idealy you want your ammonium and Nitrite to be at 0ppm and your Nitrate to be less than 20ppm (the lower the better). Its worth while to invest in a liquid test kit since you will want to check the water yourself regularly

Im not sure what thread its in but you shuold check out the nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling. Thats how you make the water in your tank stable one of our highly efficient moderators will point you in the right direction if you ask

Hi and Welcome to the forum,

I think this is the page mag means

Thanks!.. I asked at the shop (not having a clue) and she said that with such a small fish in the tank there wont be much of a nitrogen cycle to worry about and aslong as I do regular 25% water changes it would be ok... I get one of those kits tomorrow.. just bought my first Betta, should be delivered next week

First things first, never listen to your LFS lmao.

rofl storm

Its true a lot of the time your lfs will just say stuff so you'll buy from them there and then. She wasnt talking complete rubbish tho you can keep your betta straight away whilst doing 25% water changes maybe every 3 days, perhaps a little longer since its a 40 ltr tank. The nitrogen cycle will happen anyway because the bacteria and the waste from your fish and its uneaten food will kick start that without you being able to do anything about it . However your gonna have to be strict with those water changes because your tank wont have enough of the right bacteria to break down the Ammo, and Nitrite into Nitrate, which means without water changes it will build up and kill your fish. Actually in the pic I dont see a filter in the tank ? if you dont have a filter your gonna have to be doubly strict with those water changes since its the sponge and stuff inside filters that this good bacteria grows on.

Anyway instead of writing an essay I should let you do the reading theres loads and loads of info on the net and on this forum about it . Also once you get your betta -

Any questions ask away lol, and yes defo more pictures.

Hi and welcome...and yes i agree with everyone else dont go by what LFS staff say as iv learnt from it, lol!!

Nice tank by the way

Thanks so much! I don't mind doing the regular water changes, just so excited about the fish.... he's coming on tuesday and i'll upload piccies of him.

Theres no filter because when I read up it said they like stagment water as long as its kept clean, so what you can't see from the piccy is all the tubs underneath ready for the water changes when I get him... Yeah they are usually pretty useless, when I had rats, they had no clue about the actual size cage you need, and kept saying their smaller available cages were ok. Been reading up loads on the Betta, this forum is very very useful!

Glad to hear that, i would however get alittle filter of some kind mate. Even if it just alittle spounge filter. When i had betta fry i never had a filter and it was a mistake. The water stank and had a cling film on the top of the water, and that was with regular water change.

There is an artical somwhere on making your own filter, i will see if i can hunt it down. Or even try ebay

Got my water checked and its fine, and brought a filter. Its pink, so my betta isnt going to have the masculine of homes lol

He will thank you for the filter though.

Pink??? OMG what are you trying to do to the poor guy??? He is gonna be having some sexual issues before long ;p

Oh and sorry, how very rude of me, Welcome to the forum Ellie

lol (covers Anubis's ears) whats the matter with pink ?

Pink fish ok there isnt much that can be done about that. But, a pink filter!!! lol

Hey! it was £4. Cheap and pink, this fish is probably dreading his new home already lol...

Lol

Lol Ellie, as long as it does the job, who really cares what colour it is

I was given one of those tiny pink filters, it kicked out a pretty good flow rate then mysteriously packed up after a few days

The fish will definitely be happier with it though...lucky boy, all that room to himself!

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New fish!!! Haven't named him yet and these aren't great piccys. Didn't realise how small he would look in the pink filtered tank lol but he's busy swiming around in the plants... He's eaten and I'm in love lol... will take a better piccy soon

Oh hes lovely ! I like his colouring very pretty

AWWWWWWWWW hes a cutie lol