Old list but will add. Interesting to see what others have. Sherry 1 20 regular, redwood driftwood with Annubias suctioned on walls bottom.... asian glass catfish, with one huge female guppy which schools with them (she taught them to go to top and they follow her to bottom as well) Assorted cories about 6. 1 20 long. Two pieces of redwood driftwood. Annubias Barteria (sp) on small wood placed around large (large left bare to show off forms)... One red dwarf gourami, one blue female betta. (can you say understocked) 1 20 long, with rock slab, two pieces together look like cut into at one end... black gravel, greyish rock with white streak, little red. Swords behind it... Not sure what to put into it, maybe move the blind cave fish, as they can take higher lime if rock is not what I think it is. Huge round globe (found at plastic place going out of business) think they must be for light fixture. About 2 plus feet wide at widest. One in living room sitting on chinese thing that usually holds bowl. Plants in middle (light from above - focus light)... so far one blue neon dwarf gourami (seperate from original 20 long as they started to fight and one died from stress)... a couple 2nd generation non descript guppies (supposed to be blue, sigh) and 3 blind cave fish, which look great swimming round and round. May put dianos in there (never ending swim lane so will seem bigger) and move and add more to 20 long the blind cave fish... Smaller globe, about 5 gallons. On desk under lamp.. One lone blue betta, seperated due to fighing in 20 long. Annubias bar plant and some floating hedge... under filter heater.... I looked all over for these globes as I got them originally for terrarium plants (two are used as such) I find them really beautiful for fish tanks... I pot the swords in tubs (easier to clean) and due to contortion of light, only see plants, but can see fish higher up. Light shining down (those canister type with halogen, not supposed to work but I use them just fine) (ie lower light plants) I can't find more, unfortunately.... Before I had put wood in one, had arranged it on tube so it was half in half out (water is only filled half way, not sure if it would break if filled, and half way is a lot of water)....really looked nice as well. Thanks for interesting link Sherry

Luvtoplay, skygee is 100 percent correct. I can say that as I just went through this. That said, some do keep them together (Ind fish personality) but those that do have extra huge (I mean huge) tanks with pleanty of wood and plants for them to each have large territory spaces. For my three (which started out well, I remember my joy) I bought what I thought was large enough (NOT) 20 long, driftwood, and lots of annubias plants and dark water (tannin from wood) each stayed in diff area, right left and middle. Then as they matured (was neon blue dwarf but most dwarfs and others same agression) all heck broke out. One died simple from stress (even after I moved him out) they are prone to much disease due to their bad breeding conditions so not strongest to begin with. So he got this big belly (parasites?) (sometimes this occurs then next day dead)(they are often loaded with parasites) Then the other two had their day. One ruled tank other hide all day and could never eat. so gave him away, and third is now fine with three blind (agressive at feeding time so seperated from albino cats (now fine from those who read re them in earlier posts) which were attacked during feeding. Gourami goes after then and vice versa but no harm done... a few guppies, in huge globe (several feet wide 1/2 filled with plants in middle).. I tried to move him into another 20 gallon all by himself but he just hide, so put him back, and now swimming all over. I did same with red flame or what ever they are called. Returned three which all four starting fighting from day one. One now happy in 20 long with albinos and one betta (again wood and plants and I have found (female only ) betta and one gourami works if enough space.. (gave betta that was in with blue to same guy at petstore for his home tank, both doing well) So mho, they unless tank is several hundred gallons (met guy who had many diff types of gouramis in 300 tank) heavily planted and hiding spaces won't work.. There are always exceptions, but after mine didn't work out, realized when I did my research, I only listened to what I wanted to hear. When I reread, there were many warning of agressive natures. solution is to seperate asap, before victim gets stressed and dies. this can happen fast as I found out (a day or two).. Best Sherry

Almost all bettas are picky eaters at first. Some will learn to eat a variety of foods, but others like just one thing. Are your pellets the Hikari brand? I bought another brand once, and they just can't compare. Is she very small? My female tried to eat the pellets, but she's too little, so all I feed her is tiny bits of betta flakes. Get a variety of types of betta foods to coax her into eating. A variety is best for good nutrition anyway. One of my bettas also likes a little algae wafer, though that can get messy after a while. Did you have them in the 2-gallon together, or was it a divided 2-gallon? You never want to keep two bettas together. Five or more females may be kept together, but never less, and never males. They're very territorial, and need adequate numbers and space to enforce their social rules, or else they'll kill each other. You may have heard of male and female pairs being kept together, but a gentle enough male is very rare, and they need more room than that anyway. If it was divided, was she able to see him? That might cause her some stress and explain why she was hiding. What's your female in now? Each betta should have two gallons so that they have room to swim and so that they don't pollute the water too quickly. Also make sure each of them has gravel, a plant(s), and a small filter. The Red Sea Nano is ideal for 2- or 3-gallon tanks. The plants are because a betta can actually die of boredom in a bare tank (not kidding, it happens), and the filter is for bacterial colonies (and it also makes cleaning easier). I'll get to the bacteria in a moment. I'm unfamiliar with Great Bear water. Is that a bottled brand? You always want to use tap water with a good water conditioner because it has minerals in it that fish need. I use Tetra AquaSafe simply because that's what I've always used, but there are better ones for beginners. Get one that detoxifies ammonia and nitrites if you can. You never want to change more than 50% of a tank's water because it can stress the fish (possibly causing ick, like they said, but also other things) and because it can ruin your bacterial colonies. On my 2-gallon, I like to do 40% water changes weekly because I've determined that the toxicity level is low, but in need of a change after a week. Until your tank is cycled and you know how much toxicity is produced per week, 20% changes twice a week would be best to protect your fish. Okay, now the nitrogen cycle. When fish do anything (breathe, poop) they're putting ammonia into their water. Ammonia is highly toxic to fish, so ammonia-eating bacteria are required. These bacteria then put off nitrIte, which is also toxic to fish, but less so. More bacteria eat the nitrites, and in turn put off nitrAtes. Nitrate is the least toxic of the three, and fish can live happily with much higher quantities of the stuff. It's removed by you via weekly water changes. The bacteria exist everywhere in nature, and they'll find their way into your tank all on their own, lured by their favorite foods. The process can take one or two months, but you can buy live bacteria at pet shops if you like, and stick them directly into your tank. The bacteria will colonize on anything they can, which is why it's important for you to never remove and scrub gravel, since it could cause your tank to have a mini cycle. (Meaning that there won't be enough bacteria to handle the ammonia and nitrite for a little while, until the bacteria reproduce to make up for the loss.) Scrubbing the glass is fine since it can't house them, and no one likes to look and at dirty tank glass anyway. This is why you need a filter. Filters should have carbon (optional), some sort of filter media (for getting the gunk out of your tank, usually a white spongey thing), and something for the bacteria to colonize on (usually a black thing you might scrub your dishes with). The bio-filter (bacterial filter) should never ever be changed or come in contact with non-treated water, since that would kill the bacteria and defeat the purpose of having it at all. Inside the filter is the ideal place for the bacteria to live because all the water in the tank will pass through it multiple times in an hour, ensuring that they eat well and that your fish are in healthy water. Carbon is optional since it's main use is to remove metals, which your water conditioner should be doing. Metals can be added back in food or some other means, but the quantities are so small that it's not a problem, at least for betta fish. If you were to keep creatures sensitive to metal, then I would definitely add carbon. It can be bought at pet stores in many forms. Now you may be wondering how you know how much ammonia, nitrites, and nirtates are in your water. There are different test kits you can buy, but you want to get one that does at least the three toxic things and pH. I believe the liquid drops are more accurate than the test strips, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I use the liquid, anyway. You can also have water taken to most pet stores to have them do a free water test for you. It's better to have the tests on hand though, what with gas prices and the fact that they could be busy that day. Tests should be done every day while you're cycling and once a week after it's finished. pH isn't that important for a betta, but you should test it regularly so that if it spikes or drops for some reason, you'll know about it. Bettas are built for a wide pH range, but whatever you keep them at should be constant, as fluctuation will stress them. Chances are your tap water is around 7, and it'll be just fine without you having to mess with it. (I think cycling can cause pH to fluctuate a bit, but I can't remember for sure.) *takes a breath* That was a lot. I might have said some things you know, and I'm not assuming you're stupid or anything. I just want to make sure you know what you're about right off the bat since most pet store workers will tell you very little. I hope your bettas have a happy life. :)

If you want to set up a tank for an eldery person whose eyesight is weak and is becomming senile, and you will need to rely on tank maintenance by a caretaker who may not like or have the least notion of how to care for fish, I would strongly recommend that you belay both a 10 gallon, and tropicals altogether. If your budget allows and there is space in your MIL's home for a 29 with a really good filter, the old lady would receive great pleasure from a few fancy goldfish and the caretaker would have far less work. Because they are cheap, Goldies are greatly underrated as aquarium fish, yet some of the fancies are among the most beautiful of all fishes and will become very tame with a little personal attention, but they are large and bulky and simply cannot be kept in small tanks, let alone bowls. To make keeping Goldies really simple, you almost can't beat a 29 with an Eclipse hood on it. Then, all you would need are some large decorative stones too large to be picked up in a decent sized siphon hose. Then, cleaning the bottom is easy. Once a week, just move the stones around to pick up any mulm on the bottom, give the interior glass a swipe with a scrubber kept for that purpose to remove any algae, then 3, 5 gal. buckets out and 3 in- and the tank would remain sparkling clean and the fish healthy. However, the caretaker would have to know how to take the filter apart at least once a month, to clean the impeller and change the filter pad, but once they have done it, they would see how quick and easy a chore it really is. Such a set up would support 3 fancies nicely and your MIL would have beautiful, slow moving, hardy fish that would be both large enough to hold her attention even with weak eyes, and tame enough to keep her watching and talking to them.