Water Cabbage is another name given to this plant.

Warning:
The Water Lettuce is an invasive plant and is considered as a weed in many countries. Remember that you should never throw away your plants and fish in the nature.

Being an easy plant, the Pistia stratiotes will grow easily in your pond provided your temperature is 15 and 35 degreesC. However the optimal temperature is between 22°C and 30 °C. Keeping the water lettuce indoors require a much better lighting and more
fertilisation. Your water lettuce will keep its green colour if it is kept in the shade. Too much lighting can cause the leaf to become yellow but will however make them grow quicker.

Water lettuce should not be allowed to cover the whole surface of your aquarium or pond. Oxygen exchange to the water could be inhibited and submerged plants won’t get enough light.

Tip:

Water lettuce makes an easy breeding substrate for livebearers. Just make sure the plant is clean before adding it to the breeding tank.

Propagation of water lettuce is also very easy. This plant propagates by seed or vegetatively. Vegetative propagation involves production of offshoots from the mother plant connected by short stolons which causes the plant to grow into a dense mat. This type of propagation is also the quickest.

The flowers of the water lettuce are very small and are generally hidden among the leaves. The flowers develop on a single stalk and then produce a green fruit.

Before adding many fish to your aquarium, make sure that your aquarium is cycled.

How to make the fish adapt to your aquarium water

Step 1: Do not open the fish bag yet. Let it float in your tank for about thirty minutes. This will slowly adjust the temperature of the water in the bag to that of the aquarium.

Step 2: Open the bag and tie it to one side of your aquarium. Slowly add some water in the bag.

Step 3: Repeat 3 to 4 times after waiting for ten minutes before repeating.

Step 4: Gently release the fish into your aquarium.

However, sometimes, it may happen that you cannot float the open bag (from step 2). You should then proceed by putting your bag in a little bucket and use an air line tube to siphon the water into the bag. The flow of water may be varied by pinching the tube or using a tap at the end of the tube.

Why do you have to find the volume?
Finding the volume of your aquarium is often important. Some reasons to know the volume of your aquarium are listed below:

• To assess how many fish to add,
• To calculate how much water to change,
• To evaluate how much medication or fertiliser you should add, etc…

Fortunately, the calculation is very easy, both to calculate in litres or in gallons.

For simplicity, this tutorial is split into two parts:
1. Calculation of volume in litres
2. Calculation of volume in gallons

1. Calculation of the volume of your aquarium in litres

Step 1: Measure the length, width, and height of your aquarium in centimetres.
For example:
length: 60cm
width : 30cm
height: 30cm

Step 2: Multiply these three dimensions to get the volume in cubic centimetres(cc).
Volume = 60 x 30 x 30 = 54 000 cc

A little bit of theory: One litre is 1000 cubic centimetres. Note that one cubic centimetre (cc) is equivalent to one millilitre (ml).

Step 3: Divide the volume by 1000 to convert to litres
Volume in litres = 54 000/1000 = 54 litres.

That’s it! You now have the volume of your aquarium!

A shortcut you can use is to divide all the lengths by 10 and multiply the together to get the volume directly in litres.
That is, 6 x 3 x 3 = 54

2. Calculation of the volume of your aquarium in gallons
Step 1: Measure the length, width, and height of your aquarium in inches.
For example:
length: 24in
width : 12in
height: 12in

Step 2: Multiply these three dimensions to get the volume in cubic inches.
Volume = 24 x 12 x 12 = 3456 cubic inches

Step 3: Divide the volume in cubic inches by 231 to get the volume in gallons
volume in gallons = 3456/231 = 14.961 gallons (which is approximated to 15 gallons)

Most of us start that way. One day you decide to get an aquarium, so you go to the nearest fish store, you buy a tank, some gravel, a filter and go home. You happily find a place for your first aquarium, add the gravel, water and set up the filter. The next day you happily go to the fish store to get some fish. The salesperson is happy to see the previous day’s customer again. You ask him/her what fish you can add in your tank and you go back home with a dozen of cute blue neon tetras or with some goldfish. You also buy the fish food together with the fish.
One week later, you notice some fish are getting sick and dying. After two weeks, all are dead, or worse, almost dead. You are disappointed and sad. You give up and then decide that fish-keeping is not for you. You think that it was all your fault and you are not worth keeping any fish. And you quit this wonderful hobby.

But what happened exactly?

You’ve just experienced the New Tank Syndrome. Generally, most beginners of the hobby get into that phase. It is the results of not respecting the natural cycle through which your aquarium goes through. The main cause of the New Tank Syndrome is the premature addition of fish to the new tank. A new tank is not cycled yet.

What is cycling?

Cycling is the process of setting up a colony of beneficial bacteria in your aquarium. You can add fish safely when you have these bacteria in your tank.

Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and the Nitrogen cycle.

You should appreciate the difference between nitrite and nitrate. They are written in two different colours here to avoid confusion. During the cycling process, you’ll be allowing two types of bacteria to colonize your aquarium. The first one will convert harmful ammonia (from fish wastes) to another harmful substance called nitrite. The second batch of bacteria will convert this nitrite to a relatively less harmful substance called nitrate. The latter is only harmful when it is present in large quantities. Ammonia and nitrite are harmful even in low concentrations. No bacteria will further decompose the nitrate. Nitrates should be eliminated via regular water changes. Having plants in your tank will also remove some nitrate.

How to cycle your aquarium?

Although there are many methods for cycling an aquarium, this article will focus only on the traditional method – cycling with fish. Add some small hardy fish – like zebra danios, white clouds or guppies – to your tank. Feed your fish lightly so as not to pollute the water more since they are already in a hostile environment. The cycling process usually takes about six to eight weeks.

The Cycling process

Having water test kits handy will help you a lot in evaluating the cycling process. You’ll need three kits: Ammonia test kit, Nitrite test kit and nitrate test kit.
Phase 1: At first, you should get only a reading for ammonia. It is normal since not bacteria are present to break down the ammonia.
Phase 2: The level of ammonia decreases and there is a rise in the level of nitrite. This implies that the first batch of bacteria have started to convert ammonia to nitrite.
Phase 3: After some time, you’ll notice that the level of nitrite is decreasing. You’ll also note an increase in the presence of nitrate. At this point, the second batch of bacteria are converting nitrite to the relatively harmless nitrate.
Phase 4: You can consider the cycling process to be done when both ammonia and nitrite levels are zero and only nitrate is present. This means that both batches of bacteria are doing their job right.

Where are these bacteria found?

Most of these bacteria live in your aquarium gravel and your filter biological media (the filter’s sponge for example). By the way, always rinse your filter media with dechlorinated water so as not to kill the colony of bacteria.

Can your aquarium cycle faster?

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to speed up the cycling process.
1. Increase temperature. Increasing the temperature to about 26°C will accelerate the cycling process.
2. Seeding – Seeding refers to the addition of bacteria directly from a settled tank. You might add some gravel from a settled tank. Alternatively, if you have another tank running, you can add your filter to that cycled tank and transfer it to your new tank after some time. By that time, there will be some bacteria present in the filter media.
3. Add live plants. Although they wouldn’t make the process faster, the plants will consume a lot of those

Your aquarium can uncycle too!

Fish-keeping is about caring for your bacteria too. Killing them will make your tank get “uncycled”. It means that no more bacteria are present to perform the Nitrogen Cycle.
Cause 1: You forgot to dechlorinate the water. Chlorine killed the bacteria.
Cause 2: You rinsed your filter media with chlorinated water. Same problem as above. Use tank water from a water change to rinse the filter media effectively
Cause 3: Your tank suffered from a long power cut. During that period, bacteria present in the filter died due to lack of oxygen (from the continuous water flow). It also means that you should not switch off your filter at night!
Cause 4: You changed your filter media. You have to replace all the lost bacteria. The process will be quicker since you already have lots of bacteria in the aquarium.
Cause 5: You just added lots of fish to the tank. Although you didn’t kill bacteria from this process, there is now more waste to handle. Therefore, the population of bacteria should be bigger to handle that waste. Always add a small number of fish at a time.
Cause 6: Medications you add to your tank will also kill the helpful bacteria present.

Hornwort can be kept with most of the tropical and coldwater fish, even with goldfish - goldfish won’t eat the plant. This plant can also be used in bare bottom tanks or breeding tanks of livebearers such as guppies and platies where the fry get a place to hide.

Taking the advantage that the hornwort is a fast growing plant, it can be used in a newly set up tank to absorb the nutrients and prevent a bloom of unwanted algae.

Hornwort can be propagated through stem cuttings or side shoots. Merely snipping off a piece of the plant will yield you a new little plant. The stems of the hornwort multiply themselves quite readily, especially when they have reached the surface of water.

Photo by: Eponine01, Ramsvella.

Lifetime

Generally 1 to 2 years.Guppies have a short life and hence a high spawning rate. This is why they are commonly known as millions fish.

Size

Females are 40-60mm long and males are 25-35mm long.

Sexing

Females are larger, have a grey-colored body and a gravid spot, which is a dark area under the anus. A better alternative in sex determination is the anal fin. The latter is the farthest back fin under the belly of the fish. A female will have a big and round anal fin, which hangs down most of the time.

Wild Guppy

Wild guppies are a primitive form of fancy guppies and as you may observe, they are less colorful. In the wild, guppies feed mainly on mosquitoes. In many of the warmer climate countries, wild guppies are released into ditches as a form of mosquito control. This practice has actually helped in keeping the mosquito population down in some places.

Breeding

This is discussed in more detail inside this article: Breeding Guppies. You will learn the secret behind successful guppy breeding.

Fry Care

With all young fry, the first few days of life are the most critical. This in-depth article: Guppy Fry Care explains it all.

Photos by threefingers and Verzo.

Ideally, expected females needs to be kept in separate tanks, which is heavily planted. Or, you could introduce a couple in a separate tank, again heavily planted. In both cases, plants will protect the fry from being eaten by their parents. Floating plants are more successful.

A female can be pregnant even if a male is not present in the tank. Very often, you can have fry in the guppy bag on your way back home from your local fish store. This is due to her ability to store sperm for future fertilization, generally for 6 months after one mating.

Community Tanks

If you want to breed guppies in community tanks, make sure there is enough hiding places for the fry. Keep your female-male ratio to 2:1 since males fight a lot for partners. Guppies generally spawn at first light, so make sure to look carefully in the morning. For a better yield, remove the fry as soon as possible.

Breeder Box

A breeder box may be a nice alternative too. But one downfall is the female can start feeling lonely, becoming agitated and hurting herself. This will eventually delay delivery and in some cases lead to miscarriage.

Go Back to: Guppy – Main Page

Photo by Tartaruga33

The fry tank can be a simple tank, and you will need to provide filtration, lighting and a minimum temperature of 24°C. As the fry mature and are separated(see later), place them in larger tanks for quicker growth.

Feeding

Feed them 5 times a day during the first four weeks. Grind any big food to powder before feeding the fry. This period of their lives go into building body and muscle tone. So, foods with high percentage protein are better. Baby brine shrimp are a great source of nutrition and enhance fry coloration.

Lighting

With the aquarium lamps on all the time, the fry will be more active and grow quicker. A 25 watt bulb is sufficient.

Sexing

At the end of the first four weeks, the fry begin to sexually develop into male or female guppies. At the age of 6 weeks, they become sexually active. So, between weeks 4 and 6, separate the fry into female, male groupings. Do this by taking one fish out at a time and placing in a small container with water from the tank and with a magnifying glass look for either the gonopodium or the gravid spot. More often it is better to see the gravid spot of a female.

Deformations

Between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 months, you’ll need to consider putting some of the fry to sleep or transfer them to a separate tank, due to deformities in some of the fry. This is a procedure called culling which means to take out the bad fish.

At six months of age the guppies are considered adults. Now, you can bring them their partners!

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Lifetime

Bettas can live at least 3 years if they are well cared for. Keeping them in small bowls drastically lowers your fish’s lifespan.

Size

The males can reach a size of 6cm while the females are slightly smaller, about 5cm in length.

Aquarium Conditions

Don’t house your betta fish in bowls (that’s cruel) and feed them sparingly. Housing is further discussed in the Betta’s Special Needs article.  Bettas are not fussy eaters as they accept all suitable fish food. Temperature should be between 23°C and 28°C. The water’s pH and hardness are not essential if they are not fluctuating but avoid the extremes, a pH range of 6 to 8 is acceptable. Remember not to overfeed and make regular water changes. Bettas need stimulation too, to stay active. Your betta will be healthier and live longer. Bettas are territorial fish and are aggressive towards members of its own kind. Don’t add two male bettas together.

Breeding and Fry Care

This is discussed in more detail inside this article: Breeding Bettas. You will learn the secret behind successful betta breeding.

Choosing your Betta

There are few guides on how to buy your betta fish. Fish stores often keep their bettas in small bowls or plastic cups without proper care. These neglected fish are not always in good health and may die soon after you buy it. Sometimes you’ll see a blue or yellow colored water in the betta bowl. That’s medication. The fish you are buying might be already ill. Sometimes, they just add it systematically to all the bettas. A badly maintained betta will have lots of poop in its bowl.

When choosing your betta, you should inspect the fish. Your fish should be active, not lying at the bottom of the bowl. Active fish will also have a little bubble nest in their bowl. That’s a good fish to buy.

More: Breeding Bettas | Betta Fry Care | Betta Special Needs

Well kept bettas can reach the age of 3 years. Don’t keep bettas in bowls and never listen to anyone who tells you that you can keep a betta in a bowl or any small sized container. Bettas should be properly housed in at least 5 gallons of water. Your tank should include a small heater and you may also add a small filter. Don’t use a strong filter, due to their long fins, bettas do not like currents.

Stimulation

To be healthy, your betta does not need food only. It needs stimulation too. Bettas are very active and aggressive fish but when they are subjected to confinement, they become dull and inactive. So be sure to stimulate your betta daily.

The easiest way to provoke your betta fish is to put a mirror in front of it. Your betta will flare at its own reflection. Do it once or twice  daily for about one minute.

If you have more than one betta, and they are kept beside each other, place a piece of paper or cardboard between them so that they won’t see each other. Else, they will keep on flaring at each other and get tired. Instead of practicing the mirror method, just remove the cardboard for a couple of minutes.

Good feeding and stimulation will keep your betta healthy and happy.

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