Alex's new aquarium setup.

[BPSabelhaus]

As this is the one she likes watching across from her enclosure, it must be hers Finally decided to play with the 8 gallon bowfront. It has a lot of potential. So I sifted gravel from the garden for a nice substrate. A piece of driftwood to hide the heater and filter. Some plants, a snail, lots of live food. Had it going for a week or two and the daphnia are reproducing so I figured it's a good day to move Pinky in so I can move that tank elsewhere.

 

[Sue E.]

Pinky is a very pretty fish!

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Pinky is a very pretty fish!

Agreed, so I bred him lol
This is one of his sons. Didn't inherit the red like his father and grandmother have though

He's also a bit derpy and camera shy right now lol I just moved him this morning into a tank with pink guppies. His body is also larger which is why I kept him. Has a bit of a hump on his back too, like a whale almost. Yet he maintained the smaller fins.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Love this, especially as my Taco is also totally into watching the fish tank (platy, catfish, snails).

 

[xp29]

Agreed, so I bred him lol
This is one of his sons. Didn't inherit the red like his father and grandmother have though
View attachment 99300
He's also a bit derpy and camera shy right now lol I just moved him this morning into a tank with pink guppies. His body is also larger which is why I kept him. Has a bit of a hump on his back too, like a whale almost. Yet he maintained the smaller fins.

I think I like the son better for looks

 

[Sue E.]

Ooh so gorgeous! I would not have a clue how to breed fish, that is amazing!

 

[BPSabelhaus]

He is interesting. He's also a carrier of purple scale irridescence. But the hump is interesting. The black in the fins is why he doesn't have huge fins like his royal blue carrying brothers. Pink overpowers the black, but it can still express slightly in scales and fins while retaining a smaller size. Problem is all my pink males carry feather tail genes. They want to be long, so they become ragged looking.
Ultimately I want spade tail, but that's a similar mutation so I actually need a wild type spade tail from before the extension gene expressed.

And those are tough to find and only in a turquoise color. Which I like, but my goal is eventually a mix of purples and pinks.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Ooh so gorgeous! I would not have a clue how to breed fish, that is amazing!

I started with livebearers, guppies. They are literally just bred to breed and in large numbers lol But among those guppies I had a single Endler or a cross female (female livebearers in general are very similar) who gave birth to a male black bar Endler. This sparked my interest and I started breeding them. They are a bit different from guppies. The males dance for the female and she chooses a mate based on stamina, colors / patterns that interest her etc...
Breeding Endler led to collecting and breeding other strains because there's so many from different collection points over different years that people need out. Eventually I started cross breeding strains as well as mixing in guppies. That was actually difficult. The females had no idea what to do. They are literally bred to breed and the males won't breed without consent (they're cool like that, very maternal colonies) But eventually it worked and I learned a lot about genetics.
Which got me questioning Bettas. So little was known until recently and a lot of rumors about genetic inheritance, how things interact etc...
Yet it's all just pigments. It's color and color just is. If a mechanism exists in a species, it's probably pretty widespread. People thought purple was difficult. People thought you couldn't have a pink and black Betta. But I was arguing with understanding from other fish until the genome was decoded recently. I know purple will be difficult and I can really only do one more generation before genetic degradation from inbreeding.
So I'm on the hunt for a purple carrying Cambodian female or male lol The actual breeding is pretty well documented and was very interesting with the displays, return display followed by hug like embrace. Our first male died being a father after the female insisted on a second go after he guarded the nest without eating for ten days. He repeated that ten days then died on the floor beneath his nest. He was a great daddy.

 

[xp29]

I started with livebearers, guppies. They are literally just bred to breed and in large numbers lol But among those guppies I had a single Endler or a cross female (female livebearers in general are very similar) who gave birth to a male black bar Endler. This sparked my interest and I started breeding them. They are a bit different from guppies. The males dance for the female and she chooses a mate based on stamina, colors / patterns that interest her etc...
Breeding Endler led to collecting and breeding other strains because there's so many from different collection points over different years that people need out. Eventually I started cross breeding strains as well as mixing in guppies. That was actually difficult. The females had no idea what to do. They are literally bred to breed and the males won't breed without consent (they're cool like that, very maternal colonies) But eventually it worked and I learned a lot about genetics.
Which got me questioning Bettas. So little was known until recently and a lot of rumors about genetic inheritance, how things interact etc...
Yet it's all just pigments. It's color and color just is. If a mechanism exists in a species, it's probably pretty widespread. People thought purple was difficult. People thought you couldn't have a pink and black Betta. But I was arguing with understanding from other fish until the genome was decoded recently. I know purple will be difficult and I can really only do one more generation before genetic degradation from inbreeding.
So I'm on the hunt for a purple carrying Cambodian female or male lol The actual breeding is pretty well documented and was very interesting with the displays, return display followed by hug like embrace. Our first male died being a father after the female insisted on a second go after he guarded the nest without eating for ten days. He repeated that ten days then died on the floor beneath his nest. He was a great daddy.

Oh wow, that last bit caught me off guard Poor guy

 

[Sue E.]

At one point, we tried fish. We had a betta, it got ich and transmitted it to the other fish (we tried the med for it but it didnt help, of course, we didnt know what we were doing). Then we sterilized everything and tried again with a mix of different fish, little neons, a big white goldfish looking one and a giant catfish looking one (totally clueless we were). We fed them, went away for the weekend, and came home to 2 fish..the big white goldfish and the catfish type. We figured one of those 2 ate the rest. A day later, the big white goldfish type was floating with BITES taken out of him! So from then on, the catfish looking one lived alone! (Im much better with beardies!)

 

[ChileanTaco]

On the platy: We also breed them. Works really well (And they are not becoming so many that another tank would be required.)
The fish are more my husband's pet, Taco plus insects (his feeders, plus pet hissing cockroaches) is more mine and I'd say both require about the same amount of care.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Oh wow, that last bit caught me off guard Poor guy

Very devoted father. He was a good fish. He's buried in the front garden with some blue and red flowers in memory

 

[xp29]

Very devoted father. He was a good fish. He's buried in the front garden with some blue and red flowers in memory

I love beautiful aquariums, I just don't have the time, room, or know how to keep one up.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

I hadn't really noticed or thought of it when I posted earlier pics. But he's definitely interesting. His inner eye lacks pigment. It's like he's albino but still expresses black, red and blues.

 

[xp29]

View attachment 99517
I hadn't really noticed or thought of it when I posted earlier pics. But he's definitely interesting. His inner eye lacks pigment. It's like he's albino but still expresses black, red and blues.

Oh that's kindda neat