Thank you all again for your help. I've found the vita chem, will have the master kit on Monday, and I'll test my water asap then share my info here. I even found the Dr. Bassleers cavar, tyvm.
I'm just wondering if you could direct me to some reputable online sites. Which ones out there have better info, who to listen to on YouTube. There is just so much it's hard to figure out what is at least better than others.
As always I appreciate the time you choose to take to help me.
Also, I'd like to start getting into live plants, any info or sites to point me in the right direction are also greatly appreciated. Btw, I've found the info here, reading up on it all. Whew, it's kind of overwhelming...
One more ? On the aquarium salt, how often do I add it? Each day, each water change or something else?
Jodi (real name) ��
Fids4ever
Glad you found all the good stuff.
As for youtube people, truthfully, I don't spend much time on Youtube for fish related things and some of the big names that were " famous" on youtube turned out to be either fakes or frauds or giving information that only applied to their areas so not really helpful for the masses but only for the locals to them. For Betta information, I like Bettafish.org . While I disagreed with some of the information being offered, it was not that it was wrong but that it left too much for confusion. Case in point, their recommendation for minimum tank size was 2 gallons which created a number of conversations online how the shops were hurting the fish by keeping them in bowls.
What they were talking about was long term vs short term. There is a big difference between the two.
There should be a lot of information on here about Betta care and breeding so you shouldn't need to look too far. Just search " Bettas" to find the threads. ( Or just ask me. I've bred and raised probably a million of them for sale.
) Another option, I know it's old school, but there are some good books on Bettas so you can look into those as well. ( I learned 75% of my fish knowledge through books my mentor, a certified Ichthyologist, recommended I read.
The other 25% I learned by doing.
)
For live plants, I don't know a lot of places but I do have a buddy who sells live plants at good prices. KJEAquatics.com. He also sells the Dr Bassleer foods and Fritz products.
As for the salt, salt does not dissipate or evaporate so the only time you add more is when you change water and you only add for the amount of water you are changing. You keep the ratio of 1 tablespoon / 3-5 gallons of water but adjust for the amount of water you are adding. For example, if you changed 2 gallons of water, you would only add about 1/2 tablespoon of salt back into the tank.
As for information overload
Yep, there's a lot of information out there. But here's the thing, the fish's lives depend 100% on you so the more you know, the better the fish will be. My fish library of books at one point was 3 stacks that were taller than I am and I'm 5'9".
( I lost a lot of them to a tank leak.
) I read species specific books, general care books, breeding books and 3 different tropical fish related magazines. All of this information became vital in every fish related job I had over 45 years. So you can never know too much.
Hope this helps.