Subj : Re: What is a good fish?
To   : All
From : Netmax
Date : Thu Sep 11 2003 07:45 am

"janet osgood" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
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> Hello All!
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> I would love to find a good fish for children.  I would be the one
caring for
> it, and I have only had pet goldfish and kinda killed it.  I would love
to know
> what a good species would be, and what kind of set up I need for the
fish.
> Thanks.  Also would love to know what kind of food I would need to buy.
> Thanks
> Janet Osgood

A 2g bowl with a Betta (male Siamese fighting fish), an ADF (African
dwarf frog), a lilypad (Limnobium laevigatum) and an Apple snail.  The
Betta is a top-feeder, the frog is a bottom feeder, getting what the
Betta misses.  The snail is an omnivore feeding off what the frog doesn't
and any slime or algae on the glass.  When the snail nibbles on the
lilypad, feed him some bottom-feeder pellets or a bit of zucchini.  The
Betta & ADF can both be picky eaters, but they have the same favourites
(Bloodworms) and can be taught to eat others (tubifex worms, brine
shrimp, Betta flakes, pellets etc).

This is a kid-pleasing combination, requiring only a 25% water change
once a week (more often if the bowl is smaller).  When the Betta fills
the lilypad with bubbles, he is nesting.  Careful about making any
substitutions.  Most fish don't do as well in a bowl as Bettas (which
have a labyrinth organ for breathing air).  African clawed frogs eat
fish.  Zebra snails will wander too far out of the bowl.

ps: this combination (Betta-frog-snail) would not work in nature, but
almost always works with domesticated creatures in a bowl.  Operative
word is 'almost always' so ymmv.  Occasionally the Betta remembers that
he is a carnivore, and I hear frogs taste like chicken ;~)

NetMax
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* RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 9/11/03 6:45:49 AM
* Origin: MoonDog BBS, Brooklyn,NY, 718 692-2498, 1:278/230 (1:278/230)