Chapter 18: The Filter is Too Big for the Tank

“Dude, are they swimming backwards?”
“Yeh… do you think it’s because the water current is too strong?”
“Erm…guys, can it be… the filter is too strong?”

Nicky, Sally and I were standing in front of the tank of Bettas that Sally bought previously. We had just installed a new filter system in the tank. It was a power filter comprised of a completely submersible motor and a filter cartridge. Nicky and I had chosen this filter because of two descriptions on its box. It could support a tank capacity of up to ten gallons and it provided water flow up to the speed of 85g/h. Though we had no idea what the unit “g/h” meant, we assumed it should be akin to “fast”. We knew this power filter could rock!

And our 85g/h ten gallons power filter was indeed rocking the one foot fish tank. The small pot of water plant in the tank had fallen, the flakes we fed to the Bettas were whirling at the water surface and the two Bettas were swimming backwards. Okay, they were not swimming. They were swept backwards by the water current as soon as they stopped moving their fins. Maybe the 85g/h ten gallons power filter was too powerful for the fish tank.

“What are you guys doing?!!” Rose hollered in shock. She had just finished her meeting and had walked over to find out why the three of us were gathering round Sally’s fish tank. She was apparently not prepared to see what she saw.
“Err… checking out the new filter,” replied Nicky.
“This filter is too strong for the fishes! Look at the poor fishes! Please stop the filter!”

Under Rose’s command, I switched off the power supply to the filter. The two struggling Bettas finally caught up with the flakes and started to eat them.

“Why did you guys buy such a strong filter for such a small tank?” asked Rose who was still horrified by what she had seen.
“Because these guys liked this cool and powerful filter so much that they forgot about the size of my fish tank,” Sally replied with a mocking tone.

After the Bettas had finished the flakes, they suddenly remembered what they were doing before the new filter was introduced – playing catching. Adam the aggressive male Betta opened his gills, spread out his fins and went after Eve the panicky female Betta.

“So it’s not our filter’s fault! It’s the tank!” Nicky blurted.
“Yes! Your tank is too small, Sally. We need to get a bigger tank!” I agreed.
“I’ve read from the Internet that in order to breed Bettas, you need a bigger tank, preferably one that is two feet long,” said Nicky.
“Are you sure?” asked Sally skeptically.
“Yes! I’m sure Nicky is right! Anyway, with a bigger tank and more plants, Eve might be able to hide herself from Adam instead of running around everyday like a mad woman,” I assured.

In the following lunch time, we went to the aquarium shop at Clementi again. I approached the shop owner and told him that our power filter might be too powerful for the one foot breeding tank. His reaction told me that our guess was right.

“What power filter? And what breeding tank? What are you trying to breed in a one foot tank?” the concerned shop owner asked.
“Erm… weeks ago, we bought this pair of Half-moon Bettas from your shop and we’re trying to breed them…”
“In a one foot tank? No, it’s too small! You need a bigger tank!”

The shop owner then walked into the stack of varies types and sizes of fish tanks in front of his store and searched. Minutes later, he emerged with a weird tank in his arms. The plastic fish tank was approximately one and a half feet wide but had the height of less than a foot. Sally’s eyes stared like a goldfish when she saw how enormous her Bettas’ home was going to become.

“You need a tank that’s at least this wide in order to breed Bettas,” he explained. “Anything smaller than this, your male Betta will chase and bite your female Betta like crazy!”

That explained the catching games that Adam and Eve had been playing.

“Erm… okay, we’ll get this tank then,” said Nicky. “Is there any tips you can give us for the breeding?”

The shop owner pondered for a while, then said: “You must first prepare the pair by feeding them good frozen food, like the frozen blood worms that I’m selling at two dollars a pack, at least twice a day. Place the male and female in a container with divider to separate them, like the Betta Show Tank that I’m selling at four dollars, and let them look at each other for three to four days. Remember, see only, no touch.”

Some how, the shop owner’s advice sounded like we needed to spend more money…

“Then you’ve to prepare this tank for breeding condition. After you’ve added water, place a heater in the tank, like the sensitive and break resistance heater that I’m selling at twenty dollars, and set the temperature to twenty eight degree Celsius. That’s the breeding temperature for Bettas. Add some plants, like the Elodeas that I’m selling at a dollar each, for the female to hide. Also, add some of those brown leaves that I’m selling at a dollar for a packet so that the male can build his bubble nest under them.”

And more money…

“Now you can add the male first to get him accustomed to the surroundings. About two hours later, add the female and gently place her in a small floating breeding tank, like the one that I’m selling at three dollars, so that they’re still separated. After the male has begun a bubble nest, and the female has displayed dark vertical bars across her body, you can release her to join the male. Within the next one or two days, they’ll breed. There’ll be some fights and fin tearing, but don’t worry. It’s normal. After the breeding is completed, remove the female from the tank.”

“And when do we add in the power filter?” Nicky asked.
“No! You don’t use filter when breeding Bettas!” the shop owner looked at us in horror. “The water current produced by the filter will burst the bubble nest that the male built!”
“Oh…” Nicky and I sighed in disappointment.

Then what should we do with our 85g/h ten gallons power filter?

“Uncle, how many eggs will we be expecting?” asked Sally.
“Erm… A typical spawn is anywhere between fifty to three hundred eggs,” answered the shop owner matter-of-factly.
“What? Three hundred?!!” the three of us screamed at the shop owner who stepped back in horror.
“Relax! Don’t worry! Usually only about fifty percents of the frys will survive,” the shop owner wiped the sweat off his forehead as he replied.
“Err… Sally, fifty percent of an average of one hundred is still as many as fifty. What are you going to do with so many baby Bettas?” I asked Sally.
“Oh… I don’t know. Erm… why don’t we just breed first then see how it goes? Maybe I’ll just give some away?”

After listening to the shop owner’s advertisements filled advice, Sally followed him around as he gathered the items she required for her new Bettas breeding tank.

“Hey Beng, we can’t just throw away our 85g/h ten gallons power filter right?” nudged Nicky.
“No! Of course not! The filter has got to stay!” I insisted.
“Hmm… since we can’t use the filter in Sally’s Bettas fish tank, maybe we should get our own fish tank for the filter?” Nicky rubbed his chin and pondered.
“Yeh, good idea!”

Having decided to get a fish tank for our 85g/h ten gallons power filter, Nicky and I went out of the shop again to look at the varieties of tanks available. We fell in love with a state-of-the-art three feet tank but thinking that having a one and a half feet and another three feet tank in the office was kind of inappropriate, we gave in and selected a two feet tank instead. Not the kind of cheap fifteen dollars plastic fish tank that Sally was buying, but a cool strengthened glass fish tank with round corners. There was even a hooded lamp attached at the top of the tank! The fish tank will set us back with almost a hundred dollars but it was definitely worth it.

“Okay… what should we put in this tank besides our filter?” Nicky asked.
“Hmm… how about some fishes?” I suggested.
“Oh yes, but I’m not really into Bettas.”
“Yeh, me too. We should get something that’s as cool as our filter.”

The two of us walked around the aquarium shop to shop for some fishes for our fish tank.

“How about guppies? They look pretty colorful,” I pointed to some mosaic and tuxedo guppies cramped in their respective small tanks.
“Nah, guppies are too cheap for our filter.”
“Oh…”

“How about getting this baby arowana?” Nicky pointed at a sixty-eight dollars baby arowana swimming gracefully in its tank. “Arowanas are very auspicious, you know?”
“But this guy will outgrow our two feet tank right?”
“Oh…”

“How about goldfishes?” I pointed at a group of lion head goldfishes swaying their butts as fast as Robbie Williams.
“Beng, I’ve already got eight of them in my house! Can we have some variety around here?”
“Oh…”

“How about having a discus? They look so elegant. Look at the colors and patterns!” Nicky pointed at the tanks of stationary discuses.
“But Nicky, why are we rearing roti pratas?”
“Oh…”

As we walked over to look at some cardinal tetras and Agassiz corydoras, Sally walked over with her mobile phone on her left hand and a big plastic bag of tank and stuffs on her right.

“Guys, Choi is on the line,” Sally handed me her mobile phone.

“Hi Choi, what’s up?”
“Beng, I heard from Sally that Nicky and you are intending to get another fish tank?”
“Yap, we’re choosing the fish now.”
“Hey, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’ve got insider news that our department will be shifting in about three months’ time. Just heard about it from the meeting this morning.”
“We’re shifting?!!”
“Yeh, but of course you guys can still go ahead if you don’t mind shifting the fish tank. By the way, how big is the tank going to be?”
“Erm… Choi, you know what? Why don’t we talk about it when we’re back?”
“Oh… okay, sure.”

I gave the mobile phone back to Sally and said to Nicky: “Do you think your eight goldfishes will mind another filter?”