42 Gallon?

[lilacamy931]

Hello all
New to fish, got my dwarf puffers today in a 14 gallon and love them! I have a 42 gallon (US) tank, was originally planning a Green Spotted Puffer in there (may still do) but at the moment am really considering a female betta tank, I love the look of them (there would be no males). How many could I have in total, would probably only have them in the tank?

Also males tend to be the brighter out of the male and female. But from general experience are females just as colourful? Local stores tend to only see the males, where do you guys get females from?

Do they require live plants and certain substrates? Many thanks!

 

[Honeythorn]

I'd go with around 15 females in a tank that size. They can be just as pretty as males, they simply don't have the great long fins.

I got my females from an LFS a few miles away, but you could ask your LFS to order some in for you , or buy online. If you get them ordered by a shop though, be VERY careful as sometimes you get young males in with them ( who look just like females for months until they eventually mature and start flaring and attacking , this happened to me ) The safer, though probably more expensive option is to order females from a breeder. That way you can see pictures and know at once wether the fish are male or female .

It is best to have plants for them to hide in and swim through just like most other fish. Live plants are better than silk as they not only look better and natural , but also use up a little waste and give out oxygen during lights on. Sand or gravel is fine for both the plants and the fish. Though if you do want to have bottomfeeders like cories or loaches, then you should use sand as gravel wears out their barbels and can damage the skin of loaches who usually like to bury themselves.

 

[lilacamy931]

Brill - all my q's answered for a beginner! Thank you.

The tank is not set up or ready to go, my bday is in September and family and friends are helping me set the tank up before hand to then stock after cycling. Obviously being a good little researcher though I am a worrier lol!

 

[lilacamy931]

Also is it true that you need to use RO water? When i had a general chat to the man at the store today he was on about RO Water for a betta tank.

 

[kizno1]

i dont think thats true my betta lives in tap water thets been declorined

 

[Honeythorn]

Also is it true that you need to use RO water? When i had a general chat to the man at the store today he was on about RO Water for a betta tank.

No you definitely do not need RO water. It's often used in Discus tanks and the like, but your average bog standard tropical fish (including bettas ) are usually perfectly fine with dechlorinated tap water as long as it isn't in the extremes of PH. Most tapwater ranges from about 6.5 to around 8 so you don't need to add anything other than dechlorinator when you do your weekly water changes.

You will most likely need a large internal ( like a Fluval 4 for example ) or a small external ( like an Eheim 2212 for example ) filter for that amount of females and any other additions you may put in at some future point.

 

[lilacamy931]

My water PH is at 8.1, would be getting a large Fluval (can not remember which number at present possibly 4!) it is an external one. Off to the store today to see if they have any females (was a bit tied up in dwarf pufffers before and male bettas for the partner before that! )

One last question..understnad from reading not best to place a male in with the females as he is likely to pair off and will attack the others? (especially if has a brood) Many thanks x

 

[Honeythorn]

NEVER keep males with females. They don't pair off in the same way as Kribs or Angelfish, the males will basically chase and bite the females incessantly.

Even when breeding them properly, females and males often take chunks out of eachothers fins until they have spawned , and then they are separated immediately by the breeder to prevent further damage.

A lot of stress and injury will occur if you keep a male with your females. Female groups have also been known to pick on a lone male when some fool or other puts one in there.

If you want a male as well as females, you could section off a 10 inch long end of the big tank with a divider ( you can get kits on ebay ) and keep a male in there with the girls in the other half , but you would have less space in the greater half, and would therefore have to have less females ( around 8 )

Also, you would have to make absolutely certain you fit the divider very well so the male cannot get around it. This would basically mean using aquarium silicone to fix the divider in place, which may not look too great and is a pain to remove if you decide you don't like it. The divider would also have to be very tall so he couldn't jump over it, and the top of the divider should almost touch the cover glass or splash tray over the water.

A bit of a faff to do all in all.

If you didn't fancy all that messing about, then a separate 5 gallon setup ( as a minimum, more would be better though ) is what you'd need for a male if you wanted one.

 

[lilacamy931]

Thanks again Honeythorn. The idea is to set up a special tank just for the male, saw an excellent choice at the store today that I will get next month to start setting him up. Just wondered how he would do with females. Thanks for the detailed explanation, I am much clearer on how the little guys work now!

Unfortunately the store I go to said they get females about once a month if that as they don't have a great survival rate and are not highly sought after, may have to go to a specialist I have heard of locally [Mod Edit] nearer the time.

 

[Netty]

The owner of [Mod Edit] is a member on here and goes by the name of [Mod Edit]. His fish are excellent so you won't go wrong getting a nice group of girls from him

 

[Honeythorn]

I agree I have one of [Mod Edit] girls. A very pretty bright pink girl who I call Sakura

 

[Cdarmychi]

Hehe....a fish after my own heart Honeythorn. Maybe you should throw up a pic, just to show the fantastic quality of [Mod Edit] girls, of course!

Sakura

 

[lilacamy931]

I would love to see Sakura's piccy - haven't seen a pink betta yet! [Mod Edit] reputation definately preceds it, may have to visit as don't live far away x

 

[Honeythorn]

You're in luck! I managed to sneak up VERY slowly on the tank and catch her "sleeping" . If she spots or feels movement, she's up and down the glass like a yo-yo begging for food and the others follow her ! When that happens a picture is purely impossible as none of them keep still She's definitely the top girl of the group.

She's a proper deep cherry pink with a blotch of even darker pinkish red on her anal fin , and a little white edge to her tail and dorsal fin. I actually hate pink but she had such a sweet little face I couldn't resist her and put aside my pink-ism. Even my mother went AWWWW!

 

[lilacamy931]

I Love pink and she is absolutely amazing! So very pretty! LOL I know the problem, only just got dwarf puffers and they hate the camera.