Betta Cottage

[Wildbetta]

Hydra is a male so I advise removal as soon as possible.

 

[attibones]

Well snap beans. 
 
How can you tell? Is it the length of the anal fins in relation to the ventral fin?
 
I'll go ahead and put him in the snail tank, see if my girls can't recover. I guess I'll be getting a new tank soon, even though I don't have that in my budget right now.

 

[Wildbetta]

The anal fin is extremely long and pointed which is a male trait as well as the ventral fins being long and thin.  Plus to me he just looks male -- hard to say why exactly.

 

[attibones]

Well, I trust your judgement, so I'll move Hydra immediately. I'm looking now at inexpensive setups. I've gotta do a water change in the snail tank first.

 

[majerah1]

Yep a cute little boy! 

 

[attibones]

I moved Hydra last night. This morning as I was turning on the tank lights, I notice that one of the red girls Hydra had beaten up had died. That one was Selena. My other girls seem to be perking up.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I'm so sorry for your loss Glad the other girls are perking up. 

 

[attibones]

And then there were three.

Just checked the tank to feed and turn off lights. Found my last blue marble dead. This is the one whose tail Hydra had torn half off. She's been swimming a lot this morning, but I found her little body tangled up in the hornwort.

Now it's just Baubo, Hecate, and Gorgon. If I lose these three (and I don't think I will), I don't know if I will continue a sorority or to back to a community.

 

[RCA]

Betta girls are not easy, I have lost all of my originals now too. They are lovely in the fact they want to be involved in everything, but alas as you have found, they can also be so inquisitive it can be detrimental. Such as the one you lost in the pot, I had a similar case when one swam through a planting device on the rear of the tank. Good luck, whatever you decide. Have you considered Killifish or Peacock Gudgeons?

 

[attibones]

Since it's just Gorgon, I'm planning on going with a community. She seems to be fairly relaxed, but I haven't tried her with any other fish besides the bettas. I'm hoping that she'll get on well with other fish. 
 
I would love a peacock gudgeon or two but I'm concerned that they like cooler waters? I haven't actually done much active research on them. I know that killis would require water around 78 and I find that my bettas are happiest at temps around 80-82 degrees.
 
I was thinking a school of harlequin rasboras and either sterbai corydoras (assuming I change the substrate) or otos or a few bristlenose plecos or something. I would realy love the harlequins though. I've always wanted a nice school of them.

Just checked seriouslyfish. If I lowered the water to 80, Gorgon would still be warm enough, as would the harlequins, and the peacock gobies would be at the upper limit of their heat tolerance. Would this be too hot for them? It could be a gorgeous tank if I could get a good pair of those cuties.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Hi, I have only read to page 8 or so. The reason you are loosing fish is you had a fully stocked tank and you didn't finish cycling it. Water changes every day is too stressful for betta, they get stressed and either get ill or die from all the stress. Please make sure your tank is cycled fully before adding any more fish. Also the ones you "lost" and couldn't find, have they jumped out. Betta do jump regularly and if there isn't a lid ( couldn't see one on video, I apologise if I am wrong here) they will jump out and be carpet fodder. (Sorry) also, you should only feed them once or twice a week. I found out the hard way that over feeding a betta also stresses them, to death in some circumstances. Once I fed once a week with tropical flake, and once a week with either peas, or bloodworm, they last better and are less stressed. Hope this info helps xx

 

[GuppyGirl20]

 So I take a few pellets between my fingers, dunk my hand in the water and release them in front of the more nervous ones. 

I feel like a creep since this post is so old but anywhosals I have recently got me a baby betta from petco and I'm so glad you said you dunk some food in for your shy betta because my little bette is less than an inch big and because I have a five gallon tank she doesn't realize there's food at the top. So thanks for saying that and I am going to try for my little Garveia. 

 

[attibones]

Hi, I have only read to page 8 or so. The reason you are loosing fish is you had a fully stocked tank and you didn't finish cycling it. Water changes every day is too stressful for betta, they get stressed and either get ill or die from all the stress. Please make sure your tank is cycled fully before adding any more fish. Also the ones you "lost" and couldn't find, have they jumped out. Betta do jump regularly and if there isn't a lid ( couldn't see one on video, I apologise if I am wrong here) they will jump out and be carpet fodder. (Sorry) also, you should only feed them once or twice a week. I found out the hard way that over feeding a betta also stresses them, to death in some circumstances. Once I fed once a week with tropical flake, and once a week with either peas, or bloodworm, they last better and are less stressed. Hope this info helps xx

Thanks for your (belated) info, but you are almost entirely incorrect. Water changes are not stressful for any fish. The filters were almost nearly cycled (I was processing 3 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours and only had slight nitrite readings), fish were on their way, nothing I could do, lid was secured, no gaps around filters or wires. Feeding them every other day is standard procedure. Flake is terrible for betta fish and peas are less preferable to daphnia for constipation. I lost a few to aggression, several to a power outage, septicemia, and a lack of water in the house because all (and I mean all) of my pipes burst. As others have mentioned, sororities take plenty of work and not every sorority will be successful. I happened to have terrible luck for the last few months of it. It's also necessary when runnig a sorority to stock heavily. The bio-load from sixteen of these girls was not more than my filters could handle, especially considering it was well-planted and I always performed twice weekly water changes (before the pipes burst). It is plausible that nitrates did build up in this time and kill some of my fish. Regardless, five or six is the standard for a ten gallon (too small in my opinion) and should be considered the minimum for any group of females. The more space you have, the more you need so that the "alpha," so to speak, doesn't target a single one below her, thus damaging the pecking order. I consulted others who have successfully kept sororities and sixteen was the recommended number. WildBetta (our betta expert here) will be able to provide you with more facts and information than I can.

So I take a few pellets between my fingers, dunk my hand in the water and release them in front of the more nervous ones.

I feel like a creep since this post is so old but anywhosals I have recently got me a baby betta from petco and I'm so glad you said you dunk some food in for your shy betta because my little bette is less than an inch big and because I have a five gallon tank she doesn't realize there's food at the top. So thanks for saying that and I am going to try for my little Garveia.

You can also use a food dropper such as a pipette and release the food near your fish that way. You can teach the fish where to get the food by first feeding with the pipette and then, as she recognizes it and the food, feeding her closer and closer to the surface. If you feed her at the same time every day, she'll soon learn when to come to the top for you.