Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum and have already posted my introductions in the newbie, though newbie I am most certainly not. I have been keeping tanks for over 15 years already, has it been that long? But questions still come up, and though I've kept bettas, I've usually kept them alone.
As some of you may know, I have a 15-gallon high in my apartment that's been running for about 2yrs. The last major catastrophe involved my best friends toddlers dumping an entire container of fish food into the tank
, killing my school of neon tetras, and really making me mad. She never compensated me for the fish, nor the labor. Some people just don't think that fish are important and that their lives are not worth much. Try telling that to the millions who pull their hair out to make the best conditions for their little babies! 
There were 15 of them and they made a lovely school.
Well, I cleaned up the tank, it took a few weeks to get the water where it was before the mishap, but it's alright. So, I set up a partition dividing the tank in half, the partition allows water to circulation, but no fish. Now, the tank is home to two blue half-moon bettas, Fassolt and Fafner, extra points to whoever can guess where these names are from
. I'm very pleased with them and they are thriving, but I guess anybody would be thriving if you go from living in a little tiny box in a tank, to a spacious 7.5 gallon home with plants and his own little cave, and the mental stimulation of another betta.
But I digress, what I really want to know, finally she's getting to her question. I would like to put a few fish in there with them. I would rather keep the tank understocked, if possible, so the less, but more showy, the better. I'm too traumatized to consider neons again, after scooping 15 carcasses, you would be too. I had heard that some livebearers, especially swords and platies do alright with bettas, so does anyone object to perhaps a trio on each side? That would make about 8 fish total, so it is a very workable number for a 15-gallon, in my opinion. That would allow just the right amount of color and a good size, without getting too large. My experience and inclination are towards platies, however, since swords, the ones I've kept at least, were rather agressive.
Any opinions. Love to hear from you guys.
Sorry for the length, I'm getting my doctorate in music and everything I write tends to turn into a dissertation.
I am new to this forum and have already posted my introductions in the newbie, though newbie I am most certainly not. I have been keeping tanks for over 15 years already, has it been that long? But questions still come up, and though I've kept bettas, I've usually kept them alone.
As some of you may know, I have a 15-gallon high in my apartment that's been running for about 2yrs. The last major catastrophe involved my best friends toddlers dumping an entire container of fish food into the tank
, killing my school of neon tetras, and really making me mad. She never compensated me for the fish, nor the labor. Some people just don't think that fish are important and that their lives are not worth much. Try telling that to the millions who pull their hair out to make the best conditions for their little babies! There were 15 of them and they made a lovely school. Well, I cleaned up the tank, it took a few weeks to get the water where it was before the mishap, but it's alright. So, I set up a partition dividing the tank in half, the partition allows water to circulation, but no fish. Now, the tank is home to two blue half-moon bettas, Fassolt and Fafner, extra points to whoever can guess where these names are from
. I'm very pleased with them and they are thriving, but I guess anybody would be thriving if you go from living in a little tiny box in a tank, to a spacious 7.5 gallon home with plants and his own little cave, and the mental stimulation of another betta.But I digress, what I really want to know, finally she's getting to her question. I would like to put a few fish in there with them. I would rather keep the tank understocked, if possible, so the less, but more showy, the better. I'm too traumatized to consider neons again, after scooping 15 carcasses, you would be too. I had heard that some livebearers, especially swords and platies do alright with bettas, so does anyone object to perhaps a trio on each side? That would make about 8 fish total, so it is a very workable number for a 15-gallon, in my opinion. That would allow just the right amount of color and a good size, without getting too large. My experience and inclination are towards platies, however, since swords, the ones I've kept at least, were rather agressive.
Any opinions. Love to hear from you guys.
Sorry for the length, I'm getting my doctorate in music and everything I write tends to turn into a dissertation.
o btw you keep the two males together without a divider?
) after seeing those pictures i really dont think there is anything that can surprise me in the fishkeeping world now. There are the dwarf cories (Pgymy??) and another variety but theyre never available around here 
They're completely adorable, too- Corydoras Pygmaeus, Habrosus and Hastatus are all considered 'dwarf' cories, and they're just too cute 
. Now imagine if Kuli's were proportionately that big. They'd be like 4 feet long. That would be scary. 
