Greetings from Missouri

[IHaveADogToo]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to the hobby. I had a few fish here and there when I was growing up, but I was a kid, and wasn't serious about it at the time. Only recently, now that I'm grown up, have I discovered my love for fish keeping.

I currently have a single male Halfmoon Betta named Dart. He used to live in a little 2 gallon tank with a couple of ghost shrimp, and he was happy and well taken care of, but he's been upgraded recently. Now he's in a (almost) fully stocked 30 gallon community tank. I actually have been building this tank up for a betta sorority. I've obsessively researched this and I've built this tank up with plants and rocks and decoration specifically to be a betta sorority. I would say the tank is over-decorated, but for a sorority, that's what you need, so the bettas can establish territories. As for Dart, this 30 gallon is only a temporary home. Before I get the 5 females, I need to put Dart somewhere else. I can't bring myself to put him back in a 2 gallon now that he's experienced a 30 gallon community tank, so I'll probably end up getting a 10 gallon.

But back to what I do have...

Currently in my community tank:
1 male Halfmoon Betta (Dart)
6 Kuhli Loaches
5 Albino Cory Catfish
4 male Guppies
7(ish?) Ghost Shrimp
12 Neon Tetras

According to aquadvisor my tank is at 90%. And I know removing Dart won't free up enough bio-capacity to add 5 female bettas. So something has to give. I'm thinking these 4 male guppies may get moved, too, as they're probably not the best tank mates for a betta sorority. Or, I could move the 5 Albino Corys, and keep them with Dart. Although Dart and the guppies are getting along in the overdecorated 30 gallon now, I'm not convinced they would get along in a smaller tank, because it's almost like Dart and the guppies have territories in the 30 gallon, which is why I'm considering moving the Corys instead. Either way, Dart has to move. I have included a poll at the top of this thread asking what I should remove from the tank along with Dart to make room for the sorority.

Here's a picture of Dart and one of my Corys. If you look for it you might find one of my kuhli's hanging out in the shadows. I know, Dart is looking pretty fat. I've been trying to limit his food intake, but that's hard in a community tank. I have even resorted to putting him in a breeder box during meal time, and waiting at least an hour before letting him back out, but he still manages to find leftover food. He's very smart, and has figured out that if he follows the bottom feeders around, they'll eventually dig up something tasty, and he can steal it from them. So it will be good when I do get another tank and set it up for him, because it will be easier to control his eating habits, at least long enough to make him fast for a day or two.

Anyway, Greetings everyone!

Oh, and by the way, I have a dog, too. Her name is Buffy. She's a 70 lb lab mix with rottie coloring. You wish your dog was as cool as mine.

 

[Mossyboy]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I am a newbie on here also. Must say Dart is a real stunner.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I am a newbie on here also. Must say Dart is a real stunner.

Hi, greetings! And thanks!

I picked him out because I had never seen a blue and yellow betta before, and none of the others in the store looked anything like him. I named him Dart, because the first time I saw him, he turned around and tried to dart off... only to realize he was in a cup.

I've had Dart for maybe a month now, and I love him. Here is a picture of what he looked like the day I got him. He wasn't in the best of health when I brought him home from the store, but he's doing a lot better now. Both of his ventral fins (I think those are the ventrals) were curled when I got him. I don't know why. Since bringing him home, one of the ventral fins has uncurled and healed completely, but the other ventral fin has not uncurled at all. It's like he has a nubby arm. I don't think it's fin rot, as his fins aren't shredding or anything like that, and the one fin healed. He might just be stuck with this one curled fin for life... like a deformity or an injury that healed weird. The remaining curled fin is about 2/3 the length of the healed fin. I wonder why one would heal and the other wouldn't. When I move Dart out of the 30 gallon, should I quarantine him for medicine before putting him in another community tank?

 

[Colin_T]

hi and welcome to the forum

how big is your 30g tank (length x width x height)?

what is aquadvisor? a formula/ converter to say how many fish you can have in a tank?

khuli loaches and ghost shrimp don't add much to the bioload of the tank. Bioload is also dependant on food going in and water changes done.
How long has the tank been set up for?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do water changed?
How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them?

Why do you want 5 female Bettas? They aren't as colourful as males, have shorter fins and don't do much.

Can you post a pic of your dog?

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There's no point quarantining a healthy fish in one of your tanks if you want to move it to another tank.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Hi Colin,

My 30 gallon tank is (I think) 36 x 12 x 16. (Inches. I'm American)

Aquadvisor is just a guideline I used to make sure I wasn't overstocking my tank. It's a website that asks you things like tank size, filter type, and what animals are in the tank, and it tells you where your capacity is and if you need more filtration or if you have a bad mix of fish. Interestingly, it keeps telling me that my guppies and my betta shouldn't be together, but they've been getting along fine. It also told me my water wasn't getting enough oxygen, and it was right, so I added an air stone, and I stopped losing so many ghost shrimp after doing that.

The tank has been set up for a while but I've been slow to stock it with fish. I just added the kuhli loaches two days ago. They are the most recent addition. I am now done stocking the tank, until I put the sorority in.

My tank is heavily planted, and my substrate is sand (I went with a sand substrate because I knew I'd be getting kuhli loaches). I do weekly water changes of around 30%, but I haven't been worried about cleaning the sand with each water change because I have so many plants. I do go through and clean up the sand a bit from time to time, but I could do better.

I've been feeding the fish a mix of different foods, because different fish like different things. My corys and kuhlis love to eat sinking pellets. My tetras like flakes, but they won't come to the surface to eat them... they wait until the flakes drift under the filter and get pushed underwater by the current. My guppies and betta both like freeze dried blood worms, and of course I throw in a few betta pellets. Losing ghost shrimp was pretty common for a while for me, so I have gotten into the habit of cutting them into little pieces and throwing them back into the tank when they die, but I haven't lost any shrimp since adding the air stone. Like I said, I've been trying to watch Dart's eating habits, though. Three days in a row now I have tried to fast him by putting him in the breeder during meal time, only for him to go hunting on the substrate with the corys and loaches after I let him out. He follows them around and waits for them to dig something out of the sand, then steals it from them.

Why do I want 5 female bettas? Because I do? Haha. I don't know. I just do. I've been obsessed with sorority tanks lately, and I really want to do it. I know they don't have the long flowy fins like the males do. That's okay. The fact I can keep them together in a large tank makes up for it. If I could put more feature fish in the tank now with Dart, I would, but so many feature fish aren't compatible with male bettas. So part of it is I want 5 feature fish in this tank. I guess I'm also intrigued by the idea of a betta sorority because all my live I've been told "never put two bettas together under any circumstances" and now I know that isn't necessarily true, and really just applies to the males.

Here's my dog, Buffy, by the way

 

[Colin_T]

lol your dog doesn't look too impressed with you putting glasses on her

There are a number of Betta species that can live in groups. Betta pugnax grow to about 4 inches and are mouth brooding fish. They hold the eggs and fry in their mouth for the first few weeks.
Betta imbellis is one of the fish they crossed B. splendens with to get more colour into male fighters.
Betta smaragdina is another species but can be hard to find.

If you want something different perhaps Melanotaenia praecox or some Pseudomugil signifer.

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Male Betta splendens can vary in temperament. Some are peaceful and get along with everything, and others go nuts and kill everything in the tank. I had a couple of males living happily in an 18inch tank with 2 females and they all lived happily for a couple of years. If your male lives with guppies then he is a nice fish

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I wouldn't bother isolating the male when you feed the fish. Just let him eat whatever he wants.
If you crumble the flakes up a bit the tetras might be more willing to take the food from the surface.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

I think you're right that Dart is a nice fish. He lets the kuhlis crawl on top of him and doesn't really react when the hyperactive corys swim right into him. He does chase the guppies off, though, when they enter the right side of the tank. The right side is his turf. He has made that abundantly clear. The guppies generally steer clear of him, but when they do happen to swim over to his side of the tank he makes it a point to expel them from his space. I've never seen him fight or nip at them, and I haven't seen him flare at them since day 1, but I think the only reason they are coexisting is because of the abundance of space and hiding places. None-the-less, I'm sure you understand my hesitation to put him with more bettas. Honestly, I want to do the sorority tank real bad, my heart is set on it. I already have it plotted out for this tank, and I already plan to move dart to a 10 gallon with some tank mates, I just haven't settled on the details of that 10 gallon yet.

Regarding feeding... the pictures I posted earlier don't really show it too well, but he's pushing obesity. Here's a much clearer picture that shows his potbelly. This is why I've been separating him during meal time. I know it's a good idea to fast your betta once a week. I've been trying but like I said he keeps finding food anyway. What about the rest of my tank, though? If I don't put any food in the tank for a day, that would help Dart's digestion, but what about everyone else? I don't want a bunch of tetras or loaches or guppies to die because of fasting my betta. I think I'll have a lot more control over his diet when he moves, and I can fast him for a day in the new tank before adding tank mates.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish don't die of starvation. Unlike terrestrial animals that eat to keep warm, fish get their body temperature from the surrounding environment. This means any food they eat is used for growth and movement. They can all be fasted one or two days a week without any problems at all.

The only fish you don't fast are baby fish, but if they are half grown or bigger, they can go for a week without food and suffer no complications.

 

[IHaveADogToo]

Thanks Colin. That's good to know. I might just skip a day feeding the tank this weekend. In fact, I might make it a weekly routine. I don't have any fry in the tank, at least not that I know of. If there are babies of any animal in that tank, they're ghost shrimp, and therefore fish food.

 

[seangee]

Thanks Colin. That's good to know. I might just skip a day feeding the tank this weekend. In fact, I might make it a weekly routine. I don't have any fry in the tank, at least not that I know of. If there are babies of any animal in that tank, they're ghost shrimp, and therefore fish food.

I only ever feed 5 days a week I know many others did the same.

 

[NickAu]

Why do you want 5 female Bettas? They aren't as colourful as males,

Not true, females can be just as colorful as males but with shorter tails.


Oh and PS

Some can be just as aggressive as males.