White Whale
Granola bar gone bad....
Hi all. I've been absent for a while. Looks like there's a lot of stuff I have to catch up on.
Anyways, a while back I decided to put my 2.5 next to my PC in my room and get a 5.5 for the living room. I had no clue to the 2.5 setup and who was to go with Buttons (cambodian betta with puppy eyes). So being the unimaginative moron that I am, I scouted pics on here and saw FreshMike's setup with a betta and 2 red-eye tetra. Cool! Nice silvery fish with a hint of red on the eyes. However, to my dismay, I found out the hard way that they were fin-nippers. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. And the two I got were very aggressive towards Buttons. I thought it would pass, so I let the get acquainted overnight. Next morning, Buttons was hiding underneath the plant. Poor little guy wouldn't even greet me when I approach as he usually does when in his own tank. I felt so bad. I thought playmates might do him good since he liked to keep active. So I put Buttons in the 5.5 with the pencilfish, Gramps (upsidedown catfish), and Buster (freshwater crab). Buttons LOVES chasing the pencilfish, but he's too slow. He likes to play with them, not flaring or being territorial, but just to have something to play with. Everytime Buttons tries to find a space in one of the holes in the rock, Gramps nudges him out like a cranky old man. I guess we know who ones that piece of real estate.
At least Buttons is being bullied by the 2 tetras. I still think he hasn't seen Buster yet.
So I had tryouts for the 2.5. I figure one of the plakats could live in there. They'd at least be aggressive enough. But which one? I gave each one about half a day in the 2.5. The Thai plakats always stayed the opposite side of the tank away from the tetras. No good. Next were the Viets. They, too, stayed away from the tetras or were aloof to them. WTF? So after much thought, it was the copper group's turn. I figured I'd try my favorite copper first. I been to the Chinatown store and they have no more plakats. Hmmmm.... I better be anal about taking care of the 3 I have left. So in goes Vega. Things looked bleak. He was smaller than the two, but at least started venturing around the tank. One of the tetras decided to investigate this newcomer. I could just guess what was going to happen next, so I got Vega's bowl ready. I just watched as the tetra stalked from behind and waited for the nip like they did to a few of the other plakats. It will be all over soon. *NIP* But this time, the victim turned around and stared at the tetra as if to say "What are you doing back there, buddy?! CAN I HELP YOU?!"
Then Vega flared his gills as if he were a ship going shields up, man all battle stations! Then he started to ram the tetra. The tetra was too quick, but probably stunned/surprised that this little guy stood his ground and didn't run like the others. I guess he got the idea who was boss. Bingo! Vega owns the place now. 
I guess I forgot how tenacious this little guy was.
If that kind of tenacity carries over to the spawn, I'm thinking of breeding Vega to another copper female.
Anyways, a while back I decided to put my 2.5 next to my PC in my room and get a 5.5 for the living room. I had no clue to the 2.5 setup and who was to go with Buttons (cambodian betta with puppy eyes). So being the unimaginative moron that I am, I scouted pics on here and saw FreshMike's setup with a betta and 2 red-eye tetra. Cool! Nice silvery fish with a hint of red on the eyes. However, to my dismay, I found out the hard way that they were fin-nippers. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. And the two I got were very aggressive towards Buttons. I thought it would pass, so I let the get acquainted overnight. Next morning, Buttons was hiding underneath the plant. Poor little guy wouldn't even greet me when I approach as he usually does when in his own tank. I felt so bad. I thought playmates might do him good since he liked to keep active. So I put Buttons in the 5.5 with the pencilfish, Gramps (upsidedown catfish), and Buster (freshwater crab). Buttons LOVES chasing the pencilfish, but he's too slow. He likes to play with them, not flaring or being territorial, but just to have something to play with. Everytime Buttons tries to find a space in one of the holes in the rock, Gramps nudges him out like a cranky old man. I guess we know who ones that piece of real estate.
At least Buttons is being bullied by the 2 tetras. I still think he hasn't seen Buster yet.So I had tryouts for the 2.5. I figure one of the plakats could live in there. They'd at least be aggressive enough. But which one? I gave each one about half a day in the 2.5. The Thai plakats always stayed the opposite side of the tank away from the tetras. No good. Next were the Viets. They, too, stayed away from the tetras or were aloof to them. WTF? So after much thought, it was the copper group's turn. I figured I'd try my favorite copper first. I been to the Chinatown store and they have no more plakats. Hmmmm.... I better be anal about taking care of the 3 I have left. So in goes Vega. Things looked bleak. He was smaller than the two, but at least started venturing around the tank. One of the tetras decided to investigate this newcomer. I could just guess what was going to happen next, so I got Vega's bowl ready. I just watched as the tetra stalked from behind and waited for the nip like they did to a few of the other plakats. It will be all over soon. *NIP* But this time, the victim turned around and stared at the tetra as if to say "What are you doing back there, buddy?! CAN I HELP YOU?!"
Then Vega flared his gills as if he were a ship going shields up, man all battle stations! Then he started to ram the tetra. The tetra was too quick, but probably stunned/surprised that this little guy stood his ground and didn't run like the others. I guess he got the idea who was boss. Bingo! Vega owns the place now. I guess I forgot how tenacious this little guy was.If that kind of tenacity carries over to the spawn, I'm thinking of breeding Vega to another copper female.
Rawk on in fishy heaven,sweet boy.
