Kascopic
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- May 22, 2018
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Hello! I just wanted to show off my set up and ask some questions (questions at bottom of the post).
I purchased a used 120 gal tank back in February and started to stock it. Ive always loved bettas and have been in the general fish keeping hobby since I was 6 or 7 but now have an obsession for shrimp and bettas. Ive kept bettas before in 10 gal tanks (single species) when I was younger but always loved their personalities and think they can be great feature fishies. Anyways... I now have 6 tanks total and 3 bettas.
Aquariums
1. 120 gal - Fully planted and an attempt at an okay aquascape
*My digital thermometers broke so the pics may have temps that are wrong
Bettas:
Unnamed - She‘s a female veil tail (someone correct me if im wrong) and im not too sure what her color classifies as. Shes the first betta I got back in February because I saw her longer fins and her beautiful colour (Turquoise when looking at her from above and pink when viewed from the side) she was kind of sad looking sitting at the bottom of her cup so I originally put her in the 120 gal for a month while I was planning out the tank. She realized the tetras were too fast for her and leaves the neons/black neons alone but will definitely go after any shrimp which is why she got demoted to the 10 gal
shes my sassiest and always hungry
Winter - I think he's a male delta/maybe rosetail platinum betta but would appreciate some insight from you guys. I got him about a week ago. He’s a very nice passive betta, I got him for his passive chill personality. (tested this at the store by placing their cups next to other bettas to see if they would flare (he was the only one who would flare but then swam away and was disinterested) and also by placing them next to a fry/shrimp tank and he was the only one who didn't try to chase/eat everything.) He‘s now in my 120 gal as the feature fish and doesn't bother any of the inhabitants (he's had bright red shrimp swim by his face and doesn't really care)
He’ll eat some pellets but is not a vigorous eater like my sassy girl. What can i do to make him a more keen eater? (he also dosn‘t eat the small snails)
Unnamed (im thinking Lily) - I'm not sure about her tail or colour type but shes got the dumbo fins. Also mainly picked her for her personality. I got her yesterday. When she was in the pet store, she was in a sorority tank with 3 other females, none of them bothered her or she flared and swam away when they did but she didn’t look too beat up by any means. Her tank was positioned next to a fry tank and she was pretty disinterested as well which is why I picked her. For now I have her in a floating separated box in the 120 gal. I did introduce her to the 120 gal with my male to see how they would interact and after about 10 mins hiding she came out to explore a bit. when they did eventually meet, he got a bit puffy and fluffy but didn’t really flare at her and she just kinda observed him without flaring. She explored his area under the floating plants and he followed her around the tank but when she stopped to look at him he would kinda run away funnily enough. I kept her in for about an hour (constant supervision) they followed each other around a bit and he fluffed up at her but there was no chasing or nipping of any kind, they also left each other alone and she went off to explore on her own during this time. After, I put her into the floating box before I went to bed so I could make sure they’d both be safe. In that time she never went after any shrimp, snails or fish in the tank. Another behaviour ive noticed from her is even in the pet store sorority tank, she would lay on the ground a lot and swim up occasionally for air then go right back down. She can keep herself up at the top but im not sure if the laying down is her being tired, stressed or sick. I tried to feed her this morning and she wasn’t interested/not sure if she saw the pellet food I dropped in there.
My eventual goal is to try to cohabitate them peacefully (breeding would be nice but really not the main goal but I am willing to put in the effort if it does happen) Currently there are lots of hiding spaces and the plants were all introduced over the last 2 months so they will grow in more given time. I also not super set on this current configuration of plants and decor but don’t want to disturb the plants again until I have a concrete idea of what to do with it. I have tried to do some research about this subject before trying it and if it dosn‘t, I do have a backup plan for her. From my research on forums, I know i've read a lot about cohabitation being a huge no no for male/male or male/female betta pairs but all of the instances that i’ve heard of people trying this and failing have used smaller than 40 gal tanks. Some claim that it would be potentially possible if you have a “big” tank with lots of plant growth to break up sight lines but nobody really says how big it should be. My 120 gal tank is 60” long x 18” wide x 24” tall. I know bettas in the wild usually have a territory of about 3 square feet so hopefully this will give them enough space to get their own territories and provide enough hiding spaces from each other. I will also split my floating frogbit patch into 2 patches on opposite sides of the tank because Winter likes to use his as a hammock.
Questions:
Any insight would be greatly appreciated especially on how I could give this the greatest chance of success. I also appreciate constructive feedback but please do a thorough read before submitting any super negative comments saying ill kill my fish etc etc. Keep in mind that I do have another 10 gal tank that I could put her in if it doesn‘t work out and I closely supervise my fish with introductions.
I purchased a used 120 gal tank back in February and started to stock it. Ive always loved bettas and have been in the general fish keeping hobby since I was 6 or 7 but now have an obsession for shrimp and bettas. Ive kept bettas before in 10 gal tanks (single species) when I was younger but always loved their personalities and think they can be great feature fishies. Anyways... I now have 6 tanks total and 3 bettas.
Aquariums
1. 120 gal - Fully planted and an attempt at an okay aquascape
- 11 Neon tetras
- 4 Bronze corydora catfish
- Uncountable number of ”cull” neocaridina shrimp (don’t have the heart to euthanize my culls so they get the big tank to live out their days or ill sell em)
- 7 Separated orange neocaridina shrimp (trying to start a new colony)
- 3 Separated yellow neocaridina shrimp (trying to start a new colony)
- 3 Indestructible amano shrimp
- 1 Male Betta (platinum? delta/superdelta/rosetail?)
- 1 Female dumbo betta (not sure tail or color type) (Got her yesterday and shes separated)
- Red Neocaridina shrimp colony (mid-high grade)
- Blue Neocaridina shrimp colony (range from deep blue velvet to carbon black)
- 1 Female Betta (Veil tail I think but no idea on color)
- 4 Black Neon tetras
- 1 Very pregnant chonky guppy (absolute unit)
- 3 Platy
- 5 Juvenile Kribensis Cichlids
- 2 Red rili
- 13 Blue jelly (nice light blue)
- 3 Red blue rili (trying to get more of these)
*My digital thermometers broke so the pics may have temps that are wrong
Bettas:
Unnamed - She‘s a female veil tail (someone correct me if im wrong) and im not too sure what her color classifies as. Shes the first betta I got back in February because I saw her longer fins and her beautiful colour (Turquoise when looking at her from above and pink when viewed from the side) she was kind of sad looking sitting at the bottom of her cup so I originally put her in the 120 gal for a month while I was planning out the tank. She realized the tetras were too fast for her and leaves the neons/black neons alone but will definitely go after any shrimp which is why she got demoted to the 10 gal
shes my sassiest and always hungry
Winter - I think he's a male delta/maybe rosetail platinum betta but would appreciate some insight from you guys. I got him about a week ago. He’s a very nice passive betta, I got him for his passive chill personality. (tested this at the store by placing their cups next to other bettas to see if they would flare (he was the only one who would flare but then swam away and was disinterested) and also by placing them next to a fry/shrimp tank and he was the only one who didn't try to chase/eat everything.) He‘s now in my 120 gal as the feature fish and doesn't bother any of the inhabitants (he's had bright red shrimp swim by his face and doesn't really care)
He’ll eat some pellets but is not a vigorous eater like my sassy girl. What can i do to make him a more keen eater? (he also dosn‘t eat the small snails)
Unnamed (im thinking Lily) - I'm not sure about her tail or colour type but shes got the dumbo fins. Also mainly picked her for her personality. I got her yesterday. When she was in the pet store, she was in a sorority tank with 3 other females, none of them bothered her or she flared and swam away when they did but she didn’t look too beat up by any means. Her tank was positioned next to a fry tank and she was pretty disinterested as well which is why I picked her. For now I have her in a floating separated box in the 120 gal. I did introduce her to the 120 gal with my male to see how they would interact and after about 10 mins hiding she came out to explore a bit. when they did eventually meet, he got a bit puffy and fluffy but didn’t really flare at her and she just kinda observed him without flaring. She explored his area under the floating plants and he followed her around the tank but when she stopped to look at him he would kinda run away funnily enough. I kept her in for about an hour (constant supervision) they followed each other around a bit and he fluffed up at her but there was no chasing or nipping of any kind, they also left each other alone and she went off to explore on her own during this time. After, I put her into the floating box before I went to bed so I could make sure they’d both be safe. In that time she never went after any shrimp, snails or fish in the tank. Another behaviour ive noticed from her is even in the pet store sorority tank, she would lay on the ground a lot and swim up occasionally for air then go right back down. She can keep herself up at the top but im not sure if the laying down is her being tired, stressed or sick. I tried to feed her this morning and she wasn’t interested/not sure if she saw the pellet food I dropped in there.
My eventual goal is to try to cohabitate them peacefully (breeding would be nice but really not the main goal but I am willing to put in the effort if it does happen) Currently there are lots of hiding spaces and the plants were all introduced over the last 2 months so they will grow in more given time. I also not super set on this current configuration of plants and decor but don’t want to disturb the plants again until I have a concrete idea of what to do with it. I have tried to do some research about this subject before trying it and if it dosn‘t, I do have a backup plan for her. From my research on forums, I know i've read a lot about cohabitation being a huge no no for male/male or male/female betta pairs but all of the instances that i’ve heard of people trying this and failing have used smaller than 40 gal tanks. Some claim that it would be potentially possible if you have a “big” tank with lots of plant growth to break up sight lines but nobody really says how big it should be. My 120 gal tank is 60” long x 18” wide x 24” tall. I know bettas in the wild usually have a territory of about 3 square feet so hopefully this will give them enough space to get their own territories and provide enough hiding spaces from each other. I will also split my floating frogbit patch into 2 patches on opposite sides of the tank because Winter likes to use his as a hammock.
Questions:
- What are the tail types and colours of my bettas?
- Do you guys have any name suggestions for the 2 girls? Id love to hear your betta names too
- My sassy female can get quite chonky after I feed because shes the first one to the food I drop in for the tetras to eat. I give her 1-3 *pellets once per day in the morning depending on how big her belly looks (before feeding the tetras). How often/how much should I be feeding? is it bad for her to be eating their flake food and freeze dried daphnia? if so, is there a way to prevent it?
- How many *pellets/how often should I be feeding Winter and the new girl? is there a way to get them more interested in food? Im also super allergic to bloodworms so thats kind of out however i'm willing to include other frozen foods into their diet.
- Do you think that peaceful cohabitation could work in this 120 gal considering they are both very calm fish with easygoing demeanours? I could change around the tank decor to improve the chances of success as well. Should I just let her go and keep a close watch for a while? Should I keep returning her to her bin while I am not there for a while? (I don’t chase her with a net or anything, just scoop the bin underneath her while shes at the surface)
- If they do breed in the 120 gal, how do I give the fry the best chance of success without lowering water levels or changing temperature?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated especially on how I could give this the greatest chance of success. I also appreciate constructive feedback but please do a thorough read before submitting any super negative comments saying ill kill my fish etc etc. Keep in mind that I do have another 10 gal tank that I could put her in if it doesn‘t work out and I closely supervise my fish with introductions.
