Need Advice!!!

[BronteKate]

Hello, I am a relatively new fish keeper - have had tropical fish for about 12 months now, and was just wondering if some experienced members of this forum could give me some advice, and tell me if I'm on the right track?

I have a 3ft, 200L fish tank. In it I have:

various plants including ambrulia, purple waffle and aluminium (?).
heater set to 27 degrees celsius
filter with carbon
air pump
various rock hiding places

I have an Aqua One 3ft Eco light

1x angelfish
1x male betta
4x female betta
2x dwarf gourami
1x pearl gourami
4x black skirt tetras
10x guppy
5x neons
5x brown bristlenose
4x albino bristlenose
1x mystery striped baby fish
4x mollies

Attached is a photo of the tank!

I read online that you can have two male bettas in a tank if it is significantly large and they have sufficient hiding space, I am not intending to do that at all, but was just wondering if it is true?

 

[Crispii]

What's your GH? It seems you're different species of fish together, which are incompatible due to GH. Also, it really depends on the species of Bettas you have. I managed to house two male Betta imbellis in a 20 long without much issue.

For the most part, Bettas and gouramis are not compatible, as well as angels and most tetra species.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree with crispii.

Most of you fish are not compatible sadly

 

[lazarusthefishboy10]

That is not true! I am glad you are not intending on getting another male betta! Your tank is awesome! It is a shame because Crispii is right! Most of your fish are not compatible! best of luck with your fish keeping journey and welcome to the forum!

 

[JuiceBox52]

That is not true! I am glad you are not intending on getting another male betta! Your tank is awesome! It is a shame because Crispii is right! Most of your fish are not compatible! best of luck with your fish keeping journey and welcome to the forum!

That's a lot of exclamation marks!!!

 

[Colin_T]

A 3 foot tank is not really big enough for 9 adult bristelnose catfish and you would be better off with 1 or 2 pairs only.

Black skirt/ widow tetras are renown fin nippers and should not be kept with slow moving fish or fish with long fins, like male guppies and Bettas.

Your tetras do best in groups of 10 or more.

Mollies and guppies need hard water with a GH of 200ppm for guppies and 250ppm for mollies, and a pH above 7.0.
The rest of your fish come from water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.

It's preferable to only keep one species of labyrinth fish (Bettas & Gouramis) in a tank because they are all territorial and fight. The pearl gourami will get bigger than the dwarfs and the Bettas and might fight with them. The male Betta could cause problems to the gouramis and guppies.

--------------------
You temperature could come down to 26C.

The purple waffle plant and aluminium plant are marsh plants that will probably rot underwater.

Good plants to try include Ambulia and Elodia (you already have), Hygrophilla polysperma, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Sword plants, and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta.

The Water Sprite is a floating plant that can also be planted in the gravel. The other plants should all be planted in the substrate.

--------------------
Siamese fighting fish are a hybrid species between Betta imbellis and Betta splendens. Sometimes two males with live together in the same tank but normally they will kill each other. It depends a lot on the individual fish and whether they are peaceful like their ancestors (Betta imbellis) or aggressive like their other ancestors (Betta splendens).

I have had 2 males living together in an 18 inch tank that had a lot of plants in and they got along fine for over a year. However, they were the exception and most times the bigger male will kill any other males in the tank.

 

[LittleMissNeptune]

That is not true! I am glad you are not intending on getting another male betta!

Agreed. It's a bad idea to keep two male bettas in the same tank because, you know...they fight and just get aggressive.

 

[BronteKate]

A 3 foot tank is not really big enough for 9 adult bristelnose catfish and you would be better off with 1 or 2 pairs only.

Black skirt/ widow tetras are renown fin nippers and should not be kept with slow moving fish or fish with long fins, like male guppies and Bettas.

Your tetras do best in groups of 10 or more.

Mollies and guppies need hard water with a GH of 200ppm for guppies and 250ppm for mollies, and a pH above 7.0.
The rest of your fish come from water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.

It's preferable to only keep one species of labyrinth fish (Bettas & Gouramis) in a tank because they are all territorial and fight. The pearl gourami will get bigger than the dwarfs and the Bettas and might fight with them. The male Betta could cause problems to the gouramis and guppies.

--------------------
You temperature could come down to 26C.

The purple waffle plant and aluminium plant are marsh plants that will probably rot underwater.

Good plants to try include Ambulia and Elodia (you already have), Hygrophilla polysperma, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Sword plants, and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta.

The Water Sprite is a floating plant that can also be planted in the gravel. The other plants should all be planted in the substrate.

--------------------
Siamese fighting fish are a hybrid species between Betta imbellis and Betta splendens. Sometimes two males with live together in the same tank but normally they will kill each other. It depends a lot on the individual fish and whether they are peaceful like their ancestors (Betta imbellis) or aggressive like their other ancestors (Betta splendens).

I have had 2 males living together in an 18 inch tank that had a lot of plants in and they got along fine for over a year. However, they were the exception and most times the bigger male will kill any other males in the tank.

Thank you so much for this!! So what fish should I keep together, and what fish should I move to seperate tank?

 

[Crispii]

What's your GH?

 

[BronteKate]

I don't know, I have yet to get a water test kit.

 

[JuiceBox52]

You should be able to find the GH on your local water providers website

 

[Retired Viking]

As @JuiceBox52 stated you should be able to get you GH (general hardness) and PH form your water provider. If you have hard water there are several ways to soften it same with soft water there are things you can add. But before we can help you with that we need to know what your water is.

 

[Colin_T]

To get your GH and pH, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

 

[utahfish]

Wow 9 bristlenose? Bristlenose plecs are territorial id have no more than 1 in a tank your size maybe 2. Theyre also incredibly dirty fish. Angel fish are a shoaling fish that need to be in a group of at least 6 or a bonded pair in a tank by themselves and a group needs a far larger tank than you have.
As for the rest i agree whats already been said. Too many fish not compatible

 

[BronteKate]

Okay so I did a bit of reshuffling - this is my new tank list:

1x male betta
3x female betta
4x black skirt tetras
9x guppy
19x neons
5x brown bristlenose
4x albino bristlenose
4x spotted Corydoras
1x mystery striped baby fish
3x mollies

I am going to this fish shop later to get water tested - will write down all results and post.