New Girl In 10gal, Wish Her Luck.

[soritan]

So, I put Uta, my new girl, in my 10g tank. It was a snap decision, and I know that's generally bad. I suddenly went, "OK, let's try it out." And I moved her over.

When I put her in, she was mortified, immediately sunk down the ground and gasped a few, then she swam up. She then spotted a ghost shrimp and chased it down, she spotted another one and the little guy actually scuttled backwards away from her and tried to face her off. Now she doesn't seem interested in them at all, but that's mostly because they all hid. I'm keeping an eye on her to see if she's a bully, and I'm looking at her for stress.

She seems to think everything she encounters must be food, because she tries to eat everything before deducing that it's boring.

She's pacing back and forth on the far left side of the tank, right now. Not really investigating anything else yet.

I almost feel guilty for putting her in there, what with my filter killing the last boy I put in there.

But maybe everything will be OK and we'll all live happily ever after?



*edit:

Nope. She got stuck to the filter, so I'm removing her. I'll probably put her in my 5g tank once my filter arrives in the mail and it's done cycling.

Damn. I really wanted a fish in there. I guess my ADFs will have to continue to be in frog heaven all on their lonesome. I hope Uta can face bowl life after this moment of glory.

 

[thelastbetta]

Why can't you just turn the filter down? Or completely off?

 

[soritan]

Interal filters are completely unadjustable, so I can't turn it down.

It's a cycled 10 gallon tank, and a large bulk of the bacteria lives in the filter, not in the gravel. I have three frogs and seven ghost shrimp in there, who all benefit from the added stability of a cycled tank, especially since I feed them frozen blood worms, which tends to be a messier sort of food.

 

[nino]

I like your tank! It looks nice. What about putting something other than a betta in there?

 

[soritan]

Thank you. Like all planted tanks, it's still a 'work in progress.' It's changed even since that photo, my substrate is slowly becoming uniform, my river stones are going away. my anacharis is more, and my hornwort is less (removed a few strands that were shedding).

I pretty much have no real choice in the matter. Bettas were probably too territorial for that tank, anyways. ADFs may be carnivores, but they're rather harmless little guys. I actually kinda like it as an ADF species tank, these days. They're really really active, now.

I was sort of hoping to find one of the less aggressive bettas, as I think that tank would be very cool with a single fish in there. However, all the bettas I encounter can't quite handle the suction on that tank. They all couldn't care less on the outflow, but the intake gets 'em every time.

 

[osteoporoosi]

If the betta and the shrimps are the only critters in, why not to put an airstone instead of the filter?I have 4 females in a 62gallon tank with shrimps, kuhlis and cardinal tetras, no hassle at all. Love the plants btw!

 

[lljdma06]

Have you looked into betta imbellis. A pair might be just what you're looking for in that 10g.

 

[c'merefishyfishy]

I was sort of hoping to find one of the less aggressive bettas, as I think that tank would be very cool with a single fish in there. However, all the bettas I encounter can't quite handle the suction on that tank. They all couldn't care less on the outflow, but the intake gets 'em every time.

I had the same problem with my 10 gallon tank and the same filter. Had to turn it off or take it out to keep a betta in that tank. It just depends on the betta and the filter. I ended up putting a simple corner sponge type filter in there and had no problems.

Also, once your betta has built up some muscle from all the swimming exercise in the tank, it stands a better chance of not getting sucked onto the intake or at least being able to get away himself if it happens again. Maybe you could fashion some sort of thing to block the intake. Like make a canvas "cage" to sit in front of it. The more surface area that the suction is spread out on, the weaker it will be in a specific area, so a sucked-on betta will have an easier time getting himself off.

I had a betta that spent a few weeks in a half full 10 gallon with no filtration. He was then moved into a 25 gallon with that same filter (2-10 whisper internal) and had no problems that I saw. I then changed to a regular hang on the back power filter that was rated up to 20 gallons (slightly underfiltered, but it is a planted tank and I was erring on the side of caution). Only once did he ever get sucked onto the intake, when I was messing around with it and I freed him and turned it back on and never again had another problem. He was big and burly and got to be a stronger and stronger swimmer as time went on and started to even hang out right next to the intake and never had another problem getting sucked on. He would just dart off.

I know you had a bad experience with the last betta in the 10 gallon. But maybe if you can give another fish a larger space with no or limited filtration and some space to exercise for a while first, he might adapt to it better eventually.

 

[soritan]

I had thought of excercising my boy or girl for that tank. An idea I had, was to add an aerator to the 5g bowl with a gangvalve so that I could control the strength of it, and then slowly increasing it as they became fitter fish.

I'd get a betta imbellis, except the cost of purchasing one and shipping it to my specific location would probably be... excessive.

I really want as few actual fish in my 10g tank as possible, simply because... it's a neat tank with the frogs and shrimps, but I just want one other small thing to finish it off. I really don't care for guppies, or tetras. I already own bettas... and Uta, at least, has too much energy for bowl life. I think I'll put her on Richard Simmons and try her again at a different time.

Sori, my boy, is such a poor swimmer I sometimes wonder if he's actually a fish. *laugh* He'd die in 10 minutes or less in that tank. Since he's so old, I'm thinking of 'retiring' him, and putting him in a larger, flatter, warmer tank which has been cycled. Maybe a 2.5g all-glass, or a small herp haven breeder box.

I keep their bowls side by side now. Sori's bowl is a tall 1g, and Uta's bowl is a round 1g, so they only see each other occcasionally. It's bringing lots of excitment into their humdrum life. They've only been like that for a few hours, I'm debating simply leaving them like that, since they really only catch glimpses of each other fi Sori happens to be low and Uta happens to be on the far side of the tank...

*edit: Oh! And thanks for the plant compliments. It's still on the tacky-side, but I'm fixing it up rather quickly now that I actually have a paycheck. I'll be adding some anubis nana and some coffeefolia tomorrow. I also am finally making my substrate all one color and adding some laterite. Now that my damselfly nymphs are gone, I'm going to get brave and also tie down some javamoss. My only wish is that my ghost shrimps weren't so darn curious, they keep trying to find some secret food I'm holding in my hand every time I put them in there.