New to the hobby - few questions

[SapphireChaser]

Hello all,

I'm new to this hobby though we've always had fish when I was growing up. I wanted to breed guppies and I acquired a lot of items for free or cheap off buy and sell pages. I have a 25 gallon tank, 5.5 gallon tank, small filter, large filter, two heaters and aquarium accessories. I mostly have natural driftwood that I treated, neutral coloured stones and live plants. I ordered a light for the big tank to keep the plants growing and it should arrive soon.
When I started out I was aiming to breed guppies. I was going to get one spectacular male, and two females and go from there. In the meantime, while I'm still researching, I set up my tank and added 5 cheap feeder goldfish to see how the tank was running. They are all alive and well! My question is, in the big tank I used to have the small filter going but since got the big one. The issue is the big filter has no cartridges as it was used and I can't find any replacement ones online that will ship at a reasonable price. Can I buy generic ones that are similar sized? It's a simple Aqua Tech 10.20. They used to sell them at Walmart but the Walmart near me doesn't have cartridges and to buy and ship it's $40 and for that price I may as well get a new filter.

My second question is, for my 5.5 gallon tank, I currently have a small filter, and a heater and one beta. What tank mates could I add in for the beta and do they get lonely? It's a neat looking tank with driftwood and live plants but I wonder if she is lonely. Could I keep any guppies with her?

Sorry for the long rambling post I'm having a lot of fun setting up and experimenting with tank set up!!!

 

[JohnBgood]

Hello all,

I'm new to this hobby though we've always had fish when I was growing up. I wanted to breed guppies and I acquired a lot of items for free or cheap off buy and sell pages. I have a 25 gallon tank, 5.5 gallon tank, small filter, large filter, two heaters and aquarium accessories. I mostly have natural driftwood that I treated, neutral coloured stones and live plants. I ordered a light for the big tank to keep the plants growing and it should arrive soon.
When I started out I was aiming to breed guppies. I was going to get one spectacular male, and two females and go from there. In the meantime, while I'm still researching, I set up my tank and added 5 cheap feeder goldfish to see how the tank was running. They are all alive and well! My question is, in the big tank I used to have the small filter going but since got the big one. The issue is the big filter has no cartridges as it was used and I can't find any replacement ones online that will ship at a reasonable price. Can I buy generic ones that are similar sized? It's a simple Aqua Tech 10.20. They used to sell them at Walmart but the Walmart near me doesn't have cartridges and to buy and ship it's $40 and for that price I may as well get a new filter.

My second question is, for my 5.5 gallon tank, I currently have a small filter, and a heater and one beta. What tank mates could I add in for the beta and do they get lonely? It's a neat looking tank with driftwood and live plants but I wonder if she is lonely. Could I keep any guppies with her?

Sorry for the long rambling post I'm having a lot of fun setting up and experimenting with tank set up!!!

Small filter, large filter what exactly is the brand and model of the filters. It's really difficult to help you with just those very vague descriptions.

 

[JxsPxxle]

Hello all,

I'm new to this hobby though we've always had fish when I was growing up. I wanted to breed guppies and I acquired a lot of items for free or cheap off buy and sell pages. I have a 25 gallon tank, 5.5 gallon tank, small filter, large filter, two heaters and aquarium accessories. I mostly have natural driftwood that I treated, neutral coloured stones and live plants. I ordered a light for the big tank to keep the plants growing and it should arrive soon.
When I started out I was aiming to breed guppies. I was going to get one spectacular male, and two females and go from there. In the meantime, while I'm still researching, I set up my tank and added 5 cheap feeder goldfish to see how the tank was running. They are all alive and well! My question is, in the big tank I used to have the small filter going but since got the big one. The issue is the big filter has no cartridges as it was used and I can't find any replacement ones online that will ship at a reasonable price. Can I buy generic ones that are similar sized? It's a simple Aqua Tech 10.20. They used to sell them at Walmart but the Walmart near me doesn't have cartridges and to buy and ship it's $40 and for that price I may as well get a new filter.

My second question is, for my 5.5 gallon tank, I currently have a small filter, and a heater and one beta. What tank mates could I add in for the beta and do they get lonely? It's a neat looking tank with driftwood and live plants but I wonder if she is lonely. Could I keep any guppies with her?

Sorry for the long rambling post I'm having a lot of fun setting up and experimenting with tank set up!!!

Like said above, we need a more in detail description of the filters.

However, about the betta tank mates you could try shrimp, they may get nipped or if they are too small eaten but it is a possible tank mate. More are Neon Tetras, Ember Tetras, Corys, Harlequin Rasbora and some people say african dwarf frogs however i don’t agree this would work in a tank your size as for most of these fish. You could try the rasboras though, in a group of 6.

 

[Naughts]

You can use any filter sponge, just cut it to size.
Just bear in mind that new filter media will not have the beneficial bacteria needed to convert ammonia and nitrite to the less harmful nitrate.

Cycle your Tank

Cycling a tank is vital to keeping your fish alive. This section is where you can read about cycling (the nitrogen cycle) and ask questions about how to do it properly.

www.fishforums.net

Bettas do not get lonely, they are best kept alone as they are territorial. Guppies can look similar to bettas so it could attack them and this would be stressful for the betta as well as the guppies. Additionally a 5.5 gallon cannot support many fish.

 

[shabash]

You can use filter sponges instead of cartridges. Cartridges are just a way for the filter manufacturers to make money and most have activated charcoal/carbon that you don’t really need. In addition, they leave huge gaps that could be better utilized by extra media. I too re-used an older filter for my tank. I used 3 sponge filters or varying sizes in order to fill the space as well as a media bag with ceramic beads. I literally quadrupled my surface area for beneficial bacteria growth. Just make sure you don’t cram the sponges too much. You want them snug enough to not float around but not so tight that they are squished and thereby reducing their surface area. Good luck and welcome back to the hobby.

 

[MicktheFish]

I got a 12 gal tank a few months ago came with a power filter which I found far too powerful changed it for a cheap sponge filter - looking at the experts on youtube quite a few use sponge filters if its good enough for them.

 

[Essjay]

What tank mates could I add in for the beta and do they get lonely?

Bettas do not get lonely. They are solitary fish and don't need tank mates. The other problem with fish is that any species small enough to be suitable for 5 gallons is likely to be regarded as food by the betta - he may not actually eat them but being chased by a betta is pretty stressful. [All the fish listed in post #3 need a bigger tank than 5 gallons. And frogs should not be kept with fish, they need a frog only tank]

I have a nerite snail in my betta's tank, they work well. Some bettas will accept shrimps, others will eat them. I tried shrimps with my last but one betta as he ignored everything in the tank - the shrimp population increased as he didn't even notice the baby shrimps. The next betta ignored the adults but must have eaten the baby shrimps as there were no longer any babies in the water change bucket. My current betta attacked and killed the shrimps, so I had to remove them from his tank.

 

[SapphireChaser]

Thanks everyone. I got a filter sponge pack that actually happen to fit perfectly and there is 3 in a pack. I will look into the additives for nitrate and ammonia reduction. For now it is just one betta in the 5.5 and I got another betta for the 25 gallon with two female guppies.

 

[Waterstrider]

Betta not generally compatible with guppies or goldfish.
Betta do best with softer water then the other 2. Also betta are not super social.
If the goldfish are still present, there’s a decent chance of them outgrowing the tank

 

[SapphireChaser]

I actually ended up returning the gold fish to the store, so it's just two guppies in the 25 gallon tank with the betta. Honestly, so far so good!

 

[Essjay]

Guppies can be problematic with bettas. Besides needing different hardness, bettas often mistake guppies with their long tails for other bettas and attack them. I was in a shop a few years ago which had a tank with guppies and a betta. The betta was herding guppies in turn into the corner, then pouncing and ripping the guppies' fins.
Bettas can seem to accept tank mates then suddenly one day they snap and go on a killing spree.


Edit: I have just read in your other thread that the betta and guppies are females. Apart from the hardness problem this could work. Though some females are as bad as males for aggression.

 

[Waterstrider]

Guppies can be problematic with bettas. Besides needing different hardness, bettas often mistake guppies with their long tails for other bettas and attack them. I was in a shop a few years ago which had a tank with guppies and a betta. The betta was herding guppies in turn into the corner, then pouncing and ripping the guppies' fins.
Bettas can seem to accept tank mates then suddenly one day they snap and go on a killing spree.


Edit: I have just read in your other thread that the betta and guppies are females. Apart from the hardness problem this could work. Though some females are as bad as males for aggression.

That’s what I was referring to, but sometimes I’ve seen betas get upset with any fish that spends too much time bouncing around the top regardless of fin lengths

 

[Essjay]

I agree. Bettas are sedate fish and will be stressed by any fast swimming fish, or fish with long tails.

 

[AfternoonNarwhale]

Hello all,

I'm new to this hobby though we've always had fish when I was growing up. I wanted to breed guppies and I acquired a lot of items for free or cheap off buy and sell pages. I have a 25 gallon tank, 5.5 gallon tank, small filter, large filter, two heaters and aquarium accessories. I mostly have natural driftwood that I treated, neutral coloured stones and live plants. I ordered a light for the big tank to keep the plants growing and it should arrive soon.
When I started out I was aiming to breed guppies. I was going to get one spectacular male, and two females and go from there. In the meantime, while I'm still researching, I set up my tank and added 5 cheap feeder goldfish to see how the tank was running. They are all alive and well! My question is, in the big tank I used to have the small filter going but since got the big one. The issue is the big filter has no cartridges as it was used and I can't find any replacement ones online that will ship at a reasonable price. Can I buy generic ones that are similar sized? It's a simple Aqua Tech 10.20. They used to sell them at Walmart but the Walmart near me doesn't have cartridges and to buy and ship it's $40 and for that price I may as well get a new filter.

My second question is, for my 5.5 gallon tank, I currently have a small filter, and a heater and one beta. What tank mates could I add in for the beta and do they get lonely? It's a neat looking tank with driftwood and live plants but I wonder if she is lonely. Could I keep any guppies with her?

Sorry for the long rambling post I'm having a lot of fun setting up and experimenting with tank set up!!!

Before I got my betta, I searched for a long time looking for tank-mates for my 5.5 gallon tank as well. Unfortunately, you can't put any fish in there (I'm not super experienced but thats what everyone told me), and guppies, are though cool fish, too flashy for beta friends (except maybe feeder guppies), so your options pretty much narrow down to snails and cherry or ghost shrimp. I didn’t like that snails either mass reproduce or lay a ton of eggs in your tank so I tried cherry shrimp. Two were killed by my betta and two disappeared and haven’t been seen in weeks. (I suspect they also became dinner.) There are no more shrimp in my tank. I can't vouch for ghost shrimp, but, all in all, Betas do not make good roommates.

 

[Waterstrider]

I’ve kept things with them successfully years ago, but that was and I think you’ll find most examples are, in a larger tank.