Prince and his soon to be new home

[Carolinesugar]

Hi all, Im trying to find out how, and if what i want to make as Princes (hes a betta)new home sounds ok to you all.

Currently he is living in a 12" long, 6" high, and 8" deep tank, with gravel as the substrate, with 10 neon tetras, and air filter, and heater, with a powerglo light (to show off his colouring).

I have recently aquired, a double Hexagan Tank, that has a buit in light, but its just a normal bulb from what i can see.

I want to put sponges in the two tunnels that link the two hexagans together, so i have two tanks, but both have the same water, and tank (if that makes sense)

Im thinking about putting Prince in 1 side, and then his 3 Princesses (girlie bettas) in the other side.

For tank mates, I am considering putting 5 neons in each side of the tank, and maybe 2 or 3 Pygmy Corys in each side.

And then having coloured gravel, and lots of nice sword plants, and a few ferns in each side, and mayb even a cave for Prince, and his Princesses to hide in (1 cave in each side)

BUT.... My problem is, that i know nothing about Pygmy corys, as i had never seen any until today (as i told the man he had a baby in his tank at the lfs, but he sed no, its a Pygmy cory).

so would this work ? Can anyone tell me more about Pygmys, and if my ideal setup would work.

Ive just spend a lil while on Paint, drawing up his new home, to make it clearer what i want it to be like, hope this helps ppl tell me if it seems ok ?

Princes New Home

 

[Carolinesugar]

Isnt anyone going to leave me a message ? lots of you have read the post, but not left me a message with advice and opinions ?

 

[leck85]

how many gallons is each side? i think that would give us a better idea of how big the tank is..

i just bought 4 pygmy cories.. dont know much about em, but theyre going in with my female bettas

 

[clutterydrawer]

The thing about pygmy cories is that they really do need to be in alrge shoals, because they are so teensy. Six would be acceptable, 8 would be betta, but I don't they'd thrive in a group of 2-3.

Could you put all the neons in one side and a group of pygmy cories in the other?

 

[cation]

Okay, first off, 3 is known to be a bad number for female bettas. If they've already been living together, it could work, but if you are thinking of putting them together at this point, you'd ideally want to have 4 or more girls in there.

Next - what size ore the hexagons? (gallons, please, not measurements.)

 

[Carolinesugar]

Ok, well i already had 2 female bettas, in my community tank, and was told 3 or 4 would be a better idea, as then it even out the aggression, but i wasnt sure how the older two would take to a new girl in the tank, so i only got the one, and she has fitted in well, one of the older girls has taken ova as a mother figure i think, they hang out together alot. they sumtimes do lunch with the other girlie to, which is cool.

the idea of having all the neons in 1 side, and the Pygmys on the other had crossed my mind, but i thought that i would need some1 to do the housework on each side, so thats wen i opted for 5 neons, and a few Pygmys on each.

the tank holds 8.5 gallons of water in total, making it abt 4 each side (thats UK Gallons, not american)

 

[juliethegr8t]

From what I hear, having bettas with neon tetras is just not a good idea. The bettas may sometimes eat the neons (I've seen it!!), and neons may nip fins. If Prince has been ok with them so far, and you feel comfortable leaving them together, you probably can do that. You might not want to risk it with the girls though, as they're faster and could catch a neon easier. Some bettas are fine with cories also, and some aren't. It depends on the betta. Pgymies are great little cories, I have some and just love them. Everyone is right though, you need more than 3. I think having the neons in one side and pgymies on the other is a good idea. Also, like cation said, make sure your female betta community is going to work... those can be dangerous.

 

[cation]

Although 10 neons and 1 betta together is really pushing the limit of your whole tanks capacity, let alone one side. Not to be a party pooper or anything...

 

[leck85]

i really wouldnt put 10 neons and a betta in 4g of water... thats asking for trouble (as everyone else has said)

the 3 females in 4g of water also might not work out well.. i had 3 in a 10g together and they were fine so i tried them in my 3g and they ended up ripping each other apart..

definately keep an eye on whatever you end up putting in there.. dont want to lose any fish

 

[Carolinesugar]

I have just been updated by my Bf that there are 2 tanks identical to mine, on Ebay, and fair prices, as one of them has the link to a site you can buy one on, which would cost you over £200, im so glad he let me have his, its such a great tank!

Prince has always been fine with his neons, although if they irritate him, he can get nasty, but thats just wen they pester him to go play alot, which they dont do anymore, lol. (think they got the message he likes to do his own thing!).

the site you can buy the tank ive got ready, is Online Shop

But there are two on Ebay,

Ebay 1

and

Ebay 2

 

[leck85]

cool tanks.. you could put all the neons into one of them , with the cories if you wanted, and just keep the bettas separately in the other one/

 

[Carolinesugar]

At the moment, i still have my 3 female bettas in the community tank, Prince in his small tank with his noen pals, and 1 Pygmy (i couldnt resist it).

Im not really sure what to do now, could some1 give me any other suggestion of how to make use of this loverly tank ?

Did anyone go and look at my plan for how 2 lay out the tank ?

If i was to set up an identical tank to Princes small 1, and put the 3 betta girlies in there, how long would i have to leave them to see how they got on alone ?

 

[Carolinesugar]

cool tanks.. you could put all the neons into one of them , with the cories if you wanted, and just keep the bettas separately in the other one/

hmmmmm sounds like an idea, but im not a great fan of the neons on their own, they just seem to plain, which is why the main reason i got them was to live with Prince, as he needed tank mates, and their the only fish he could live with happily. (i didnt think corys and bettas went together until today)