Which fish should I buy

[FishGuest5123]

I agree with pandas. Poor babies. I did go out on a limb with a tank full of neon tetras. So far so good. My favorite are glo lights. Mine just keep going like an Eveready battery. I have fallen in love with rosy barbs. I will never buy another betta. After these 7 go, I’m done. They seem to have about a year or so on expiration dates.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I will never buy another betta. After these 7 go, I’m done. They seem to have about a year or so on expiration dates.

What Bettas are you keeping?
I am interested to know in case I need to avoid them.

By the way, I heard that the plakats or short fins Bettas are more hardy.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have to agree that the plakats are healthier. I’m talking about betta splendens. Especially the heavy tails. I would do Wild bettas. Just too many health issues with the splendens. Fin and tail rot, tumors, dropsy. They have sadly been so over bred that they are unhealthy now. Some of mine were very expensive and no better than your big box stores. Crowntails do alright too. Stay away from rose tails, half moons, etc. I’ve raised so many and the quality has just gone downhill. Go for a betta imbellis.. They have some beautiful colors and you can put males in with females. If you have a really large tank, 2 males can even live together. They are peaceful and non-aggressive.

 

[BoomerXIV]

I started with guppies because I'd known them by their old reputation for being super hardy, and great beginner fish. Had I known then what I know now, I never would have started with them. Or at least, I might have sprang for a trio of fancy, hobbyist bred guppies rather than store bought mutt guppies. I had way too many losses, and too many experienced people guiding me who couldn't find a flaw in my husbandry to account for the losses, and warned me how poorly bred they are now. When you discover how in bred and mass produced they are, and how often they're infected with round and flat worms long before they'd made it to a store, it makes you realise the impact poor breeding has, and even the best husbandry can't make up for it.

I've had a better track record with keeping otocinclus - wild caught and famously delicate and sensitive- than I have with shop bought guppies, and that's even with keeping the otos in harder water than they should have for the first nine months I had them. When a wild caught, delicate species that was likely caught by stunning via cyanide is hardier than a pet store guppy, there's a real problem.

Ah yes guppies, i remember when i was a kid they're known for cheap and super hardy. But now they're more expensive yet so fragile.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I have to agree that the plakats are healthier. I’m talking about betta splendens. Especially the heavy tails. I would do Wild bettas. Just too many health issues with the splendens. Fin and tail rot, tumors, dropsy. They have sadly been so over bred that they are unhealthy now. Some of mine were very expensive and no better than your big box stores. Crowntails do alright too. Stay away from rose tails, half moons, etc. I’ve raised so many and the quality has just gone downhill. Go for a betta imbellis.. They have some beautiful colors and you can put males in with females. If you have a really large tank, 2 males can even live together. They are peaceful and non-aggressive.

Yes, the wild Bettas are beautiful especially the Imbellis and Smaragdina and more hardy.

Anyway, my fishkeeping hobby may come to an end soon if my schedule is getting busier.
I may only keep one 15 gallon tank for shrimps and Mosquito Rasboras as the maintenance is lesser than my Discus' tank.

 

[FishBearer9845]

I've always wanted to avoid the big tailed bettas, as I see so many 'complaints' and problems with fin nipping.
My little pineapple plakat is doing wonderfully, I check his fins everyday and in fact he's got a perfect while irridescent outline now on his fins.
Why are the fancy tailed ones bred? Are ANY of them even 'available' wild? Do they have tails anything like this in the wild?

 

[FishGuest5123]

Sadly, the tails have been bred into what they think people want. The Wild bettas are natural .

 

[FishBearer9845]

Love my plakat - within reason I know I don't have to worry about my boy's tail.

 

[Essjay]

Wild Betta splendens look nothing like the fish we buy. The body shape is similar to a plakat, but they are not colourful fish. Barry Tetra (who lives in Thailand) has said that in Thai, plakat is the name for betta splendens and means 'biting fish'.

 

[AquaBarb]

Ive never had issues with Panda's. Must be overbreed in the US

 

[Spalders]

I have always found Neon tetra to be a difficult fish to keep as well as a bit "boring". I haven't kept them for at least ten years but the last tank I had was a very mature planted setup and the Neons were still awful. I bought them to add a little colour and movement to a fairly muted tank but their colours were drab and they popped their clogs within weeks. Probably poor quality fish??

 

[Naughts]

We have a long tailed betta which is doing well for 18 months without disease. One problem I see on here is people buy sick betta from big box stores which perpetuates the poor quality in the market. They mean well in that they want to nurse them back to health but it just encourages the breeders and stores to churn out inferior stock.
I've no problems with our panda cories but my neons have an untreatable disease.

 

[Gypsum]

Had five white panda corys (*not* albinos) which didn't do well at all. They'd been linebred to the nines, obviously. I lost all but one. I didn't feel like buying more pandas after reading about the issues with them, so it lives with a shoal of CW009.