Fonske

@FLFishChik If nothing time-restricted (like a sale) is pressing you to decide right now, my advice is just wait. Focus on something else for a while and decision will come naturally :)

Ahhh...Congos got me into the hobby, lol.. I saw a tank full of them in a pet market and was smitten, in love at the first sight! Thought they were the most elegant and beautiful fish in the entire (huge) market, better then discus and bettas even. I'm not sure why people call congo females drab, by the way... all congos I've seen were very pretty (but it's possible they only sell immature males here). Sure, mature males get the fancy tails and more iridescence, but even without it, the species is striking, imo. If you're not looking for fish with some personality, go for congos :) Add: they come in albino too, super-ethereal ))

If there is no clear winner, maybe wait until you fall in love with something else :)

How about adding some Golds or Silvertips as well? 😄 Just kidding, diamonds will look fabulous on their own

Haha :) I'm not into tetras in general, but I'd say congos are the prettiest of them all. They school tight too, unlike diamonds. Congos are also very peaceful, never bother another species, but sometimes males chase each other. Another advantage is they photograph well, again, unlike diamonds which are almost mirror- reflective. I also think both species look their best in a very dark tank, like mine here had both black background and black substrate and the colors really shined.

I had both, the size ratio on mine was about 2.5 (congos) to 1 (diamonds). Congos are BIG! And absolutely stunning-looking. Both species coexisted fine although I moved diamonds to another tank because they look a bit too similar, silver and shiny all the way.. Also despite being much larger, my congos were a lot more shy. Diamonds were far more assertive.

I keep a solo female angel. She seems fine and content alone in the tank and was ok with various tank-mates of other species in the past too. Here she is with her recent attempt of solo reproduction ) Update: she is laying on the filter again right now as I'm typing this :)

Yes, they've got such unusual body shape, gorgeous pattern, and a funny/elegant way of movement! I particularly love that the pattern extends to the tail and the fins too. This is mine when it was a lot younger and smaller (it's about 5" now, I think)

After several years of fish-keeping I narrowed my preferences down to "fish with some brain cells", which is apparently more important than looks for me :) Currently this category includes a trio of blood parrots, an angel, and a leopard bushfish.

I see my attempt to help sounded more serious than intended :) It's all good, I hope OP and their SO find a way to compromise/cooperate and the fish gets a roomier home too )

Consider the reversed situation. Would you like them to talk/trick you into something you really don't want? Repeatedly? To get them on board, try bargaining. There must be something they want (and you most likely don't). Offer (and deliver, of course) that in return for your new tank.

She is the only fish in the tank. She's busy fanning the eggs and being super-protective (against humans) but some of the eggs are turning white already.

I haven't done much today but one of my blood parrots did. Lots of eggs on her filter! ..too bad she is alone in her tank.

Depends on the shrimp and the betta... My super-aggressive spade-tail male lives in a heavily planted 5g with lots of ghost shrimp (and various pest snails) and they are all cohabiting just fine. Never seen the shrimp attacking the fish or vice versa. The shrimp were the first in the tank though and they had a lot of time to make it their home and multiply like crazy before the betta was introduced.

It always helps me to consider the reversed situation...what would your SO have to do to convince you to have something in the house that he wants and you absolutely don't? If "nothing, I love my partner and want to see him happy no matter how it impacts me", then there is no problem, one tank it is. But assuming the answer is "it depends", then just talking about "another aquarium won't impact anything" is unlikely to work, I think. What might work is giving your SO something *he* wants in exchange. Make the deal sweet for him and the second tank might happen (or not 😉).