Lavender

I’m in for a world of pain…it’s the moonlight sand. More specifically, Tahitian Moonlight sand, which is the really black stuff. But I don’t think they can sift the other stuff…but I also don’t think my HOB can survive that much sand. I’m more just concerned about seeing them sift. I doubt they can do much of that in gravel. And since the Petco sand is basically small gravel…oh well, I’ll live I guess. I turkey baste all my betta tanks daily, mainly because I’m constantly bored and blackwater gravel gets dirty quick, so…not a huge deal.

Oops sorry I accidentally abandoned this thread- have been going a lot of places recently. Personally, I haven’t seen the type of thing being mentioned about the fin rot and such- that happens because of stress and bad water practices, not because they’re in high flow. Not keeping a filter on said tank like in the above video is probably more likely to give her fin rot. I’ve never seen a plakat develop any sort of fin issue, really- one of mine got dropsy towards the very end of his life (6 years), but that was kind of it concerning illnesses. She’s shortfinned on all fronts, but she is a more colorful betta (rescue girl- took her from a badly put-together sorority, she’s a galaxy koi), so that could possibly be a problem. I’m making a point to get tetras that aren’t known to swim very close to the top, so as long as she doesn’t go to the bottom of the tank constantly she probably won’t be stressed (and she’s a very top-dwelling betta). If she is stressed, I’m keeping her 5 gal beneath the tank stand to put her in if it doesn’t work out. I think I’ll put her in and just see how she does, see if she explores or not. In her current tank, she’s pretty much always at the top, and I haven’t tested her around other fish yet. I‘ll keep the apistos in mind, though, if she’s not cut out for the community tank. The filters I’m keeping on this tank are the Aquatop filters, as for some reason every time I buy name brand filters they miserably fail me (Looking at you, Cascade that began smoking midway through the night!). I’m keeping a quarantine tank, so I’ll put the largest filter they have on this one and once quarantining all my fish is finished I’ll put the smaller filter on it. I’ve got plans to baffle them really well (pieces of plastic with holes in them, sponges, craft wire…), so they should work nicely for her as long as I keep floaters. Which I am- red root floater, Amazon frogbit, and water chestnut.

What could happen? I do know they’re a bit more…cichlid-y than most other dwarf cichlids, so I’m being cautious.

Hmm…is the Tahitian Moon sand alright if you wash it throughly? It seems it can leach ammonia if you use the package wash instructions, but it’s also the exact perfect color that I wanted from the Petco sand. Even better, actually. I did find some for sale online. I’ll look into the flourite sands. I’m already using the (red) gravel to grow plants in, and I’m not too confident about kuhli loaches in them. They’re usually pretty good, but who knows?

So, I’m planning my 75 gallon, and I want to use black Petco sand, as it’s the prettiest sand (Black diamond blasting sand has a shininess to it I don’t like). However, it’s slightly gravel-like, which concerns me, as I want to use it with sand-sifters (Ie- Bolivian rams, possibly Keyhole Cichlids). It’s said to be alright with Cory catfish and kuhli loaches in other forums, but I’m unsure about sand-sifters with it. Yea or nay?

So, I’m looking at what centerpiece fish I want in my 75 gallon besides the betta (currently developing a stocking plan and buying hardscape for it). I think this should be pretty safe, since she’s short-finned, peaceful, and will probably stay out of the way…but I don’t know. If not, I’ll probably just do Bolivian rams, perhaps keyhole cichlids, and leave it there. I will baffle all filters and provide lots of floating plants and leaf decor for her to rest in at the top (in the plant and tank ideas), and all tankmates are compatible with both fish. As for the specific type of apistogramma, I am hoping to have two trios of cockatoo apistogrammas, as borelli is not tempature compatible with my other fish. There is a coconut cave for every apistogramma, including the males. Plus a few more caves I drilled in the driftwood for them. There’s some things online about bettas and apistogramma together, but they’re all either male bettas in small tanks with them or females in small tanks with them. My 75 is much larger, so I think it might be alright for both fish.

(For context, I’m talking about the glowLIGHT danio. Not the Glo-fish danio. Totally different thing and species- the glow fish danio is a zebra danio genetically modified, glowlights are a entirely different species. I’m deciding what to put in my 75 and they’re really cute.) So, anyone keeping these little fish? They look beautiful from the pictures I’m seeing, but I can’t find much on them being kept by people on forums. Do they have some big flaw I’m not seeing, or are they being buried beneath the glofish?

Well, I think I’ve probably got a good chance of having it work out. It’s got heavy planting, lots of room, and I plan to have a lot of loaches on both sides. I do have a tank to relocate the betta if he gets nipped/stressed. Will be doing more research, however. Worried my Kuhli loaches will be intimidated with them. Has anyone tried Bolivian rams or another similar dwarf cichlid with these?

I don’t want to risk odd numbers of rams. I’m worried they’ll kill the odd ones out. I’m following typical dwarf cichlid stocking rule, so I might end up with a extra pair of rams in this. (A 75 gallon has space for 6 dwarf cichlids.) The betta, there’s loads of plants and floaters in the aquascaping plan, and I’m using HOB filters with the flow turned all the way down for everyone. I also buffer all my filters with a piece of plastic with holes poked in it or filter floss, which should be enough for him. I could actually go up to 17 on most of the tetras with little more stocking. It seems Aqadvisor counts the first fish for a lot in schooling fish and then the rest aren’t as much. Can’t cut the loaches in half. They’re extremely social fish who don’t count for a lot of the stocking and get bitey when not in good numbers. It’s a extremely heavily planted tank- I plan for the entire back of the aquarium to just be plants, with a small area in front sparsely planted with some kind of grassy plant for my cory catfish and other bottomdwellers, and some kind of mossy overhang effect over that area. Then plants on the sides. Also, lots of Amazon frogbit and red root floater. Overfiltered (I always overfilter my tanks) with a Aquaclear 50, Aquaclear 110, and a very large sponge filter (for 75 gallon tanks), assuming I can get said filter to work. I think I’ll probably just stock with the hardiest species first- unfortunately a fair amount of what I want isn’t hardy enough to go into a newly cycled tank (or, in the case of the loaches, much too expensive to risk). I don’t really have anything I already have to put in the tank, but I am very locked on the betta. I’m going to start looking for bettas in the next few weeks or so, get whoever I pick into the quarantine tank. I know they’re supposed to be the last thing you add, but…well, I can always just keep him in the quarantine tank until it’s fully stocked. It’s a planted, nice quarantine tank anyways. I’m not factoring inverts into stocking here, by the way- for some reason it thinks a simple amano shrimp counts for more than my ember tetras.

So I’m stocking my 75 gallon, with mostly tetras. I’m not super experienced with stocking this size of a tank, since I’m usually dealing with 20-30 gallons, but it seems to me I can have a extra school of tetras. However, Aqadvisor says I’m already overstocked, so…Dunno. It also says, for some reason, that my bristlenose plecos and albino cory cats are somehow unsuited to go with a betta. I get that it’s a rudimentary stocking tool at best, but…am I right? Or are they? This is the tank without the tetra school I want. So, as you can see, it says I’m overstocked. Unsure if this is enough to actually matter, but it is bad. Now, I’m also looking at adding one or maybe two schools of tetras to this. I don’t need them or anything, but I want them a lot. This is the stocking with that. So…yeah. I don’t quite get a lot of this stocking. I’m trying to avoid overstocking my tank, but this…doesn’t really appear overstocked? I mean, yes, it is a lot of fish, but the biggest fish in this setup are the little bristlenose plecos and rams, and those are only accounting for around 20% of the stocking. My Cory catfish alone were more than that. Everything else is under two inches with a low bioload. Anyways, I’d also like Red Eye or Rosy tetras, but I don’t want to catch AqAdvisor’s server on fire. Plus, that does actually seem like too much. Unfortunately there’s not much stocking reference for a 75 gallon with just tetras. This seems to usually be a cichlid setup, sadly.

So, first off, I just discovered these cute little fish today. Scrolling through aquahuna, found them. They’re adorable, and I want 12 of them in my 75 gallon. However, I need some clarification. Would these fish be severe fin-nippers in a 75 gallon? I heard from some sites that they were, and some that they would be fine. I’m hoping for a betta in this tank, and while I’m willing to get a halfmoon plakat or female, I’d prefer a veiltail. It’s a standard-size 75, so it’s doubtful the betta will even see them half the time, but I do want to make sure. Would they get along with kuhli loaches? I heard someplace that loaches didn’t get along with other loaches. Would a Bolivian Ram attack them? As far as I can tell, their only flaw is being a bit curious, but I want two pairs of Bolivian rams in this tank. I don’t care about breeding, and don’t want them to have fry. However, I also don’t want my loaches hurt. Will they attack?

All the advice I saw was mostly to get more bettas, but not overstock. Mostly they wanted a specific amount of females for a specific tank size. 19 seemed appropriate from what I saw. They also suggest adding livebearers as dithers, mostly male guppies, but I can’t do that because of water requirements, so my dithers are tetras. Plus, all the other advice- different colors, similar sizing, no dumbo ears, and odd numbers. Although there’s like fifty conflicting opinions, so…will be looking at more stuff. As for the problem with getting 19 bettas…mostly I just plan to acquire them over a year or so and test them in smaller sororities. That should go well. I’ve got several 20 gallons set up for this, and 19 Breeder boxes for perfect acclimating. It seems a large problem with sororities isn’t the start, but more that as your girls die of old age they suddenly murder each other when the dominant female dies. I’ve got a breeder box for every girl, so if they do hate each other, at least I can separate them fast and then go about finding them homes. I also saw some harems, which seems interesting, but since this is going to be my first sorority, I’m not going to try that.

I’m looking at a 75 gallon filled with tetras, with fish susceptible to fin nipping (betta, possibly Bolivian ram- need more research on compatibility with the betta). Anyways, I want flame and red eye tetras, but I can’t tell if they’re aggressive or not. The flame tetras are said to be aggressive on other forums, but they’re also usually said to be like that in small tanks. The red eye tetras have also been described as fin nippers. Are they, or is that just in a small tank?

Yeah, females always look adorable- they’ve got the betta eyes. They’re just so cute. Especially the Cambodians- there’s something about their dark little eyes. I’m still kinda mad I’ve never gotten too many- I always just go to the store and try to buy something different from my last betta. Currently, I’m the proud owner of a blue crowntail and the soon-to-be owner of a red halfmoon with some gold scaling. They’re taking forever to ship him because of weather, unfortunately. He’s going to be a beauty, however. Plus, the soon-to be owner of either 19 females or one male or female- I’m deciding between making my 75 gallon a sorority or just putting a giant betta into it. Have been doing tons of research on the sorority accordingly. Dumbo ears to me can be either just like a normal betta or sad. The females seem ok, but the ones I got were Petco girls with little fins. The male I got couldn’t swim correctly, because they were the size of his head.

Good to know I can put her there. I have kept a fair amount of male betta community tanks in the past, but I think it should be ok- this is planned to be a regular heavily planted tank, maybe with some kind of gimmick- I do have the idea of doing all red or yellow plants. This would be my first time keeping Pygmy cory catfish with one: I usually do tetras and regular-sized cories in a big tank. Usually the more colorful tetras, too. I’ve done espei rasboras once or twice, and it worked great, but that could just be because they’re not colorful. The ones I want are the kubotai rasboras, which are green and blend in fantastically. Am also considering chilis, but they’re a bit skinny, so they’re out. As for females, unfortunately a lot of them are dumbo ears at my store, but I can probably find some that aren’t. I have one local pet store (unfortunately it’s mostly saltwater), and a few chains that I can probably pick out a girl from. I know you’re supposed to support breeders and all, but to do that I’d have to ship the betta and I really want to be able to gauge her personality before I buy her. Absolutely no idea how to get a galaxy koi female with or without that trait. They’re probably my favorites, but…as for how, no clue. Will probably just go there and buy a female- they have a whole rack of just females to choose from on a good week. The females tend to be longfinned veiltails. Not super longfinned, but longfinned enough to be obvious. Usually Cambodians or Koi. I’ve seen one or two crowntails as well, but all of them have the exact same color pattern as my current male, which I’m trying to avoid. I do want to breed eventually, but most of my goal for getting a female is just getting something different.

I’m looking into getting another betta. I have other places I can put it, but the best for me would be on a tall bookshelf directly across from my current betta, Bluey (I could also build a new stand, but I would prefer this). I want to get a female, preferably a galaxy koi or dumbo ear one, and put some Pygmy cory catfish, shrimp, or perhaps some kind of microrasbora in with her (this would be in a 10 gallon). The bookshelf is roughly a yard away from his tank. Too close? I’m not sure if he can see that far or not, and I don’t want him stressed because of her, (or more likely her stressed because of him.)

Unfortunately, the 75 isn’t stocked yet, but it will be cycling as soon as I can get my substrate shipped. So far, my plan is either lots of tetras in a really big betta community tank, a Oscar, or cichlids. Leaning towards the tetras and betta. As for the bettas…one of them is in shipping currently, so no pictures. This is the other one, named Bluey, and he’s fabulous. The snail is a temporary after his old tank randomly capsized on me. Thankfully the water has fairly high GH so he’s good for now.

I have very hard water (As in, the GH is above the highest on the freshwater testing kit), with a ph of 7.5, but I really like tetras, so to do a tank I would have to fill it with RO/DI water (Or turn it blackwater, but that feels like a waste in a 75 gallon. Plus, it would stink, so I’m wary.) The only hard-water fish I really like are African cichlids, and I don’t want to run the risk of walking in on a bloodbath every day, especially since I’m not experienced with extreme aggression. My other idea was to either fill it with as many bettas as possible and turn it into a big biotope tank, or to have like fifty barbs in it and just watch the activity all day long. I don’t like either of those plans as much as I like the idea of a big, pretty tetra tank, and seeing as I’m already buying a rodi for my saltwater tank, I might as well do a tetra tank. Edit: I also do like the idea of putting discus in it, but they sound nearly impossible to keep, so I’m wary.

My aquarium I’m setting up, a 75 gallon, is a tetra tank, and I’m putting a lot into it: Rodi water, a co2 system, nice aquascape, all the frills. I want to see what one looks like finished and stocked, as tetras are hard to do in my water and if the finished product looks bad and isn’t fun to watch, I’ll give up and go with my original plan of a bunch of bettas.

I’m just curious. I’ve only ever seen them mentioned in passing, or once seen on a separate forum. I did earlier go to a pet store and see a black betta with red eyes…guess it reminded me to ask about stuff like this.

I can’t tell you about the actual, non-mixed species, but I’ve kept a green alien (Probably a hybrid of that species and Splendens), and they act…a lot like a Splendens, basically. They flare at their reflection, I doubt he would have done well with another male in the tank…they’re beautiful fish, so don’t let that keep you from getting one, but aliens definitely aren’t peaceful. Or maybe I just got a hyper-aggressive fish and all the other aliens are balls of love. The actual fish might be different. I do see them being sold in pairs much more often than Splendens, so that may indicate them as more peaceful, but I wouldn’t count on it.

I figured it could be ok with their wider body shapes, but if they get to six inches…yeah, no way are my ember tetras surviving that. I do like their trout-like look, however. I’m really only doing cursory research right now, checking to make sure they’re actual bettas and don’t have super weird/specialty care requirements, since nobody makes care guides for the rarer wild-types beyond a few specialty sites. It’s probably fine if they’re just like Splendens. I mostly want them for the shininess. Giant betta I believe are usually just a Splendens bred to be larger, unless you get a real wild-type anabatoides. Wow, Api Api is beautiful: definitely on the list now.

So, I’m working out my 75 gallon, and have ultimately decided against cichlids. I am still looking at Bolivian rams, but I want the real centerpiece of the tank to be a betta. So far, I’m looking at giant betta, betta Imbellis, betta smaragdina, and betta macrostoma, but I’ve found many other betta species, so which would be best for the tank? It’s soft, rodi water, and while the tank is technically supposed to be a Amazon river biotope…whatever, I made one exception, I can make another one. The stocking is mainly small to medium sized tetras, none of them fin-nipping, scale-eating, or plainly aggressive. For the bottom, I have a decently sized shoal of Cory catfish, some captive-bred otocinclus, and as many small-medium plecos as I can put in. Plus, kuhli loaches, whom I hope I’ll see every decade or so. Nothing should be terribly aggressive or fin-nipping, or occupy the same space as the betta. I’m also looking at sororities, but unless I can convince my parents to let me keep the backup tanks, it probably won’t happen, despite how pretty and cool to watch they are.

So, while I have no plans to buy albino bettas in the future, due to the eye disorders and whatever, has anyone ever seen them? Just curious, since they aren’t common. And if you’ve owned them, are they any different than regular betta Splendens?

Eh, I’ve already decided against it now. I think my lone female should do swimmingly in the tank: high flow shouldn’t be a problem for her. I do have a permanently set-up 20 gallon I use as a quarantine tank I can easily put her in while I cycle her own tank if she gets stressed.