Tony s

If I haven’t raised a type of fish before, I tend to go slow until I fully understand what they need. If it was me, I might just do 6 until I get them figured out. Then in a 29, I’d go 25 just for visibility since they’re really small. For endlers. Maybe 6, and just let them go town. most otos you’re going to find are wild caught. They’re supposed to have a pea sized belly pudge for health. If they don’t have that they’re already very hungry to starving. If they do they’re mostly okay to raise. They can lose a lot of energy in transit. Sometimes you can grow that belly but not always for the betta dgh 5 to 15 is preferred. 3-8 dkh would work. So 100-300 ppm gh and 60-160 ppm kh. I have 6 bettas currently. They all do fine in hard water. Or used to, anyway. But I am now changing the hardness for the angels and hopefully some rams and discus. But yeah, your water is fine for bettas. You shouldn’t have to change it for them. Bettas are really tough. Wild caught ones are found in large mud puddles

According to Cory. You can keep one discus. Yes they are schooling fish, but they’ll be okay. His reasoning, dogs are pack animals. Not very many people keep dogs in pack. People as packs don’t quite count. the problem you’ll have is discus like very clean, very warm water. Around 86 degrees. Which is hotter than most other fish can tolerate. Only a few corys can tolerate it. Sterbae is of the few. Kuhli’s won’t. Cardinal or rummynose will. Most other tetras won’t. Discus also need very soft water. My lfs keeps them in RO water only. That could work, but you’d have to add trace minerals back in for long term health. the next thing is price. Discus are really expensive. I’ve always been afraid of not quite getting everything just perfect and losing it. iv’e been thinking about this a lot. My wife would like a discus tank. 300 $ for a school and no discus experience. Think I’m trying German rams until I get used to very clean hot water. I’ve tried once and failed with them. Need to learn more. Or maybe just a red spot gold severum 😀

Depends on what you call stabilizing. I have platys ranging from 3 year old to 3 day old fry in same tank. With hornwart for fry protection. The population stops growing. Have had a constant population around 30 for about 18 months now. Very stable water conditions as well. My most stable tank. Populations grow until they reach their carrying capacity of the tank and population won’t grow afterwards. All animal species only grow to the carrying capability of their environment. wasn’t sure what that looked like for endlers. Could be a huge number

I haven’t done them before. But was wondering if their populations would stabilize like platys do. I currently have 20-30 platys in a 20g multi generational. But very stable

For swords, they draw most of their fertilizer through the roots. So you have 2 choices. Either root tabs once a month or so, or allowing mulm to build up around it in your gravel. Root tabs seem a healthier option. But I tend to do it by mulm Sword show deficiency by melting of the out leaves. The center should remain green and vibrant. while the outside leave start to skelotonize and melt away. And sometimes it can be healthy and look bad. I just pulled what I thought was a dying sword but the roots extended to the other side of my 75g tank.

I don’t think they’ll bother each other. And should be fine. I haven’t done that combination, but I can’t think of a reason why not. Their mouths are too small but you’ll need a lot of both . Eventually, maybe start small, figure out what works to raise each type. And then worry about the display you could also add otocinclus , they’re kind of cute. And they’d help with glass algae that shrimp won’t just curious, what are you mixing in with your betta water. I’m trying to make my water very close to yours. Trying to get my angelfish fry to survive. But I’m not adding anything to that water for bettas. I’m trying to find a stable water formula for all my fish. I may not be able to. but you do appear to have really good water. dGh 5-6. dKh3-4. Very much on soft side. But very versatile. The thing to think about, most fresh water fish are tank bred and raised. So using a lfs will get you fish already adapted to your water. If you buy fish from a different water source and they’ve been living in and adapted to hard water, you’ll actually cause an imbalance in osmotic pressure inside your fish. The higher gh and kh will try to even out into the tank, sometimes causing severe problems. Going the other way, your soft water fish will have an easier time adapting as the gh and kh slowly enters the fish. but that’s really not going to be a problem with your water . Yours is mostly soft to neutral.

It’s okay, when I started I did it same way. Lots of people do. You’re going to have to do what’s called a fish in cycle. You’ll have to start by doing a lot of water changes to keep your fish safe. Basically when fish eat, they create waste. Every animal does, problem being that fish have to live in theirs. And it’s toxic. Luckily we can add bacteria to our tanks and break change the toxins into less toxic forms. if you use YouTube, aquarium coop has a good video on aquarium cycle. So does prime time aquatics, girl talks fish, and kgtropicals. They’d do a better job explaining than I can. And much more fun. Lots more videos as well. Look under aquarium cycle or ammonia cycle. to help you’ll need 3 thing. Going to need some benificial bacteria. They sell it in bottles. Dr Tim’s, Fritzyme7. The pet stores have safe start I believe. You’ll need a bottle of seachem Prime. This will help detoxify the ammonia. You’ll need a test kit to make sure your water stay safe. Either test strips(ok) or API master test kit(better) to help you understand when your water is safe and when it’s not.

Most fish will adapt to ph ranges. Consistency is key. Try finding a local fish store that has close to your water parameters. Chances are you can keep almost exactly what they can. While it’s very possible to change your pH and your water parameters, it does create a ton more work. And can add inconsistencies to your tank water. I should know, I make 200 plus gallons of RO water every week and then re-mineralize it so it comes out almost exactly like what you have been given. I would stay away from some of the harder types like rams, or discus. Or things like the soda lakes fish, which need very hard water and high pH. Even African cichlids would need a ph boost. But using aragonite for substrate would work well for that. But with your water you have SO many options. Note: wasn’t talking about keeping anything with the shrimp. Just your water. Now for shrimp the endless would be great. Small Rasbora. Like chili or dwarf. Celestial pearl danios are very popular. Ember tetras or neon green Rasbora (kubotai). I can’t think of any small fish that wouldn’t go with your water. The key being they have to be small enough to not eat shrimp, and for 29 gallons you’ll need a lot so you can easily see them

Yeah, very nice. He could get back there. It will take a while. Curing the rot, then learning the cycle, that’s priority for now. Everything everyone has said about salt and botanicals is very true. But you have an active infection to cure first. If you go get some erythromycin, I would invest in some sort of water testing kit. I have both the API Master Test kit and coop test strips. I prefer api. go to YouTube and search aquarium cycle. Co-op has a good video. As well as girl talks fish. Kgtropicals as well. My favorite is from prime time aquatics. They have a whole series on water parameters. Jason is a microbiology professor, so gets deeper than a lot of other videos. They also have good videos on betta care

Have never used it, so don’t know. Erythromycin is available from both big box stores. In the US, anyways. E.M. Erythromycin is what I. I’m currently using in another tank for a white spot on a cory. And don’t get me wrong, big box stores are great for getting people into this hobby. But they have a very high employee turnover rate. So keeping up with good care doesn’t always happen. And for getting emergency supplies, they can’t be beat. Just use caution when buying animals there. He’s going to be stunning when this is over

Looking closely at him. Not sure if he’s not missing a bunch of side scales or not. Was going to buy another one Sunday. Looked very closely. What I thought was mottling, was actually missing scales. So I passed on him, I didn’t think I could help him in a community tank. Got 4 very small females instead, for an attempt at a sorority within the community

If it was me, I’d start him on the Maracyn or any erythromycin, Maracyn 2 would be better, but harder to get. Bettas are tough and can live in an uncycled tank for a short while. The key now is to stop the bacterial infection. If you got your betta from a big box pet store. You didn’t cause any of this. But you’re going to have to act quickly to help him. Follow the directions to the letter on the meds. Water change first thing. Then meds as instructed. 1 betta won’t build up a lot of nitrogen waste. So most important thing is to get infection under control. All the tank additives are great, but timing wise, you need meds first. Keep him warm 78-82.. that will make him comfortable. Try one round of erythromycin. While trying to find kanaplex or Maracyn 2 if initial round doesn’t work. bettas from big box stores are tricky. I currently have 7 in different tanks. Mostly in communities. Mostly from big box stores. They can come in with a whole range of issues, or none at all. Depending on the level of care they receive. Bettas in those stores only get water changes, no cycling . So it’s very possible to raise them in uncycled tanks. Just a lot more work. Cycling is healthier. With much fewer water changes. trying to cycle a tank while doing meds is probably not going to work. Cycle the tank after treating. Anything that kills the infection is probably going to kill cycling bacteria on a new colony. Then after treatment, work on cycling tank. Test for ammonia daily. If you see any do a water change. The cycling bacteria live on tank and substrate surfaces. So water changes won’t hurt your cycling Bettas can actually breathe air. So they can survive an uncycled tank easier than most fish. Just remember, this is not your fault. And he’s going to do better with you than where he was. If he had fin rot there. He wasn’t going to make it. You can give him a chance

Yes it could be. How many tanks have you had? Do you know about the aquarium cycle? Lots of people with lots of answers. Depending on your experience we can help find answers to almost anything.

Love Fz7. usually use fritz fuel and sometimes turbostart. I think it speeds up by a several days, I believe. Waiting is just torture, in a good way. Now i have to figure out how to "not start" cycles 😉 . up to 12 tanks, 250 gallons scattered throughout my house.

I live between Indy and Chicago. I have been very tempted to go to one of their swaps, just to meet Jason. Going to Chicago Aquashella though. If possible. My 8 yr old does dance team and gymnastics team. Weekends are not really a thing for us. 😉

Also from YouTube. Both kgtropical and prime time aquatics have very good beginner level videos and tutorials. I find out of all the sites on YouTube, Jason and Joanna’s Prime Time Aquatics really speaks to me sorry I’d put links but have no idea how to

Rule #1 though. You are going to mess up. I mess up all the time. Everybody who does this does. Everybody. It will be okay. You will learn and get better. Sometimes things will be absolutely great, sometimes horrible. You'll have a ton of fun and learn more about biology than is possible any other way. This hobby is great. but not always. I feel absolutely deflated when i lose fish, then i do better next time. It should be, when it is you are ready for your small school!!! any thoughts? or like me, way too many thoughts.

Prime is supposed to take the ammonia and change it into a less toxic form. It also helps dechlorinate the water when you're doing water changes. most city water uses chlorine to kill bacteria. so when you do water changes you add the prime in to keep your cycle going. chlorine also damages fish. follow directions on bottle. for 10 gallons it's 2 drops or 1/4 capful depending on the prime bottle. i would wait to add fish until your ammonia and nitrite is at 0. maybe a couple of days. but, soon!!!!

you should be able too. the key is continued testing over time. and get a bottle of prime just in case

not really, the key is you're converting nitrite into nitrate. But it still needs more time. and the whole cycle is going to rather fragile for a somewhat long duration.

Almost done. for adding more ammonia, you can. and when ammonia gets back to zero go ahead and add a small number of fish. and keep checking for ammonia. you don't want to over run your bacteria colony. Be patient and stock it slowly. And yes, I agree, Patience is absolutely no fun whatsoever 🙂

Yes. I'm on those sites daily (or more). with the correct kind of dither fish, they shouldn't bother the snails. and I've seen other fish do much more damage to the betta, than I've seen bettas do. Bettas don't like Betta's, or betta looking fish. other fish they really don't care about. depending on the bettas personality

dKh of around 2 and dGH around 3. both put you on very soft water. that honestly shouldn't do anything at all for your cycle. pH is mostly perfect. Are you getting any nitates at all. I think sometimes Dr Tims or Fritzyme7 takes a bit longer than advertised and always longer than we want. My lfs still does fish in cycle. and then fish returns after cycling. You could do that as well. but be ready with seachem prime and prepared for lots of water changes. There is another thing Ive had happened once. shipped bacteria from amazon and it froze and arrived dead. so, nothing left to create a cycle. but, possible more patience as well. maybe 1 more week. then the fun can begin

Was coming to warn about the antennae. But was just thinking, I keep bettas in community tanks. A small group of harlequins or pork chop rasboras would alleviate the aggression. And bettas never bother them. And they never bother the bettas. Several small species would work. Prime time aquatics has a better betta buddies video. And a bad betta buddy video for that matter

Same with mystery snail (i have a few hundred of those). Blanching is only for fresh, when they freeze produce, it kind of does the same thing