Connor

Have you noticed any difference in aggression with male v female bettas? the male I had previously wouldn't hurt a fly, but the females I've had have all been cold hearted killers.

There would be a backup 5gal just in case for the betta, as well as plenty of caves and hiding spots for the Apistos. That betta imbellis is gorgeous! where did you get them from? Id also be looking into some betta breeding so how difficult are the betta imbellis to breed? Agreed, I've had mixed success with keeping bettas with other fish/shrimp. I was thinking - if anything - a male betta with longer fins so they'd be slower and less likely to catch anything. But I would definitely have a plan B. Who knows maybe I can use it to convince my girlfriend to let me setup another tank 😀

Im considering setting up a 20-30 gal tank with an apisto pair, some tetras or rasboras, some otos, and amano shrimp. My question is: would I also be able to add a betta to this tank without it causing problems with the apistos or will they be too territorial?

The temperature is at 78f. They are with guppies, most of which are juveniles or fry, and a couple albino corys. They didn't seem to be eating a lot of the sinking pellets I put in there, but there were veggies as well as plenty of algae. I also only had the pleco for 5 days before it died on me, which wouldn't have been enough time for it to have starved. The other two are now by themselves in an older tank while I try to figure all of this out and seem to be feeding regularly. @Robert

Its less than 40, between 20 and 40, I had done a 25% water change 2 days before so the water should have been at a good level.

Last Sunday, I bought 3 of the locally bred super red plecos that you guys brought in. They all looked fine until one of them dropped dead on me out of the blue yesterday. The other two are looking fine and haven't had any problems. I performed a water test (120-180GH/20-40kh/7-7.5ph/0 ammonia/<40ppm nitrates) and examined the others for signs of disease or injury and saw nothing. I thought I knew all the main signs to look for but I can't seem to find anything. Every single other fish in the tank is fine, even the days old guppy fry. Is it possible that I simply got a weak fish and the stress of being moved killed it? Please help @Robert

Wow, that's a ton of information! Thank you! Luckily, we have incredibly soft water where I live so apistos and tetras should thrive here. They are both such amazing fish, I can't wait to keep them!

Hey guys, I'm looking at trying to breed Ember Tetras, Apisto Cacatuoites Super Reds, bristlenose plecos, and neocardinia shrimp this coming year. I've been able to find plenty of information on breeding Neo shrimp and plecos but the info about Apisos and Ember tetras has been more lacking. Are there any good resources out there for breeding those two? I haven't been able to find much about the lifecycle for apistos or ember tetras or much about the right diet to condition apistos. I plan on trying to colony breed the tetras and some cherry shrimp in the same tank, would I have to worry about the shrimp eating the tetra eggs or tetras eating baby shrimp in large enough numbers to worry about?

Do you currently have super red bristlenose plecos available? I'm planning on making the drive up soon and I want to make sure the fish I'm after are there.

@Ken Dyer, @Maggie Thanks for the advice and warm welcome! I'll be sure to try out that shrimp food and the crushed coral and post the occasional update when I have the tanks started. From what I've read, its super important to give shrimp babies cover- that's the main reason for the dwarf sagittaria I plan to add. Ken maybe a better way to ask the question about that LED strip would be to ask if the wattage, lumens or color spectrum is going to be important in an aquarium light setup. I use grow lights for the plants I have and the color spectrum is very important to optimize growth and the efficiency of the light, are aquarium lights supposed to be set up in a similar way or does it end up being more to simulate night/day and the visual appeal? I'm hoping to save a bit of money in the short term by using strip lights before expanding to something more like a finnex or fluval aquarium light as I spend more time in the hobby.

Hi everyone! My name is Connor and I'm relatively new to the hobby and I'm looking into expanding my setup to 2 larger tanks. I currently have a Betta in a small 2.5 gal tank and I plan on moving her to a new 10 gal that will eventually become a community tank with some tetras, a bristlenose pleco, some kuhli loaches or some otocincluses , and some snails. I am also planning a 10 or 20 gal neocardinia shrimp and guppy tank that I hope to set up as a bit of a breeder tank. I plan to set up the tanks with a good variety of plants, an anubis and moss balls for the betta and dwarf sagittaria and water sprite for the guppies and shrimp. I had a couple questions I was hoping could be answered before I pulled the trigger and bought everything I think I'll need. 1) Living in the Seattle area, with very soft water, are there any changes I would need to make to the water in my guppy/shrimp tank if I want them to thrive and breed? Knowing that guppies prefer a higher degree of hardness and shrimp need calcium, I've looked at adding things like crushed coral to the gravel but I want to make sure it will be a worthwhile addition. 2) Would something like a 24 watt LED strip light off of amazon work as low lighting for a tank? Either with daylight (6000K) or RGB. 3) Are any of the aquarium co-op anubis especially good for a betta? I'd like to give her some leaves or something to rest on near the top I'm super excited to set these tanks up, although I plan on taking it slow and only adding fish as the others get comfortable. I'm really excited I found this community and can't wait to make my first trip up to Aquarium Co-op in the near future!