Chad

I like your stocking setup! Great advice above too. If you can add the gourami and Cory’s a week apart I’d do it. Otherwise add them together and keep a close eye on parameters. Water changes aren’t a big deal and neither is a little ammonia. .25-.5ppm ammonia has never hurt my fish or shrimp. I had a flex 9 and added 8 male guppies to it. With no females around and such a small tank they got pretty aggressive towards each other. Fin nipping and bullying. Keeping just 6 in a 15 is a great move. I wouldn’t add any more.

Your acclimation method seems right on to me. I had several die when I first added my cherry shrimp. I chalk it up to water parameters being different and stress. Still, enough did survive and took hold. Three and a half years later I have more than I know what do with and they’re the hardiest things in my tank. My advice, stay positive and keep up the good work. You got this. Sorry, some specifics. I mail ordered a dozen, I think I lost half. Mail ordered 10 more. Seemed like only 3 survived since I had a well planted tank already and I hardly ever saw them for the first couple months. But I now know they were there and multiplying fast.

I suppose you’re right and that’s the scary thing, that entry level keeper bar is just too low. I have tons of reasons but few solutions. I was told by a neighbor once, in a kinda snarky way, that fish keeping is too hard. I was forced to think but I liked my answer: “Fishkeeping is very easy once you learn how to do it. It’s the learning part that’s so hard.” There’s so much contradictory and straight out bad information out there that when you’re new who do you trust? They all sound plausible until you try them.

Ballerina was beautiful! A purple, pink and white Rosetail Betta! Why would you sell any other betta than a rosetail?! Absolutely stunning. She did have one eye that was twice the size of the other. I learned that sometimes they nick them and one puffs up. No worries, just keep giving clean water, quality flake food and you're good. I think I was using a dechlorinator but I had no idea what a cycle was at this point. Still, a couple water changes a week turned into every other day, focusing on keeping those filters spotless. Clean is clean right! And that tank was a hospital level of clean. You know where this is going right? The hospital clean tank soon became a hospital. I've honestly forgotten how this all sequentially broke down other than the popeye never went away and the fin rot started in the first week. After that it was a google searching flurry each day to try and quell whatever it was that was weakening and destroying poor Ballerina. I don't remember what all I tried and what all symptoms she had throughout but it ended with pineconing. In one month, Ballerina was gone. I was done, my daughter was sad but bounced back fast. Cats saved the day, distracting little buggers. So much for fish keeping, I gave up and left... for good. Or so I intended. Never learned about the horrible genetics of Rosetail Bettas until a year or so later. Learned that when time had passed and I wondered, "Maybe it's time my youngest daughter should try and have pet of her own?". That's my first personal experience with keeping fish. What grade would you give this star pupil? 😉

Let's take it from the beginning! Starting this journal up again got me to reminiscing. Then wondering, do I have pics of our first fish, of Ballerina? And yeah, I did. In 2015 I wanted to get my daughter a pet, all to her own. I've never kept fish, always thought they were neat but a college roommate had a tank of cichlids. They were rough, boring, and the tank was nasty. Looked like too much work too. But hey, I'm an adult now and I was certain fish-keeping had come a long way. I found a "cool" fish tank from Fluval, the Spec 3. The Spec 5 was there too but wouldn't fit on her dresser. Designer me liked the looks, the techie in me liked the set-up. A blog showing how to set it up for betta's and I was ready-set-go. What else did I need, right? Oh, the fish, I needed a fish! A trip to a couple local fish stores and I started getting worried. I didn't know much, but I knew those fish were in bad shape. Too many were past bad shape and gone. When you mention to a fish store owner or employee that several bettas seem to be dead (midwest polite way of saying LONG F'ing GONE!) in their display and their response is a facial expression that screams, "And?", might wanna move on. Definitely feeling confident with my tank choice though, all their betta tanks were plastic .5-1 gallon tanks. My 3 gallon tank was a comparative palace! Insert sarcasm here and yeah, lots of great fish moves coming shortly. A google search later that night about bettas and suddenly I was wowed. Unbelievable colors and options for bettas, and it seems most of these are sold on eBay!! Win-win, super easy and options galore. Found a few sellers with good records, not perfect but who is right? My daughter and I went through and found the one! A beauty, we hit buy and waited. The following week she arrived. She named her Ballerina.

I've heard they can. Mine never did but they were kept in a flex 9 and it's totally sealed minus a little vent hole. I have amano shrimp in my tank currently (33 gallon long) and I stuff balled up saran wrap into the crevices around the intakes to seal off any escape options. Maybe worth a try depending the size of the openings?

That's the thing isn't it? So many variables as to why a fish behaves in one tank differently vs. their norm. I think my tank was too thick with plants for the shiners' taste and their energy was spent rushing everywhere. I had a swim lane but I think it wasn't big enough for them. Too narrow. Also, it only scared the green neons, the golden cloud minnow were more than down to run with em 🙂 Ya know? I've never kept a centerpiece fish @Guppysnail. Other than my kids betta with some harlequin rasboras. Maybe that's what scared me off to the whole idea? A female betta, so sweet, so peaceful... nah, she was a ninja!

@Tony s and the others here are giving great advice. Follow it. The only point I'd make onto what's already been shared is to tinker. Slowly. Meaning that plants and lighting take some trial and error to get dialed in. If you see algae come on fast, lower the light intensity. Or duration. Or both. Adjust nutrients. Or don't. Your set-up will take time. With each change give it a couple weeks. Then adjust some more, wait a couple weeks, adjust again. A tinkerers mindset with some patience is a tricky combo but that's what you need to make plants and a tank really go. That and good advice from the folks like @Tony s

Prepare to be amazed and disappointed @Whitecloud09. There's an old saying, "A watched pot never boils". This stupid old saying was screaming in my head when I first got plants. Don't focus on them too much, let them settle, and before you know it you'll be pleasantly surprised. Speaking of surprises, the ones I thought would be awesome never panned out. Java Fern, I mean, I couldn't grow Java Fern!? Still can't! Then, a crazy, well-why-not, purchase went bonkers in my tank, Tiger Lily. Never imagined it would grow so beautifully or quickly! Go in with high hopes but be happily surprised by what actually ends up happening for your tank. My only certainty for you is it won't go as planned, and that's oftentimes a very good thing.

I'm curious what calmer fish you had in mind @Guppysnail? For me, I had green neons that would hang in the back all day. Added some rainbow shiners (not calm:) and the green neons then HID in the back all day. Just scared them more.

So glad to help @Whitecloud09! You're going to love adding those crypts and small plants. They take forever to grow, in my experience, but I like the small underwater forest look and those plants hit it out of the park right away.

Sorry, but I read my comment yesterday and feel like an asterisk needs to be included with that first sentence. When I mentioned Hornwort won't choke out your anubias, that's true. BUT, that also means you need to make sure there are nutrients in the water (Easy Green). Hornwort will suck a tank dry. What I should have said was that as long as your Hornwort is getting nutrients, your Anubias is. Keep up on nutrients with Hornwort. I took hornwort out of my tank solely because of the leaves falling off. In my experience, when the nutrients go down, so do the leaves. They're a GREAT plant for aquariums but a mess to clean and slow to grow back. IMHO.

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t club soda just seltzer water?

From what I had researched I was worried about getting my floaters wet at first too. I found that advice to be overblown. Once the frogbit and rrf got acclimated to the tank it’s taken off and been truly unkillable. I wouldn’t worry about dunking them once or twice a day to help rid them of bugs. Your betta will love the treats. Fully submerged for long periods is another matter, but seriously they dry very quickly when facing correctly/up.

Hornwort will take more nutrients but no worries, anubias won’t get choked out. I keep high light and low light plants with very little issue just like @Pepere wrote. In my case I sectioned off an area of the aquarium surface with airline tubing and suction cups and let the Amazon frogbit go crazy there, underneath on the floor I keep my ferns, crypt and anubias. In other areas that the frogbit isn’t shadowing the tank I let my more high light plants grow. See where the hornwort creates shadowy areas and put the low light plants there.

Regarding food for amanos? Mine covet the hikari sinking wafers I feed my cory's. Little bastards just swoop down, snag one and hang from my frogbit chowing down. Been like that for over a year and they're fine so them eating fish food is fine. Got the amanos for algae control only, shocked at how much I like them. They're a lot of fun to watch. Enjoy, and congrats on the tank, looks great!

I'd be worried about enough aeration too, but you'd know pretty quick if that becomes a problem. Dang, that's an interesting solution @EggShappedFish, nice!

Also a great point @Guppysnail. I simply thought there's a professional disconnect between the fish breeder who sells fish and the aquarist who gives fish away to try something new. One's trying to make a living or at least a nice side-hustle and the other is giving up. At least that's the thought that was running through my mind. I also know that most MTS addicts (just kidding here! love you all) aren't in their situation because they didn't know what to do with their old fish. But I recalled some chatter like that a while back and thought to myself, "Am I bad for calling a do-over?" Been hesitant to put it out there and find out. Until now, thanks again.

Thanks @Guppysnail for sharing. Couldn't say it better and I feel exactly the same way, obviously. I didn't know if this was frowned on or not in the community? So I figured let's get this out there because I've always been nervous to share it.

No Multiple Tank Syndrome here. Okay, so let's start off with what might be considered a no-no of fish keeping that I'm guilty of but it's worked for me. I don't have several tanks or a fish room. But I do get rid of fish that don't work out, or I get tired of, to refresh my main aquarium. I say main because I do have a quarantine and/or grow out tank in my basement. And no, I don't dispose of them but I do give them to local fish keepers that want them. I don't think I'm being cruel but some may disagree. I could see how some might say I'm being flippant or callous about keeping living pets. It's true that I don't feel the same emotional bond to fish as I do with cats or dogs. Some do bring that bond out in me, but I enjoy groups of nano fish and generally they don't elicit such feelings. Love to watch them and care for them, but when a fish or group of fish aren't working out in the way I'd hoped, I move on and try something new. Thankfully, others have gladly taken them off my hands. So, am I a bad guy? Maybe, I don't think so but what bad guy ever does? This has allowed me to learn so much about fish and what I want out of fish keeping without keeping more tanks than I can manage. Because that's the other thing I knew, without question, before starting this hobby: I'm not going to take care of several tanks the way one should. I'll burn out if I try it. It's not easy to own up to here but I know that's what I'd do. So I steered clear of buying any more tanks. I knew, every time, what I wanted only to have it not work out like I'd hoped. So I thought, maybe for a while anyway, I'd share my take on some fish that I've kept, why I loved them and why I got rid of them. Also some that have been in my tank the whole time too. But maybe that's not cool? Which is why I figured I'd get this said right now.

Aww, thanks @Guppysnail! And right back at ya, you're a huge source of smiles and info on these forums. Wouldn't be the same without ya 🙂 I'm going to talk more about my personal experiences as to all the fish I've had in the coming days. Lot's of opinions and rationales about why I did what. Not always what one would deem proper, but I'm only human.

It's been a while, but I've been keeping this wonderful hobby moving along in my house. Can't believe how time has flown. Anyway, saw a post about showing tanks that have been around and for how long. I meant to share but realized I hadn't taken a pic of my aquarium in over a year. So now I'm sharing and reopening this old journal. Here's a pic of the tank fairly new, about 5-6 months old. And here we are today, around two and a half years later. Same tank, new fish. I added a trio of Kohaku Swordtails and a pair of Yellow Tiger Guppies from Dan's Fish about 3 months ago. One of the female Swords passed during childbirth but she had a lot of kids. Anyway, I'll add more to this in the coming days but for now a simple thanks for being here. I've been lurking on the forum here and there. Not commenting much since there are far better minds sharing their expert wisdom. Still, in the meantime I've been learning a lot from you all. Again, thanks!

Sounds like you got a great setup and I’m glad you’re medicating. I think whenever I tried to medicate it was a too little too late kinda thing. Great move with your hang on back. Both carbon and flow. As for nipping, my experience is nipped fins regrow more slowly than I thought they would. As long as they’re stable or growing slowly you’re fine. In my case, the fin got nipped and then started dissolving. That told me I had more going on in my tank. If that’s not the case you’re doing the best you can and checking all those boxes. Keep it up and good luck!

I'm sorry to read about you tank problems @AquaticTurtle. You're going through a lot of problems that feel similar to mine a few years back. I doubt I can give you any advice that will help but I'd like to try. I'm glad @Colu is here to help with advice regarding meds. I've never had much luck with meds, other than dealing with Ich, I hope that's just me. When you say your guppies are breathing heavily on the bottom I first think low oxygen or ammonia (which you don't have, your numbers are all fine). Same if they're on the top surface and doing the same thing. You mention nipped fins and fin rot. I only just learned black skirt tetras are fin nippers, so it could be your male guppies are being bitten and their already weak immune system is causing it to grow and become fin rot? Bent spines are genetic issues but better minds may know more. Sunken bellies, sadly, I've never been able to get a guppy to rebound from this. As soon as they start hiding and lose their appetite it's always ended badly. I thought I had TB in my tank, or some other really bad stuff that was slowly killing everything in my tank and maybe I did. But I also learned that I wasn't circulating or oxygenating my water very well in my tank (20 gallon long). Too many plants with too many fish with too little flow. So just curious, what are you using to filter your tank? Any plants and if so what kinds? It's a shot in the dark, but if I can help I'd like to. I also want to know if the meds did turn things around, fingers crossed they did.

To my knowledge, all female guppies are pregnant. If yours is, she's a ways out from having babies. I would say 2 weeks from kiddies.