Cbass

See below as I tried to edit this post….

@Scapexghost Actually mine do. They eat omega one flakes and Xtreme nano pellets. They’ll also pick at the blanched spinach I give my shrimp at the bottom. @SpacedCadette I think that’s why I hesitate a little. My community tank is established. So the betta would be the last. I prefer the females since they’re mellower but like you said temperament always varies. The one good thing about the otos I have is that 2 of them work the night shift. The other 3 during the day. I have a 20 long that’s 36 inches across and have a lot of plants. So they have hiding spots. The only real concern are my shrimp. One of them is berried again. I don’t mind losing some fry to the betta as I don’t want 20 of them in the tank but I assume it would cause a little stress.

@Torreysuper helpful. And Corey brings up great points about the internet as always.

Hey all. Was wondering if anyone has had or has a beta in a community tank. In my 20 gal I originally was planning to have 2 females added to my school of 12 neons, 5 otos, and ghost shrimp. My LFS just gave me a call to let me know that they got a shipment of female koi bettas. I hesitate because my neons are bloody hell greedy when it comes to food and I know they can grab food faster. My other betta (who is unfortunately sick in her own tank) will eat from tweezers. But doing that every time I feed the community seems like a pain. I guess I’m just really looking for someone to talk me off a ledge or tell me it’s ok to jump. I sometimes get fomo when I see bettas, especially the half moon kois.

Hmm. 2 weeks is not a long time, especially for that size of tank. It’s technically still cycling. Typically it can take a month or 2 for the tank to finish cycling depending on the size and other factors. My 20 gal took 2 months. I wouldn’t change the water. You’re essentially removing some of the beneficial bacteria that’s trying to grow. You’ll need to let the tank run it’s course. The nitrite and nitrate spikes show that the bacteria is doing it’s job, however I would also test your source water. Where I live my tap has 0.25ppm ammonia and 5ppm nitrates to get a baseline. What kind of substrate are you using? How many gallons is the HOB filter rated at? As for the fish, I’ll let others chime in as I’ve always done a fishless cycle. But you may want to have a quarantine tank ready in case they start to show signs of poisoning. Nitrate isn’t as bad as nitrite. My neons survived an accidental fertilizer overdose where my nitrates hit 180. However take that with a grain of salt as my pH was 6.8. Higher ph levels are supposed to be worse with elevated levels. The one thing that I’ve learned is that patience really is key. Even my tank, which is 4 months old will have random spikes and I added livestock very very slowly, testing to see how the water changed and waiting awhile before deciding to add more.

Ah. In other words, it's a gradual add versus dosing everything all at once in the tank (I think articles say 1 tsp per gal then drop it all in at once). That sounds like it would be far less stressful. At the end of the day, I'm not too worried about the plants. It's a small tank and most of the plants are covered with red algae. So either way they're not going to thrive.

I'm actually going through the same thing with my small nano tank. After reading a lot of the feedback I think I may have a better idea of might have happened. Hope things get better! Agree with what everyone here says about tank cleaning. I have a 20 gal rimless, planted. As much as I dislike the algae growth, I really only clean the front glass and leave the rest for my clean up crew. It's to the point where they won't bother with algae wafers.

@BATWhen you did the salt, did you dissolve and drop it in the tank? Did you have change the water after awhile? I was thinking of doing the same at the expense of my plants (would rather have the plants die versus the betta) but wasn't sure how much stress that would put on her with the meds.

@ZenzoI hope she recovers as well. I ended up buying EM Erythromycin when I picked up General Cure as I wasn't sure if it was a parasitic or bacterial illness. I was going to try that after the second dose of General Cure as I've read it's not good to dose both at the same time. I definitely use an airstone (first thing I put in when I set the tank up). The air flow isn't turned up all the way because it creates a lot of current for such a small tank, and I didn't want her to stress when trying to swim. Good to know about the water municipalities. I have a 20 gal planted, and when I first got it up and running, the Ph was 6.8. Now it's 7.4 and it was driving me crazy trying to understand why since I use aquasoil.

Hi all! Our little betta all of a sudden started to feel ill and was hoping to get some advice. The other day I noticed that she had injured her mouth and started to rub against the substrate. Overall activity was fine though. Next day she was gulping air from the surface frantically and going to the bottom of the tank/hiding (she has always been active during the day). After testing the water, the nitrate levels kicked out almost 20ppm so I did an emergency water change and the levels dropped to 10ppm. The tank has some plants, but I've been battling green and red algae for a month. It's a 3 gal tank. She then started to breath heavily the next day. Note I do have an airstone and a heater. Temps are between 75-80 degrees daily and I do weekly water changes weekly. Based on what I know/read, I guessed gill flukes. I put her a salt bath for about 6 min since I didn't have any API General Cure. Later that day I put the meds in. She is still eating. I have to feed her with tweezers but her appetite is there. Just lethargic with slow and steady breathing (not gasping). The one thing I noticed: My tap water parameters have changed. In the past it was 7.6-8. Now it's 8.6. Right now her tank is 8.2. Dropped almond leaves (I use them in my other tank) to hopefully help. The current water parameters: Ph - 8.2 Ammonia/Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 5-10ppm Gh/Kh - 7 and 5 respectively Phospate - 0 TDS - 275 Thoughts? Thought at first it was ammonia poisoning, but I test ammonia every 3 days and always get 0 (0.25 after a water changes since my tap has trace amounts). At this point it may be a waiting game as I'd like to think I've done everything I can. The API instructions say that I need to dose again after 48 hours, so I plan to do that tomorrow. Pics below. She looks dead, but she moves from that spot to her hammock often.

Posting pics. So far so good. The mini ARs are doing well as far as the leaves and growth. The ARs have some crinkling once newer growth starts to fully develop but it’s growing. The newer ARs are doing well but it’s a little early since they’re only a week old. Rotalia has some paling of the tips on older growth but the new ones are doing ok. Weeping moss is all over the place. Going to have to trim. Current water parameters: pH: 7.6 No ammonia or nitrites Nitrates: 20-25 ppm Gh/Kh: 4 and 2 respectively. Was kinda surprised here. Last water change was Wed and my nitrate and Gh/Kh levels were much higher. So I’d like to think the plants are taking in as much as they can. In other news the momma shrimp dropped her eggs earlier this week. Literally the day after she was berried again. Sheesh.

@Seattle_Aquaristthe new growth looks good, but I would think give it one more week to see more of the development. The ARs start well but as the leaves mature they start to crinkle. But that was during the time I had the huge nitrate levels. Leaves on the AR mini have shown a good amount of improvement as far as leaf structure. the Crypt is growing well. The one thing I notice is that the leaves are becoming more upright, where in the past they were laying a little flatter. I think after one more week we’ll be able to see how everything looks and get a better idea. But all in all things appear to be settling in nice.

Progress pics as promised. Ignore the bright new AR. It’s extra from a TC since I had to redo my betta nano tank. Here’s the full rundown of the water as of today. pH: 7.6 Nitrite/Ammonia: 0 Nitrates: 30ish ppm Gh/Kh: 4 and 3 respectively Phosphates: 0 TDM: 174 (forgot that I had a meter) Also. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and single parents!

Quick status update. Will post pics tomorrow but here’s where I’m at. All plants seeing new leaves. ARs started growing again but the new leaves on the minis are a little pale (some with dark veins). Rotalas are growing taller and I pruned one stalk earlier last week to test how well it was doing. New growth within in 2 days. Need to trim the rest as they’ve started to get tall. Lagenandras stopped melting and are growing back. Crypt is still pale but is still sprouting some new leaves. I have a feeling lighting is part of the problem. Saving that for another time. Nitrates are between 20-30 with ph between 7.4 to 7.6. Gh and Kh are 8 and 5 respectively. No ammonia or nitrites. Phosphates are still nearly zero. Dosing 1ml (2 pumps) of AC ez green 2 times a week (medium light tank dosage). No other supplements yet. My otos survived the nitrate spike and are coming out a little more often. Bought 3 more and they seem to be more comfortable. Still have plenty of algae but I don’t mind. Hard to not buy 6 more otos. They’re fun to watch. More to come after I finish adulting.

Apparently it’s not an Amano. I checked with my local store today. It’s a ghost, which can morph in regular freshwater. Ironically the store that told me this is the same store that sold me them. The tank was labeled incorrectly and it was my very first time having shrimp. So I didn’t really bother to check that Amanos have a completely different body shape. Live and learn. Was a little disappointed because it killed my miraculous discovery, but was still surprised. Since my female is berried again I covered the filter inlet with coarse foam to prevent any future fry from getting sucked in. Since I wasn’t really thinking I would have any fry, I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch got sucked out with my latest water changes. Personally I think it’s a great idea to write a “this is what you should really do” instruction book that takes into account accessibility. I took typography and I can tell you that the combination of the instructions being on a skinny column with the font they use is irritating. I thought it was just me.

I hated chem. My sister is the super chem-god. She loves to balance equations in her head. Probably why she loves her job in forensics. I'm more of a physics guy, but only because I love auto racing. @Torreywow! That's pretty crazy. Reminds me of my betta. She likes to poop in 1 corner of her tank and of course, it's the hardest corner to get to when cleaning it out. Go figure. So after 2 water changes, the nitrates are down to 40pp. I figure 1-2 more should do the trick and I can start over. @Seattle_Aquarist once everything is said and done, should I continue with the epsom doses and see what happens after a month? I need to get another Nitrate test kit since I'm running low on solution and was also going to get one for iron to test the baseline in my tap. ALSO. I have a new addition to my tank. This morning I found this little fry. My amano was berried when I first got her, but we couldn't figure out where she dropped the eggs off, not to mention I thought amanos won't hatch unless the water is brackish? Either way, I'm going to have to be super careful when I change the water and may need to cover my filter inlet.

Thanks @Seattle_Aquarist. That makes sense. Finished the 1st water change. My tap has 5ppm nitrate, so I'm guessing that it will likely take 3 to 4 depending unless I use RO water, which would be like pouring money down the drain. Will let you know how things go in a week. For the time being, will hold off on any fertilization until things stabilize.

Good lord. I've been totally wrong this entire time. My nitrate levels are actually through the roof. I'm pushing 160ppm. SMH. My otos aren't going to like that. Going to do an emergency water change.

@Seattle_Aquaristyou mean shake the tester bottle for 30 sec? Oh wow. Then I’ve been missing it too! @Torreythats great to know. One of the reasons why I came here is because I was finding all of the “don’t do this” or “it needs to be at this level” info online that it really started ti confuse me. Just wanted to hear real world experiences. As for the soil, it’s ADA Amazonia 2. I’m surprised if it’s at the end of its life because it’s only been in the tank for about 3 months. Thought the shelf life was more or less around a few years, but obviously it would depend on how heavily planted. And yes. I typically leave the algae on all the hard scape and the back glass, especially on the lower parts of the glass since the Otos have been pretty shy.

@TorreySorry for the late post. Using the API Phosphate test. And thanks for the comments! So...I was out for a week and reluctantly had to leave the tank on it's own. Got back Saturday. I have an auto feeder that works pretty decent. Unfortunately, when I got back, it looks like the feeder dumped too much food each day. I knew the risk because they are never consistent. The good: No casualties. All the fish are accounted for and alive (so far). Before the water change (25% on Sunday) there was no ammonia or nitrate. Everyone seemed pretty happy. The not too good: Had a pretty large brown and green algae bloom. The ARs started to melt and my Rotalia leaves are crinkled, but there's a bunch of new growth below (they are starting to fill in the empty space). Moss is browning in places. Also, my pH is up (even after the water change) to 7.6. Rest of the plants are ok. Likely need to keep at it....and never leave the house for vacation. Lol. The "how did that happen" moment: Nerite(s) laid eggs and my female amano is carrying eggs again. Haha. Current water parameterspH: 7.6 Ammonia/Nitrite: 0Nitrates: 5ppmGh/Kh: 7 and 3 respectivelyAdded 1/4 teaspoon to epsom (changed out 5 gals of water exactly).AC fert dose this week so far: 4ml on Sunday. Recommended dose of Excel (2ml) after the water change. Normally, a higher than usual pH doesn't really bother me because it drops down to 6.8-7.0 after a day. But this is the highest the tank has ever been and I noticed before I left that the pH was floating between 7-7.2. I know you're not supposed to chase pH. But it's a little concerning. Thoughts? If I have to take action, I have almond leaves, RO/DI, and API pH down (though I hate using that stuff). Pics below.

Welcome to the forum. I got back into it as well after being out of it for over 10 years. I wouldn't say too much has changed aside from the fact that it's getting hard to find a local fish shop that has good stock (at least where I live). You're lucky that you're so close to the coop! Look forward to following if you have a journal. I only really kept aggressive fish and this is my first foray into a planted ecosystem. Learning a lot as I go along.

This post really made my day. LOL.

Thanks @Seattle_Aquarist! Yes. Patience is definitely something needed here. The sword plants I've never had an issue with. Super hardy. As for the Lagenandara, they are supposed to have a low C02 requirement (if you believe the Tropica website). Only issue with them right now is that they are attracting green dust algae, but it's the worst. Will keep everyone posted after the 1 month mark!

I used super glue to mount my weeping moss. works fine and it's supposed to be safe. You can also buy aquarium glue, which starts to harden when placed in water (super glue takes a little longer). Whatever you get, just make sure it's the gel version and not the normal thin liquid.

I have the Eheim 200. Yes, it has 2 outlets but if you are looking for something that is absolutely dead silent, it may not be for you. If you do decide to look into it however, I recommend it. For its size it's actually very quiet and you can adjust the air flow for each valve independently. There is a break in period where at the beginning, it will be a little loud but it eventually goes away (i don't use foam or anything below it). Mine took about a month and a half and the air flow is actually louder than the pump. The only drawback is that it's expensive when compared to other pumps.