My Betta fish unexpectedly died! Now what!? (options for my brand new Aquatop)

[laritheloud]

Aw, look at those adorable little endlers! You'll love them. They're hard not to like tbh. I find them so delightful to watch!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@laritheloud they're cute but I can already tell/see their reputation for being water pigs. They're eating the algae wafers I've left for the Hillstreams. 

[laritheloud]

They'll be begging during feeding time before you know it. 😆 Mine swirl in a cloud of chaotic color by the surface where I usually drop their food. I also drop in invert pellets, veg, and gel food for my Colombian Ramshorn and my blue dream shrimp in that tank, and they always peck away at it along with them...

[Guppysnail]

Your endlers are Very cute!  Sound like my guppy 🐷 pigs. They peck at my hands when I’m doing tank maintenance tons of fun. Everything happens for a reason hopefully your bonus CPD is a girl 😁

Edited October 12, 2021 by Guppysnail

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

The CPD is super small but so far looking more like a girl than boy.  Might be too early to tell @Guppysnail. As far as my others go I think I have either 4 and 4 or 5 and 3 males to females. They don't sit still long enough for me to be sure of it.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

In QT sadly I lost 1 Endler and 2 of 3 Hillstreams. I am totally to blame for that as I didn't get the sponge filter in their tank in time (was just running an airstone and doing water changes the first couple of days and suspect the water was not good. 😞) However, after 19 days of QT everyone else made it through with absolutely no signs of illness.

Today my 3 male endlers and my 1 Hillstream went into my Flex9 with 6 Embers and 5 Otos (and Nerite buddies). I've been growing algae for them (as I hear guppies also eat some kinds and I've already seen them picking at the hair algae). It was fun to see them introduce themselves (well the middle dwellers- the Hillstream immediately went off to "do stuff"). They chased each other and the Endlers got all puffy but I saw no physical aggression it all looked like nervous curiosity. That was just after 1pm my time and it is now after 8 as I type this. The lights in the tank are off but I can see everybody moving and playing nicely in the tank. The Embers are much more active now than they were before (they lost some of their buddies in an Ich outbreak due to a pump malfunction and water parameter issue that quickly followed that). The Endlers are so distinctive they got names. Hillstream I'm still thinking about but my thought was Kirby from The Brave Little Toaster. I mean, c'mon, a grumpy old vacuum? Isn't that the very soul of a Hillstream? Thanks to all who helped pick out the Endlers for a centerpiece group. 🙂 You all are gems. 

Oh and @Guppysnail the 1 hitchhiker CPD made it out of QT too and she went in with the other 8. I'm 98% sure it is a SHE so that I think brings me to 5 girls 4 boys, unless they are still too immature to tell. She is MUCH lighter in color than the rest of them but I have a feeling she will color up. They did a lot of chasing too but they all chase each other and it didn't look like a bad thing. 

On a side note in the end with the Hillstream(s) I had decided that the tank they were orginally going into wasn't going to provide enough natural food for them (though I'd supplement of course but they'd be in competition with the bladder snails and that's proving to be an issue for the remaing Otos in that tank)

taggin for info/fyi @laritheloud @Waka88

Edited November 2, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX
to clarify

[Guppysnail]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:13 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

The Brave Little Toaster.

I used to watch this repeatedly with my niece when she was little 🥰

 

On 11/1/2021 at 11:13 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Oh and @Guppysnail the 1 hitchhiker CPD made it out of QT too and she went in with the other 8. I'm 98% sure it is a SHE so that I think brings me to 5 girls 4 boys, unless they are still too immature to tell. She is MUCH lighter in color than the rest of them but I have a feeling she will color up. They did a lot of chasing too but they all chase each other and it didn't look like a bad thing. 

 

I’m glad she made it. That is a decent mix. The drama in my tank didn’t start until they were all much older and it’s very few and far between squabbles. I think they are like a wolf pack. When the eldest starts getting old it a lot of jockeying for top dog spot. But once the new leaders are settled I won’t see any real dominance fights for 6 months or more and those are not as intense. The new group I added to mine to increase genetics is just now old enough to get serious about pack position so of course teenagers always think they know best 🤣. I’m also glad you are enjoying your new endlers 😁

[Maggie]

Hi xX, sorry to hear about your betta troubles. I'm still fretting over the loss of Cosmo. His tank still sits empty after a month as I have no plan for it right now and instead have been planning a new 20L. But...on the subject of CPDs, they are cousins to dwarf emerald danios (both originate from Inle Lake, and can apparently cross-breed) which I had before rehoming for my house sale/move. These guys are fascinating little fish and I hope you enjoy them and find babies - some are sure to survive with enough cover - I started with 11 and ended up with at least 20+ babies of various ages in 6 months. They're so adorable when they grow up in your tank and color up at a very young age.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Maggie @Guppysnail Thanks to you both. 

It's hard to see if there's any squabbling as they tend to like to use the sheltered areas I gave them most. What I do see is alot of chasing, sometimes the males circling each other- but no nipping. There's some Subwassertang in there, it was really happy when I put it in there but now it's turned a dark green and has flattened out some I'm wondering if it's not happy in there- was going to be the shelter for tiny eggs and fish if that happened- and I was going to let nature take its course on the rest since they're not parental. 

I'm sorry maggie, about your betta. It's hard isn't it. I started noticing more and more posts here about sick, dying and dead betta fish and they all seemed too young. There are very good fish keepers here so it can't all be them. I'm pretty good at balancing a tank and keeping my fish healthy- just seems for me Bettas require far to finicky parameters for a good chunk of us to be able to maintain. I respect those who have an easier time caring for them, but I'm beginning to think the lot for the rest of us is to lose them far too early.