What is the best way to match my current tanks to my current and future fish? (AKA Musical tanks)

[KittenFishMom]

As I clean, plant, and cycle my tanks (because of leeches and the native fish leaving the house), I want to try to get the best match with the fish and tanks I have.

I am planning a tank with a male betta I have and a few other fish/shrimp/snails that are better suited to be in a 10-gallon with a male betta. (10 gallon hex or 10-gallon rectangle tank?)

I am planning a tank (most likely the 55) with the neon tetras, the corys, the flagfish, and the guppy community I have.

In the near future, I plan on getting some more corys to make the school bigger and more comfortable.

I’m debating getting more flagfish. I have one that should be in a school, but I also know they are known for nipping fins.

In the distant future, I might want to move the community guppies into a 10-gallon tank, and get a true breeding guppy trio for the 55 -gallon tank. I don’t know how tricky it can be to remove all guppies and all their fry from a planted 55-gallon tank, so maybe I should not put them in the tank and keep them in a 10-gallon tank. Also, after being in a 55-gallon tank, the community might get too big for a 10-gallon tank.

For tanks, I have two 12.5 inch high 10-gallon rectangle tank and an 18.5 inch high 10-gallon hex tank and a 21-inch high 55 tank. If I don't put the guppy community in the 55-tank, I might get a 20 long for them.

All thoughts are welcome.

Thanks

[Fish Folk]

If you want peace with your Jordanella Floridae (Flagfish) then buy only FEMALES. The males can be jerks! Look for the black spot on the back of the dorsal, and some vertical striping.

 

 

[Patrick_G]

I love a 10 gal hex, and it’s a great tank for a single male Betta. The regular rectangular one is more versatile, I’d use that one for guppies or other fish that like to be in a group. 

[KittenFishMom]

@Fish Folk I'm in luck. My flagfish is female.

Yesterday, I think my betta hit puberty or something. He switched from telling the flagfish to go away to chasing the flagfish a lot. Today I move the flagfish in with the guppy community tank because I did not want her chased to death.. My only other has some guppy and very small tetras and 3 very shy corys in it.  The guppy community tank has a few fry, but not a lot. Do you think the flagfish and guppies will be ok together? (Note: the guppies are mutt guppies. No long flowing tails.)

[Fish Folk]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:45 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Fish Folk I'm in luck. My flagfish is female.

Yesterday, I think my betta hit puberty or something. He switched from telling the flagfish to go away to chasing the flagfish a lot. Today I move the flagfish in with the guppy community tank because I did not want her chased to death.. My only other has some guppy and very small tetras and 3 very shy corys in it.  The guppy community tank has a few fry, but not a lot. Do you think the flagfish and guppies will be ok together? (Note: the guppies are mutt guppies. No long flowing tails.)

Flaggies are pupfish. They’re more aggressive than some Species. My guess is that she may pick off your newborn guppy fry, but leave adults alone. Male Flaggies on the other hand are notorious trouble makers.

 

[KittenFishMom]

@Fish Folk I think the adult guppies are picking off some of the fry. I have a lot of cover for the fry. so I think that will be ok. If she was gooing to leave the adult guppy fins nipped and open for fin rot, that would be a problem.

[Torrey]

On 2/8/2022 at 3:03 PM, KittenFishMom said:

don’t know how tricky it can be to remove all guppies and all their fry from a planted 55-gallon tank,

Our 4' planted tank is only half full of water. 

I had to take most of the plants out, all the wood, and I spent 4½ hours catching endlers.... and possibly only caught half.

I'm pretty sure that I now have 2 dozen medium sized females, plus Whale and her dozens of daughters (the ones I am intentionally keeping because strong, healthy, and meet the standard) dropping a good 20 to 40 fry.... every single day. 

I took over 100 to my lfs.

I go through the selection process once each quarter, eliminate a minimum of 100 each quarter, and still have a growing population. 

For gene diversity, I have endlers in multiple tanks, and keep the bachelors separated from the ladies so I can control who is doing the breeding.

My show/display tank will have predators for population control, or no livebearers. 😳

[KittenFishMom]

@Torrey That is much trickier than I had imagined. I  might try putting only males livebearers in my 55-tank. I want it to be lightly populated for easy of maintenances.

How fast do blue neon tetras breed if they are left in the tank with their eggs? I have 10, and would like more, but not 20 to 40 a day more.

[drewzero1]

@Torrey Wow! I bought six endlers in September and now I just have four. I'm still hoping for *some* fry but I can't imagine that many babies!

[Mydonkeyfish]

I have a ten gallon with guppies annd a female betta that is going very well!

Edited February 9, 2022 by Mydonkeyfish

[PineSong]

On 2/8/2022 at 5:03 PM, KittenFishMom said:

 I don’t know how tricky it can be to remove all guppies and all their fry from a planted 55-gallon tank, so maybe I should not put them in the tank and keep them in a 10-gallon tank. Also, after being in a 55-gallon tank, the community might get too big for a 10-gallon tank.

Sadly, I *do* know how tricky this will be, lol. It was literally impossible for me to catch all the juveniles, let alone fry, from my planted community tank. I mean, I could have done it for a million dollars or a really nice chocolate croissant, but it would have been mega stressful to all the other fish to have me netting fry in there for hours and hours.

I just removed all the fry from half of my divided fry tank this weekend like this: 1) removed all plants and wood 2) removed all visible fry, wait two hours 3) remove newly visible fry who were hiding somewhere in the empty tank with only an airstone in it, go to bed 4) in the morning, remove 4 more fry who appeared from nowhere 5) replace some plants 6) add molly 7) feed molly.....and the single fry who emerged from yet another 'nowhere'.

I think if there is any chance you will want to use the 55 for a breeding trio of a 'pure' strain, you are better off putting your current guppies somewhere else. A 20long is a sweet home for a small colony of guppies 🙂

[Torrey]

On 2/9/2022 at 8:37 AM, KittenFishMom said:

@Torrey That is much trickier than I had imagined. I  might try putting only males livebearers in my 55-tank. I want it to be lightly populated for easy of maintenances.

How fast do blue neon tetras breed if they are left in the tank with their eggs? I have 10, and would like more, but not 20 to 40 a day more.

The reason I have 20 to 40 babies a day, is because I started the tank with what I **thought** were 6 non-bred endler females. 

Obviously, I had left a male in the breeding tank long enough to get a female pregnant because I had 12 endlers 24 hours later.

To ensure genetic diversity in a potential colony breeding situation, I intentionally brought in unrelated male genetics, and figured I could just keep catching males and removing them from the tank, as that's what I did with my 10 gallon tanks.

Nope.

Like many lessons in life, I learned by screwing up first🤣

I could get a few fish of another species to do fry patrol/population control, but this tank was set up for my spouse when their mom died. No predators are going to be okay in that tank, so I am playing with fish traps to try and remove the fish overpopulation. 

On the plus side, there are so many plants, nitrates stay at zero unless I add way more than 3 to 6 squirts of Easy Green😅

Endlers and guppies will eat tetra and danio eggs. Tetra are not as prolific breeders as danios. How many survive will be determined by how many you find and remove from the tank.

I have not had success with community egg layers unless they are in much larger tanks, and the floor is carpeted with plants, and the tank is densely planted to provide plenty of 'territories' to mimic wild environments. 

It's a lot more work to successfully raise egg layers, even when the adults provide the care (discus, mouthbrooders, bubble nesters, etc).

In my experience, it's easier to raise the majority of tetras in tanks big enough to be considered ponds, and get natural sunlight to promote microfauna growth for the freshly hatched fry to consume while hiding. 

I am not a master breeder like Dean😅

[KittenFishMom]

I don't want to be a master breeder. I expect to be very busy this spring/summer/fall with non-aquarium things. I want to have stable tanks I can care for and enjoy.  I don't want to be trying to rehome baby fish if I can help it. I am using this winter to learn a lot about tropical fish keeping as pets.

I am really enjoying seeing a few fry in my guppy community tank. I don't want to see hundreds of them. I might get them a 20 long. We are trying to decide where to put which tank.

I wouldn't mind more tetras and more corys when I can move them to the 55 tank. I will be happy to buy them, I don't need to produce them at this point. I just am wondering if I put 10 tetra and 6-12 corys in the soon to be cleaned, planted and cycled 55 gallon tank, will I have a population explosion? I won't put any of the guppies in the 55 tank!

The only other tropical fish I have is one female flagfish. I might try to get her some more young, non-breed female friends. That is all I want until next fall.

I have decided to put off getting any pure bred guppies until next fall. It might not happen then, depending on how my mom's health is at that time.

Thanks so much for all your help and knowledge.

[Torrey]

You won't have a population explosion of the majority of egg layers, unless you get some of Guppysnail's bristlenose plecos.

The fish you are interested in are not known for being easy breeders, with the exception of live bearers. If you want livebearers in your 55 g, and don't want to be over run, add  a healthy school of your blue tetras you want, and a school of danios (longfin zebras are tolerably good fry control and are gorgeous to watch in a group of 20 or so in a large tank), and if these don't keep the fry at tolerable levels, get a pair of apistos, rams, or gourami.

These slightly more effective hunters will ensure that you are not overrun with livebearer babies.

Or, set up a turtle pond, and let the turtle eat surplus fish🤷‍♂️

[KittenFishMom]

@TorreyThanks so much for all your help !! 

[KittenFishMom]

@Torrey Do blue neon tetras eat guppy fry? I put a male and a few what I think are female guppies in my tetra tank to see if the fry would look like the male. I haven't seen any fry. I have to check the number of days, but I thought I would be seeing some around now. 

Good judgement comes from experience

Experience comes from bad judgement.

Oh well

[Torrey]

Truer words have not been uttered.

Typically, if the mouth is big enough to fit it, the mouth will. 

I don't know the size of the fry your females drop, so I don't know if the tetras you have are definitively eating the fry. If they can, and if you have seen them hunt down baby brine shrimp and bloodworms, it's probably a yes.

[KittenFishMom]

@TorreyI haven't seen any fry, so I don't know how small they are/might be. I will try to get a few photos, so you can compare the size of my neons with the size of my guppies. I am not very good at photos yet.