Decision Making Thoughts - help me decide

[Cinnebuns]

I've gotten to a good place financially. I've also been struggling lately in many ways. Both of these makes me want to put in an order for something new. Give me something to uplift me. I need it to be a wise decision on what though. I have some chronic health issues that sometimes get in the way of caring for my animals. I have been learning a lot about my health situation to make it better, but I cannot overload myself too much or I won't be able to keep up. I have been able to keep up thus far, but I also don't want to go too close to the line of not being able to. 

 

Idea 1, cherry barbs in the 29:

The 29 is currently understocked. I also tend to not notice the rainbowfish in the tank as much against the green plants. Some red might pop nice. The tank already has: 2 thick lipped gourami, 2 honey gourami, 4 pseudomugil gerturdea, 4 pseudomugil luminatus, 3 otos, about 9 panda cories. Here's a short video of the tank:

 

Idea 2, more rainbowfish in the 29:

It might be more logical to add more rainbowfish rather than a new type of fish. My journey with these bows has been interesting. Long story short, the ones I have now I rescued from a lady. When I first got them, I had a yoyo loach in the tank that was mean. The entire tank kinda turned inactive for several months after. For awhile, I thought they were just an inactive boring fish. Lately I've been noticing more activity than before. They still do not pop with color as much as cherry barbs would, but I do have them already. IF I added more bows, I'm not even entirely sure what species. Of the 2 I currently have, I like luminatus more. I actually enjoyed furcata more when I had them than these 2 species. I've also always wanted threadfins. Threadfins come with the added bonus of not being a pseudomugil so no hybrid chances with them. Same tank so above video applies. 

 

Idea 3:  New Betta:

Betta-only are low stress because low bioload. I am still relatively new to bettas but I do currently have 2. Rah is my female in my 20 on fry control duty with the guppies. Storm is my male mustard gas crowntail in a 6 gallon with ramshorn snails. I have 2 options if I wanted to add another betta.

Storm has shown me he is very peaceful and I would be willing to try him in my 15 gallon tank with green neon tetras and growout for my panda cory juveniles. Then I could put the new one in his tank. One issue here is storm first needs to be feeling better. He has been struggling. That said, he also has been doing much better lately and is looking up. 

A 2nd option is its own 10 gallon. I do have empty 10 or 5.5 gallon tanks right now. I could put a new betta in one of those along with ramshorn or nerite snail friends. 

 

Idea 4, rabbit snails:

I'm not even going to go into all the factors on this one. There's just too many. I kinda wanna breed rabbit snails but I can't right now. My 29 is the only one that has space for them but it isn't safe for inverts right now. I dosed the tank 2x with no planaria and fenbendazole about 6 months ago and every snail I have put in there since has died. Rip the dream. Trying to run carbon but idk. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Cinnebuns

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. However, my girlfriend suffers from a couple different chronic conditions, so I completely understand walking the line to not over-do it while simultaneously trying to bring yourself joy. That being said, additional Rainbows would be the one that makes the most sense to me. You can have new fish, bring new life to the tank, get excited about what you’re doing, and it shouldn’t really add to the amount of work needed to maintain the tank. 
 

Just my $0.02 (if it’s even worth that much) from someone else who lives with somebody with chronic conditions :).

[Cinnebuns]

I agree. I'm leaning most heavily on that with cherry barbs closely behind. I think they would add the least amount of work. It's basically just adding to a tank that doesn't take much maintenance already and not adding a ton so i might not even notice a difference. 

[nabokovfan87]

Less is more and I could say it a million different ways.

Make life easier on yourself.....

Nothing under 15G, 20G preferred, just for the sake of having dilution and room to work. Something where you can easily change water on multiple tanks at once and fill them easily is best!  If you can have a rack or a section with 2-3 stands, then by all means that is "optimal" in my view.

It would be so much easier for you if you had certain tools, if you had the ability to have a single 40B for instance, but I understand that just isn't in the cards.

I would highly encourage you to reduce tanks or work within what is already optional. Get your rainbow or choice going and fight every single urge to add more tanks.

There's nothing that says you can't have rainbows+corydoras breeding in the same tank.

On 7/9/2023 at 3:23 PM, Cinnebuns said:

The tank already has: 2 thick lipped gourami, 2 honey gourami, 4 pseudomugil gerturdea, 4 pseudomugil luminatus, 3 otos, about 9 panda cories.

There's honestly too much going on in this tank for me. I think it's hard for species to thrive and behavior to be normal when you have so many species in such a tight space. That sword takes up a lot of real estate, could be thinned out, but the main thing is to just figure out if it's a gourami tank, a rainbow tank, or a community setup and not meant as a breeding for profit.

[beastie]

On 7/10/2023 at 12:23 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Idea 4, rabbit snails:

I have them, breed them, but. They cant be with fish that would nip at them (barbs, gourami, rams, anything on the bottom can be a problem,...) upper dwellers max for them

They take few months or a year to breed. You need to feed them daily or every other day. Can be supplemented by leaf litter that they munch through, which would work for you on days you cant really feed them. But leaf litter creates a mess on the substrate and with them maintenance too is important. They will absolutely eat your plants when not fed well

 

What cheers me up is snails, so why dont you start small and buy some nice colorful snail instead to have the "accomplish" something new

[Tanked]

I hope you continue feeling better.  I am presently recovering from an issue that required me to use crutches for a short period.  As soon as I could maneuver on only one crutch,  I went to the LFS and purchased 3 Cherry Barbs for my 29. I hope that in time they will attain the deep red of the fish they are replacing.

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Cinnebuns All of those are good choices. Just keep in mind that the quantity and individual personalities of the fish my be the determining factors of which alternative is best. All the best on your future aqua adventures!

Edited July 10, 2023 by JChristophersAdventures

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 7/9/2023 at 4:23 PM, Cinnebuns said:

I've gotten to a good place financially. I've also been struggling lately in many ways. Both of these makes me want to put in an order for something new. Give me something to uplift me. I need it to be a wise decision on what though. I have some chronic health issues that sometimes get in the way of caring for my animals. I have been learning a lot about my health situation to make it better, but I cannot overload myself too much or I won't be able to keep up. I have been able to keep up thus far, but I also don't want to go too close to the line of not being able to. 

 

Idea 1, cherry barbs in the 29:

The 29 is currently understocked. I also tend to not notice the rainbowfish in the tank as much against the green plants. Some red might pop nice. The tank already has: 2 thick lipped gourami, 2 honey gourami, 4 pseudomugil gerturdea, 4 pseudomugil luminatus, 3 otos, about 9 panda cories. Here's a short video of the tank:

 

Idea 2, more rainbowfish in the 29:

It might be more logical to add more rainbowfish rather than a new type of fish. My journey with these bows has been interesting. Long story short, the ones I have now I rescued from a lady. When I first got them, I had a yoyo loach in the tank that was mean. The entire tank kinda turned inactive for several months after. For awhile, I thought they were just an inactive boring fish. Lately I've been noticing more activity than before. They still do not pop with color as much as cherry barbs would, but I do have them already. IF I added more bows, I'm not even entirely sure what species. Of the 2 I currently have, I like luminatus more. I actually enjoyed furcata more when I had them than these 2 species. I've also always wanted threadfins. Threadfins come with the added bonus of not being a pseudomugil so no hybrid chances with them. Same tank so above video applies. 

 

Idea 3:  New Betta:

Betta-only are low stress because low bioload. I am still relatively new to bettas but I do currently have 2. Rah is my female in my 20 on fry control duty with the guppies. Storm is my male mustard gas crowntail in a 6 gallon with ramshorn snails. I have 2 options if I wanted to add another betta.

Storm has shown me he is very peaceful and I would be willing to try him in my 15 gallon tank with green neon tetras and growout for my panda cory juveniles. Then I could put the new one in his tank. One issue here is storm first needs to be feeling better. He has been struggling. That said, he also has been doing much better lately and is looking up. 

A 2nd option is its own 10 gallon. I do have empty 10 or 5.5 gallon tanks right now. I could put a new betta in one of those along with ramshorn or nerite snail friends. 

 

Idea 4, rabbit snails:

I'm not even going to go into all the factors on this one. There's just too many. I kinda wanna breed rabbit snails but I can't right now. My 29 is the only one that has space for them but it isn't safe for inverts right now. I dosed the tank 2x with no planaria and fenbendazole about 6 months ago and every snail I have put in there since has died. Rip the dream. Trying to run carbon but idk. 

I generally go with option 1 since thats what often came to me first. They all sound pretty great though

[Dork Fish]

@Cinnebuns I also struggle with a chronic autoimmune disease. I am not sure if you have heard of the "Spoon Theory" for chronic illness but this post made me think of that. At the end of the day, how many spoons are you willing to spend on fish and how often are you willing to spend them?

Could give others a general idea of the amount of energy you are willing to part with. Link below if you have not heard of the spoon theory and wanted to check it out 🙂

https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/mental-health/spoon-theory

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Dork Fish I almost mentioned Spoons when I gave my answer, too. Didn’t think anyone else would know what I was talking about and I would come off as crazy, lol

[Cinnebuns]

On 7/10/2023 at 4:51 AM, beastie said:

What cheers me up is snails, so why dont you start small and buy some nice colorful snail instead to have the "accomplish" something new

I already have tons of snails lol. I have many different species of nerites and tons of ramshorn as well as purple stripped Hercules snails. I also have been breeding purple and magenta mystery snails. I just enjoy breeding. 

On 7/10/2023 at 8:50 PM, Dork Fish said:

@Cinnebuns I also struggle with a chronic autoimmune disease. I am not sure if you have heard of the "Spoon Theory" for chronic illness but this post made me think of that. At the end of the day, how many spoons are you willing to spend on fish and how often are you willing to spend them?

Could give others a general idea of the amount of energy you are willing to part with. Link below if you have not heard of the spoon theory and wanted to check it out 🙂

https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/mental-health/spoon-theory

Ty this is wise. I have always thought about it in terms of a pie or an allowance you get. Each day you are given a different amount and you have things to spend it on. Ty for the reminder. 

[Dork Fish]

@Cinnebuns For sure, depending on things like pain from the chronic illness, negative affects of medication, a sickness that compounds the affects of the chronic illness, and prior sleep due to the previously mentioned; you could even start the day with just enough spoons to eat and exist. Been there many times. I will say though that having something to look forward to the next day definitely helped. For me it was my bearded dragon, scorpion, and tarantula (and now fish LOL).

I cannot prove it scientifically, but having the extra source of happiness that you mentioned in your OP definitely gave me at least a couple spoons back most days 🙂

Edited July 11, 2023 by Dork Fish
Grammar (as usual LOL)

[Stef]

How about some t-shirt fish?  I found this tee on Amazon that I’m loving. I love the betta attitude so this shirt was perfect for me. 
 

I also have a mustard gas betta. His name is Sonny. Such a ham. But, as you know, bettas have a slew of potential problems that can be heart breaking.
 

 

 

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Cinnebuns]

I think I had an idea that may "fill my cup" and not add additional long term work. I might work on scaping one of my tanks instead.