Bettas with other anabantoids

[Arnam Anan]

Tank size: 55 gallon

ph: 6.6 -7.0

Kh: 40 - 80

gh: 75- 150

nitrite: 0

nitrate: 0- 20

Water change schedule: weekly, add equilibrium, water conditioner, root tabs (monthly), easy green. I don't think I have to do the water change but I enjoy doing it. 

Stocking: Freakishly high. Suffering from collectoritis. 

4 dwarf gourami (2 powder blue, 2 neon)

3 Moonlight gourami

3 Blue gourami

3 Pearl Gourami

6 licorice gourami

6 sparkling gourami

4 honey gourami 

1 thicklip gourami 

1 paradise fish

4 betta ( 1 male, 3 female) ( breeding currently)

6 pea puffer

100+ guppies (Cull but breeding up a storm in here too)

14 black neon tetra

13  long fin leopard danio (egg laying but eggs get eaten)

18 neon tetra,

12 silvertip tetra (egg laying but eggs get eaten)

5 furcata rainbow fish (egg laying)

10 cherry barbs 

15 white cloud mountain minnows 

1 king Kong parrot

1 blue ram

2 Bolivian ram

6 Kribensis 

4 Habrosus Corydoras

5 bristlenose placo

7 kuhli loach ( I think 1 is pregnant?)

5 black kuhli loach

2 silver kuhli loach 

1 Galaxy loach

4 mystery snails

1/2 nerite snail 

1 japanese trap door snail 

6 African Dwarf frogs

unknown amount of ramshorn, bladder and trumpet snails.

Most aggressive: Male Bolivian ram. Jaw locks with the female Bolivian ram. Attacked parrot fish, blue gouramis and other fishes that are bigger than him. Doesn't bother tetras, barbs, danios, guppies, puffers, etc.

Most derpy fish: Parrot fish. Always has a smile on it's face. Interactive. Comes to the front glass if called by finger. 

Most shy: Galaxy loach. Hides in a gap between driftwood and a big rock. Acts like a goby.

Silver loaches are also super shy. See them less than the galaxy loach as they burrow in gravel.

Feeding: 3-4 times daily. 1-2 live feeding. Baby Brine Shrimp hatched daily; 6 days in a week. Other live food: seed shrimp, micro worms, vinegar eel, grindel worm, scud, black worms. Frozen food is made with Repashy, spirulina powder and canned green beans mixed and then frozen. Dry food: vibra bites, sera o-nip tabs, Xtreme krill flake, Xtreme nano pallet, freeze dried cyclops and blood worms, co op brine shrimp cube, tubifex cube, tetra flake, brine shrimp flake, spirulina flake. 

My experience has been quite different with these fish. I was expecting for the bettas to not get along with each other.  Not only they got along with each other, they rest at night together in the roots of floating plants and water sprite All four of them are  usually within 2-5inch of one another.

I also assumed that the blue gouramis are going to dominate the food and scare every other anabantoids away and possibly attack the smaller species. I haven't seen any aggression towards other species, 2 females usually act like kissing gouramis. All the other types of gouramis interact, flare, shoal and group within their own species and doesn't bother anyone else. 

This is something people would consider impossible to do and I am fairly new to this hobby. I KNOW it can go out of control in near future. I am yet to see any sign of aggression from all the species. First few days after introducing them to each other, they all chased or being chased  by each other but within a week they all calmed down and stopped interacting with other species.

Confession time: I did loose a fair amount of fish in here. I tried amano shrimp twice, red lizard whiptail cat fish, blue dream shrimp, Cherry shrimp, Apistogramma Agassizzi. None of them lasted a week  😭😭

 

August 12, 2023 update:

I have added 7 pigmy corydoras. I have lost quite a few fish to columnaris outbreak after adding those 7 pigmy corydoras. Lost a lot of guppies, blue ram and the white betta. Medicated whole tank with Maracyn and ich x and results were devastating. For 3 days, I have added both medications as directed on the package. On day 4, I had lost all black neon tetras, galaxy loach, all but two cherry barbs, all but two neon tetras, 5 kuhli loaches (regular and black), 1 Kribensis, 3 pea puffers, all furcata rainbow fish, most silvertip tetras. All air breathing fishes were fine in the incident. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Arnam Anan
Update

[Fish Folk]

This post seems to be an ad for an additional tank! 😅

I’d personally take half that stock to a new tank. Bettas sometimes work. Females are less boisterous, usually. I love the small, wild-caught Betta imbellis as an interesting option. 

[Arnam Anan]

On 7/17/2023 at 10:35 PM, Fish Folk said:

This post seems to be an ad for an additional tank! 😅

I’d personally take half that stock to a new tank. Bettas sometimes work. Females are less boisterous, usually. I love the small, wild-caught Betta imbellis as an interesting option. 

I wish I had the space and wife's permission 😭😭😭

 

[Fish Folk]

On 7/17/2023 at 10:45 PM, Arnam Anan said:

I wish I had the space and wife's permission 😭😭😭

 

My wife bought me this shirt to wear…

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Arnam Ananit will work until it doesn’t work. You’ve got some real alphas in terms of the gourami and the parrot cichlid who alone could kill everyone in there on a whim. In terms of the loaches their numbers are not sufficient for them to feel comfortable and you don’t have room for more so you’ll only catch glimpse. Your planting is great, i like the hard scape and the lighting great shadows and depth with the floating plants. 

[Arnam Anan]

On 7/17/2023 at 11:52 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Arnam Ananit will work until it doesn’t work. You’ve got some real alphas in terms of the gourami and the parrot cichlid who alone could kill everyone in there on a whim. In terms of the loaches their numbers are not sufficient for them to feel comfortable and you don’t have room for more so you’ll only catch glimpse. Your planting is great, i like the hard scape and the lighting great shadows and depth with the floating plants. 

Yeah, I understand where you are coming from. So, for Gouramis, when I saw them in there natural habitat, I always saw them living in a shoaling group. So, I wanted to see if internet was true about their aggression. So far, it worked out and a lot of fish in this tank were gifts including the blood parrot. 

As for 2 silver kuhlis and 1 lonely 🥺 galaxy loach, they both were contaminates. both silvers were bought as black kuhlis and galaxy loach came into the store as stiphodon goby and behavior is also the same. Can't even find them here in the states.

Thank you for the compliment 🙏☺️ Easy green and easy light works wonders.