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Badger's Sumatran Rice Paddy

This is Big Bertha, our biggest P. cuneovirgata. She's only about 2.5 inches (6-7 cm) long, but that's quite a bit bigger than the others. They are a truly dwarf species, and they love crawling in and out of the holes in this little pot. They're such cool critters.
p. cuneovirgata.jpg
 
Major setback: My two bettas were picking on each other, so I gave the subordinate one to the pet store (where it immediately sold). The dominant one began languishing as soon as his brother was gone, and yesterday he died. Weird.

So...next time I order fish, I plan on getting some emerald-eye rasboras, and something new...sparkling gouramis, or perhaps licorice gouramis?
 
New fishies on the way from TWS! 12 Emerald Eye Rasboras and 6 Sparkling Gouramis. I loved the Betta imbellis and plan on keeping them again (maybe in a tank with a larger footprint), but the tank has been kind of sad and boring without them, and the Badgerling and I are excited for something new.
 
Sparkling gouramis are a new favorite. They act, and sort of look, like tiny bass, stalking around the tank, giving everything the eye. I've noticed that predatory gouramis and cichlids act much more intelligent than regular schooling tetras/barbs/danios/rasboras. I really like the look of the emerald eyes, but for personality, it's hard to beat a gourami. And they really do croak at each other when they're riled about something. It's really cute.

I also received a red-tailed/brilliant rasbora that accidentally got mixed in with the emerald eyes. He's cool and really pretty; I might get more at some point. The Badgerling has named him "Vlagomir." Vlag seems not at all bothered by his solitude; he appears to think he's an emerald-eye, and schools right along with them.
 
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Some changes in the works with this tank. Still struggling to grow rice, but have enough that it looks sort of like a rice paddy. I'm only seeing one of the dwarf kuhli loaches, which makes me sad--I really, really like them. Not sure if they've died for some reason (tiny fish are often short lived), or if they're still there and just hiding out in the increasingly dense undergrowth. Hopefully the latter.

I also seem to be all out of trumpet snails. These three assassin snails I put in did their jobs! Hey, @Slaphppy7 , got any trumpet snails you can send me?

Not completely happy with the lack of color currently in the tank. The sparkling gouramis are really fun, but they haven't colored up like I hoped; they actually blend in a little too well with the emerald eye rasboras.

So, I think I'll be keeping the emerald-eye and red dwarf rasboras, adding a few of the latter along with some more dwarf kuhli loaches. The sparkling gouramis are going to move into @TheLavenderBadger 's new tank, so I'll still get to play with them and listen to them talk things over. This will make room for one or more of the following.
Thoughts?

1. A fresh pair if betta imbellis. Maybe a male and two or three females. I LOVE their colors and personalities. I am less fond of the fact that they keep killing each other.
2. A school of blue rasboras (S. goblinus). I'm reluctant to buy them because they're wild caught, from a threatened environment, and I'm garbage at getting fish to spawn. But they are outrageously pretty fish.
3. I would still love a pair of licorice gouramis. But they too are usually wild caught, from a threatened environment, plus they need live food. So probably not. Or maybe...

What says the FF peanut gallery?
 
WhistlingBadger said:
I also seem to be all out of trumpet snails. These three assassin snails I put in did their jobs! Hey, @Slaphppy7 , got any trumpet snails you can send me?
Click to expand...
I have a plethora of MTS (not the "good" kind), but have reservations about giving them to anyone to purposely put into their tanks...it's like giving someone else's dog fleas :lol:
 
Slaphppy7 said:
I have a plethora of MTS (not the "good" kind), but have reservations about giving them to anyone to purposely put into their tanks...it's like giving someone else's dog fleas :lol:
Click to expand...
Yeah, but these assassin snails of mine are like aquatic honeybadgers. They've wiped out an overpopulation of MTS, and I was hoping to keep a few of them.
 
WhistlingBadger said:
Yeah, but these assassin snails of mine are like aquatic honeybadgers. They've wiped out an overpopulation of MTS, and I was hoping to keep a few of them.
Click to expand...
If so, more won't last long, then...have the assassins reproduced?...they breed readily, but not prolifically
 
Slaphppy7 said:
If so, more won't last long, then...have the assassins reproduced?...they breed readily, but not prolifically
Click to expand...
I only put in three, and I haven't seen any others. I think they're just really hungry. If I get some more MTS, I'll remove one or two of the assassins and keep them in the Badgerling's tank until I need them.
 
What's the water parameters? Are you using RODI water for the sparkling gourami?
WhistlingBadger said:
Yeah, but these assassin snails of mine are like aquatic honeybadgers. They've wiped out an overpopulation of MTS, and I was hoping to keep a few of them.
Click to expand...
Well if Matt has some qualms sending them out, my 120 has a sharable quantity I would be happy to send over to you, lol.
 
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