Have Just Discovered These

[Miss_Donna]

Hi i have been reading up on here and looking at your pics of these beautiful fish and am falling in love with them they are fantastic..Have just googled them and it says they need salt in there water(and yes lol i know its aquarium salt and not table salt pmsl) do they have to have salt and if i was eventually to buy one would the salt harm my other fish

5 guppies
4 platys
1 clown loach

any ideas or is this fish not a good idea for me would it get on with my other fish???

Anything else i'm forgetting please let me know

 

[MaddieJ]

I've never used salt on my bettas, certainly not as an every day thing! Salt free, perfectly clean water is what they prefer and what they need to keep their beautiful fins in good nick.

I wouldn't put one with the fish you have to be honest. Guppies can be a nightmare, they like to nip anything with long fins and bettas dislike anything that has long fins - so the pair are pretty much born enemies. But it is easy enough and cheap enough to set up a little 3-5 gallon tank (more if you have room and the money) for a betta. Have a think about it

 

[Miss_Donna]

OOOOOOH good idea i have a bright pink 5 gallon i think it is...I bought for my daughters birthday and still aint set it up thanks very much for the advice

 

[chefrossco]

salt........betta's.............no never done that.
they are pretty hardy fish,and definatly not brackish fish
The only time to use salt is to give them a quick salt bath to heal wounds ect, they are beautiful fish and are pretty easy to keep just make sure you do not keep 2 male's together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..............the display of flairing would be spectacular, but they would kill eachother..!!

 

[Honeythorn]

OOOOOOH good idea i have a bright pink 5 gallon i think it is...I bought for my daughters birthday and still aint set it up thanks very much for the advice

In your first post you mention adding a clown loach

Do NOT put a clown loach in this. It will become horrifically stunted . They grow to at least 12 inches long and require very large tanks. They also need to be in groups so they are absolutely out of the question.

Some Pygmy corydoras would be a nice addition for bottom feeders though, as long as you add them before the betta. If you add them after him, he may pick on them if he feels his territory is being threatened. To be honest a betta on his own in there would also be fine. Tankmates aren't essential.

 

[Aussie_Dog]

OOOOOOH good idea i have a bright pink 5 gallon i think it is...I bought for my daughters birthday and still aint set it up thanks very much for the advice

In your first post you mention adding a clown loach

Do NOT put a clown loach in this. It will become horrifically stunted . They grow to at least 12 inches long and require very large tanks. They also need to be in groups so they are absolutely out of the question.

Some Pygmy corydoras would be a nice addition for bottom feeders though, as long as you add them before the betta. If you add them after him, he may pick on them if he feels his territory is being threatened. To be honest a betta on his own in there would also be fine. Tankmates aren't essential.

Have to agree here about the Clown Loach. 55gallons is the minimum for them, and only for the first couple of years when they're still babies. They'll need 100gallons or more eventually. I have only one (Big Pig), but I bought him with two others (Little Guy and Little Guy With Spot) who died a month after I got them (intestinal parasites, I'm thinking; one died, and the other was too far gone by the time I got him in a quarantine tank and medicated him). Big Pig is the only Clown Loach and I have to admit, it breaks my heart when he tries grouping up with the Tetras. I'd think he'd go with the 7 YoYo Loaches, but no, he feels more comfortable with the Tetras.

There really isn't much you can put in a 5 gallon except the solitary fishes (like a Betta). You could maybe put 5 Neon Tetras in there, but there aren't that many fishes that stay an inch sized. Most grow to about 3 inches (a minimum average), which would leave just one of them in there. So best to scrap community fish unless you're getting another tank, 10 gallons or bigger.