Ideas For New-Stocking For Old Tank. Advice Needed.

[super-MAGuire]

I have a 30litere tank, that has been fully cycled for months, but have moved all fish apart from 2x hong kong plecs, 1x small kuli loach, and 4x cherry shrimp.
The tank is heavily planted... around 60% i would guess, and a large rock pile for hiding spaces.

I am interested in keeping a male betta in here, with 6x harliquins ontop of the loach's and shrimp.

Wondering if this would be fine, also is their any potential on adding a female better or 2, or whats the general advise? cheers.

I have a 125lt tank where i can transfere the females to if they are being herrassed, if its worth a go or not.

 

[pablothebetta]

I wouldn't keep much more than a betta in a 30L tank. I'd move the khuli (should be in a group of at least 6) and hong kong plecs out of there tbf.

If you'd like a betta, I personally wouldn't want to keep more than a few male endlers with him, though at a push you might get away with 6 or so microrasbora or ember tetra. You could keep the shrimp in there - they have such a low bio-load they have very little impact on stocking. Bear in mind though that some bettas won't tolerate any tankmates, while others are more laid back.

You shouldn't keep males + females together aside from breeding, which only takes place after careful conditioning.

If you got a larger tank, I'd guess that a community with khulis, harlequins and a betta might do nicely in a 60-80L setup.

 

[super-MAGuire]

I wouldn't keep much more than a betta in a 30L tank. I'd move the khuli (should be in a group of at least 6) and hong kong plecs out of there tbf.

If you'd like a betta, I personally wouldn't want to keep more than a few male endlers with him, though at a push you might get away with 6 or so microrasbora or ember tetra. You could keep the shrimp in there - they have such a low bio-load they have very little impact on stocking. Bear in mind though that some bettas won't tolerate any tankmates, while others are more laid back.

You shouldn't keep males + females together aside from breeding, which only takes place after careful conditioning.

If you got a larger tank, I'd guess that a community with khulis, harlequins and a betta might do nicely in a 60-80L setup.

Thanks for the response, looks like i have had inaccurate info from a LFS i was told khulis are fine individually, he seems happy flying about all the time and chilling out in the plants. Could i put 2 pairs of endlers in the small 30l tank with a betta?... so a supply of fry to supplement the betta's diet. I have gouramis in my community tank, so dont think they would mix well with the betta, but the khuli and hong kong plecs will be moved to the community tank when they look vulnerable for netting

would an otto catfish go fine in the 30l? just something to keep the sides algae free without manual effort.

 

[pablothebetta]

I have always understood that ottos like a small group, not sure how they'd do size/stocking wise. They do like mature tanks with lots of algae though. As for the endlers, I'm aware that Old Man keeps a betta in his 45 US gallon endler tank to try to keep down numbers, not sure how effective that is though or how it'd work in a much smaller setup. 3-4 males would be fine, perhaps more.

 

[super-MAGuire]

I have always understood that ottos like a small group, not sure how they'd do size/stocking wise. They do like mature tanks with lots of algae though. As for the endlers, I'm aware that Old Man keeps a betta in his 45 US gallon endler tank to try to keep down numbers, not sure how effective that is though or how it'd work in a much smaller setup. 3-4 males would be fine, perhaps more.

can i ask why 3-4males, and not a male, 2-3 females? Is it just because the males are better looking, or they are less likely to be fin nippers or something. Thank you

 

[pablothebetta]

Sorry, I think I must have made a typo there - males will fight if kept together, appologies there. I'd just keep 1 male, 30L isn't really enough for a group of females.
Males and females are pretty much guaranteed to fight if kept together, unlike when you keep, for example, guppies who might need at least a 1:3 ratio of males:females to keep the 'attention' from the male not on one single fish. To breed bettas, the male and female must be carefully shown each other for a period of time and usually be conditioned too so that they don't fight too much. Sometimes they will end up with nips after breeding from what I gather (I've never actually bred them myself, so some of this breeding info may not be completely accurate, but I'm hoping it gives you a general idea. I've read a fair few spawning journals though and I'm pretty sure I can remember things along these lines).

 

[super-MAGuire]

Sorry, I think I must have made a typo there - males will fight if kept together, appologies there. I'd just keep 1 male, 30L isn't really enough for a group of females.
Males and females are pretty much guaranteed to fight if kept together, unlike when you keep, for example, guppies who might need at least a 1:3 ratio of males:females to keep the 'attention' from the male not on one single fish. To breed bettas, the male and female must be carefully shown each other for a period of time and usually be conditioned too so that they don't fight too much. Sometimes they will end up with nips after breeding from what I gather (I've never actually bred them myself, so some of this breeding info may not be completely accurate, but I'm hoping it gives you a general idea. I've read a fair few spawning journals though and I'm pretty sure I can remember things along these lines).

Lol, i think there has been a cross of lines here.

I know/understand about the female + male betta, and wont be stocking them together, but i was refering to the 4 male guppys you suggested i could stock with the male betta.

I am asking why males? could i have 3 females and a male?

I am wondering if the betta might confuse the males as other bettas because guppy males are brighter and bigger tailed than the females generally, so the betta might attack the guppies, just asking why the 4 males really

Thanks

 

[DanTheFishMan11]

i think that was another typing error.

if your tank is heavily planted the betta will be more interested in exploring and wont mind guppies being in the tank.
make sure you have the guppies in a week or two before the betta because if it was the betta first he might be very dominant and guard the tank (his new territory) from the new tankmates and become very agressive against the guppies.
personaly i would keep the guppies on a 1:4 ratio so it takes more time for the male to find a sufficient mate and the betta will kill of most fry and so will the other guppies and even the mum and dad wich will keep your numbers stable.

 

[pablothebetta]

i think that was another typing error.

if your tank is heavily planted the betta will be more interested in exploring and wont mind guppies being in the tank.
make sure you have the guppies in a week or two before the betta because if it was the betta first he might be very dominant and guard the tank (his new territory) from the new tankmates and become very agressive against the guppies.
personaly i would keep the guppies on a 1:4 ratio so it takes more time for the male to find a sufficient mate and the betta will kill of most fry and so will the other guppies and even the mum and dad wich will keep your numbers stable.

I think what has happened is a mix up between talking about guppies and bettas, appologies.
I personally wouldn't risk keeping betta with guppies at all, males anyway. Males are very colourful, and I wouldn't expect any but the most laid-back betta to get along with them. It's pretty much all down to the bettas personality when it comes to tankmates.