Oh No What Have I Done?!

[Lizzie71]

Went into the lfs for some fish food, and to have a look round because I have a nice empty 2 foot tank to stock.

And I came home with a betta

He is really pretty, mostly blue but with a white face and a white edging to his tail and fins. I am going to get my boy to help me name him as he is the colours of Millwall (my son's favourite team) and I think he should be named after a Millwall player.

He is currently acclimatising to his new extra-large home - he can't go in the small tank as he'd hate our male guppy, who also has beautiful long fins.

I plan to make him the centrepiece of the new tank (I was thinking rams or gouramis but he is better ). His eventual tank mates will be 6 or so tetras (maybe x-ray tetras) and 6 corys. The man in the lfs said that would be fine. I am going to put in some mature media from the other tank, and probably the first few tetras to join him in the next few days, then wait a while for the rest of the stocking.

The tank is 60x30x35cm, 14 UK gallons, planted and with a Interpet PF2 filter (turned low for my new friend) and a 100watt heater, steady at 25degrees.

I'll try to get a pic for you soon.

 

[blue_betta]

be wary of the tetras, they may nip him. i had a shoal of 6 xrays in my comunity that has housed various betta over the years, and never had a problem with them nipping, but id still be wary of intorducing any tetra species to a betta

 

[Lizzie71]

Here are the pictures

the tank

he seems to love swimming near the glass and seeing his own reflection - vain boy

Provisional name is Kasey.

 

[Yuki_of_the_Stars]

Ooh, he's pretty. I like your set, but I'm afraid I don't know much about who can go with who.

 

[hollyp0p]

very gorgeous colouring, i love marbles!

 

[Amunet]

Well he sure is a pretty boy! I love his coloring! Such a pretty shade of blue

I'm not sure what about the stocking w/ a male betta. It seems like there are so many fish who find betta fins tastey

 

[Lizzie71]

Just to keep you updated, his official name is Terry, after Terry Hurlock. Anyone who watched football in the 80s will appreciate why a fighting fish had to named after this particular Millwall player

Still thinking on the tankmates, cories seem safe, and someone else has suggested rasboras, so that might work.

 

[Amunet]

Yeah rasboras would be nice. The ones I have don't even chase eachother They're pretty and very peaceful.

 

[Lizzie71]

How about dwarf rainbowfish? I read somewhere they might be suitable tank mates for him.

 

[Lizzie71]

I have a serious case of buyers remorse this morning. Terry is beautiful but he has totally ruined my stocking plans for the new tank. I really shouldn't have bought him.

I would like to transfer him to the children's tank, but then I'd have to take their platys and guppy out, which they are never going to agree to.

I can't get another tank, my OH is already fuming about the second one.

Only thing I can think of is to section off 5-6 inches at the end of the big tank for Terry so he can live alone and I can stock the rest of the tank with the tetras and maybe rams I originally planned. Or just go with the rasboras and corys and hope he is a laid back betta.

 

[Amunet]

You could try it with some more fish, and if things don't work out, have a divider onhand you can use to seperate him from the rest of the tank.
I'm sure he'd be just as happy having his own small area to call his own

 

[OldMan47]

I don't know about the guppies because I have been reading about them being a problem with a betta. I have often kept my male bettas with platies and never had any real problems. At the moment I have 2 nice veiltail males that are each housed with some platies. One of them also has 1/2" platy fry and some ghost shrimp in with him. The other also has 2 otocinclus with him and both have the usual corydoras. It seems to me the talk of not being able to keep bettas with other fish is overdone. I am sure there are guppies that could not be kept with a betta because there some so large of fin as to confuse the poor guy but bettas go well with lots of other fish.

 

[Lizzie71]

Thanks everyone, but he is now housed in a divided 8 gallon with another boy (George, who is red) and I have transferred all the livebearers to the bigger tank. Each betta has one shrimp and one oto as company, and they seem pretty happy.

 

[hollyp0p]

Thanks everyone, but he is now housed in a divided 8 gallon with another boy (George, who is red) and I have transferred all the livebearers to the bigger tank. Each betta has one shrimp and one oto as company, and they seem pretty happy.

I'm soon to try dwarf neon rainbows with my betta as a replacementfor the danios he was with (who were also fine for him)
I shall be sure to keep everyone posted on how they go!
Harlequin rasboras are going in first though in a couple of weeks time to replace the nippy tetra!

 

[CathyGo]

I have kept bettas with guppies and aside from hunting down the fry(yay!) they never bothered each other. Even my female who couldn't go with ANY other betta got along fine. She occupied herself with hunting down ghost shrimp and bashing and eating snails instead .