im reasonably new to keeping tropical fish, my tank had a 2 week fishless cycle and after that i first added a male betta, 3 cherry barb and 3 gold barb i have now acquired 3 bristlenose catfish ( they where free from my father in-law as hes wont stop mating) and had to buy 5 assassin snails as i was having a little problem with some ramshorn id had hitch hike in on my plants. i was just wondering what would be a good addition as im looking for something maybe a bit colourful and active.
What Fish To Get?
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To answer your question, I need to know how big your tank is (capacity and dimensions), and what your water chemistry is like - pH and hardness.
Whilst it's a little off-topic, what I call a fishless cycle and what you call a fishless cycle are 2 different things. Do you know whether you have established the nitrogen cycle in your filter, whereby the ammonia produced by your fish is being converted to nitrite and then nitrate? Do you have a test kit and can you post your latest test results?
I fear you may not be in a position to add any more fish for a while. I may be wrong, but if you could answer those questions, it'd be a start.
Whilst it's a little off-topic, what I call a fishless cycle and what you call a fishless cycle are 2 different things. Do you know whether you have established the nitrogen cycle in your filter, whereby the ammonia produced by your fish is being converted to nitrite and then nitrate? Do you have a test kit and can you post your latest test results?
I fear you may not be in a position to add any more fish for a while. I may be wrong, but if you could answer those questions, it'd be a start.
Not necessarily, but fill me in with the above info, and let's see where we get to.
The_lock_man i dont currently have a test kit i just take the water into my fish shop and they checked it for me. i believe that yes my nitrogen cycle in my filter is working fine now. I can give you the dimensions but i am not to sure of the capacity but the dimensions are 24 inches by 12 inches by 24 inches. I wasnt really looking to place fish in right away just some ideas for the future over maybe the next 2-3 months
mike455555
i need to stop buying plants....
the betta will fight things with big fancy tails mainly
That's the first thing you need to buy then, is a liquid test kit. Some fish shops are better than others, but some will happily telll you that your tank is fine when actually it's highly toxic. NExt time you get a test, ask them to tell you the actual numbers of ammonia and nitrite. Trust me, anything above 0ppm is BAD.
You can have plenty of colourful fish, however as Mike says, it's best to avoid those with long flowing tails, such as guppies.
All barb species are happiest when they are in a group of 6 of a particular species, so there's a first recommendation. Once you've done that, there isn't much more space, but a group of platies could work well, or another shoal of something small like Celestial Pearl Danios.
yea i did read that the barbs would be happier in atleast groups of 5 its just the guy in the shop told me itd be a good idea to get just 3 of each to help kick start the tank as id already picked up the betta and i was looking into that. i will deffinently pick up a test kit at some point this week. Do you know if there is any benefit of keeping female bettas with the male. Im not looking to breed them or anything at the moment as id prefer to gain some more experience under my belt with just keeping the fish happy before even thinking of undertaking such a task as breeding
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
In a smaller size tank, even if you have the actual room, I wouldn't recommend barbs and bettas. I tried it once with my barbs (greens and tigers) and the betta had a really big problem with them, which in turn made the barbs pick on him. Every situation is different, and it could work, but if not you would have to bring the betta back to the pet store where they probably keep him in a little cup, and after being in a big tank, who wants to do that? Platies are a good choice, or if you want more of a school, try a group of rasboras maybe?
Don't try and keep a female betta with your male, one of them will kill the other. It's funny, male bettas can be so sociable towards humans, especially the one that they identify as their food source, but they just will not tolerate their own kind at all. You can keep a group of females together.
How long is that the tank has been set up?
Mumma, tiger and green barbs are nasty little brats at the best of times. Cherry barbs are much more peaceful. All these things depend greatly on the temperament of the individual betta, as I'm sure you know, but it doesn't surprise me that your betta had a problem with the tigers, but it would surprise me if that same betta had a problem with cherry barbs.
How long is that the tank has been set up?
Mumma, tiger and green barbs are nasty little brats at the best of times. Cherry barbs are much more peaceful. All these things depend greatly on the temperament of the individual betta, as I'm sure you know, but it doesn't surprise me that your betta had a problem with the tigers, but it would surprise me if that same betta had a problem with cherry barbs.
greenmumma141
Fish Herder
It's so true, I felt horrible about rehoming the betta, he was so sweet. Ive never seen a fish interact with a human the way he did before, but I found a good home for him with a 10 gallon all to himself, so ce la vie. "BRATS"?!?!
Well my betta is a very chilled out character to be honest but he does seem to enjoy flipping the assassin snails over doesnt try to eat them or anything just flipping them over then swimming off. I was told the gold barbs and cherry barbs dont nip and that is why they are okay to put with the betta. see i did read up female and male bettas being kept in the same tank but it seemed to depend on the male betta because some people have had success with it and others havent
Brat
n. A child, especially one that is spolit or ill-mannered.That annoying little child on the bus that won't stop demanding stuff from his mum, won't shut up in the library, eats food in the supermarket that mum hasn't yet paid for, and perhaps more aptly, hasn't yet learned the social skills required of a decent human.
If you go onto the bettas section of the forum, you'll get some specialist advice, but in my opinion, I wouldn't risk it.
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