# Thinking of starting the habit over!



## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

It's been a while since I've been serious about fish. I moved away from my boyfriend almost 4 months ago and haven't set up any awesome tanks. So I decided to get a 20g tank. In the past, I have had SOOO many tanks, hahaha, ranging in sizes to my largest at 30g which is over at my ex's place. I decided to let him keep it since I still see him and he takes very good care of it. It has my male paradise gourami, leaf fish, 3 rainbow fish, and 6 cory cats (one with no eyes!). I have 2 tanks right now but I don't pay too much attention to them. I reallllly want to. So here is my rather strange idea:

I have a 10g, 5g, and am getting a 20g.

I plan to do something very strange. Hahaha. Ok so in the 5g I have my pea puffer and he will stay in there by himself (unless he can be housed with something else but I've heard that to be a no)

Then in my 10g I was thinking of a male betta.

And in my 20g I was thinking of putting my 11 glowlite tetra along with maybe 5 more and my 3 platy plus 6 female betta. I know that betta do not do well together but I used to have 3 females together in my 30g and it was really cool to watch them muscle for rank and then have their own special pecking order and wonderful little fish brains. They are just so smart and its amazing watching them. You can see those wheels turn. I have had females in a community setting before and I'm not too afraid for my fish, I like to see who can survive and the ways they find survival, and there will be PLENTY of hiding places. I like the more intelligent fish, and since Cichlid are the next most intelligent, female betta seem like the way to go. I mean...Cichlid get way too big and usually can't even have the possiblity of being housed with any other fish.

So I was wondering about the opinions. I have a feeling alot of people are going to yell at me and go crazy, but just remember, I'm not a newb here...I kinda know what I'm doing  Constructive criticism would be awesome and if anyone has had experiences, that would be cool too.

I plan on keeping the male betta in my 10g for breeding purposes. Every so often I am going to try and pair him up with one of the females and sell their young. The colors I am going to pick very carefully too hoping I can get something rare. I used to have a silver and black male, he was GORGEOUS.

OK! So let me know what you think!


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2007)

i would keep the male betta in the 5.5. you can still use it for breeding i think. i believe you can keep another dwarf puffer if you put the puffer in the 10 as long as you have anough hiding spots. 

the 20 will be over stocked with 6 bettas, 11 glolights, and 8 platies. what i would do, is keep the glolights and the platies, but only 3 platies. they fill up the tank fast..lol then you could have 4 or 5 bettas in it. i wouldn't do 6 of them.


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## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

Yeah I was thinking of 16 glowlite tetra not 8 platy. Just 3 platy. Hahah I don't like them much. My Mom gave them to me as babies and so I said: "alright". K. Would it be overstocked with 16 glowlites, 3 platies, and 6 female betta?


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Definitely overstocked hun, though I'm not one to talk.I'm always overstocking my tanks. It is a matter of maintenance too though. I am an at home Mum so I've got the time to check levels and clean tanks. If you have a busy life which i expect you do with school? Then I'd err on the side of caution and make it understocked if anything. 16 Glowlights in a 20g is way too many. I'd say keep the 11 you have, get rid of the platy's (maybe fob em off on the ex) and add the female bettas. I'd watch them though too, I had 3 females in my 50g and one has disappeared, no idea where to! Probably eaten with all the fish that are in there and I'm sure the Gourami would have had a go also. I'm also mysteriously missing 2 of my male guppys from my grow-out/conception tank. I'm not to upset about that though, it's left the snake skin type one and I've wanted fry from him for ages so I'll be keeping the next few drops my females give me. 

Good Luck Deary.


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## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

Haha ok then. Well....I may actually do that! Give those platies to him. Good idea. Ok then. Well right now my fish have been living in a 10g, 11 glowlites and 3 platy. So adding another 5 glowites and moving them to a 20 I think would be just fine seeing as where they are now! I just know they feel more secure in groups. Maybe I'll just have 4 female betta, 12 glowlites, and something else....hmmmm....probably something for the algae since I REALLY want live plants. So I guess a rubber nosed pleco might be alright? They are the smaller ones. Or, if anyone has any suggestions, something else to help the algae? 

And any new ideas on how to keep mystery snails alive and healthy? Mine always had their shells crack and then died off slowly. At first, when I was the most ignorant, my mystery snails lived VERY happily. They grew huge and always moved around! I think it might be for a really strange reason: Not cleaning the water too often. When I leave my water for 2 weeks instead of 1 the snails seem to do much better. So I will try that again!

Haha and anasfire, I already finished high school, I now am working for the state of oregon as a data entry control technician! Still very busy with 40 hour work weeks but im willing to really put some fresh effort into this!


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2007)

i would stick with the 11 glo-lights, and a center peice fish. it'll be over stocked with 5 bettas in there as well. maybe a dwarf gourami or a pair of rams with the tetras. but not 4 bettas. i have no experience with bettas tho so...


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

ok, cool congrats on the job hun. The only thing I'd say in regards to your post it to forget the snails all together, especially if they are going into the tank with the plant. They will EAT the plants and multiply like you would not believe. I'm still trying to eradicate them from my 50g!


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2007)

not all snails eat plants, but trying to get rid of them is a PITA. espacially if they are pond snails. mystery and apple ae easier.


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## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

Oh I'm refering to mystery snails for sure! They are SOOOO cool. They didn't really eat my plants too much when I had live ones. They were ok! They are SO damn cool. I almost loved them more then my fish! They are really amazing creatures. I had one that got up to golf ball size and had a perfect shell. I just wish I knew how I did that, because after that, all my snails stayed pebble sized and their shells cracked and broke, making them sick and eventually they got caught in the filter and died . Poor snails.

But I definately am going to go for the female bettas. I'm really excited to see how they will do together and how they will figure out their pecking order. It's really cool to watch. And they are just so curious! But yeah, ok, I will try and take everyones advice seperately in some way or another!


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